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Wait for U.S. return upsets Cubans

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published May 16, 2006

HAVANA - A group of Cuban migrants who were 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 Matanzas province where they live to Havana, where they will seek an appointment today at the U.S. Interests Section, Ernesto Hernandez said by telephone.

"It has been 48 days; we have the U.S. visa; we have passports," said Hernandez. He said all they lack is the exit permit 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. Hernandez said the approval generally takes 15 days.

In the meantime, Hernandez said, group members have quit their jobs as instructed by Cuban authorities. They have even turned in their monthly food ration cards. "But we remain without a response."

Hernandez was in the group returned to Cuba in January after they reached the abandoned bridge in the Keys. Coast Guard officials decided the old bridge did not qualify as dry land because parts are missing and it no longer connects to U.S. soil. Under the United States' "wet foot-dry foot" policy, most Cubans who reach U.S. soil are allowed to remain; those intercepted at sea are generally returned home. The repatriations caused an uproar in South Florida's large Cuban exile community.

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 Coast Guard acted correctly.

[Last modified May 16, 2006, 09:26:57]