‘I left Cuba in 2004’

after being working in few countries in this sequence: Venezuela, Pakistan, Venezuela again, Colombia, and from that last one I migrated to the USA in 2007, through Cuban Medical Professional Parole, a program started back in 2006. The USA welcomed doctors from Cuba who defected while on assignment in third countries. The program included the same visa for children and spouses of those doctors. Then, I arrived in August 2007 and one month later received my daughter’s visa approved. I performed the negotiations with the Cuban government who decided that to prevent the massive wave of these professionals abandoning such missions, denied my daughter’s “white card” (migratory permit established by Cuba’s government). After investigations, my husband and I made this documentary that featured our migration route and few of our students or colleagues then performed the same journey. Then, Cuba’s government decided to deny the migratory permit to my daughter who at the time was only 9 years old. For four and a half years my father attended every month to an appointment scheduled by this migration officer at this office located at Havana City, and after more than 7 hours each time, each month at the very same office, received the same denial. During that time, every month I believed that finally my daughter would received the approval. As a family we rented an apartment with two bedrooms and created the proper conditions for our daughter. We visited lawyers, and my parents in Cuba, too. We presented the case in front of the cameras and received the USA government support, but the Cuban government did not provide her liberty. We left our daughter when she was 6 years old (in 2004), and she finally returned to live with us at her 14 years of age. I adjusted to wait for my daughter’s arrival, during that time, we worked, and we provided economic and emotional support. We connected through VZO chat, like Skype, the only form of communication through the internet to perform face-to-face communication at least four times per week, in secret, that the Cuban government could never block but I never adapted, for more that 8 years of living without her. Who can adapt to lives away from their children without a reason? Then, our family improves its resilience, our communication, and skills to support each family member. Is relevant to note that during the journey we received our daughter, our parents, my brother, and friends support, all of them provide formal or informal support that enhanced my family resilience.

El Estado de Derecho no va a ser el imposible cubano