Rosabel Roca Sampedro, a Cuban prosecutor, is requesting asylum in the United States through the Biden administration’s CBPOne app, the U.S.-based outlet Martí Noticias reported on Monday.
Roca Sampedro, 42, is known to have sentenced at least four Cuban men aged 22-43 to prison for having participated in the historic nationwide July 2021 wave of protests, when over 187,000 Cubans flocked to the streets to demand an end to communist rule. The Cuban civil organization Justicia 11J provided the outlet with a copy of the sentences signed by Roca Sampedro that sent the men to prison.
A man is arrested during a demonstration against the government of Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel in Havana, on July 11, 2021. Thousands of Cubans took part in rare protests Sunday against the communist government, marching through a town chanting “Down with the dictatorship” and “We want liberty.” (YAMIL LAGE/AFP via Getty)
In addition to the four men, Roca Sampedro sentenced Bárbaro de Céspedes, a Cuban opposition activist from Camagüey, to prison for also protesting in July 2021. De Cespedes was released in February 2024.
“That lady was very despotic with me. She didn’t even let me speak. When they tried to silence me in the trial I defended myself with the constitution,” de Céspedes, who still resides in Camagüey, told Martí Noticias. “I was imprisoned for a year and eight months because of her.”
“All the time she showed repudiation towards me and what I meant. I would be very happy if she were deported to this country. She does not deserve to live in freedom,” he continued.
According to multiple social media complaints gathered by Martí Noticias, Roca Sampedro deleted her social media profiles that showed her affinity toward the Castro regime and left Cuba with her young daughter.
The Cuban prosecutor is reportedly residing in Mexico and is awaiting a political asylum appointment through CBPOne app, a platform launched by the administration of President Joe Biden that migrants can use to enter American territory. Martí Noticias stated that it was able to confirm that Roca Sampedro had requested an asylum appointment through the app from an immigration source who asked not to be identified.
“Due to the work of that prosecutor, four innocent people were sentenced to serve from four years and four months in prison to three years and six months in prison,” Javier Larrondo, director of the non-governmental organization Prisoners Defenders, told Martí Noticias.
Larrondo also stated that “she is a well-known prosecutor in the Municipal Court of Camagüey.”
Martí Noticias stated that Roca Sampedro has a daughter who resides in Houston, Texas, with whom she would presumptively go live if she is allowed entry into the United States. The outlet reached out to Adrián Díaz, a man whom Roca Sampedro reportedly provided as a contact in the United States. Díaz did not deny knowing the Cuban prosecutor but claimed that he does not maintain communications with her before reportedly hanging up the phone.
Larrondo said:
If the prosecutor wants to redeem her crimes, given that arbitrary imprisonment is a crime against humanity in which she [allegedly] participated and whose perpetrators would be the Castro family, the first thing she should do is to summon the media and tell absolutely everything she has done for the regime, what the regime and the operative of the regime forces her to do.
“Her victims are still in prison. She cannot redeem herself in any way without at least giving her all to right in some measure the wrong she has done,” he continued.
Rosabel Roca Sampedro is the latest known case of a Castro regime official who has either requested U.S. asylum through the Biden administration’s CBPOne software or attempted to enter the United States through the “Humanitarian Parole” program launched by the U.S. government in January 2023.
In early June, Cuban communist judge Melody González Pedraza reportedly requested U.S. asylum after flying to Tampa, Florida, thanks to a flight permit granted as part of the Humanitarian Parole program. González Pedraza requested asylum after authorities from the Tampa International Airport denied her entry. According to Martí Noticias, the communist judge will have an asylum hearing on Wednesday, in which American authorities will rule whether to have her deported or not.
Reports published in late May indicated that Manuel Alejandro Marrero Medina, son of Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, had been accepted as a beneficiary of the Parole program, but his U.S flight permit was ultimately denied.
In the same month, Arelys Casañola Quintana, who served as the communist regime’s highest local authority in the Isla de la Juventud island, was reportedly allowed entry to American territory with her son. Casañola Quintana, after arriving in Kentucky, is now requesting asylum claiming “fear of socialism.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.