Cuban Living In San Jose Airport
Finally Allowed To Stay
"I am a free man" were the
words of Cuban refugee José Ángel Roque Pérez who has spent the last
53 days living in the halls of the Juan Santamaria international
airport in San Jose.
Freedon for Roque came from the Ministra de Seguridad, Janina del
Vecchio, who decided to grant the Cuban national refugee status,
reversing a Dirección de Migración decision of January 12, that was
to have the man deported back to Cuba.
Roque thanked Costa Rican president, Oscar Arias, minister Del
Vecchio, as well as the defensora de los habitantes (ombudsman),
Lisbeth Quesada, who had also intervened on the man's behalf and
"everyone involved in my freedom".
The Cuban says he slept on the airport terminal's floor the first
eight days after arriving in Costa Rica and denied entry. From the
floor he moved to a couch provided by airport officials and then a
cot, making a corner of the airport terminal his home for almost two
months.
Roque's plan for the immediate future is to start working with his
cousin at a pizzeria that he owns in Coronado and one day to be able
to be reunited with his family left behind in Cuba.
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