MIAMI DADE COUNTY, Florida. – The U.S. State Department did not address concerns raised by some outraged South Florida lawmakers about a “member of the Cuban Communist Party” who was legally allowed to be in the United States.
The lawmakers, including four Cuban-Americans, were responding to a Marti Noticias report showing Manuel Menendez Castellanos at Miami International Airport. They signed an Aug. 21 letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
On Linkedin, Mendendez Castellano describes himself as a “senior investment consultant.” U.S. lawmakers describe him as “a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, the Central Workers’ Union in 1972, first secretary of the Communist Party in Cienfuegos (1993 and 2003), a deputy in the National Assembly for many years, and a member of Fidel Castro’s infamous ‘coordination and support team.'”
The U.S. State Department press office sent an email to Local 10 reporter Liane Morejon early Saturday morning explaining why the agency could not comment on the matter.
“Visa records are confidential under U.S. law, so we cannot comment on individual cases,” the spokesperson wrote.
Related story: Local parliamentarians angry over entry permit for high-ranking “official of the Cuban Communist Party” to the USA
Among the lawmakers who signed the letter was Havana-born US Representative Carlos Giménez. Three other signatories are of Cuban descent: Senator Marco Rubio, Representative Mario Díaz-Balart and Representative María Elvira Salazar. Senator Rick Scott also signed the letter.
The legislature wrote: “INA 212(a)(3)(D)(i) states: ‘Any immigrant who is or has ever been a member of, or associated with, a communist or other totalitarian party (or any subgroup or subsidiary thereof), domestic or foreign, shall be inadmissible.'”
The lawmakers called on Blinken and Mayorkas to assess whether the law was followed in this case and, if not, what steps will be taken to ensure that senior officials of the Cuban Communist Party are found inadmissible under the law.
State media outlet Marti Noticias reported that Menendez Castellanos benefited from a family reunification process. Marti Noticias is owned by the US Agency for Global Media, a federal agency. To avoid being recognized, the leader of the Cuban Communist Party wears a pink T-shirt, a face mask and a baseball cap in the agency’s video at the airport.
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