MIAMI, FL — A major in Fidel Castro’s Departamento de Seguridad del Estado or Department of State Security who arrested and detained political dissidents in Cuba for decades was sentenced to spend six months in a U.S. federal prison and ordered to be deported back to Cuba for lying about his past on U.S. immigration papers.
Saul Santos Ferro, 74, was also ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Darrin P. Gayles to pay restitution in the amount $12,522.28. Ferro earlier pleaded guilty to making false statements in an immigration document and theft of U.S. government funds.
“Specifically, when he applied to register as a permanent resident, Santos failed to disclose his membership or affiliation with any organization, falsely stated that he never served in or been a member of a police unit and falsely stated that he never served in any situation that involved detaining persons,” according to federal prosecutors in Miami.
Jorge Duany, who heads Florida International University’s Cuban Research Institute, told Patch that Cuba’s Department of State Security was created in 1959 to combat “subversive” actions against Fidel Castro’s revolutionary government, especially those sponsored by the Central Intelligence Agency and often carried out by Cuban exiles.
“Also known as the G-2, the department is currently located within Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior and is assigned with various intelligence and counterintelligence tasks, particularly the surveillance of ‘counterrevolutionary’ activities, both on the Island and abroad,” Duany said. “Critics have charged that the department is the primary state agency engaged in the repression, persecution and imprisonment of political dissidents in Cuba.”
The prison sentence was announced Monday by U.S. Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan in Miami, Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro the of the FBI’s Miami Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Anthony Salisbury of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Miami Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Rodregas Owens from the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General.
Ferro first came to the United States on a visitor visa in 2010 and 2012.
“Santos admitted that he falsely stated that he never gave false or misleading information to any U.S. government official while applying for any immigration benefit and falsely stated that he never lied to U.S. immigration authorities to gain entry or admission into the United States and to obtain immigration benefits,” prosecutors explained.
Santos pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements in an immigration document and theft of government funds.
“According to admissions in court documents, Santos made a number of lies and misrepresentations in his application to register as a permanent resident, which he knowingly presented to U.S. immigration authorities, ultimately obtaining lawful permanent resident status,” prosecutors said.
Santos received Supplemental Security Income benefits from the United States, which is funded by U.S. taxpayers and administered by the Social Security Administration to assist the elderly and people with disabilities. The program is intended to provider seniors with cash for basic needs, including food, clothing and shelter.
“Santos and his wife qualified for and began receiving SSI benefits in September 2014, but by April 2015, Santos and his wife misrepresented their living situation and began receiving more money than they were entitled to receive,” federal prosecutors said. “Because of his misrepresentation, the court held Santos responsible for over payments to him and his wife, which amounted to $28,491.83.”
The case was investigated by the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and SSA-OIG, with assistance from the FBI’s International Human Rights Unit.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Cervantes and Trial Attorney Rami S. Badawy of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section with the support of historian Joanna Crandall.
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