By William Neuman. New York Post. Wednesday,September 20,2000
Cuban-Americans said they hope survivors of yesterday's plane crash will be allowed to stay in the United States - and that a decision to return them will be met with anger and protest.
"If they voluntarily would like to seek asylum and remain here in the United States, I think they should be granted asylum based on the conditions that presently exist in Cuba," said Union City, N.J., Mayor Rudy Garcia.
"These survivors have gone through a very traumatic experience compounded by the trauma of daily life in Cuba."
Garcia said that several people approached him yesterday as he ate dinner on Bergenline Avenue, the heart of Union City's Cuban-American community, to beg him to intervene on behalf of the crash survivors.
"People are coming to me saying, 'Please, Rudy, do whatever you can to help these people stay here.
"It's a cry of hope, a cry of desperation.
"The reaction is one of, 'God, what can we do to make sure that these people who want to breathe this free air are able to do so?'" Garcia said.
He said that, coming on the heels of the Elian Gonzalez saga, if the crash survivors are sent back to Cuba, "It will compound some of the sadness and disappointment" in the Cuban community here.
"People feel angry, people feel disappointed," he said. "This is the bastion of democracy, to have people treated in that form and sent back to a brutal dictatorship, it's totally unfair."
Cuban-American activist Sergio Gatria said that by noon yesterday, everyone in Union City was talking about the tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico.
"We are waiting for what the government is going to do," Gatria said.
"We're going to take some action because everybody knows if they send the people back to Cuba, these people are going to be in jail, and they're going to be in a very bad situation," he said.
He said that the apparent escape attempt shows how desperate people are to leave the Communist island.
"The people risk every thing in order to leave Cuba," Gatria said. "It's like a big jail, and everyone wants to go out, and people will risk their life."
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