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Christi Naude. News24.com.
December 26, 2002.
Pietermaritzburg - It was another lonely Christmas for Cuban-born Kevin
Pinillo Vazquez (7), who missed out for the third time on celebrating with his
father in South Africa because of apparent red tape at the South African embassy
in Cuba.
According to his stepmother Rosemary, the little boy, who had his bags
packed since August, is distraught, because they kept promising him that he
would spend time with them.
"He has taken ill and apparently has an allergic reaction to the
antibiotics he has been put on."
His father Raul, who is a medical doctor, has only seen Kevin for five
months in the seven years he has been in South Africa.
It was the fourth failed attempt by Raul to get his son to visit. Apart from
the disappointment, it has cost the family about R14 000 in cancelled flights.
Two years ago, the child's passport was retracted by the Cuban government.
The reason supplied by an official was allegedly that "Nongoma, where his
father was working at the time, was not a safe place for a Cuban child".
A second passport to visit was cancelled when Raul obtained South African
citizenship in 2001. No reason was given.
"We then thought it would be easier to get him here by applying for
residence status, as Cuba does not allow dual citizenship."
However, this attempt in October 2002 also failed, when the procedure to
have Kevin's permanent residence status stamped into his passport was said to be
so time consuming and expensive that it would have been cheaper for his father
to fly to Cuba, back to South Africa and back again to Cuba.
Determined to have his son with him this Christmas, Raul and his ex-wife
came to an agreement that Raul would have sole custody.
To make bonding easier Kevin's mother flew to South Africa in August. The
booked ticket once again had to be cancelled when an application for an
emergency passport for Kevin - now a South African citizen - was delayed after
another run-around, in which more documents were required, despite several
visits by his Cuban grandmother to the embassy.
Ronel Lotter at the SA Foreign Affairs Department declined to comment but
referred the issue to the media liaison officer, who was unavailable.
Raul Rodrizuez Vazguez made headlines earlier when he won a High Court
interdict which extended his registration to work as a doctor in South Africa,
after his unlawful dismissal that followed an application for South African
citizenship.
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