Cuba: CFWIJ condemns the Cuban government’s decision to not let Karla Maria enter the country

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March 20, 2021- Karla Maria Perez, an independent journalist, and collaborator for the “DNA Cuba'' portal was left displaced at Tocumen airport, Panama. Karla was forced to request asylum in Costa Rica after being denied entry into her country Cuba. At 18 years of age, Maria was expelled from her university for writing a blog for an opposition party in 2017. Soon after she was granted a scholarship to continue studying journalism in San Jose, Costa Rica. Maria was returning to her homeland after four years when she was barred from entering despite having all legal documentation. CFWIJ condemns the Cuban authorities' decision not to let Maria enter the country. We believe that the state persecution against the young journalist is harsh and unjustified. 

Karla was stranded in the airport for several hours waiting for her clearance. At last, she was forced to put an asylum request to Costa Rica and return there, the country where she studied for four years. Karla was left entirely confused after being denied boarding for Cuba and having no legal status to stay further in Panama or return to Costa Rica. According to her lawyer, Eloy Viera “Karla has not only been violated in her right to education and discriminated against for political reasons in Cuba before, but now her freedom of movement is limited.”

Karla’s father, Jorge Louis Perez burst into tears while speaking to DNA Cuba. He said that “the family was waiting to welcome Mrai after four years. Nowhere in the world, not in history one would find such an example, only a regime like in Cuba could do this. He further said that this decision has ended things for his family once again after four years of waiting. Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar has also tweeted in this condemning the policies of the Cuban government. She said, “The Castro dictatorship prohibits its own citizens from entering #Cuba Flag of Cuba!

This is an infamy and an example of how the Castro scoundrels fear those who dare to speak the truth!”

The Coalition For Women In Journalism condemns the state persecution against Karla Maria. We ask the Cuban government to immediately address the issue and allow the journalists to enter her homeland and practice journalism. CFWIJ demands that Karla must be compensated for how her dignity was violated because of the state’s unjustifiable actions.