Cuban dissident Ramón Arboláez has cancer. U.S. should no longer deny him entry | Opinion
In a heartless world, no one suffers more than would-be migrants to the United States. Believing the promise of the Statue of Liberty, millions have come to our shores seeking freedom and opportunity. Yet, today that promise has been broken. Thousands risk their lives, only to be turned back into Mexico, without even being given a chance to explain the reasons why they and their families have taken such perilous journeys to reach our shores.
No case better illustrates the pull of America and its tragic reality than that of Ramón Arboláez, his wife Yaneisy Santana Hurtado and their three children. Four years ago, Arboláez a human-rights dissident who was jailed several times, fled Cuba. After seeking shelter in nine countries and crossing the Panamanian jungle on foot, he and his family arrived at the U.S. border, only to be denied entry.
Now, a year after arriving in Mexico, Arboláez is dying of cancer. He has lost 35 pounds and survives only on liquids. A team of doctors awaits his arrival at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Friends have filed for a humanitarian parole, and his lawyer has requested that it be expedited. Yet, he and his family remain in Mexico, pleading their case through the media and praying that their long journey will not end in tragedy.
Until 1994, every Cuban was allowed into the United States regardless of their background or whether they arrived legally or illegally. After a mass migration of some 30,000, the Clinton administration put into place the infamous “wet foot, dry foot” policy that permitted only those Cubans who set foot on U.S. soil to remain. President Obama, believing that his opening to Cuba would promote more opportunity on the island, modified these regulations. Beginning in January 2016, Cubans — like people of every other nationality — had to enter legally or prove they were fleeing persecution.
Republicans and Democrats alike have continued to welcome refugees from Cuba and around the globe. The Cuban opposition has always counted on America to succor them, when their activities in defense of freedom made it impossible for them to remain in their country. Yet, in the Arboláez case, the Trump administration appears to be turning its back on this long and sacred tradition.
Guillermo Fariñas, the leader of a well-known dissident movement of which Arboláez was a member, recently said in a phone call that it would be a “disaster” for human rights in Cuba if the United States continues to deny Arboláez entry. This administration, as well as each one since the Cuban Revolution, has encouraged dissidents’ activity in Cuba and thus has an obligation to them. When the Trump administration withdrew embassy personnel and shuttered the refugee-processing center in 2018, it became even more critical that Cuban human-rights activists be given expedited entry into the United States.
The Arboláez family deserves our compassion and our admiration for their long struggle to find a safe home. Justice can no longer be delayed, for to do so would be justice denied and, very possibly, a death sentence.
Ambassador (ret.) Vicki J. Huddleston was head of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, Cuba, from 1999 to 2002.
