Daniel Llorente, Known as "The Flag Man," Returns to Cuba as a Tourist: "No Provocations"

Daniel Llorente Miranda, the Cuban political activist renowned for his bold display in 2017 when he ran with an American flag before Raúl Castro at the Plaza de la Revolución, has made a surprising return to Cuba, now as an ordinary tourist.

Llorente shared news of his arrival in a TikTok video this week, showing himself on a street beside a car he rented at the airport.

“With my little car, with two Cuban flags. No American flag, no provocations,” he states at the beginning of the video.

A Dramatic Shift in Approach

The transformation is challenging to comprehend: Llorente, once exiled from the island, who crossed the Darién Gap with his son and slept in his car in Tampa, now appears in Havana, confidently asserting he is not there to incite any unrest.

Llorente explained his seamless entry into the country: “I came, no one called me, no one said anything. Everyone told me they wouldn’t let me in... well, I’m telling you that’s not the case. I left like any Cuban returning for a visit.”

Interpreting the Silence

He offers his interpretation of the authorities’ silence. According to Llorente, the regime calculated that taking action against him would backfire: “They said: if we call Daniel, we can’t tell him he can’t enter because he’s Cuban, we can’t say that. And if we say anything, it becomes a scandal, people find out.”

A New Mission

The most perplexing change is not merely his physical return but the narrative that accompanies it. Llorente now identifies as a prophet and Christian messenger. “I didn’t come as the flag man, I came as Moses,” he declares in the video. His proclaimed mission is to deliver the “message of salvation” to Cubans under the banner “Jesus Christ, Cuba is your home.”

Where once there was an American flag and a defiant sprint before Cuba’s leadership, there are now two Cuban flags and a message centered on Jesus Christ.

The contrast with his past is stark.

A Controversial Past

It’s important to recall that on May 1, 2017, Llorente made headlines worldwide when he dashed in front of the stand where Raúl Castro and other high-ranking officials were during the International Workers’ Day parade. He was swiftly subdued by security forces and subsequently confined to the Havana Psychiatric Hospital for months. The United Nations documented that since 2014, he had faced over 30 arrests.

In May 2019, Cuban authorities forced him onto an Aruba Airlines flight, effectively exiling him without his family, a move he and opposition groups described as banishment. He left for Guyana.

In 2021, Llorente and his son Eliezer embarked on a journey through ten countries, spending two days in the Darién jungle before crossing the border into Laredo, Texas, on June 30 of that year.

Settling in Tampa, Florida, Llorente’s plight caught the attention of the Tampa Bay Times and the Chicago Tribune, who found him living in his car, unable to afford housing and working minimum wage jobs.

Moved by his story, a Vietnam War veteran offered him a home in Tampa. Over time, Llorente transitioned from being the one sheltered to offering help to that very veteran.

As of the video’s release, Llorente reported no retaliation or actions from Cuban authorities against him, though his presence on the island raises inevitable questions about how long he can stay and how the regime will respond to his new declarations.