Cuban policy sparks cries of inequity

Posted on Wed, Dec. 20, 2006

Cuban policy sparks cries of inequity
Critics seek fairness in controversy over 'wet-foot, dry-foot'
MAURA POSSLEY
Herald Staff Writer

MANATEE - The "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy swings a door open to Cuban refugees while keeping out those in dire straits from other countries. The controversial law draws both harsh criticism and thoughtful concern.

Most agree the disparity points to a desperate need for equity in U.S. immigration laws.

"We are the golden children in terms of immigration," said Fernando Lopez-Diaz, who fled Cuba in 1960, when he was 11. "Do I agree with it? I agree with it as I agree the United States is a country of immigrants."

The immigration policy - dubbed wet-foot, dry-foot when it was implemented in 1994 - gave the 26 Cubans who landed on Longboat Key on Monday a path to legal status. Generally, it allows Cubans who reach U.S. shores to remain, while those intercepted at sea are returned to the communist-ruled island.

But many call the policy unfair, as every immigrant who journeys to American soil faces similar strife.

"The Cubans have been placated and been given special treatment," said C.J. Czaia, a local attorney whose mother immigrated from Nicaragua. "I'm not anti-Cuban or immigration, but we need to make it fair for everyone."

Cuba-native Maria Varela's view is the policy is rooted in the once-close relationship the United States had with Cuba in days when there was no quota on how many Cubans could come to America.

"I think it's part of that," said Varela, who lives in Sarasota. "We were so close. There were so many American companies that were there."

Varela and her husband, days after they wed in Cuba during the spring of 1960, hopped an airplane for Iowa, where her new brother-in-law was a priest. Cubans should be embraced in the United States no matter what, given dictator Fidel Castro's regime, she said.

"They are very paralyzed," Varela said. "They want to live differently."

Maria Bruquetas left Cuba as a 7-year-old with the "Pedro Pan" flights - an operation that flew 14,000 children off the island in the early 1960s.

"Certainly, I'm sensitive to how the other groups feel because their causes are just as valid," she said. "I know a lot of people are suffering."

Bruquetas journeyed from Cuba 45 years ago to the day Tuesday.

"Many people would argue that, it's been such a long time, that people coming from Cuba are not so much fleeing the political regime, but they're the same as other groups," she said. "I'm not sure that freedom is No. 1. They're not so much anti-Castro as they are aware of the opportunity."

But those views may not be shared by the entire Cuban community, Lopez-Diaz said.

"I am for comprehensive reform," he said. "Many Cubans would say, 'Oh I'm a traitor.' "

Within the Latino community, wet-foot, dry-foot draws heated debate.

The policy is rooted in discrimination, said Czaia. A Cuban who reaches America by boat is treated better than a Mexican who crosses the Rio Grande.

"Right now the policy favors the Cubans," he said. "Why is it that if a guy crosses a river it doesn't count?"

Czaia called wet-foot, dry-foot hypocritical. Cubans are given status because they fled a communist regime, while the United States trades with communist China.

"The excuse the U.S. government makes is it's communism," he said. "Congress needs to act now."

Jealousy may also be a factor, said Jim Delgado, a head of the Mexican Council of Florida.

"It's hard not to be a little jealous," he said. "At the same time, it's good for the Cubans. Everybody should be treated the same."

Kirby Jones, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade Association, added the policy actually encourages Cubans on dangerous trips to America.

"With no other country in the world do we have this policy," he said. "It has no logic whatsoever."

On the day after the refugees arrived on Longboat Key, U.S. Border Patrol had not altered security, said Steve McDonald, agent who heads the Tampa Border Patrol office.

"We're taking the position that it's something that needs to monitored," he said. "We don't think it's the beginning of a trend."

Maura Possley, Herald reporter , can be reached at 748-0411, Ext. 2640, or at mpossley@HeraldToday.com.

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