By Ray Sánchez
Havana Correspondent
Posted March 1 2007
Matanzas, Cuba ý Lazaro Medina Alpizar said he's never felt so alone.
More than a year ago, he was among 15 Cubans who landed on an abandoned
bridge near Marathon but were repatriated after American immigration
authorities decided they had failed to reach U.S. soil. A federal judge
later ruled they should have been allowed into the U.S. under the wet
foot, dry foot policy.
In the predawn Tuesday, six of those migrants reached Key West. They
were admitted into the United States hours later. Seven others from the
January 2006 journey also were admitted into the U.S. after making a
similar journey from Cuba in December.
"It's just two of us now," said Medina, 37, pushing his 1974 MZ 150
motorbike on a desolate street near the waterfront. "Even if I'm stuck
here alone, I still have my faith. The Bible says faith can move mountains."
The other migrant from the ill-fated voyage to the bridge, Carlos
Enríquez Fernández, 36, is serving a four-year prison term for stealing
meat two years ago, according to his mother, Caridad. She said he had
been free while his case was appealed, but the appeal was denied. He was
arrested in Matanzas about 10 days ago.
Medina, who delivers bottled gas to his neighbors, had stayed in touch
with Enríquez and some of the other migrants, but said he hadn't heard
from Enríquez in a week or two. In their last, brief phone conversation,
he said, Enríquez told him he had something important to discuss but
that he couldn't talk over the phone. "I never heard from him again," he
said.
A federal judge ruled in March 2006 that U.S. officials should have
admitted the migrants, enabling 14 of the 15 to receive travel visas.
But they were waiting for the Cuban government to issue exit permits.
In the year since their repatriation, Medina said, life had become
increasingly difficult for the 15 who became known as the "bridge
Cubans" for their voyage that ended at the abandoned Old Seven Mile Bridge.
"None of us had real jobs," he said. "When you leave the country
illegally and get sent back to Cuba, you're not the same person in the
eyes of the government. They see it as a political issue. None of us
were ever involved in politics. We just wanted a better life."
Cuban authorities consider trips on makeshift boats a crime, and urge
citizens wishing to leave to do so via legal channels. The socialist
government acknowledges a backlog of exit permits, which they require
for citizens leaving the country. But, they say, U.S. immigration policy
encourages Cubans to make the dangerous trip, by allowing those who
reach dry land to apply for permanent residency.
"I simply wanted to leave for economic reasons," said Medina, who
previously worked at a gas station for about $10 a month. "I have
relatives in the United States."
Wednesday morning, Medina rode his motorcycle to the Cuban immigration
office in Matanzas to inquire about his exit permit. "They didn't have a
response for me," he said. "They told me to come back next week."
Medina said he was surprised his friends ventured out again on the risky
journey across the Florida Straits. "The first trip was horrible," he
said. "They must have given up hope."
Asked what he would have done given another chance to leave with his
friends, Medina thought for moment. "I would have left with them," he
said. "I would be over there right now."
Ray Sánchez can be reached at rlsanchez@sun-sentinel.com.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/cuba/sfl-amedina01mar01,0,3797828.story?coll=sfla-news-cuba
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