Expelled from Belarus: The Cuban citizen who paid a high price for joining protests

Cuban national Roberto Casanueva was expelled from Belarus and forced to live apart from his family. He tells DW why he joined the 2020 protests and the price he paid for doing so.

Cuban Roberto Casanueva now lives in Lithuania


"Of course I dream of seeing my children again, but for now that's not possible. We talk on the phone, write and support one other, even though we're hundreds of kilometers apart," says Roberto Casanueva.

The Cuban national is currently in Lithuania after living in Belarus for 30 years. "My oldest daughter was born in Cuba in 1989 and we only stayed there for a short time. Then my wife and child moved to Belarus and I joined them there a year later. I worked as a graphic designer and took care of my three children," he says.
"I was enraged by the election fraud"

Casanueva was appalled by the fraudulent presidential elections in August 2020, which saw President Alexander Lukashenko claim victory. Like many in Belarus, he took to the streets and joined opposition protests.

"I had been outraged by the widespread voter fraud during the 2000 elections. I got an election notice in the mail at the time and I laughed because how can they invite me to vote in the elections what I am not even a Belarusian citizen? I thought it must have been a mistake, but it kept happening," he said. And during the 2020 presidential election, friends said they saw his name on a list of eligible voters at one of the polling stations. Casanueva is convinced that his fictitious vote was for Lukashenko. This annoyed him and he refused to remain quiet any longer.

Roberto Casanueva was eager to take part in the protests against the Lukashenko regime

"My residence permit expired in 2020, and I applied for an extension. The Office of Citizenship and Migration put a piece of paper in front of me with several clauses," Roberto recounts, adding, "When I asked what they meant, because I didn't speak the language, they said I had no right to take part in demonstrations and that my residence permit would be revoked and I would be deported to Cuba if I continued to take part in them."

Casanueva refused to sign the document initially and said he would continue to protest. This resulted in his residence permit being revoked along with his papers. "I was back there a few days later and they presented me with the same piece of paper to sign again. I signed it, thinking it was just a formality and that I would be able to continue going to the demonstrations," he said.

"The conditions in jail really tested me"

But in November 2020, shortly before a protest, he was arrested and detained for 15 days. His residence permit was revoked and the authorities were set to deport him. "My arrest was illegal because the protests hadn't even started yet. No one was around and I was just stood there smoking. I had neither symbols nor flags with me. Nevertheless, a van stopped next to me and I was put in it by the riot police," Casanueva recalls.

He spent over a year in the notorious Okrestia Detention Center in the capital Minsk, waiting to be deported. Large numbers of opposition demonstrators were beaten and tortured in the facility. "That was a real test for me. I was in a cell with other foreigners, but they were not political prisoners. They were all very different. Some were good and some bad, but you had to get along with everyone."

Casanueva says conditions in the cells were terrible. "There was no electricity there. Coffee, tea, sugar, cigarettes — nothing was allowed. Once a week you were allowed to receive a package, but in the last month and a half they stopped giving me my family's packages." He didn't get any of the food, toothpaste, cigarettes and toilet paper they had sent him.
"I was sent to Moscow as an alleged tourist"

In December 2021, employees of the Citizenship and Migration Department put Roberto Casanueva on a plane bound for Moscow. He was banned from entering Belarus for a period of three years, even though he had three children there. "I was sent to Moscow as an alleged tourist because there were no direct flights from Minsk to Cuba," he says, "But after four or five days, the Russian Interior Ministry's database found evidence that I had been deported," he says. As a deportee, he wasn't able to get a work visa for Russia. "I had only 30 days to work things out," he said.

Before his deportation Roberto Casanueva says goodbye to his son in Minsk

Following his deportation, a farewell photo with his young son appeared on social media. "I wasn't really thinking about photos at the time. The picture was very emotional and wasn't staged. I hadn't seen my son for over a year," Casanueva recounts. He said he very worried at this point and had to reassure his son that everything would be okay.

"I wanted my voice to be heard"

A month later, Roberto Casanueva found himself in Vilnius thanks to the Belarusian Solidarity Foundation BYSOL. He under no circumstances wanted to go back to Cuba. "Cuba is exactly the same regime as Belarus, only worse," he points out. Thanks to the Freedom House, a US non-profit, he was able to obtain a visa on humanitarian grounds from Lithuania. Roberto says he is grateful for the help provided to persecuted Belarusians and others.

Roberto Casanueva is now working as a graphic designer in Lithuania. Despite everything he had to endure over the past year, he still says he does not regret supporting the Belarusian protest movement: "I wanted to express my opinions and to protest what was happening in Belarus. If we are talking about things I regret, the only thing I regret was that I did so little. I would have liked to have done more."