Cuban military veteran charged with visa, residency fraud in Florida

Jay Weaver, Miami Herald on Nov 12, 2025

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MIAMI — A veteran of the Cuban Air Force has been arrested on charges of lying to the federal government when he applied for a visa and permanent residency in the United States by omitting his military history, authorities said Wednesday.

Luis Raul Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez, 64, pleaded not guilty last week in Jacksonville federal court to charges of committing fraud on his visa form and making a false statement on his residency application to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. On Friday, a magistrate judge ordered that he be held before trial because he was deemed a risk of flight to Cuba.

He was appointed a lawyer with the Federal Public Defender’s Office. His trial was scheduled for Jan. 6, 2026.

If convicted, Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison.

“This man’s past as a longtime military pilot for the evil Castro regime — which has wrought untold suffering on the Cuban people — should have been front and center in his immigration file,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “This Department of Justice will vigorously prosecute anyone who lies about their past to take advantage of America’s immigration system.”

According to an indictment, Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez submitted false applications in May 2017 for a U.S. visa and again in April 2025 for permanent residency with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. In both instances, he omitted his prior membership in the Cuban Revolutionary Air and Air Defense Force from 1980 to 2009, the indictment says.

Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez is accused of falsely stating he had never served in the Cuban military, when in reality, he had been a member of the country’s Air Defense Force for nearly three decades.

A photo included in the indictment shows Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez actively serving in the Cuban military.

The case is being investigated by the FBI in Miami and Jacksonville and prosecuted by federal prosecutors Kelly Milliron and Abbie Waxman.