Melody González Pedraza, a judge in communist Cuba, reportedly requested asylum in America after arriving in Tampa, Florida, through the Biden administration’s “Humanitarian Parole” program.
The judge was reportedly allowed to fly to the United States after receiving a travel permit under the “Humanitarian Parole” program but then denied entry at the Tampa International Airport, which reviewed her past history in Cuba. After being rejected, the judge requested asylum according to statements given to Martí Noticias by the judge’s cousin, Roberto Castellón, who claimed to act as her sponsor in the parole program.
The Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba (FHRC), a non-government organization, included González Pedraza on its public list of Castro regime repressors, crediting her with “countless human rights violations.”
The NGO also identified the judge as one of the three magistrates that recently sentenced four young Cuban men — all under 30 — to up to four years in prison on May 8 for the alleged crimes of assault against the heads of the Cuban police and State Security in the Villa Clara municipality of Encrucijada in late 2022. Families of the four young men have claimed their relatives were unjustly convicted of the crimes with neither evidence nor witnesses that could substantiate the accusations.
Since January 2023, President Joe Biden’s “Humanitarian Parole” program allows up to 30,000 Cuban, Nicaraguan, Haitian, and Venezuelan nationals per month to request entry to the United States, allowed to stay and work for a period of “up to two years.”
The Humanitarian Parole program is meant for victims of the authoritarian regimes of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, as well as Haitian nationals fleeing from the rampant gang violence in Haiti.
Prospective beneficiaries of the parole program must count with the financial support of a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, who declares to act as “sponsor.” The sponsor must provide authorities with sufficient proof and financial records that demonstrate his or her ability to assist one or more prospective beneficiaries.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the beneficiaries undergo a “clear and robust security vetting” prior to obtaining all the required authorizations from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) before traveling to the United States.
Martí Noticias, a U.S-based outlet that focuses on Cuba, claimed that González Pedraza arrived at Tampa’s international airport on Thursday after receiving flight permission authorization, but was detained by the airport’s officials after confirming her relation with the Cuban communist regime.
Roberto Castellón, the judge’s sponsor and her cousin, told Martí Noticias that he has talked to U.S. immigration authorities several times after her reported detention in Tampa and described his cousin as a “Christian woman who was only doing her job.”
Castellón claimed that “irreparable harm” was done to the judge due to her inclusion on FHRC’s list of Cuban repressors and announced his plans to sue “those who have branded her as repressive.”
According to Castellón, his cousin sentenced the four Cuban men to “only” four years in prison instead of eight, as allegedly requested by the island-nation’s communist authorities.
Martí Noticias claimed to confirm that González Pedraza deleted a social media account where she had regularly shared pro-Castro regime propaganda.
Dunia Marisol Rodríguez Milián, one of the mothers of the four Cuban men recently sentenced to prison by González Pedraza, told Martí Noticias that at no point during the trial was any evidence presented against the accused.
“She tried to invent it, but she didn’t find it,” Rodríguez Milián said.
The mother stated to the U.S-based outlet that her son, Luis Ernesto Medina Pedraza, had been granted U.S. entry authorization under the Parole program — but his four-year sentence has effectively taken away the possibility of entering the United States.
“However, she, such a revolutionary judge, who has put so many young people in prison unjustly, was granted parole,” she said. “Those are the things I don’t understand. I can’t understand them.”
Ana Iris Pedraza Balero, mother of another of the four men convicted, expressed to Martí Noticias that she hopes the United States does not grant asylum to the Cuban judge.
“I think she should not be granted [political asylum] because she used her position to commit the greatest and most atrocious injustices in the world,” Pedraza Balero said. “Here is the case of these four boys: she abused her office, she abused her power and now she wants to live freely and to the fullest, without paying for anything she did.”
“That is very unfair. Therefore I believe that if there should be justice in the world, it should be applied to her well and not let her enter that country,” she added.
Melody González Pedraza is the latest case in a list of people identified as Castro regime officials who have been approved entry under the Biden administration’s parole program.
In May, Manuel Alejandro Marrero Medina, son of Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, had reportedly been accepted as a beneficiary of the parole program but was ultimately denied flight permission entry by U.S. authorities. While the Cuban prime minister’s son was denied entry, reports published by Martí Noticias indicate that other members of his family have managed to enter the United States as beneficiaries of the parole program.
Liván Fuentes Álvarez, the former president of the Municipal Assembly of People’s Power on Isla de la Juventud — the communist regime’s highest-ranking local authority — was denied the flight permit to travel to the United States after reportedly being approved as a beneficiary of the Humanitarian Parole program.
Arelys Casañola Quintana, who had succeeded Fuentes Álvarez, now reportedly resides in the state of Kentucky alongside her son and is reportedly requesting asylum under “fear of socialism.” Casañola Quintana was allowed entry to the United States through the southern border and was able to apply to the Biden administration’s CBP One application, a platform used by migrants to enter U.S. territory.
Similarly, reports published in July 2023 stated that members of Nicaragua’s communist Ortega regime have been able to enter the United States as beneficiaries of the parole program.
A combined total of more than 435,000 Venezuelan, Cuban, Nicaraguan, and Haitian nationals have reportedly entered the United States as beneficiaries of the Humanitarian Parole process as of mid-April.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.