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Miami
couple held in Cuba since spring allowed to return
to Florida
By Oscar Corral, ocorral@herald.com.
Posted on Tue, Sep. 02, 2003
A Miami couple held in custody in Cuba on cryptic
accusations of espionage for almost half a year
arrived at Miami International Airport Tuesday
morning after being freed by Cuban authorities.
In April, Maria Cardoso and her husband Arcel
took their two daughters, Lizandra Fernandez,
15, and Ashley Cardoso, 7, on a two-week trip
to Camagüey to visit relatives. By the end
of their vacation, Maria and Arcel were in Cuban
custody and their daughters were under house arrest
in Camagüey.
Cuba had accused their parents and an uncle of
espionage, a charge linked to an anti-Castro letter
that security agents found in Maria Cardosa's
bra as she tried to board her flight back to Miami
in April.
Trembling and crying, Maria Cardoso embraced
her son and daughters Tuesday upon her return
at Miami Internatioanl Airport.
Cuban authorities came to her a week ago at the
jail in Villa Marista and told her she could go.
''Being in jail is not easy,'' Cardoso said,
with her arm around her daughter Lizandra and
her son Ruben Manso
Maria went on to explain her arrest in Cuba.
She said her brother asked her to bring a letter
to Miami and she agreed, hiding it in her bra.
She said she didn't read it.
''I didn't want to know about the letter because
it was political,'' she said.
As she passed through metal detectors at the
airport, she said metal buttons on her overalls
triggered a search of her upper body and the letter
was discovered.
She said she was sick in jail and lost much weight.
American authorities never paid her a visit, she
said.
Her husband Arcel stepped off the plane a few
minutes later in Miami. The couple, who relatives
said had been having marital problems, did not
leave the airport together.
After leaving Miami International Airport with
her children, Maria went to church, then to lunch
at a restaurant.
''I just want to be with my family,'' she said.
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