Havana, Friday, 23 October 2009. Year 13 / No. 297

The "American Dream" could have cost them their lives

A CubaNews translation by Will Reissner.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.

Four Cubans, who left Cuba illegally using human traffickers, were kidnapped and tortured upon their arrival in Mexico, and were returned to Havana by air last Tuesday. The story of what they went through at the hands of their captors shows others the cost of trusting one's future to those who only care about dollars.

Joel Mayor Lorán

When he found himself with a bag over his head, leaving him without air, Jorge Arencibia thought of his wife and of the baby he had left behind in Cuba. It seemed that he would never see them again. Seeking his dream of the "American way of life" he experienced only the nightmare of kidnapping and torture at the hands of human traffickers in Cancún, Mexico.

Photos: Juvenal Balán / Julio César hoped to arrive in Mexico and simply say that he didn't have the money, that they would let him go. "But it was not like I imagined it," he states.

He had been sure that the plan was simple: a launch would pick him up, along with others, on the Isle of Youth and would take them to Cancún. Upon arrival there, a family member or representative in the United States would deposit the $10,000 agreed upon; then they would be taken to the border.

But the money did not arrive, so they all suffered hellishly.

BROTHERS? FRIENDS?

Kendry Melenilla left his job as a food service assistant at the La Cubana hotel on the Isle of Youth. On September 1, he boarded a high-speed launch headed for the land of the Aztecs.

He thought a friend of his would help him out with the required amount. "When the captors contacted him he told them that in the present situation no one has that kind of money. He even changed his telephone number and was never heard from again. He was a friend and I thought, as anyone might: 'you and I hung around together since we were kids,' 'when I get there my friend is going to help.' In Cuba he told me: 'don't worry about it, you're my friend,'" Melenilla recounts.

"For some, the family raised $2,000. Others promised to sell their car, or crash it to collect the insurance and send the money to the kidnappers. It is hard to hear someone say 'I am a brother of one of the ones there' and then have that same person respond 'kill him, I don't have the money.... I didn't tell him to come.'

"Only one paid the $10,000, and another escaped, how I don't even know, when we reached land. They took us away at machete point. On the launch everything seemed to be happy, but when we arrived it wasn't the same. When they saw that the process was not working, they took us to the second house and we were tortured there by the same Cubans who had brought us on the launch.

"If your family members don't have the money, they slap you around so they can hear it on the telephone and know that it is real. They put a revolver in my mouth. They cut my ear lobes. They struck me on the back, punched me. One was hitting me so hard that his knuckles started to hurt and he told the other guy to continue.

Photos: Juvenal Balán / Twice Jorge thought that he would never again see the baby he had left in Cuba or talk with his wife: first when they covered his head with a bag and then when they told him that they were going to kill him the next day.

"I would say to anyone who wants to leave don't even think about it. It is not how people think it will be, that everything is marvelous. That's a lie. What you get is the Mafia. The way I always imagined this adventure was that I would climb into the launch, arrive, and, if I couldn't get them the money, they would let me leave. Then I would try to reach the United States and achieve my dream. But it isn't like that. Now I have a different dream, to work. That will be it, because believe me things got very bad."

WE ARE GOING TO KILL YOU

"'Tomorrow we are going to kill you,' they told me and three of the others. Luckily that day the army came to rescue us. I regretted things a thousand-fold, I immediately thought about Cuba," Julio César Urbina Díaz now says.

Kendry is 24; Julio César is 25 and was in his fifth year of his degree course in Physical Education. He gave classes at a polytechnic. This course would lead to a job in INDER. But this was not enough for him. He thought that things would go okay if upon arriving in Mexico he simply told them that he had no money.

"On the launch we were treated well because everyone said they had the $10,000. I hoped they would let me go, and I would struggle to keep moving ahead. But that's not how it was.

"There they took us to a house and demanded a telephone number that they could call. That's when the nightmare began. They didn't give us food, just a handful of beans in a little disposable glass. They gave me electric shocks two and three times, when they wanted to, in addition to the blows, punches, kicks...

"They told you that we would be turned over to the zetas, who would kill us, or they would do it themselves, that they would chop you into pieces and toss you in one of those black garbage bags and nothing would happen because you're undocumented and no one knows about you,

"I did one of the four notes. I wrote that there were 14 kidnapped Cubans and we were being tortured, and that they should call the federal police or the army... And we threw the notes toward the neighbor's patio. Only one made it: we knew that the racket could be heard outside because we were screaming with the torture. They called the federal police whose immediate and decisive action rescued us.

"The fact is that I had treated the trip as a game, and it almost cost me my life. We were held from September 3 to September 13. What a relief to get back here," stated Julio, who took his identity card to Mexico. "They said that it would prove I am Cuban. They say the Cuban has priority."

LIKE ANIMALS

"They told us that carrying the identity card was essential, because we show that we were Cuban at the border and the United States government permits us to cross on the bridge, not like the Central Americans who expend a lot of effort crossing through the river and other places. They treat us better because there are disagreements between Cuba and the United States, said Jorge Arencibia Quevedo.

