U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV, a Florida Republican who has been pushing for the release of David Gonzalez-Mejias and Marialis Darias-Mesa, said the two were to be reunited with the families in Florida later Tuesday.
“I’m pleased and relieved that David and Marialis have once and for all been released from their wrongful imprisonment in the Bahamas to live with their families in freedom in the United States,” Mack said in a statement.
Gonzalez-Mejias and Darias-Mesa had been kept in custody in the Bahamas since April 2005, when a boat carrying them and 16 other Cuban migrants stalled in Bahamian waters. They were picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard and handed over to the Bahamians, who have an agreement with Cuban calling for repatriation of Cuban nationals.
Family members said the two decided to flee Cuba after the government of President Fidel Castro refused repeatedly to let them leave for the United States – even though they had obtained visas three years earlier allowing them to emigrate legally. Their families were permitted to leave and had settled in Cape Coral and in Tampa.
Cuba has for years refused exit visas for doctors, dentists and other health professionals who otherwise could migrate legally to the United States.
The Bahamian ambassador to the United States, Joshua Sears, said in a telephone interview that the humanitarian issues were “very compelling considerations” but that the Bahamas was mainly concerned that allowing the two dentists to reach U.S. shores might encourage a massive wave of Cubans to try a similar route. Partly for that reason, the pair was first flown to Jamaica and then to the United States on Tuesday.
“In all of this, we sought to ensure that the Bahamas was not used or perceived to be an area by which persons could freely come, risking their lives, to enter the United States,” Sears said. “It was always understood that the Bahamas would find a solution to this problem, but I don’t think anybody thought it would take as long as it did.”
Enormous pressure was brought to bear on the Bahamas to release the dentists by the U.S. government, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida GOP members of Congress including Mack, U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez and U.S. Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Mario Diaz-Balart. Mack had threatened to pursue economic sanctions, such as making it more difficult for passengers on cruise ships from the Bahamas to clear customs.
“The Bahamas is an important neighbor to Florida and the United States, and we look forward to fostering a strong relationship that will enable us to continue resolving issues of mutual concern in successful partnership,” Bush said in a statement after the dentists were released.
The decision removes a potentially contentious issue from upcoming talks between U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie. Rice is scheduled to visit Bahamian officials next week during a meeting in Nassau of Caribbean foreign ministers.
Martinez, gave credit to the State Department for helping with the two Cubans’ release. He had asked Rice about the issue at a recent Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
“To escape Cuba, with U.S. visas in hand, only to be held in prison cells was unjust and painful to watch,” Martinez said.
By: CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press
