Bridge migrants wait for approval to leave

Posted on Tue, May. 16, 2006

CUBA
Bridge migrants wait for approval to leave
The 14 Cubans returned after reaching an abandoned Keys bridge have
their applications approved on the U.S. side -- now they're just waiting
for Cuba to give them their `white card.'
BY ANDREA RODRIGUEZ
Associated Press

HAVANA - Cuban migrants sent home after reaching an abandoned bridge in
the Florida Keys said Monday they are becoming frustrated waiting for
final Cuban government approval to leave for good.

Members of the group were traveling from the central province of
Matanzas, where they live, to Havana, where they will seek an
appointment early today at the U.S. Interests Section, migrant Ernesto
Hernández said by telephone.

''It has been 48 days -- we have the U.S. visa, we have passports,''
said Hernández. He said all they lack now is the ''white card,'' the
exit permit that Cubans must get from the communist-run government to
leave the island.

The 14 members of the group applied for the exit permits about six weeks
ago at Cuba's migration office in Matanzas Province. Hernández said the
approval process generally takes 15 days.

In the meantime, said Hernández, group members have quit their jobs as
instructed by Cuban authorities in preparation for their migration to
the United States. They have even turned in their monthly food ration cards.

''But we remain without a response from the Cuban side,'' he said.

Hernández said they decided to travel to Havana to make sure American
officials knew they were still awaiting final Cuban government approval.

U.S. Coast Guard officials determined that the old bridge did not
qualify as dry land because parts of it are missing and it no longer
connects to U.S. soil.

The repatriations caused an uproar in South Florida's large Cuban exile
community.

Under the United States' ''wet foot/dry foot'' policy, most Cubans who
reach U.S. soil are allowed to remain, while those intercepted at sea
are returned home.

A deal allowing most of the Cuban group to emigrate permanently was
reached March 15 between U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno in Miami
and the U.S. government, which had argued that the U.S. Coast Guard
acted correctly.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/cuba/14587753.htm