Ray Sanchez | Cuba notebook
July 22, 2007
Havana Several months after being chosen to receive U.S. visas in late
2005, Ayset Armentero, her husband, Daniel Pérez, and their two young
children had the required interviews with American immigration officials
here. A consular official, they say, told them they were approved.
A couple of months later, visas arrived for Armentero, 30, and the boys,
10 and 3. But Pérez is still waiting for his. Armentero won't leave
without him, yet Pérez is now contemplating a less conventional
departure for the shores of South Florida.
"Come September, if I have no visa, I'm heading out to sea on an inner
tube," the 40-year-old fisherman said. "I'm not afraid."
The Pérez family is among thousands of Cubans caught in the latest
diplomatic flap between the United States and Cuba. The United States
claimed last week that it cannot meet an agreed annual quota of 20,000
visas for Cuban émigrés because Cuba for more than a year has held up 28
shipping containers with "essential supplies and materials necessary for
the safe and timely operation of the U.S. Interests Section." Cuban
authorities denied the charge, accusing the Bush administration of
deliberately issuing fewer visas to cause instability on the island.
Cuba's foreign ministry said the American failure to issue the visas was
a "grave violation" of 1994 accords that were intended to replace the
dangerous sea journeys with the safe and orderly migration of Cubans to
the United States. Through June 30, authorities said, only 10,724 Cubans
had been granted visas, slightly more than half the annual quota.
Last week, as the rival nations exchanged accusations, Pérez and
Armentero sat at a small wooden table, the lone piece of furniture in
the two-room apartment they share with their two sons. The couple sold
their furniture and appliances in anticipation of their departure.
Among the papers on the table: an affidavit of support from a relative
in Hialeah; the relative's bank statements; a letter promising Pérez a
job in a South Florida construction firm; newly issued Cuban passports.
"When we were interviewed at the interests section in March 2006, we
were told we would have our visas in about three months," she said.
Armentero and the boys sleep on an inch-thick piece of foam on the
living room floor. Pérez sleeps on a tiny cot next to them.
"We're desperate," Pérez said. "Look at how we live."
In Hialeah, one of Pérez's relatives, Katya La Roque, said she and her
husband thought the family of four would have joined them already. She's
worried about Pérez leaving illegally.
"I don't know if he'll leave on a raft or not, but I know many Cubans
are desperate to get out of there," she said by phone. "If you haven't
been approved for a visa, you might be willing to wait to get picked.
But if you have been approved and you can't get your hands on the visa,
that has to make you more desperate. That's worse."
La Roque, who left Cuba illegally on a motorboat in 2001, said she
wouldn't like to see Pérez depart on an inner tube.
"It's not worth the risk," she said.
Pérez said his fishing license expired last year. He earns a couple of
dollars a day doing construction work. "The other night I didn't eat,"
he said. "We had three small fish that a friend gave us. My wife and the
kids had the fish and a little white rice. I had a piece of bread and
some water. That's what I ate all day."
Pérez said he has made up his mind to leave on a raft in late September
if his visa doesn't arrive. He has no reason to believe it will.
"I will come back on a boat for my wife and the children," he said.
Armentero shook her head in disapproval.
"I won't risk the lives of our children," she said. "I'll only leave
legally. I want to get on a plane with my children and fly straight to
Miami."
Said Pérez: "I hope the Americans don't let us down. I hope they don't
kill my dream."
Ray Sánchez can be reached at rlsanchez@sun-sentinel.com.
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