An immigration judge on Tuesday granted political asylum to Cuban activist Yeilis Torres, who spent seven months at the Guantanamo naval base after being intercepted at sea by the Coast Guard.
“After spending almost a year in this fight, it’s finally over,” Pavel Pérez, the activist’s husband, said in statements to Telemundo 51.
In mid-December, Torres was moved to South Florida, where she was held at the Broward Transition Center in Pompano Beach, Broward County.
Precisely, her record as an opponent and member of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, was the main argument of her lawyers to avoid deportation to the island.
Yeilis, known on social media as “the prosecutor”, was studying law in Cuba and was expelled from university for her human rights activism. In May 2022 he jumped overboard and was intercepted by the Coast Guard and transferred to Guantanamo.
“I want to thank the lawyers and the judge who intervened in this case and did their job. Thank God justice has been served,” Pérez said.
Torres is expected to be released from the Pompano Beach Detention Center soon.