A journalist from the Cuban government newspaper Granma has requested political asylum in the United States, reported the Spanish daily El Nuevo Herald.
Mairelys Cuevas, a news editor in Granma, arrived to Miami on Sept. 16 after crossing the border with Mexico and requesting political asylum, according to the website Café Fuerte. Cuevas was visiting Mexico to cover an event with Granma’s authorization, the Peruvian newspaper La República reported.
The Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (or ICRT in Spanish) said the journalist escaped to Miami where her boyfriend lives, but Café Fuerte (a website critical of the Cuban government) published that it was possible that Cuevas was feeling disappointed with the Cuban regime.
Several journalists employed by government media outlets have fled the island recently, according to Café Fuerte. Among them are the sports editor of the daily Juventud Rebelde, who requested political asylum during the Olympics in London, and two journalists who left the Cuban sports delegation during the Panamerican Games that took place in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Cuba is one of the countries with the largest number of exiled journalists living abroad.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
