Cubans Look for a New Home

EARLY in 1980, a group of Cubans in a truck forced their way into the Peruvian Embassy in Havana. They were seeking asylum so that they could eventually leave the country. Soon afterward, the Cuban government announced that anyone else wanting to go to Peru would be free to leave.

Within two days, over 10,000 people jammed the embassy grounds in the hope of leaving Cuba. Within weeks, the matter had become international news, as tens of thousands more were permitted to leave. About 120,000 went to the United States alone.

The Cuban refugee problem is not new. For years, many hundreds of thousands have left for other lands. Among the countries that have permitted them entry are Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Spain, the United States and Venezuela. Other nations also have indicated that they will take such refugees.

Why Did They Leave?

Why did these refugees leave Cuba? The reasons varied greatly. Some thought that they could find a better way of life in another country. Others came into difficulty because of not being in agreement with the policies of the regime in power and fled the country to escape the problems that followed.

Also, in 1980 the Cuban government decided to take the opportunity to rid itself, on a large scale, of many whom they considered undesirable. For example, after the flow of refugees began, criminals were taken out of jails and forced into the refugee boats to get them out of the country. Others who were considered politically dangerous had the same experience. Some who were known homosexuals were also forced to leave.

Another Type of Refugee

However, among the refugees who left Cuba in 1980 were about 3,000 who were forced out for a different reason. The newspaper News-Times of York, Nebraska, tells about it, saying: “Among the highly publicized groups of criminals and homosexuals who arrived in the United States in the Cuban boat-lift, is another, less publicized group whose only crime is that they continued to worship God in their own way despite the fact that their sect was outlawed five years ago.”

The News-Times identified that group as Jehovah’s Witnesses. It added: “Jehovah’s Witnesses have suffered before under dictatorships for refusing to bear arms and take part in the government in power, things their faith prevents them from doing. In Hitler’s Germany, Witnesses went to the gas chambers along with Jews and other ‘undesirables.”’

But what, exactly, were the circumstances that forced this special group of men, women and children to leave Cuba? What conditions did they endure? What did they leave behind? In the next several pages we will let the Cuban refugees themselves answer these questions as they tell their story.

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CUBA

Port Mariel

Havana

CUBA

TYPICAL of Jehovah’s Witnesses who were forced to leave Cuba was José Tunidor. He relates the following:

“In December 1978, police came to my house, and I was taken away without any explanation. They put me in prison with another of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Ernesto Alfonso. He, too, did not know why he had been put there.

“Later on, they took me back to my house to inspect it. They confiscated the literature explaining the Bible that I had. They also took my typewriter. Back at the prison, I learned that Ernesto had his typewriter and literature confiscated too. Why? We were accused of being antisocial simply because we believed the Bible and talked about its truths to others. We were accused of being dangerous, and the court sentenced us to three years in jail.”

Tunidor was sent to a prison in Aguica, near Colón, in Matanzas province. There he worked in prison until he was transferred to the fields to cut sugarcane. Then he was expelled from the country. He was taken to La Cabaña, a famous prison in Havana, and then to a location near Port Mariel, where he was put on a ship headed for the United States.

Although many of Jehovah’s Witnesses were forced out of the country while they were prisoners, others were collected from their homes and deported. They could not take any of their possessions with them, and, at times, could not even say farewell to their relatives. Herminio Arroyo recounts:

“The police came to our house about three o’clock in the morning, when we were asleep in bed. They had extradition papers with them and told us to get dressed. We were taken to the immigration office immediately and stripped in a search for any valuables. At about 6 p.m. that same day, we and 300 others were put on a shrimp boat to start our trip to the United States.”

Many others of Jehovah’s Witnesses had similar experiences, being visited by authorities at dawn, or before, to force them out of the country. They had to leave with, literally, only the clothes on their backs. Even wedding rings, as well as other valuables, were taken from them.