HAVANA, May 11 (Oswaldo de Céspedes, CPI) – A Cuban customs
official confiscated a gold bracelet from a boy that was leaving the island with
his family April 25. The action was apparently arbitrary if not outright
illegal, and, according to reports, only one of many similar cases in which
Cubans leaving the island become victims of abuses by officials at Havana's José
Martí airport.
Reprtedly, the official processing the family's exit paperwork waved young Lázaro
Montané García's passport and said: "The jewel or the trip?"
This happened in the processing room, after the family had taken leave of
relatives. The official, say relatives, arbitrarily valued the bracelet at 250
dollars and refused to turn it over to relatives remaining on the island.
The child's mother, María Acela García, waited for over 40
minutes for a receipt for her son's bracelet, and had to leave without it. The
official told her they were out of the appropriate forms.
According to reports, a considerable number of workers at the airport have
been sanctioned for similar actions in recent times.
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