Salazar, Balart, and Gimenez Request Biden Reject Visa Application of Cuban Official

US Representatives Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), and Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) are demanding the Biden administration refuse the Visa application of a Cuban official.

Rosabel Roca Sampedro, a former Cuban prosecutor, is reportedly attempting to enter the US by seeking asylum.

Sampedro is infamously known for requesting prison sentences for protestors participating in the July 11, 2021 Cuba protests.

Thousands of Cubans took to the streets during the July 11 protests in response to food, medicine, and power shortages.

Cuban journalists allege Sampedro ultimately contributed to the incarceration of at least four July 11 protestors for a total of anywhere from 12 to 16 years.

Representatives Salazar, Balart, and Gimenez wrote a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas requesting the latter judiciously consider whether Sampedro is eligible for asylum.

The letter encourages Secretary Mayorkas to deny Sampedro’s asylum claim by explaining her involvement in the Cuban regime’s Human Rights abuses.

Additionally, the Representatives cite the Biden Administration’s imposition of sanctions on Cuban officials involved in repressing the July 11 protests to further support their claims.

“We must ensure that those individuals who act on behalf of a cruel regime that actively opposes U.S. interests, should not benefit from the extraordinary privilege of U.S. entry,” reads the letter.

The Department of Homeland Security has yet to respond to the Representatives’ letter.

Balart took to social media to pressure Mayorkas into preventing Sampedro’s entry to the US.

“Human rights violators should not receive the benefit of entry to the US while innocent J11 protesters languish in Cuban prisons,” said Balart.