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Yahoo! June
11, 2003.
BROWNSVILLE, Texas, 11 (AP) - A popular Cuban musician defected and was
granted asylum in South Texas after taking a taxi from Monterrey, Mexico, to the
U.S. border, an immigration official said Wednesday.
Carlos Manuel Pruneda, of the band "Carlos Manuel and his Clan,"
was granted asylum Tuesday after turning himself in to Brownsville authorities
sometime late Sunday or early Monday, said Art Moreno, a spokesman for the
Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration in Harlingen.
After his release from Bayview Detention Center, Pruneda explained that he
left Cuba to find personal and artistic freedom.
"I felt very bad in Cuba. I've really been longing to tour outside, but
couldn't get out," he told Harlingen television station KGBT. "It's
politics. If Cuba didn't gain politically from it, there was no chance of me
bettering my career and the people of the world would never know who I am. It
would be a standstill."
So, after a concert in Mexico City, Pruneda flew to Monterrey, took a cab to
Matamoros, then crossed the border and turned himself in.
The defection had been in the works for a while, said Joe Garcia, executive
director of Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation.
"Someone close to him contacted us about this possibility and we told
him that we would try to be helpful," Garcia said. "But apparently the
situation got out of control in Mexico and he took off."
After Pruneda spoke privately to band members about defecting, some got
nervous thinking about possible repercussions against family members in Cuba and
informed Cuban officials of the plans, Garcia said.
"When he realized the Cuban authorities had word of it, they moved,"
Garcia said.
Pruneda was accompanied by six other people, including his mother, his
cousin and some sound engineers. It was unclear if the others had been released
Wednesday. | 
