Published Thursday, July 5, 2001 . Miami Herald
Leonel Córdova's reunion with his children this week was both joyful
and tearful. He was ecstatic to see Giselle, 4, and Yusniel, 11, whom he had
missed dearly since leaving Cuba on medical assignment to Zimbabwe last year.
Yet it took the tragic death of his wife, Rosalba González, to bring the
children here.
That's because the Cuban regime, as it does routinely, had withheld exit
visas for Mr. Córdova's family because he had defected in an
international incident that embarrassed the regime. Later, the United States
granted him asylum and his family U.S. visas to join him, and he began to wait.
Many other defectors and dissidents whose families have had U.S. visas have
waited for years for permission to leave Cuba. Activist Milagros Cruz Cano left
Cuba in 1999, but the regime won't allow daughter Nohemí, 9, to join her.
José Cohen, once in Cuban intelligence, has waited for his wife and three
children since 1996.
When Mr. Cordova's wife died in a traffic accident on June 17, however,
comparisons to the Elián González case were inevitable. Media
exposure began to build, and exit visas for Giselle and Yusniel appeared. May
attention now free all the children held hostage by a vindictive regime.
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 
