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By Maria Newman
NY Times, October 28, 1998
UNION CITY, N.J. -- It was a day for pride, more than for politics, when
Orlando (El Duque) Hernández, the Yankee pitcher, paraded down Bergenline
Avenue here Tuesday, in the heart of Cuban and Hispanic New Jersey.
But for many of those lining the bustling commercial strip, waving Yankee
banners and Cuban flags, El Duque's story, his escape from Cuba on a raft and
his success as a World Series pitcher 10 months later, represented a
bigger-than-life version of their own immigrant experiences.
"The Yankees play in the House That Ruth Built," said Rudy Garcia,
Union City's Mayor, who is also a Cuban immigrant. "But today he is coming
to the Street That Immigrants Built, Bergenline Avenue."
Union City and the surrounding towns across the Hudson River from New York
City have the largest concentration of Cubans outside of Miami, as the Mayor
likes to point out, and they have become a magnet for immigrants from other
Latin American countries like Mexico, Ecuador, El Salvador and Nicaragua. An
estimated 70 percent of the population of Union City and West New York is
Hispanic, and along Bergenline Avenue, businesses with names like Gonzalez H.S.
Fabrics and Mi Bandera Restaurant, owned by Hispanic immigrants, have produced
an economic boom in the area.
Mr. Garcia said he was originally going to offer Mr. Hernández the
keys to the city, but somehow that didn't seem enough in an area where people
felt he was one of their own.
"Obviously, we feel a great deal of pride in El Duque," Mr. Garcia
said. So he and Mayor Albio Sires of West New York, also from Cuba, decided to
give Mr. Hernández a parade.
"He exemplifies two virtues important to the Cuban community," Mr.
Garcia said. "One is his love of freedom. He risked his life to get out of
Cuba on a raft. Two is his love of family. A lot of Cubans are separated from
their families and it is a result of Fidel Castro's tyranny."
Mr. Garcia was referring to El Duque's two daughters, his mother and his
former wife, who were allowed to leave Cuba by Mr. Castro after the intercession
of John Cardinal O'Connor and others. The family has a 30-day visa, but
officials are working to extend their stay.
Some who lined the 30-block route along Bergenline Avenue -- the police
estimated that the crowd, which was packed several deep at some points, grew to
5,000 -- waited more than two hours in the gray afternoon. When Mr. Hernández
finally came by, in a float decorated in white with Yankee blue trim that
practically flew down the street, they barely caught a glimpse of him and his
family. But no matter. They beamed and cheered nonetheless.
"He's a Hispanic who is trying to move the community forward,"
said Lorena Fuentes, who is from Guatemala. "It's nice to have someone
represent us. He's a man everyone admires because he brought his family here."
As Mr. Hernández's float passed, followed by limousines full of
dignitaries, cheering people crowded around and ran after it.
The parade drew teen-agers, grade-school children and older people. Many
knew that El Duque's half-brother, Livan Hernández, also defected from
Cuba and joined the Florida Marlins in time to help them win the World Series
last year.
But like many heroes, El Duque has already been mythologized to the point
where some versions of his story were not backed by facts.
"He came here to play for the Yankees to get enough money to get his
brother out of jail," said Mrs. Fuentes's son, Carlos, 10, who wore a
Yankee hat and shirt.
Yasser Warrad, 14, pedaled several blocks on his Dino racing bicycle from
his home to Bergenline Avenue, carrying his half-brother, Carlos Pico, 12. Both
of them are from Puerto Rico, they said.
"It's illegal to go on a boat from Cuba," said Carlos, awed by El
Duque's story. "I'm glad they let his family come."
A sign atop a blue Chevrolet station wagon spoke for many in the crowd. It
said, in English and in Spanish, "To El Duque: God Bless You, Your Family,
the Yankees, and God Bless America."
"I am a grand fanatic when it comes to the Yankees," said Leonardo
Gutierrez, 53, from Puerto Rico, a Hudson County employee who made the sign. "I
am a fan of El Duque because he brought his family over. That is a beautiful
thing."
Aymara Watson, who came to North Bergen from Cuba in 1995, said she
remembered seeing Mr. Hernández pitch at Latin American Stadium in Havana
before she left the country.
"He was a real loss to Cuba," she said. "But for us it is
such a thing of pride, and in such a short time."
In Cuba, she said, everyone suffered economically, even champion athletes
like Mr. Hernández.
"He probably earned enough to buy his girls one pair of nice shoes
each, but he probably still had to stand in line for the bodegas like everyone
else."
As Mr. Hernández flew by on his float, Enio Martinez, 67, watched
quietly, a Yankee cap on his head and his hands in his pockets. Mr. Martinez
said that when he was a restaurant owner in Cuba in the 50's, he traveled to New
York just to watch a Yankees game. After Mr. Castro took over, Mr. Martinez
became disillusioned "with the new regime," as he called it, and
worked in the sugar cane fields for two years to earn permission to leave the
country.
"I lost everything in Cuba," he said. The government had taken
over his business and expropriated his home. He was allowed to leave with his
wife and two children. But he never saw his mother again.
Mr. Martinez reflected on Mr. Hernández's quick success in the United
States, and he and his daughter, Mercedes Blanco, laughed when they could not
remember whether the Yankee pitcher made $6 million or $9 million.
"By coming here, he won something even bigger," Mr. Martinez said.
"His liberty."
Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company |