Photos: Juvenal Balán / Kendry, like the others, was left with planazo marks on his back. [If someone hits you with a machete using the flat part instead of the cutting edge, you're getting a "planazo", ed.]

"It was a temptation because we felt more motivated to get there, without really knowing what we would go through. Today I have a very different opinion. I want to raise my daughter and be at my wife's side. I am coming with such a great desire to see them. I hope to find a job and get back into societal life. It would never even remotely enter my head to leave the country again that way.

"I learned something from the place I was in. There is a saying that explains that in the United States you have everything, but not everyone can get it. Things are not the way they tell you. Once you live through it you understand it better."

He says that with the credibility of his back marked by planazos.

"We were held in two houses: in the first one we were treated a little better. They took us to the second one in the middle of the night. There were 14 people in a small room, 3.5 meters by 4 meters. We were kept in underclothes, in case we tried to flee, and we slept on the floor on some very thin mats."

MIAMI COMES TO MEXICO

They did not directly torture Yunier Rosado Sosa because his brother deposited some of the money. "But I did suffer because they did it in front of me. I felt the pain. I cried, especially because I could not do anything. They were armed. If I tried to do anything they would have killed me.

"They made a deal with my brother: so it wouldn't be $10,000 but $6500, but he was $2,500 short. In the end they took the $4,000 and didn't let me go."

Yunier is also very young. He has a one-year old son named Yoanier. "I am never going to try it again; I heard stories that even with $10,000 they swindle you, and they beat you too. I'm not leaving here again. Now I am going to look for a job again."

You might think that the story ends here but, according to the Mexican press, that country's authorities confirmed that mafia networks from Miami, linked to the narcotics trade, control all the traffic in undocumented Cubans. It is a lucrative business that will continue if others let themselves be bamboozled.

Many articles note that the United States encourages the traffic through its policy of accepting any citizen of the island regardless of how they arrive on American territory. The FBI, always ready to coddle the Cuban American mafia, has so far stayed at arms length regarding the phenomenon.

In July 2008, revelations in the Mexican daily La Jornada documented the links between the Cuban American National Foundation and the Gulf Cartel of drug traffickers and its network of paid killers, known as the zetas, which some years ago expanded its operations to trafficking in people. 

Let's hope that the story of these four young people gives pause to those who dream that money can buy the future.

http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2009/10/23/nacional/artic08.html

Cuatro cubanos, que salieron ilegalmente de Cuba por medio de traficantes de personas, fueron secuestrados y torturados tras su arribo a México, y devueltos a La Habana por vía aérea el pasado martes. La historia de lo que pasaron en manos de sus captores demuestra a otros el costo de confiar su futuro a quienes solo saben de dólares

Había confiado en que el plan era sencillo: una lancha lo recogería junto a otros en la Isla de la Juventud, y los conduciría hasta Cancún. Al llegar allá, un pariente o representante de ellos en Estados Unidos, depositaría los 10 000 dólares acordados; entonces, los llevarían hasta la frontera.

Pero el dinero no llegó, así que todos sufrieron un infierno.

¿HERMANOS? ¿AMIGOS?

Kendry Melenilla abandonó su trabajo como dependiente gastronómico en el hotel La Cubana, del municipio especial. El primero de septiembre tomó una lancha rápida rumbo a tierras aztecas.

Creyó que un amigo suyo lo ayudaría con la suma exigida. "Cuando los captores lo contactaron dijo que en la situación actual nadie tiene ese dinero. Cambió hasta el número de teléfono y nunca más dieron con él. Era un amigo y pensé, como cualquiera supone: ‘tú y yo andábamos juntos desde pequeños’, ‘cuando llegue allá mi amigo me va a ayudar’. En Cuba me decía: ‘olvídate de eso, que tú eres mi amigo’", narra Melenilla.

"A algunos la familia les puso 2 000 dólares. Otros prometieron vender el carro, o chocarlo para cobrar el seguro y enviar el dinero a los secuestradores. Es duro escucharle a alguien decir ‘yo soy hermano de uno que está allá’ y que aquel responda ‘mátalo, yo no tengo el dinero..., yo no lo mandé que viniera’.

"Solo uno pagó los 10 000 dólares, y otro escapó no sé ni cómo cuando tocamos tierra. A nosotros nos dieron plan de machete. En la lancha todo parecía ser felicidad, pero al llegar no fue lo mismo. Cuando vieron que la gestión no daba resultado nos llevaron para la segunda casa, y allí nos torturaron los mismos cubanos que nos llevaron en la lancha.

"Si tus familiares no tienen el dinero, te dan planazos para que lo escuchen por teléfono y sepan que es verdad. A mí me pusieron un revólver en la boca. Me cortaron la punta de las orejas. Me dieron planazos por la espalda, piñazos. Uno me dio tantos golpes que le dolían los nudillos y le dijo al otro que siguiera él.

