This paper explores the tension between the concept of suffering as employed in Rafael Correa’s humanist migration discourse and the migratory experience of Cuban immigrants in Ecuador. Despite the former president’s revolutionary discourse, Cuban migrants face triple discrimination: social, economic and legal, in the context of both Ecuadorian and Cuban migration policies. This study contributes to the literature on migration and suffering, as well as the emerging literature on the discursive gaps inherent in Latin American immigration policy liberalization.