Elizabeth Ponte Zaldívar denounces xenophobic treatment in Cancún

Elizabeth Ponte Zaldívar, a Cuban-born woman who obtained Mexican citizenship through naturalization, denounced alleged discriminatory treatment at a Foreign Affairs Ministry office in Cancún, Quintana Roo. She went there to apply for her first Mexican passport and says an employee’s attitude changed after learning that she was born in Cuba. Her account places the episode during service related to that application.

In a video posted on Instagram, Ponte Zaldívar said the employee reviewed her documents and began treating her differently after learning her origin. According to Ponte Zaldívar, the worker questioned her citizenship and directed comments at her that she considered offensive. Her complaint describes an interaction during the passport process and attributes to the employee the statements that she says prompted her objection.

Ponte Zaldívar also said the official claimed Cubans were “invading” the country. The accusation is part of her account of what happened in the office; it is not presented as an independent conclusion. She connected the comments she attributes to the worker with her Cuban origin and characterized the episode as xenophobia and nationality-based discrimination.

Explaining how she experienced the incident, Ponte Zaldívar said, “It was a horrible experience.” She also said it was painful to feel she was treated differently and belittled because of her country of origin. Her post made the complaint public and identified what, in her version, triggered the change in service: the employee learning that she was born in Cuba.

After the complaint, other migrants shared accounts of experiences they described as similar, while some responses expressed support for Ponte Zaldívar and called on people to report such situations. Those comments broadened the conversation around her post, although the reported incident is the exchange she described in Cancún. She had gone to the office as a naturalized Mexican citizen to obtain her first passport.