Jim Burns, CNS News.com.
Friday, June 22, 2001
In what some are calling shades of the Elian Gonzalez case, the guardians of
a 4-year-old Cuban girl whose father defected to the United States last year are
trying to reunite the child with her father, an effort being stalled by the
Castro government.
Dr. Leonel Cordova defected to the U.S. last year after escaping from a
Cuban medical mission in Zimbabwe. Since then, however, the girl's mother,
Giselle Cordova, was killed in a motorcycle accident last weekend just blocks
from her home in Cuba.
Cordova told CNSNews.com in an interview from Miami that Reps. Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., have requested that the
U.S. State Department talk with the Castro government in hopes of reuniting him
with his daughter and 11-year-old Yusniel, Cordova's son from a previous
marriage.
"The Cuban government hasn't produced even a word about my problem, and
I'm really concerned about it," Cordova said.
"We are working with the U.S. Interests Section [in Havana] to get them
out. But it all depends on whether the Cuban government decides to let them
leave or not," said Yanik Fenton-Espinosa, spokesman for Diaz-Balart.
"They need to get the white card, which is the exit visa. They need an
exit visa to get out of Cuba because they are Cuban nationals,"
Fenton-Espinosa said.
She said the congressman's office was making a humanitarian case for the
children to leave Cuba. "As far as I am aware, Dr. Cordova's wife and kids
did have the visa to come here, but then when the mother ed away, that's
when the problem began."
Larry Corwin, a spokesman for the U.S. Interest Section in Havana, confirmed
receiving correspondence from Diaz-Balart's office, but said little else. "We
really can't comment on pending immigrant cases like that," Corwin said.
Cordova also said the efforts of the U.S. government were being augmented by
Church World Services, the organization that was instrumental in transporting
him to the United States after his defection.
National Council of Churches, a group that was actively involved last year
in sending 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez to Cuba, said Thursday it was not yet
involved in Cordova's case, according to spokeswoman Carol Fouke.
"We'll also have to talk with the Cuban Council of Churches because we
deal from council to council," Fouke said.
Copyright CNSNews.com | 
