Costa Rica grants refuge to Cuban journalist banned from returning home

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Cuban journalist Karla Pérez, based in Costa Rica, whose return home was banned by her country’s authorities in March when she completed studies in San José, has been granted refugee status.

“Costa Rica has allowed me a place to belong and develop and I will always be grateful for this gesture. But I also feel nostalgia, I’ve been feeling it for almost 5 years, I can’t hug my family because of the Cuban dictatorship,” the 23-year-old said.

Journalist Karla Pérez recounted that in March 2017 she was expelled from Las Villas University, in the Cuban province of Villa Clara, accused of being part of a “counterrevolutionary” political organization, for writing a blog critical of the communist government.

That year she left for Costa Rica to resume her journalism studies. While studying, Pérez was an intern at the Costa Rican newspaper El Mundo, where she currently works. She further said that she is editor of the ADN Cuba website, critical of the ruling Communist Party (PCC, the only one).

The practice of local journalism outside state-owned media is not legally recognized in Cuba.

After completing her studies in Costa Rica and when her visa expired, she decided to return to her native country on March 18, 2021. But, during a stopover in Panama, she was advised that she would not be allowed to board the flight to Havana.

She said she never received a formal notification and that the only information came from a briefing by the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) the following day, announcing her “banishment.”

Cuban Foreign Ministry’s communications director Yaira Jimenez, linked Pérez to Cuban opposition groups based in Miami.

Cuba is targeting local independent journalism initiatives or those outside state control, considering that many of them seek to destabilize the country by being financed by foreign organizations critical of the government.

Jiménez assured that ADN Cuba, the media outlet Pérez works for, is backed by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), “an agency financed by the United States.”

Perez also referred to the unprecedented protests against the Cuban government on July 11, claiming lack of freedom amid a severe economic crisis.

“Things changed so much in just one day, and there is no one to stop this, there is no turning back,” she said. “I will continue to fight for my country’s freedom from my trench, which is journalism,” she assured.