Julio César Gálvez, also a
journalist, 66, sentenced to
14 years and in Madrid for
months now. “For me, who
has spent seven years in
prison and nearly a year in
solitary confinement, this
hostel is a luxury. But for
my wife and my son, who
had a house in Cuba, it’s not.
We all sleep in one room
and bathrooms are shared
with other guests.”
JUAN MEDINA/REU TERS ( 2)
With the ailing Spanish
economy, it is very likely
they will always need
some sort of assistance. In
Spain, unemployment is
around 20 percent. Alejan-
dro González Raga has been
in Madrid for almost two
years and still has no job.
The same is true for all four
Cuban journalists freed
in 2008: “I’m 50 years old.
In such a demanding job
market, even young, Span-
ish workers are struggling.
We don’t even have diplo-
mas because we couldn’t
take them out of Cuba. If I
could, I’d go back to Cuba
right now, even with Cas-
tro in power.”
DISPATCHES
Gálvez is wearing a short-sleeved shirt, “the same one
I was wearing when I was arrested in 2003.” Neither he
nor any of the others owned
winter clothes when they
arrived. For clothing and
small everyday things, they
depend on the generosity
of acquaintances or Cuban
exiles in Miami who send
them money without ever
meeting them. For the basics—housing, food, transportation passes, school
tuition and supplies for
their children—they depend on the generosity of
the socialist government,
led by José Luis Rodríguez
Zapatero.
Of the new arrivals that
have been lucky enough to
get work permits, not one
has been able to find work.
Political Refugees or
Just Immigrants?
Their status as immigrants
in Spain has been a stumbling block for relations
with the government that
facilitated their release. The
dissidents have rejected the
migration formula offered
to them, known as subsidiary international protection, a status granted to
immigrants who flee zones
of conflict but who do not
suffer individual political
persecution. Unlike asylum,
this classification allows
the refugee to return to
his or her country of origin.
For the Spanish Socialist government, what is
important is not how they
Up to 52 families are expected to arrive with at
least three members per
family. That represents
a minimum of 200 people who will be provided
with housing and living
expenses—about $750 a
month, depending on the
size of the family. During
the first months they are
provided with accommodations in the Welcome or
in shelters. Then they are
relocated to apartments.
Once they get a job and can
support themselves, financial aid is cut. The entire
process can take almost
two years.
Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) Organizing Secretary Leire Pajín, left, and Secretary of International Policy and
Cooperation Elena Valenciano, right, attend a press conference
in Havana, Cuba, in September 2010 (top). Spain’s opposition
Partido Popular leader, Mariano Rajoy, delivers a speech to
Madrid’s parliament (bottom).
For these political prison-
ers, their immigration sta-
tus is a moral issue. “Half
an hour before boarding
the plane for Spain, I was
told to sign a paper saying
that I accepted the condi-
tions offered by the Span-
ish government, and, if not,
Almost half the dissi-
dents have opted to halt
the proceedings, applying
instead for their status to
be changed to political refu-
gees. The chances of getting
it, though, are slim. Spain
grants barely 5 percent of
requests for asylum, one of
the lowest rates in the Eu-
ropean Union.
I would not be allowed to
fly. But I’m not an economic
emigrant, I was imprisoned
for my political ideas,” says
Alfredo Pulido, a 49-year-
old dentist with a 14-year
sentence, who has also de-
cided to seek political asy-
lum. His son, father and
two nephews, with whom
he traveled to Spain and
now lives in the southern
Spanish town of Jerez, all
accepted the government’s
offer and already have a
work permit. Pulido has to
wait; he doesn’t know how
long, but he doesn’t care.
“Why don’t they want to
accept that we are political
prisoners? Nowhere does it
say that my sentence was
commuted. I’m an outcast,
a prisoner who cannot re-
turn to his country,” he
complains.
