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U.S. Immigrants Trapped
In Prison
Bahamians jailed winners
of visa lottery after boat stalled
By Pete Skiba, David Plazas.
Originally posted on February 25, 2006 in
The
News-Press.
Ihovany Hernandez's Cuban refugee wife
sits in a Bahamian prison while he rallies
support to get her out.
The island's government threw Marialis
Darias-Mesa, and David Gonzalez-Mejias,
both dentists, into prison in April after
the boat taking them and 16 other Cuban
migrants stalled in Bahamian waters. They
were picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard and
handed over to Bahamian officials.
"She left Cuba to find freedom,"
said Hernandez, who came to the U.S. two
years ago and settled in Cape Coral. "They
have her incarcerated like a common criminal."
Darias-Mesa and Gonzalez-Mejias had obtained
permission several years ago to migrate
with their families to the United States.
Their families left Cuba, settling in Cape
Coral and Tampa. But the two dentists, valued
professionals in Cuba, were prevented from
making the trip.
Facing miserable conditions at home, the
pair decided to sail to the United States,
joining 16 other professionals who wanted
to leave their homeland.
Hernandez has visited his wife 19 times
since she was locked away. He described
the conditions in the Bahamian prison as
nothing short of horrible.
No water. As many as 400 people crowded
together. No clean clothes. No soap. No
toothpaste.
On his visits, Hernandez brings his wife
supplies.
Hernandez is now pinning his hopes to free
his wife on friends and politicians. He's
gathered in his corner U.S. Rep. Connie
Mack IV, R-Fort Myers; Cape Coral businessman
Kiko Villalon; Gov. Jeb Bush; and U.S. Rep.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami.
All have put word out to the Bahamas that
they would like Darias-Mesa and Gonzalez-Mejias
released. Mack and Ros-Lehtinen said in
a news conference Thursday that unless the
Bahamian government acts soon to free them,
they would begin pushing Congress for economic
sanctions.
"It is horrible that the Bahamian
government has chosen to keep legal immigrants
to this country apart from their families,"
Mack said Friday. "We are going to
do our best to free them."
Darias-Mesa and Gonzalez-Mejias won an
American-government sponsored lottery for
visas. The annual lottery allows 20,000
Cubans to obtains visas.
But winning a visa marks the winner as
against Cuban President Fidel Castro, Hernandez
said. The winners become blackballed from
work.
Hernandez, a meat market manager, escaped.
He now works for DeConte Electric Inc. in
Cape Coral as an electrician. His 5-year-old
daughter remains in Cuba with her grandparents.
The Cuban government held onto Darias-Mesa
and Gonzalez-Mejias because professionals
are in short supply in the island nation.
Their attempt to flee by boat landed them
in the custody of the Bahamian government,
which has an agreement with the Castro government
to return Cuban nationals.
Hernandez hopes that with pressure from
the U.S. government, the Bahamians will
see past that agreement.
"There's just uncertainty," Hernandez
said. "We're told they are going to
be released, and they don't release them."
A Bahamian official said Thursday the government
would make a decision soon about whether
to send the two dentists back to Cuba or
allow them to go to the United States.
Dayami Inda, Gonzalez-Mejias' wife, lives
in Tampa with her 17-year-old son and 11-year-old
daughter. She left Cuba with them in 2004.
Her husband tried the desperate boat ride
because he was not allowed to leave, said
Inda, who has not been able to visit her
husband.
"It really affected my daughter -
she lost a year in school because she is
traumatized," she said.
- The Associated Press contributed to this
report.
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