Friday, April 04, 2008
Julienne Gage
April 3: Rigoberto Bencomo kisses his cousin Leangel Genar who came
ashore in Broward County, Fla.
Fifteen Cuban immigrants washed ashore in Florida late Wednesday, one of
the largest groups to arrive in the United States since Cuban President
Raul Castro announced ownership reforms on the Communist island.
The refugees — 10 men and five women, one of whom is pregnant — had
traveled nearly a month to get to the U.S. and hadn't heard of the
reforms, but they said they would have left anyway.
"This doesn't change anything because there aren't very many who have
access to all that," said Jose Cuesta, 38, who made just $16 a month
driving buses between Havana and Santiago. "You have to have money, and
you can't access such things with an honorable job on the island."
The refugees were picked up by U.S. Border Patrol in Sunrise, Fla.,
outside Fort Lauderdale, early Thursday morning after a monthlong
odyssey that took them through the islands of the Bahamas.
The refugees set out March 3 from Camaguey, Cuba, in a homemade
sheet-metal boat with a Toyota four-cylinder engine, Supervisory Border
Patrol Agent Lazaro Guzman said. A week later, they landed ashore on a
Bahamian island, though it's unclear which one.
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There, the refugees said, they camped out for 20 days, pooling their
U.S. dollars and buying a 15-foot fishing boat from a Bahamian who took
pity on their case. They moved from island to island, sometimes stopping
to cook fish and packs of noodles with rainwater to make soup.
On March 31, Guzman said, they set out for Florida, arriving two days
later exhausted, sunburned and dehydrated.
Juneivis Guerrero, 17, is 8-months pregnant with a baby boy by Cuesta.
"I want him to have a better life than the one I had in Cuba," she said
of her baby, whom the other refugees joked she should name "Fidel."
"It was very dangerous, and I was worried the whole time that she
wouldn't arrive here healthy," Cuesta said of his wife.
"Cubans are made of iron," said another, Lituania Diaz, 23.
After being processed by Border Patrol and having their health checked
at a Florida State Health Assessment Center, two religious groups took
them to shelters in Miami's Doral neighborhood, where they were able to
meet relatives and learn of Cuba's new reforms.
"What did he do?" asked refugee Leangel Genar, inquiring about Raul
Castro's reforms.
When his cousin Rigoberto Bencomo explained that Raul Castro had given
out microwaves, legalized the general public's use of cell phones and
promised to make computers, DVD players and other electrical appliances
available at state-run stores, Genar scoffed.
"It doesn't matter how many cell phones they make available, they're not
worth anything if you don't have the money," Genar said. "It costs $10 a
month to have one and that's an average monthly salary for most Cubans."
Nearly all of the Cubans are from Camaguey, Cuba, save one, a doctor
from Las Tunas, Guzman said, but they will be allowed to stay in the
United States under the "wet foot, dry foot" policy, which allows
sanctuary to Cubans who reach the mainland.
The Cuban government controls well over 90 percent of the economy and
while the communist system ensures most Cubans have free housing,
education and health care and receive ration cards that cover basic food
needs, the average monthly state salary is just 408 Cuban pesos, a
little less than $20.
"They would have come either way," said Waldo Fernandez, Cuesta's cousin
and a Miami TV host. "Change in Cuba is temporary, it only lasts about
three days and then it goes back to the same. They [the Cuban
government] have been destroying the country for 50 years, so the last
one off the island had better turn off the lights and leave the Castros
in the dark."
Julienne Gage, FOXNews.com's Sara Bonisteel and the Associated Press
contributed to this report.
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