Veteran of Iraq War denied trip home to Cuba

U.S. Veterans cares for wounded in Iraq but can’t return to care for sick son

Veteran of Iraq War denied trip home to Cuba

WASHINGTON – Cuban-American Carlos Lazo won a Bronze Star for caring for his wounded comrades in Iraq, but he can’t get to Cuba to care for a sick son. 

Lawmakers from both parties are urging the Bush administration to give Lazo, a sergeant in the Washington state National Guard, an exemption from the strict sanctions imposed on the Castro government limiting family visits to once every three years.

“Surely a hero of the Iraq war who wants to visit his ill teenage son in Cuba is deserving of special consideration,” Sen. Byron Dorgan (news, bio, voting record), D-N.D., wrote in a letter to White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card.

“We trust him in Iraq, but we do not trust him to visit his own family in Cuba,” echoed Rep. Jeff Flake (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., in a floor speech last week.

Dorgan’s office said Lazo’s case was being considered this week by senior officials at the State Department.

Lazo, 40, first tried to escape Cuba in 1988 but was captured by the Cuban Coast Guard and jailed for a year. In 1992 he made it to Key West by raft, leaving behind his two sons, now ages 16 and 19.

In 1998 he moved to Seattle, where he’s a counselor for the state’s social and health services department. He joined the National Guard in 2001 and was trained as a medic because he wanted to help out after an earthquake.

Lazo was sent to Iraq in April 2004. Last November, he was attached to the Marines during the battle of Fallujah, where he earned the Bronze Star for braving sniper fire and mortar rounds while providing medical aid to the troops.

Now an American citizen, he last saw his sons in April 2003. Last June, on leave from Iraq, he flew to Miami with the intent of flying on to Havana, only to learn that the State Department had put a hold on passengers going to Cuba.

He tried again this spring upon hearing that his 16-year-old was suffering from a high fever. The boy was hospitalized for 10 days, then sent home with doctors still uncertain why he was sick. But under rules administered by the Treasury Department, Lazo is not eligible for another trip until 2006.

The Bush administration last June imposed tough sanctions aimed at squeezing Fidel Castro’s government. They included restrictions on the flow of dollars to Cuba, mostly by way of Cuban-Americans, and limits on family visits. Cuban-Americans who previously were allowed one visit a year were told they could return home only once every three years.

“Cubans pray to God that their parents die three years apart so they can attend the funerals,” Lazo told The Associated Press in an interview.

In making his own case, he has become a spokesman for those questioning the effectiveness of the 45-year embargo on Cuba, appearing on TV news programs, writing op-ed pieces and making several trips here to appeal personally to lawmakers.

“I consider myself pro-democracy. That’s what I want for my country,” Lazo said. “Who could be a better ambassador than me? Is there a better way for Cuba to get information about democracy?”

Among his supporters in Congress is Rep. Jim McDermott (news, bio, voting record), D-Wash., who has urged the Office of Foreign Assets Control in the Treasury Department to find a way to grant Lazo a travel license.

“The government has in place a policy which denies the basic liberties of an American hero, and we have not lifted one finger in this House to help Carlos Lazo,” he said in a recent floor speech.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (news, bio, voting record), R-Fla., a Cuban-American and staunch supporter of anti-Castro sanctions, said Lazo was a “great patriot” and she would be happy to help bring his boys to the United States. But she stressed that it’s a two-way street, with the Castro government also preventing reunions. “Anyone who leaves their children in Cuba understands the difficulties” of reuniting, she said.

Flake said he will try to amend a spending bill this week to reverse administration policy restricting travel to Cuba. The House has approved similar Flake amendments three times in recent years and every time, under threat of a presidential veto, the language was removed from the final version of the bill.