Cuban Man With Advanced Cancer Dies Two Days After ICE Release

• 

Cuban Cancer Patient Dies Two Days After ICE Release, Family Raises Concerns Over Care

Gustavo Rivero Napoles, a 65-year-old Cuban resident of Hialeah with advanced liver cancer, died in a California hospital on October 25, two days after his release from immigration custody, according to CiberCuba’s account of a Miami Herald investigation.

His family says he spent approximately five months in detention despite a diagnosis of stage 4 cancer. Relatives allege that he struggled to obtain adequate medication and repeatedly called them in severe pain.

According to the published account, Rivero Napoles entered the hospital on October 20. ICE formally released him on October 23, the day he was transferred to intensive care. His relatives maintain that he was already unable to understand or sign his release documents.

The family’s allegations raise questions about medical treatment, communication with relatives and the timing of his release. They do not, by themselves, establish that detention caused his death.

A full assessment would require medical records, custody documents and responses from ICE and the detention facility. Those materials were not independently reviewed for this article.

Source: CiberCuba, citing reporting by the Miami Herald, October 30, 2026.