The Washington Times.
Editorial. September 29, 2000
Bersabe Febles is dying. Earlier this week, she nearly slipped away in
her Long Island hospital. But she has one last wish before she goes: to see her
son, Jorge Febles, whom she left in Cuba in 1968 when he was only 15 years old.
Bersabe Febles had expected a bribe to a government official would buy her son's
escape from Cuba in a matter of days after she fled. But that official
disappeared and with him all hopes of getting Jorge Febles off the island
safely.
Communist regimes have torn apart families the world over — in
Cuba, Korea, Eastern Europe, Africa. But what's remarkable about the Febles case
is that it isn't Cuban dictator Fidel Castro who stands in the way of a visit by
Mr. Febles, now 48 years old and with his own family in Cuba. Instead, officials
at the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service are barring his visit. The
agency won't explain why, but immigration officials told the Associated Press
that in general, even applicants seeking visas for humanitarian reasons must
show strong economic and social ties to their home countries. That would be
quite a challenge for Mr. Febles, since the Cuban regime owns virtually
everything on the island.
Mrs. Febles' 32-year separation from her son must be incalculably
painful. If a deathbed reunion would bring her any peace, then her son ought to
be allowed to visit her. Where are the voices championing her cause? Where is
the National Council of Churches, the organization that worked so vigorously to
have Elian Gonzalez returned to his father in Cuba? The council told editors at
The Washington Times it hasn't gotten involved in the Febles case because no one
has asked the organization to intervene. Did it need an invitation to get
involved in Elian's case?
Reps. Rick Lazio and Peter King, both Republicans from New York, and
Sen. Charles Schumer, New York Democrat, have sent letters to the U.S. Interests
Section in Havana on behalf of Mr. Febles. Mrs. Febles' daughter, who lives in
the United States, maintains that her brother has no desire to emigrate to the
United States. He wants only to see his dying mother, then return to his own
family in Cuba.
Mrs. Febles no doubt thought about her stranded son every day of her
life. Other lawmakers and organizations should support this dying woman's last
wish. Bureaucratic whims shouldn't stand in the way of this reunion.
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