A South Florida man's family is trying to bring him back to Miami after relatives said he was detained in Cuba, accused of trafficking false documents, in a case of mistaken identity.
The last time Viviana Darias spoke to her husband, Jose-Ramon Darias Tarrago, was two weeks ago. He had just landed in Havana, escorting her ailing father home after a visit.
“He traveled legal to Cuba with an American passport,” Darias said.
Darias Tarrago told his wife state security had picked him out at the airport for an interview.
“He told me he was questioned for two hours. They were asking him about names and people he didn't know,” Darias said. “He told them, ‘You have the wrong person. I am not the one that you are looking for.’”
The officials let Darias Tarrago go for the weekend, and he returned to the airport Jan. 16 for his flight home to Miami. When his family went to Miami International Airport to pick him up, he never showed up.
“I called Cuba and told his family that they need to locate him because he never arrived,” Darias said. “They were informed that he was detained, under investigation for trafficking documents or something like that.”
She said her husband’s family also was told he was being held at Villa Marista, the same Havana prison where American Alan Gross is being held, accused of providing satellite communications equipment to Cuban dissidents.
Days ago, the family learned Darias Tarrago was moved to a prison in Camaguey. They said his case, whatever it is, originated there.
“I was thinking that it really was a mistake. They mistake him for another person. I know he didn't do nothing,” Darias said. “I have to wake up every day trying to do my normal life and answer questions to my son, my 15-year-old son, and tell him, today no, but maybe tomorrow we are going to have good news about his father.”
Darias Tarrago came to the U.S. in the immigration lottery in 1995 and is now a citizen with a U.S. passport and a job in construction. He's traveled back and forth to Havana several times, with no issues.
Several South Florida lawmakers, the State Department and the U.S. Interests Section in Havana are all working the case.