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Posted on Thu, Nov. 14, 2002 in
The Miami Herald
Cuban migrants' relatives upset over INS custody
By Luisa Yanez. Lyanez@herald.com.
Relatives of eight Cuban migrants who diverted a Soviet-made plane to Key
West earlier this week grew impatient on Wednesday as their loved ones spent a
third day in immigration custody.
''I'm desperate to talk to them,'' said Mirtha Fernandez, of Hialeah, who
spent hours outside a Miami-Dade health office in Little Havana waiting for the
group to be transported there for health screenings -- the final step of their
processing.
''I don't understand why we can't see them or why it's taking so long,''
said Fernandez, who planned to sponsor two people in the group, her former
mother-in-law, Mercedes Valdez, 54, and Valdez's son, Bernardo Amaran, 37.
Also waiting outside the clinic was Haydee Pimentel, of Atlanta, who plans
to take in her nephew, Aldo Gutiérrez and his wife, Marifleidys.
Under the Cuban Adjustment Act, Cuban migrants are typically paroled into
the community following usually brief INS processing and the health examination.
Immigration officials said the processing time for the eight ''was not
unusual'' and indicated there was no hitch in granting clearance to any of the
four men, three women and toddler girl.
''There should not be a perception that there is necessarily anything
wrong,'' said U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service spokeswoman Maria
Elena Garcia. "They are being processed case by case.''
The group has been separated. The pilot and three other men were being held
at the Krome detention center in West Miami-Dade and the three women and the
girl are at an undisclosed area hotel.
Fernandez said she learned in a phone call that Valdez was among the
migrants aboard the Antonov-2 cargo plane that arrived in Key West Monday
morning. ''She said she was at a hotel and that they were all waiting for
Immigration to finish questioning the pilot,'' Fernandez said.
INS has not officially released the names of the new arrivals.
Cuban officials, who have described the flight aboard the government-owned
plane as air piracy, have identified the pilot as Nemencio Carlos Alonso Guerra,
48, a crop-dusting pilot.
Fernandez said her former mother-in-law and son worked with Alonso at the
Pinar del Río airport, where the escape mission began.
The yellow biplane, equipped with seats for five, landed Monday at Key West
International Airport, escorted in by two U.S. Air Force F-15 fighter jets
scrambled from Homestead Air Reserve Base.
Emotions high at Cuban's appearance
By Michael Vasquez and Tere Figueras. tfigueras@herald.com.
Academia resembled an airport Wednesday night, as Florida International
University hosted a tense forum with a well-known Cuban revolutionary fighter
despised by many in Miami's exile community.
Those who attended the forum, which focused on the relationship between Cuba
and Africa in the years since Fidel Castro took power, were able to hear Victor
Dreke Cruz lambaste the U.S. embargo and tout his nation's contribution to the
welfare of native Africans and Afro-Cubans.
But to hear all that you had to first walk past metal detectors and a group
of police officers guarding the event, which was held at the Wolfe University
Center Ballroom of the school's Biscayne Bay Campus in North Miami.
A handful of Cuban exiles inside the ballroom couldn't hold in their
emotions as Dreke -- a man they blamed for numerous executions on behalf of the
Castro regime -- was introduced to the crowd.
''Asesino!'' several shouted. Later in the program, the chants of
''Assassin'' would surface again, and several people were forced to leave.
Alicia Del Busto was one of the exiles who shouted the word repeatedly at
Dreke. Del Busto, who said she spent 12 years as a political prisoner in Cuba,
called it ''incredible'' that someone so vile should be allowed to speak in the
United States.
''He's a killer, he's a murderer, he's a liar,'' Del Busto, 66, said.
Outside the ballroom, about 20 protesters held ''Assassin'' signs, as well
as one that read "Freedom for Cuba. Helping Castro is a crime.''
But several hundred people at the forum were curious to hear what Dreke had
to say, and the majority of the crowd offered a standing ovation when his name
was first announced. Dreke, now vice president of the Cuba-Africa Friendship
Association, was a close associate of Ernesto ''Ché'' Guevara. Last year
Dreke wrote the book From the Escambray to Congo: In the Whirlwind of the Cuban
Revolution.
To laughter, Dreke emphasized in his speech that he had been granted a visa
to come to the United States. ''It does appear though,'' Dreke said, noting the
protesters, "that some people want to take that away.''
Criticism of the university's decision to invite Dreke resonated in Miami
before the forum started. On Tuesday, Ninoska Pérez Castellón,
spokeswoman for the Cuban Liberty Council, made Dreke's visit the main focus of
her afternoon radio show on WQBA-AM (1140) -- fielding calls from listeners who
bitterly accused the 64-year-old Dreke of committing a host of crimes as a
revolutionary youth.
''I wanted to ask Victor Dreke about the stories the victims told me, like
the beatings at the camps, of young people tied to barbed wire as punishment,''
said Pérez, who canceled her plans to attend Dreke's talk when a relative
took ill.
Dreke, whose visa allows him to stay in the United States until the end of
the month, is spending the tour sharing his experiences during a crucial -- and
controversial -- time in history: as a rebel fighting against dictator Fulgencio
Batista in the Escambray mountains in the 1950s and following Guevara into
Cuba's failed military foray in the African Congo.
He is also here to promote his book, published in English and Spanish by
Pathfinder Press. The company's website calls itself a publisher of
''revolutionary fighters'' against "capitalism, racism, and all forms of
exploitation and oppression.''
FIU's Cuban-born president, Modesto A. Maidique, issued a statement saying
the university must respect the rights of the faculty members who invited Dreke
to attend the forum. ''I call upon all in the community to understand and
respect the liberties that this country offers to us,'' Maidique said.
FIU student Leslie Bazin, who attended the forum, said she was glad to hear
a different viewpoint on Cuba. The allegations that Dreke is a murderer didn't
change her opinion.
''A lot of people can be held responsible for deaths everywhere, including
our country,'' she said. | 
