Cuban dissidents enjoy new-found freedom in Spain
By ALAN CLENDENNING and JORGE SAINZ
Associated Press Writers
MADRID -- As two more Cuban dissidents flew into Spain, the seven who
preceded them rejoiced Wednesday in their newfound freedom despite an
uncertain future in a nation mired in Europe's debt crisis.
Some of the Cubans still appeared dazed after arriving with just a few
suitcases, or in one case, with no change of clothes. They were
accompanied by wives, children and some older parents, part of 52
activists being released in stages by the Cuban government after being
imprisoned in a 2003 crackdown. In all, 20 are expected to land in Spain.
Lester Gonzalez didn't sleep at all during his first night out of a
Cuban prison, saying that being in a modest Madrid hotel was so
disorienting that he felt "like I'm in a place where I'm dreaming."
"We have to learn to live in freedom," added Julio Cesar Galvez, a
66-year-old journalist.
The two who arrived Wednesday, Normando Hernandez and Omar Rodriguez,
were whisked away from Madrid's airport along with 10 family members to
the hotel where their compatriots were staying. Two others, Luis Milan
and Mijail Barzaga, are expected to arrive Thursday.
An tear-filled reunion played out at the hotel as Hernandez saw his
mother, Blanca Gonzalez, after eight years of separation.
"I have not seen my son since I left Cuba," said Gonzalez, who flew into
Madrid from Miami. "I am very tense, very nervous, very emotional."
Despite mixed emotions over losing their homeland and embracing a new
country, the other seven men were beaming as they went for a stroll
around the city and saw that their arrival Tuesday was front-page news.
Pablo Pacheco fulfilled a lifetime dream by seeing the massive stadium
where the Real Madrid football team plays, and said Yankee Stadium in
New York was next on his list.
But with a brother still imprisoned in Cuba, the 40-year-old journalist
said he could not celebrate yet. And he doesn't plan to apply for
residency in the United States, even though his mother and two brothers
live in southern Florida, because he believes his 2002 application for
political refuge in the United States landed him in prison.
"The U.S. government denied it and then the Cuban government gave me a
20-year prison sentence," Pacheco said. "I don't have anything against
the United States, but that is the reality and it means a lot."
The Cubans said being in Spain was a gift compared to their prisons in
communist Cuba.
The Spanish government is assisting them, but finding jobs may be tough
for the dissidents - most of them journalists. Spain has been struggling
with 20 percent unemployment after a two-year recession and its
journalism industry has seen many layoffs and hiring freezes.
Four Cuban dissidents who came with 13 relatives and friends in 2008 -
when Spain's economy was booming - have had a tough time adjusting and
already want to leave, said Borja Bergareche of the Committee to Protect
Journalists.
"They found life here very hard, and would like either to return to Cuba
as free men, which isn't going to happen, or travel to the United
States," Bergareche said of the four - Pedro Pablo Alvarez Ramos, Omar
Pernet Hernandez, Jose Gabriel Ramon Castillo and Alejandro Gonzalez Raga.
That didn't worry Jose Luis Garcia, a 44-year-old journalist and plastic
surgeon who arrived Tuesday. In just a short walk, he was struck by so
many cars driving by, construction workers at building sites and trucks
delivering goods.
"In Cuba, they talk about an apocalyptic economy in Spain, but I don't
see that here," said Ruiz, who arrived only with a few toiletry items
and the pants and shirt he was still wearing Wednesday. "The only thing
I ask for from Spain is an opportunity to work."
Social workers said they did not know when the Cubans, their wives, a
few children and older relatives would leave the hotel.
Galvez wasn't worried about where he'll live next or whether he'll be
able to find work in journalism because just being in Spain with his
wife and 5-year-old son was a joy.
"After seven years in prison, I can see my boy smiling and playing with
his new toy car and looking at all the cars on the street," Galvez said
with a smile. "The situation is a lot better here than it was in Cuba."
The Cubans, for now, are being cared for by the Spanish Red Cross,
Spain's Commission for Help to Refugees and the Spanish Catholic
Migrations Association.
Each family will be handled individually, and looked after in terms of
health care, maintenance and accommodation. The groups will also try to
help them find work. The Spanish government already provides immigrants
with free medical treatment and education for children.
Despite the deal to free them, the Cuban government has long maintained
that none are prisoners of conscience. It insists they are mercenaries
paid by Washington and supported by anti-Castro exiles in Miami whose
only goal was to discredit the Cuban government. Many of the Web sites
the journalists had worked for were maintained by exiles outside Cuba.
Omar Ruiz, a 62-year-old journalist, said he wants to go to the United
States, where his wife has relatives, but "no one has offered us the
opportunity."
The U.S. Embassy in Madrid declined to comment on individual immigration
cases but said anyone in Spain was welcome to apply for a visa to enter
the United States. The U.S., Spain and Chile offered to take in the
dissidents, but the Cubans said they were only given the choice of going
to Spain or staying in prison.
But the Cubans would likely face no hurdles getting permission to live
in the United States, said Jose Azel of the Institute for Cuban and
Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami, because
Cuban-American lawmakers in Congress would press for them to get visas.
"I don't think for the political prisoners it would be difficult at
all," he said.
Spain has said the Cubans will receive residency permits that allow them
to travel freely.
Contributing to this report: Associated Press writers Harold Heckle and
Ciaran Giles in Madrid, and Christine Armario in Miami.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/14/v-fullstory/1729688/cuban-prisoners-face-uncertain.html
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