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A FOURTH OF JULY SALUTE TO LADY LIBERTYthan in their native land. In El Salvador, the family lived in a village located near the capital, San Salvador, and enjoyed a middle-class life supported by Julia%u2019s second husband, a coffee farmer. Julia, who said she had two cars and two homes in El Salvador, is now living in a white-walled apartment with curtained doors. A small but strong woman with a very youthful face that belies her 49 years, her move to the United States has put her at an economic disadvantage; her lifestyle is a far cry from the rural comforts she had previously enjoyed. Still, she is a happy woman, whoBecause o f the situation inEl Salvador, it %u2019s good fo rme to stay here. I don Vknow what the future holdsbut I do hope to go back.likes to sing when given the chance, and remains content with the road her life has taken.WANTS TO GO BACKIn contrast, Jose%u2019s intensity is a caricature of the displacement and pain he has felt since leaving El Salvador. He wants to go back, but fears it will never be possible.To both of them, this country is a curious nightmare of immigration proceedings and red-tape; a disappointing destination for people craving political freedom.While Julia originally came to New York to help her son, the two are now becoming part of different American cultures. Julia said she thanks Americans for the warmth they have shown her and her family and is particularly happy with the educational opportunities available to her younger son, Julio. She is comfortable with the horizon, but also thinks it would be nice to return to El Salvador.Julia now works as a clothes sorter at a used clothing factory in Williamsburg. She is adjusting her concerns to the ordinary grind of life in New York City. Right now, she is concerned about the poor state of her apartment, and complains, as most New Yorkers do, about landlord neglect.In his own way, Jose is also trying to become part of the American mainstream. Rather than request permanent residency through his mother%u2019s immigration status, Jose is asking the U.S. government for political asylum. It is a request that is politically motivated. Jose believes that the United States%u2019 support of the Salvadoran government is one of the primary reasons that the conflict has flourished in Central America. So far the U.S. government has refused to grant him asylum, a request Jose believes is no different than that of a refugee from Eastern Europe. He said he is in the country solely for political, not economic reasons.BY LIZ KOCH%u201cSince I came to America, I have learned to be a shoemaker, printer, businessman, accountant, salesman and restaurant worker,%u201d says Dima Medvedev, the Russian-Jewish owner of Aiello%u2019s-Latticcini on Court Street in Carroll Gardens. %u201cThat is a big difference, but only one of the big differences between America and the Communists in Russia,%u201d he says. %u201cIn Russia, they promise you everything but you have no opportunity. In America, they don%u2019t promise you anything, but you have opportunity.%u201dMedvedev came to the United States in 1974, a period in Soviet history when the doors opened a bit and many Jews were allowed to leave the country. But in the years since he left with his wife and daughter, time has not softened his memories or led him to ever regret his decision.Sitting at his cluttered desk in the back room of the Italian gourmet food store that Medvedev and his wife bought two years ago, he remembers his years in the Soviet Union with bitterness and anger. Of his experience in America, he says with a damatic change in tone from anger to gratitude and pride, %u201cI have learned what it means to kiss the stones of your country.%u201dMedvedev speaks of the problems in his country of birth as many-fold. It wasn%u2019t just that he is Jewish, but he also says there is a lack of self-determination that affects almost all people living there. %u201cThe whole problem with the Communist system is that it doesn%u2019t work for the people. They have a very good constitution, as good as constitution in free countries, but it is a law the rulers don%u2019t keep. It is only a piece of paper, for show,%u201d he explains.THREAT OF IMPRISONMENTThe threat of imprisonment, he says, keeps people from standing up and asking why the law is broken. %u201cYou have two laws. You have the constitution that says equal rights and equal opportunity, and then you have the guy on top who is always more right than you,%u201d he adds. %u201cIf no one can stand up and say that something is wrong, if you can%u2019t say no and always have to say yes, then where is there freedom?%u201d he asks, shrugging. %u201cThey can put you in jail.%u201dWhen the Medvedevs emigrated in the early Seventies, they set up house in Passaic, New Jersey, lacking the language, with hardly any money, no profession and no contacts in their new country.In Leningrad, Medvedev had worked for a building company and his wife Larisa had been a beautician, but neither could findDima and Larisa Medvedev (Phoenix/Kirk Photo)In Russia they promise you everything but you have noopportunity. In America they don V promise youanything, but you have opportunity.comparable work here.%u201cI felt very bad at first because I could not find a job and I didn%u2019t know anybody. I was depressed,%u201d he said. He and his wife landed their first job in a printing factory in Paterson, and from that point on Medvedev felt a door to opportunity that had remained closed to him in Russia, was finally open. Earning wages of $2.50 and $2.10 respectively, the husband and wife team began to putaway their money and started an educational processs that had been previously limited.%u201cIn the closed society of Russia, you live without information. You live with no travel education. You read a few books and you learn very little,%u201d he says. Medvedev went to school three nights a week to learn English and to learn to read and write. %u201cI Continued on Following PageThe Spirit o f Liberty Still Shines:Only In America Can Russian ImmigrantsFind Happiness Running An Italian DeliW ith Liberty and Justice for AllFor The Wry Best Chinese Food60 H e n ry Street (corn. C ranberry)522-4531W ishing All OurFriends and NeighborsA Very H appy 4th o f JulySTERLINGWINES & LIQUORS117 Smith Street, Brooklyn NY Abraham Agusto MA4-3810Vinny, Pat, Mary Billy,Dominic and Lou atMR VIDEO IIWish everyone a very happyFourth of JulyWe first saw the Statue in 1914Happy Birthday Lady LibertyIL IT H O G R A P H E R S -P R IN T E R Sn>vi*'ON or /pfr/rY.,540 ATLANTIC AVE. %u2022 B R O OK L Y N. N Y 1 1217191A Court St. 624-4805 SAM PAZNIK 1-718-855-4400MONTAGUE REALTYLong serving the brownstone neighborhoods,The tradition continues.Our professic nal staff welcomes your bu si ness.154 Montague St., Brooklyn Heights 624-6600123A 7th Ave., Park Slope 638-8600P R E S ID E N TCATERING StRVICE * SOb-UtG/ 210 7th Ave. At 3rd St. C on stru ctio n ot the S U lu * ot Llbartyi N ow Yortc 1886(B a rb a ra C o h e n , N e w Y o rk B >und B o o k s )July 3,1986, THE PHOENIX, Page 21