.png "ICE deported Fernando Armando Valdes Perez in August 2026. Federal investigators say he is an intelligence officer for Cuba")
ICE deported Fernando Armando Valdes Perez in August 2026. Federal investigators say he is an intelligence officer for Cuba
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
A Kendall man who gained the trust of one of the hemisphere’s most notorious anti-Castro militants and lived in South Florida for years has been deported because he was actually spying for Havana, immigration officials said Wednesday.
Fernando Armando Valdes Perez, a 61-year-old permanent U.S. resident, was arrested at Miami International Airport on July 10. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported him to Guatemala on Aug. 7. He did not reveal that he was a “Cuban intelligence asset” or his links to Havana when he applied for lawful permanent residency in the United States, the agency said.
Valdes even became part of the circle of trust of controversial Cuban militant Luis Posada Carriles, who died of throat cancer in 2018 in Hollywood. Cuba accused Posada of being behind the bombing of a Cubana Airlines jet in 1976 while it was in flight from Barbados to Havana, killing all 73 aboard.
Valdes was so close to Posada, he was quoted in the late militant’s obituary for the Miami Herald. “I spoke with him yesterday and felt he was strong,” Valdes, who had also organized Posada’s last birthday party, said at the time of his death.
He “remained in close proximity to other well-known Cuban and Cuban American figures in South Florida until his arrest,” ICE said in a statement.
Investigators determined Valdes had been involved in intelligence gathering for Cuba since at least the mid-1990s, ICE said. However, it’s unclear Wednesday which federal agency made that determination.
READ MORE: Anti-Castro militant Posada Carriles is dead at 90
Valdes was also a Guatemalan citizen, ICE said. A Herald public records search found a Kendall address for Valdes, as well as a hunting and fishing license. He bought the town house in June 2016, according to the property records, and was identified as a married man in the warranty deed.
There is also a cigar company, Sr Valdes Cigars, registered to the same address, according to Florida’s Division of Corporations. The company’s social media says it’s headquartered in Guatemala and Miami.
The deportation is part of the targeting of South Florida residents linked to espionage or human rights violations in Cuba and Venezuela under President Donald Trump. It comes a week after the federal government announced the deportation of Rafael José Quero Silva, a former Venezuelan official accused of torturing protestors who lived in Miramar.
READ MORE: ICE detains in Miami sister of head of GAESA, the military firm that runs Cuba’s economy
ICE arrested 57-year-old Daniel Morejon Garcia, whom the U.S. says was a member of Cuba’s Interior Ministry, in April 2025. It also revoked the green card and arrested Adys Lastra Morera, a Miami woman whose sister runs the military firm in control of the Cuban economy, in May.
READ MORE: ICE deports Venezuelan official accused of torture. He lived in South Florida
“Individuals who conceal ties to foreign intelligence services and exploit our immigration system pose a serious threat to the integrity of that system and to our national security,” said Miami ICE chief Matthew Elliston.
ICE, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Miami office of the FBI were involved in Valdes’ arrest.
This story was originally published September 2, 2026 at 5:02 PM.
el Nuevo Herald
Syra Ortiz Blanes covers immigration for the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald. Previously, she was the Puerto Rico and Spanish Caribbean reporter for the Heralds through Report for America.