Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 4 OctOber 2017

After attacks on US diplomats, Cubans’ visa hopes in limbo

By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ was indefinitely suspending
Associated Press visa processing in Cuba.
HAVANA (AP) — Tomas The move was attributed
Luis Balseiro got up at 5 to a roughly 60 percent re-
a.m. Monday to make the duction in embassy staffing
90-mile (150-kilometer) bus after 21 diplomats were left
journey from his home in with serious health prob-
Matanzas to the U.S. Em- lems by mysterious attacks
bassy in Havana. that have yet to be fully ex-
He had applied weeks ago plained.
for a visa to visit his gravely The U.S. government also
ill mother in Florida, and issued a travel warning
hours later he was waiting for the island, potentially
desperately outside the threatening the livelihoods
gates of the seaside diplo- of thousands of Cubans
matic mission for a chance who run private restau-
to get inside — or simply to rants and home B&Bs ca-
learn the status of his appli- tering to tourists, a group
cation. that increasingly includes
“For me it would be a victo- Americans following a
ry just to see her alive,” said nearly three-year-old, par-
Balseiro, a 60-year-old food tial thawing of relations
salesman, his eyes moist. that have been icy since
Thousands of islanders the Cold War.On the first Tomas Luis Balseiro shows a picture of his mother, who’s ill in the United States, as he waits outside
the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Oct. 2, 2017. Balseiro applied weeks ago for a visa to
have had their travel plans business day since the an- visit his gravely ill mother in Florida, and hours later he was waiting desperately outside the gates
thrown into limbo by the nouncement, about 300 of the seaside diplomatic mission for a chance to get inside — or simply to learn the status of his
U.S. State Department’s an- people milled about in application. “For me it would be a victory just to see her alive,” said the 60-year-old food sales-
nouncement Friday that it what is known as the “park man, his eyes moist.
(AP Photo/Desmond Boylan)
of laments,” a small plaza U.S. officials have not iden- allowed to pick them up.
near the embassy where vi- tified whatever device About 2 million people of
sa-seekers wait for appoint- might be responsible. They Cuban origin live in the Unit-
ments.Associated Press have pointedly not ac- ed States, and just about
journalists spoke to about a cused Cuba’s government everyone on the island has
dozen people there, all of directly of culpability, while some family connection to
whom worried that families criticizing it for failing to the country.Balseiro’s par-
separated by the 90 miles protect foreign diplomats ents moved there in 1993
(150 kilometers) of the Flori- on its soil.The AP reported during a severe economic
da Straits stand to suffer the Monday that the attacks crisis, settled in Florida and
most.“My mother cried on hit first — and hardest — found jobs as factory work-
the phone when we talked among the United States’ ers before retiring. Balseiro
Friday,” said Carlos Sierra, spy network in the country. stayed behind to raise his
a 31-year-old restaurant Beginning in the morning, two children.Now in her
worker whose hopes for a the “park of laments” filled 80s, his widowed mother is
family reunification visa to up with people visibly on alone following hip surgery
join his parents in the United edge and chatting with and suffers from dementia.
States are now on hold. each other to see if anyone He has already traveled
He had hoped to find a had any information. Some twice to the United States,
job there and send money paced about with their and on Monday he carried
back to his wife and 6-year- heads down, while others a white folder with pictures
old son. “For now,” Sierra sat on narrow benches in of his mother and letters
said, shaking his head, “the the shade. from hospitals where she
only thing I can do is wait.” Three embassy staffers has been treated.
Cuba’s government has emerged to ask everyone Balseiro had actually suc-
criticized the U.S. response to be patient before a ceeded in getting an
as “hasty” and expressed fourth came out to line up emergency visa appoint-
regret it was implemented those who had been sum- ment for Sept. 19, but the
before investigations yield moned by phone. They embassy closed for days
conclusive results about were the lucky ones: Their around that date when
the attacks. President Raul visas had been approved Hurricane Irma swamped
Castro’s government has prior to the announce- Havana’s coast and dam-
denied responsibility. ment, and they would be aged the building.q