Cuban airport authorities prevented human rights defender from leaving the country

In January of 2013, the Cuban state declared that all Cubans could obtain a passport and travel to any place in the world. This declaration shocked the world and, above all, the Cuban people after more than 50 years without being able to freely leave the country. However, on May 27th, 2017, José Martí Airport emigration authorities prevented the departure from Cuba of the human rights defender Niober García Foumier. Niober was traveling to the Republic of Panama, invited by an NGO to participate in a journalism seminar. According to his words: "When I was going to the gate, two emigration officials surrounded me and took me to an office and told me I could not leave Cuba, that was the order they had." This impediment of his right to leave the country presented several problems. He lost his plane ticket, he lost his accommodation reservation, and he had to wait several days for his luggage to be returned because it had been put on the flight.