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A FOURTH OF JULY SALUTE TO LADY LIBERTYih e Spiritof Liberty Still ShinesModem immigrants crane to the shores of the United States forreasons as varied as the countries that spawn them and as complexas the political situations they flee. These modem-day arrivals arenot always your poor or your hungry, and, although it is U.S. soilthey seek, not all are especially enthusiastic about the country inwhich they seek refuge.Salvadorans Julio Rosa and his mother Julia, ironically, opposeda regime supported by the United States and blame the U.S.government for many of the troubles they fled. The U.S. has stillnot granted Julio Rosa asylum, although he has applied for itnumerous times in the five years he has been here.Others, like Cuban refugees Amaldo Perez and his family, opposed the Castro regime and came to the United States because theyknew this country would provide a safe haven.For Polish Solidarity worker Zbigniew Nioeczym %u2014 offered by hishomeland banishment to the west or imprisonment %u2014 the UnitedStates has provided both freedom for him and his family and thechance to continue his fight for the Polish underground.The Medvedevs, a Jewish family from the U.S.S.R., escaped fromanother kind of oppression %u2014 religious persecution. Grateful for theenvironment offered here to Jews, they also praise the U.S. for itsopportunities.Haitian transplants Marie and Christian Barometre came not justseeking freedom from oppression, but for economic opportunity.Their arrival preceeded the ousting from power of Jean-ClaudeDuvalier by a number of years.A more complicated story is that of Sunheng Than of Cambodia.Narrowly avoiding the plight of many of the Southeast Asian %u201cboatpeople,%u201d Than%u2019s adventures make movies like %u201cWhere EaglesDare%u201d and %u201cThe Magnificent Seven%u201d look like Disney re-runs.Families have been ripped apart by oppression in other lands,and soldered together in America, looking for not only freedom, butstability. It is a continuing process as America opens her doors tothe new immigrants, one that will be tested as the Statue of libertylights the way through another century.The sagas of these late 20th Century immigrants greeted by LadyLiberty will challenge the imaginations and analytical expertise offuture historians. Like many other aspects of modem life, %u201csafeharbor%u201d no longer means simple happy endings. But it is a place tobegin once again. %u2014 Vicki Moss.The Spirit o f Liberty Still Shines:Cuban Refugee Risks His Life To Find A Gold Palace In United StatesBY TRACY GARRITYSome 25 years ago Amaido Perez delivered himself into God%u2019s hands to escape a Communist regime in his native Cuba that had stripped him not only of his God, but also his future.Perez, then 17, and six other refugees boarded a small boat in September, 1962, pointed toward America, embarking on an adventure that threatened both the lives and spirits of the seven men. %u201cIn September the seas in the Caribbean are very rough,%u201d remembers Perez. %u201cThere was a storm and we were left without gasoline for the boat, or food to eat. We tried to row the boat but it was too difficult. We prayed and went wherever the sea took us.%u201dFor 15 days the 18-foot boat, a craft that Perez says he knew even then was not seaworthy, drifted on the ocean. Perez and his boatmates signalled ships that passed by them, but no one stopped. %u201cThey were very large and we were very small. They just didn%u2019t see us. We didn%u2019t know where we were, or where we were going. But we knew that there was nothing for us in Cuba, so we had to escape.%u201dThe days were so hot that Perez%u2019s dark skin blistered and peeled, and the nights so cold the seven would huddle together and shiver. For 15 days they drank their own urine to stave off dehydration, and ripped their clothes to shreds to plug the holes in the boats. %u201cWhen it rained we had to take small cans and empty the water from the boat or it would have gone down.%u201dOn the 13th day Perez made a spiritual pact with LaCaridad del Cobre (Our Lady of Charity) that if he survived he would celebrate a yearly mass in her honor. %u201cOn that same day we were able to catch some fish to eat raw, and we were able to drink the blood for our thirst.%u201d Two days later an American fishing boat spotted the dilapidated row boat and rescued the sick and starving Cuban refugees.%u201cI didn%u2019t speak a word of English at that time,%u201d says Perez. %u201cBut I remember the name of the boat, the Silberbay, and the name of the captain, Milton Floyd. I remember it like it was yesterday,%u201d says Perez. The fishing boat took them to Jacksonville, Florida, where city officials put them on a plane to Miami, eventually arriving at a Cuban refugee camp and medical center. Perez weighed 70 pounds when he arrived and his feet were so swollen that he could not wear shoes. It took 12 days of medical attention to make him well enough for the flight to New York City, and Brooklyn.Amaido Perez (Phoenix/Kirk Photo)-------- ------------------ + %u201e .......... 1 -----------i _ i v . . . m ______ i r t n c i v %u00bb r w j U A i u i m u n u r v e r r c / c i k j i r r u n v u i g u a j < u t o i cboat or fo o d to eat. We tried to row the boat out it wastoo difficult. We prayed and went where the sea took us.Now, sitting in the air-conditioned splendor of his store, The Gold Paiace, on Court St., Perez says he is a man of two countries. Cuba, which gave him life, and America, which gave him a future.He became an American citizen in 1970, but he says he has not forgotten the country where he was bom. %u201cI was a farmer there,%u201d he says. %u201cGrowing chicken and cows and potatoes. A little of everything.But Cuba changed once the Communists took over. You couldn%u2019t speak against the government or they would kill you.%u201dSHOT BY MILITIA MAN In fact, says Perez, his sister, Nora Perez, remarked that she didn%u2019t like the government to a militia man in Havana. %u201cAnd he shot her in the head. One bullet. She was holding her baby at the time. She was only 19. But they thought she was a problem. I knew then that I could not stay in a country like that. Hie man did not go to jail. Nothing happened to hm. But my sister was dead.%u201d It was then that Perez decided to escape.%u201cWe were expecting the Americans to come and save us,%u201d he remembers. %u201clike the cavalry. But they never came. I would listen to the Voice of America while hiding in the hills, waiting to hear that they were coming. But they didn%u2019t. So I bought the boat for 800 pesos, and planned to come to America.%u201d It was a year before that dream came to fruition. But now, Perez says America is indeed the land of opportunity that he had heard rumors about. For centuries immigrants have travelled to these shores to find a better way of life, and Perez says that his dreams have more than come true. But it was not without hard work.HAVE TO WANT IT %u201cI think that when some people come to America they think it will be easier,%u201d he says. %u201cBut it%u2019s not easier. The opportunity is there, but you have to really want it. You have to be willing to work. In Cuba, now, isn%u2019t so. If I was there I don%u2019t know what I%u2019d be doing, so I%u2019m very happy to be in America.\Perez%u2019 hard work began almost as soon he stepped off the plane in New York City. %u201cThey gave me $60 for emergency money, and some clothes,%u201d says Perez of immigration officials. %u201c1 had to work two full-time jobs to make money, and still cleared onlv $42 a week. It was hard work.%u201d Perez began working in a factory at 360 Furman Street on the day shift, and worked sweeping floors in a cafeteria in Manhattan at 6pm. %u201cIt took six months, but I sent the U.S. Government back their $60.%u201d DuringPage 16, THE PHOENIX, July 3,1966