Cape City, South Africa — A Cuban man deported by america to the African nation of Eswatini is on a starvation strike at a maximum-security jail having been held there for greater than three months with out cost or entry to authorized counsel beneath the Trump administration’s third-country program, his U.S.-based lawyer stated Wednesday.
Roberto Mosquera del Peral was certainly one of 5 males despatched to the small kingdom in southern Africa in mid-July as a part of the U.S. deportation program to Africa. It has been criticized by rights teams and attorneys, who say deportees are being denied due course of and uncovered to rights abuses.
Mosquera’s lawyer, Alma David, stated in a press release despatched to The Related Press that he had been on a starvation strike for per week, and there have been critical considerations over his well being.
“My client is arbitrarily detained, and now his life is on the line,” David stated. “I urge the Eswatini Correctional Services to provide Mr. Mosquera’s family and me with an immediate update on his condition and to ensure that he is receiving adequate medical attention. I demand that Mr. Mosquera be permitted to meet with his lawyer in Eswatini.”
The Eswatini authorities stated Mosquera was “fasting and praying because he was missing his family” and described it as “religious practices” that it wouldn’t intervene with, a characterization disputed by David. She stated: “It is not a religious practice. It’s an act of desperation and protest.”
Mosquera was amongst a gaggle of 5 males from Cuba, Jamaica, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen deported to Eswatini, an absolute monarchy dominated by a king whom a lot of rights teams, and the British authorities, accuse of clamping down on human rights. The Jamaican man was repatriated to his dwelling nation final month, however the others have been stored on the jail for greater than three months, whereas an Eswatini-based lawyer has launched a case towards the federal government demanding they be given entry to authorized counsel.
Civic teams in Eswatini have additionally taken authorities to court docket to problem the legality of holding overseas nationals in jail with out cost. Eswatini stated that the lads could be repatriated however could possibly be held there for as much as a yr.
U.S. authorities have stated they need to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Eswatini beneath the identical program.
Eswatini is a minimum of the fourth doable vacation spot the Trump administration has floated for Abrego Garcia, a local of El Salvador who was mistakenly deported in March, held in a infamous Salvadoran jail after which returned to the U.S. in June — solely to be detained once more and face federal smuggling prices.
The boys despatched to Eswatini already have been convicted of great prison offenses that included homicide and rape, and have been within the U.S. illegally, the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety stated.
It stated Mosquera was convicted of homicide and different prices. His lawyer disputed that and stated Thursday he was convicted of tried homicide and different prices. His full prison document was not instantly out there.
The boys’s attorneys advised the AP that they had all accomplished their prison sentences within the U.S. and at the moment are being held illegally in Eswatini.
The U.S. Division of Homeland Safety has forged the third-country deportation program as a method to take away “illegal aliens” from American soil as a part of President Trump’s immigration crackdown, saying they’ve a option to self-deport or be despatched to a rustic like Eswatini.
The Trump administration has despatched deportees to a minimum of three different African nations — South Sudan, Rwanda and Ghana — since July beneath largely secretive agreements. It additionally has an settlement with Uganda, although no deportations there have been introduced.
New York-based Human Rights Watch stated it has seen paperwork that present that the U.S. is paying African nations tens of millions of {dollars} to simply accept deportees. It stated the U.S. agreed to pay Eswatini $5.1 million to take as much as 160 deportees and Rwanda $7.5 million to take as much as 250 deportees.
The Matsapha Correctional Advanced is seen in Matsapha, close to Mbabane, Eswatini, in a July 17, 2025 file picture.
AP/File
One other 10 deportees have been despatched to Eswatini this month and are believed to be held on the identical Matsapha Correctional Advanced jail outdoors the executive capital, Mbabane. Attorneys stated that these males are from Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Cuba, Chad, Ethiopia and Congo.
Attorneys say the 4 males who arrived in Eswatini on a deportation flight in July haven’t been allowed to fulfill with an Eswatini lawyer representing them, and telephone calls to their U.S.-based attorneys are monitored by jail guards. They’ve expressed concern that they know little in regards to the circumstances wherein their shoppers are being held.
“I demand that Mr. Mosquera be permitted to meet with his lawyer in Eswatini,” David stated in her assertion. “The fact that my client has been driven to such drastic action highlights that he and the other 13 men must be released from prison. The governments of the United States and Eswatini must take responsibility for the real human consequences of their deal.”
