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Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
Mon May 12, 2014, 01:19 AM May 2014

Exiles captured in Cuba during armed infiltrations cannot return to the US

Exiles captured in Cuba during armed infiltrations cannot return to the US

By JUAN O. TAMAYO

The Miami Herald May 11, 2014

Branded as a terrorist by both the Cuban and U.S. governments, Tomas Ramos says he is essentially a nonperson in Havana - ha has no job and no identification papers. But he says he gets lots of harassment by State Security agents.

"We are always persecuted," said Ramos, 70, one of several former South Florida men freed after serving long sentences in Cuban prisons for armed raids against the island in the 1990s - but prohibited from returning to the United States.

Cuban authorities monitor them tightly and with deep suspicion. And the U.S. State Department has denied them visas and political asylum, they say, because of their past involvement in political violence.

"We are watched all the time, even in our private lives. Our lives in Cuba are worth nothing. They can kill us anytime," Ramos said. "And nevertheless, the U.S. does not allow us to go there because they say that we are violent."

More:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/05/11/227145/exiles-captured-in-cuba-during.html#storylink=cpy

8 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Mika

(17,751 posts)
1. Awww. Poor babies.
Mon May 12, 2014, 01:30 PM
May 2014


Rojas said he was denied a U.S. visa because he has no identity document and because of his past. Ramos, Escobedo and another former raider, Jose Benito Menendez del Valle, said they were rejected because of their records of political violence.




Miami needs these cretins like a hole in the head.




Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
2. Not as long as the Cid brothers, the one family crime wave, remain in Miami.
Mon May 12, 2014, 05:22 PM
May 2014

They are so lucky to have their wise exile uncles Delfin and Lazaro to guide them.

 

Mika

(17,751 posts)
3. Keep in mind that IF they were to employ smugglers to Miami and made it ...
Mon May 12, 2014, 08:09 PM
May 2014

... they would be welcomed as heroes, and I'm sure some trolls here would support these terrorist's journey to freedom from the evil island of Dr Castro.

The US's Wet Foot/ Dry Foot policy assures that any and all Cubans who touch US soil get to stay - including Cubans who have failed a US immigration application due to a felony violent criminal record. SWEET! Criminals 'R Us.



Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
4. I never considered this until after seeing your post:
Mon May 12, 2014, 09:20 PM
May 2014

Elian Gonzalez' mother, Elisabet Broton, had been living with an ex-con, Lazaro Munero, who came and went from Florida freely, staying with his brother, and his brother's wife, if you recall, working in Miami, then going back to Cuba to see her and relatives, and then to live with Elisabet, until he got the bright idea he would bring his relatives and Elisabet, who brought Elian, and some other people he brought along as paying customers in his own boat, before it sank, of course.

He had been traveling by boat back and forth before, never taking a traditional route, and I'll just bet HE COULDN'T GET A VISA, either, because he had been in prison for having killed a guy in Cuba in a fight. Homicide.

Strange, but I never thought of that until a moment ago. Lazaro Munero's jail record was probably the reason they all, except for Elian, and the Havana chef, and his girlfriend, went down with the "ship."

Here's the tiny account from the N Y Times:


Survivors of Cuban Boy's Voyage Feel Ignored
Published: November 27, 2000

One of the two people who survived the journey across the Florida Straits with Elian Gonzalez is waging her own international custody battle and says she feels abandoned by the world.

The woman, Arianne Horta, has a 6-year-old daughter, Estefani, who is still in Cuba, and Ms. Horta says she cannot return to visit her or bring her to the United States.

Ms. Horta started to take the child on the ill-fated boat trip to the United States last November but sent her back home at the last minute, fearing bad weather. En route to Florida, the boat sank, drowning 11 people. Only Elian, Ms. Horta and her boyfriend, Nivaldo Fernandez, survived.

''Today, I am glad I did it -- she is alive because of it,'' Ms. Horta said of her decision to send Estefani home.

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/27/us/survivors-of-cuban-boy-s-voyage-feel-ignored.html

[center]

Sign outside Lazaro Gonzalez'
house in Little Havana, Miami. [/center]
 

Mika

(17,751 posts)
5. FYI, the other 2 survivors of the smuggling op (that nearly killed Elian) went back to Cuba.
Mon May 12, 2014, 09:25 PM
May 2014

They didn't like the USA - after all they went thru, they didn't like it. Couldn't earn enough money to afford basics, and were greatly dismayed at the poverty and homelessness in Miami and the lack of helpful resources.




Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
6. Had no idea! Wow. Read an article on them years ago when they were in an apartment.
Tue May 13, 2014, 12:11 AM
May 2014

They were having a horrible, horrible time trying to pay the rent, and buy food, and they were astonished how poor they were.

Nivaldo said he missed the house he had in Cuba. Arianne said she was hoping that somehow she could save enough money they could take a little gift for her daughter, if they could make it home for a visit. They sounded at the end of the rope at the time of the interview.

So they went back, just like the father and mother of the little female "Elian" Joe Cubas attempted to keep in Miami, when her mother was unable to look after her, after her suicide attempt. You may remember the mother begged government officials to please, please let her little girl go back to Cuba to live with her father, who later went to Miami for the trial to get custody.

I'm so interested in learning Elian's co-survivors returned. You can be sure THAT'S a bit of news which didn't make it out of Florida's newspapers.

It's still comical to remember the "exiles" used to claim Cuba would make a "political football" of Elian's ordeal in Miami. Amazing, in the light of their own behavior here, wouldn't you say?

 

Mika

(17,751 posts)
7. Well, the Elian saga did launch several political career$ ...
Tue May 13, 2014, 12:22 PM
May 2014

... and destroyed some others - like the fired police and SWAT captains and officers who cooperated with the INS & Border Patrol's rescue op that saved Elian from those dangerous Cids and their armed "security" thugs. Remember that Miami-Dade's mayor (Alex Panelas) passed a resolution in which the county banned any cooperation by any Miami-Dade agency with any feds regarding any possible rescue of Elian. No commissioner dared vote against it, in that dangerous political climate. The cops were fired in a political retribution (just like they claim happens in "Castro's Cuba&quot .

What an amazingly corrupt city Miami really is.

Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
8. Yes! Penelas did do that, even though it's so hard to believe any mayor would try it.
Tue May 13, 2014, 05:58 PM
May 2014

He also ran off to Spain to avoid being in Miami during the Gore V. Bush vote recount.

What a true gusano.

It's a crime he ordered local police to NOT cooperate with federal law. Who would think a mayor could get by with that, anyway? Sounds like the confederacy, doesn't it? I'm sure he never got as much as a slap on the wrist for his deliberate crime.

Whatever happened to that guy, anyway? He was a real up and coming star before Elian, and then the Presidential election. 2000 was a big year for the creep.

Anyone who just reads the Herald long enough will realize there is a whole other world going on in that town.

There is still a trail of ooze going from Cuba, the country which kicked them out for a reason, to Miami! Their racist, entitled view of "life" fits the corruption in our own government very capably.

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