"Yo le recomiendo a todo el que quiera irse que ni lo piense. No es como la gente piensa, que aquello es maravilla. Eso es mentira. Mafia sí hay. Siempre imaginé esa aventura como que era montarme en la lancha, llegar y, si no podían ponerme el dinero, ellos me soltarían para la calle. Entonces, trataría de subir a Estados Unidos y realizar mi sueño. Pero no es así. Ahora mi sueño es cualquier otro, trabajar. Será ese, porque, créame, la pasé muy mal."

TE VAMOS A MATAR

"Mañana te vamos a matar", me dijeron a mí y también a otros tres de nosotros. Afortunadamente, ese día fue cuando vino el ejército a rescatarnos. Yo me lamentaba mil veces, pensé rápidamente en Cuba, expresa ahora Julio César Urbina Díaz.

Kendry tiene 24 años; Julio César, 25 y estaba en quinto año de Licenciatura en Cultura Física. Impartía clases en un politécnico, este curso comenzaría a trabajar en el INDER. Sin embargo, eso no era suficiente para él. Supuso que sería muy listo si al entrar a México simplemente decía que no tenía dinero.

"El trato en la lancha fue bueno, porque todo el mundo dijo que tenía los 10 000 dólares. Yo aspiraba a que me soltaran, y luchar para seguir adelante. Pero no fue así.

"Allá nos llevaron a una casa, y nos exigieron un número de teléfono al que llamar. Entonces fue cuando empezó la pesadilla. No nos daban comida, solo un poco de frijoles en un vasito desechable. Me pegaron corriente dos y tres veces, las que ellos quisieron, además de los planazos, piñazos, patadas...

"Te decían que nos entregaban a los zetas y nos mataban, o ellos mismos lo hacían, que te picoteaban en pedazos y te echaban en una de esas bolsas negras de basura y, como estás indocumentado y nadie te conoce, no pasaba nada.

"Fui yo quien hizo una de las cuatro notas. Escribí que había 14 cubanos secuestrados y nos estaban torturando, que llamaran a los federales o al ejército... Y las tiramos al patio, a los vecinos. Solo uno puso la dirección; sabíamos que la bulla se oía afuera, porque gritábamos con la tortura. Llamaron a los federales y por su acción inmediata y decidida nos rescataron.

"Prácticamente había tomado el viaje como un juego y por poco me cuesta la vida. Estuvimos secuestrados del 3 al 13 de septiembre. Tremendo alivio al volver aquí", precisó Julio, quien se llevó a México su carné de identidad. "Dijeron que me ampara como que soy cubano. Dicen que el cubano tiene prioridad."

COMO ANIMALES

Nos dijeron que llevar el carné de identidad era fundamental, porque podríamos identificarnos como cubanos en la frontera y el gobierno norteamericano nos permite cruzar por el puente, no como a los centroamericanos que pasan mucho trabajo para cruzar por el río y otras partes. Por existir desacuerdos entre Cuba y Estados Unidos nos reciben mejor a nosotros, declara Jorge Arencibia Quevedo.

MIAMI LLEGA A MÉXICO

A Yunier Rosado Sosa no lo torturaron directamente porque su hermano depositó una parte del dinero. "Pero sí lo sufría porque lo hacían delante de mí. Sentía dolor. Lloraba, sobre todo porque no podía hacer nada; ellos estaban armados. Si llego a dar un paso, me hubiesen matado.

"Ellos llegaron a un convenio con mi hermano: ya no eran 10 000 dólares sino 6 500, pero faltaban 2 500. Al final, se quedaron con 4 000 y no me soltaron."

Yunier es también muy joven. Tiene un hijo de un año llamado Yoanier. "Jamás volvería a intentarlo; he oído historias de que con 10 000 también te estafan, y te golpean igual. De aquí no salgo más. Ahora, volveré a buscar trabajo."

Cualquiera pensaría que la historia termina ahí pero, según la prensa mexicana, las autoridades de ese país confirmaron que redes mafiosas de Miami, vinculadas al narcotráfico, controlan todo el tráfico de indocumentados cubanos. Es un negocio lucrativo que continuará si otros se dejan engañar.

Diversos artículos subrayan que "Estados Unidos fomenta el tráfico con su política de acoger a cualquier ciudadano de la Isla sin importar los medios usados para llegar a territorio norteamericano. El FBI, siempre complaciente con la mafia cubanoamericana, se ha quedado hasta entonces de brazos cruzados ante el fenómeno.

"En julio del 2008, revelaciones del diario mexicano La Jornada documentaron los vínculos de la Fundación Nacional Cubano Americana (FNCA) con el Cartel del Golfo del narcotráfico y su red de asesinos a sueldo, conocida como los zetas, que desde hace unos años extiende sus operaciones al comercio de personas."

Ojalá la historia de estos cuatro jóvenes sirva para disuadir a quienes sueñan que el futuro se compra con dinero.