Stranded and Unprotected: The Harrowing Experience of Cuban Women Deported to Africa

Recently deported Cuban, Peruvian, and Venezuelan women find themselves in a precarious situation in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. Stripped of their documents, phones, and legal protection after being expelled from the United States, they face total abandonment. This grim reality is highlighted in videos on Instagram shared by Yasmany Moreno de Armas, a Cuban migrant who has become a crucial figure in providing humanitarian aid to those stranded in this African nation.

The videos, posted on Sunday and Monday, reveal a group of women from various nationalities, including several Cubans, arriving on recent deportation flights unaware of their true destination. "We were told we were going to Miami, then Mexico, and finally, we ended up here in Africa," one woman shared on camera with Moreno.

These deportations from the U.S. exacerbate extreme vulnerability. Stay informed about this and related cases in our U.S. Immigration section.

Another woman voiced her frustration more bluntly, saying, "They told us Miami, and here we are in Central Africa, guys. This is a nightmare. This feels like a kidnapping."

Experiences of Injustice and Abuse

The accounts describe a systematic pattern during the deportations: confiscation of passports and phones by agents, physical violence, and long hours of travel while shackled. A deportee named "Yari," who had lived in Las Vegas for four years, recounted being assaulted by multiple male agents when she resisted.

"They beat me, three of them held me, pulled my hair, pinned me against the plane windows, it was awful, they forcibly dragged me off the plane," she recounted.

Moreno's videos also showed some women with swollen feet, struggling to walk after being handcuffed for more than 25 hours. Among the deported was a nearly 70-year-old Venezuelan woman.

The Dire Situation in Central Africa

The level of vulnerability is severe. Without identification, these women are at risk of arbitrary detention, kidnapping, or sexual assault by local police. Moreno himself has faced abductions since arriving in Bangui in August 2026.

"I'm a man, but these are women who can be attacked, harmed in countless ways. They don't have phones to contact their families or children," Moreno warned in one video.

The U.S. Department of State advises against travel to the Central African Republic, maintaining a Level 4 alert due to active armed conflict, militias, kidnappings, and terrorism. Moreno also reported a shooting near his residence the night before the latest group's arrival.

Humanitarian Efforts and Continued Struggles

With institutional help lacking, Moreno has stepped up as a leader, extending his support beyond his own dire circumstances. He shares his resources, raises funds online, visits detention centers to check on migrants, and works on obtaining humanitarian visas to relocate deportees to Latin American countries. On Monday, he posted a video showing five phones he bought for the women with donations from followers.

"Here I am with the girls, I bought them five phones, look, each one has a phone now. Thank you so much, everyone, for your support," Moreno expressed in the video.

The influx of new groups continues. Between October 21 and 24, mass deportation flights arrived in Bangui, including one from Alexandria, Louisiana, carrying 90 migrants, 69 of whom were Cuban. According to Human Rights Watch, from January 2025 to August 2026, the U.S. deported over 500 individuals to African countries that were not their countries of origin, under the Trump administration's "third country" deportation policy.

Moreno remains in Africa, assisting the new arrivals while his own case remains unresolved. In September, he was informed that his file might have errors and that he could return to the U.S. within 30 to 60 days, but this return had not been confirmed at the time of this report.