Another custody struggle waged in shadow of EliÃ¡n

Woman leads lonely fight for daughter in Cuba MIAMI - The yellow tent sits on the corner of a busy intersection where Cuban flags flap above images of Jose Marti, a small inner tube

Tuesday, April 18th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Woman leads lonely fight for daughter in Cuba

MIAMI - The yellow tent sits on the corner of a busy intersection where Cuban flags flap above images of Jose Marti, a small inner tube in honor of the thousands of Cubans who have fled the island by raft, and a statue of Cuba's patron saint, La Caridad del Cobre.

The tent, at the Little Havana corner called Plaza de la Cubanidad, the Cuban Plaza, is headquarters for Milagros Cruz Cano, a blind 32-year-old woman on a hunger strike.

Her mission: to have her 9-year-old daughter, Nohemi Herbello Cruz, join her in the United States.

Although she has received some local attention by the media, it does not rival the international gathering of journalists just blocks away in front of the house where EliÃ¡n GonzÃ¡lez, the 6-year-old at the center of a protracted legal battle, is staying.

Ms. Cruz, who arrived in the United States about a month before EliÃ¡n made the headlines, was taken to a hospital Saturday, suffering from dehydration. She was released late Monday and was back in her tent by day's end.

And while Cuban-American celebrities such as Gloria Estefan and Andy Garcia publicly demand that EliÃ¡n remain in the United States, Ms. Cruz continues her sometimes-lonely vigil.

"I need the exile community to support me, too," said Ms. Cruz, who has been separated from her daughter since she arrived in this country in October.

"I decided to go on hunger strike because I saw the days go by with no progress in my case," Ms. Cruz said from a hospital bed before she was released. She was admitted on her 26th day of fasting. "I'd rather die of hunger than have to wait an infinite number of years to be with my daughter."

Seeking support

As she complained about the lack of public support, a bouquet of pink roses was delivered to her room. A get-well card, signed on behalf of the Cuban-American community, said: "Milagros, if God is with us then who is against us?"

"I wish I could resolve this problem with flowers. I'd bring you a whole garden," Armando DoÃ±as, a friend who has been keeping watch over Ms. Cruz, said as he helped set the vase on a table.

"This is a historic effort, but perhaps it will have little effect. Fidel Castro is the one who has to let your daughter go. There is little we can do here," said Mr. DoÃ±as, 44, a member of Alpha 66, a longtime anti-Castro paramilitary group that is supporting Ms. Cruz's hunger strike.

"If Cuba doesn't feel pressured by public opinion, they won't do anything," Ms. Cruz said. "I have to win over national and international support. The only difference between my daughter and EliÃ¡n is that EliÃ¡n is here and my daughter is over there.

"It's not that I don't support EliÃ¡n, but I need help, too."

Ms. Cruz stopped eating on March 20, just as publicity intensified over EliÃ¡n's case.

EliÃ¡n was rescued in late November after a boat wreck that killed his mother and 10 others. Authorities have ruled that EliÃ¡n belongs with his Cuban father, who is waiting for him in Washington, D.C.

No ruling yet

Monday came and went in the EliÃ¡n case with both sides in the drama waiting for a crucial ruling from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. The court has issued a temporary ban on EliÃ¡n returning to Cuba. EliÃ¡n's Miami relatives last week defied an order by Attorney General Janet Reno to turn EliÃ¡n over to his father.

Ms. Cruz came to the United States on Oct. 19, after convincing U.S. authorities that she was the target of political persecution. In a 1994 agreement designed to discourage illegal immigration, the United States said it would take at least 20,000 immigrants a year from Cuba, including several thousand political refugees.

Her daughter and mother also were issued visas to travel with Ms. Cruz to the United States, but Cuban authorities declined permission for their departure.

"They didn't even let me bring a picture of my daughter because they said I would use it for propaganda against the Cuban government," said Ms. Cruz, who said she believed her life was in danger and chose to leave Cuba. "They let me bring my two dogs, but they said there was no way I would come with my daughter."

Ms. Cruz, who was born with epilepsy and lost her vision at the age of 10, said she has always been rebellious and did not like life under Mr. Castro.

As a youngster, she refused to wear a red kerchief worn by members of a Communist youth organization.

The oldest of three sisters, she grew up listening to Spanish-language radio transmissions from Miami and often heard her mother complain about life in Cuba.

She also wrote a poem in Braille that said life was much better before Mr. Castro launched his revolution in 1959.

Her troubles with the Cuban government intensified in 1992 when she publicly denounced human-rights abuses in Cuba via radio transmissions to Miami. At public gatherings in Havana, she would would shout "Abajo, Fidel" ("Down with Fidel").

"That didn't go over well," Ms. Cruz said. "They put me into a mental institution to make me look like I was crazy." She was detained eight times and institutionalized twice, she said.

"I never thought I'd be coming here for political reasons," she said.

At 22, Ms. Cruz became pregnant. But she separated from the child's father, who remains in Cuba. Her mother is caring for her daughter.

Lawmakers' role

Members of Congress such as Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, both Miami Republicans, have promised to help but have had little success. Both of the Cuban-born Republicans also are involved in the EliÃ¡n case.

While Ms. Cruz was hospitalized over the weekend, Gladys Labrador, 65, came by the tent to check on the woman.

"I hope they'll send her her daughter, poor thing," said Ms. Labrador. "He [Mr. Castro] is holding that little girl hostage. He is an evil man. He has no heart.

"I wanted to see her [Ms. Cruz] to tell her that I am praying for her, so that she can get her daughter," Ms. Labrador said.

"Fidel Castro says he wants EliÃ¡n to be with his father. So why doesn't he send this lady her daughter?" said Ms. Labrador's 40-year-old daughter, Nilda Labrador, an elementary school teacher.

Ana Carbonell, an aide to Mr. Diaz-Balart, said the congressman is trying to do what he can to help. But Ms. Cruz's case is complicated by the fact that the daughter's father refuses to sign a consent form to allow the child to travel to the United States.
The father, who is not involved with raising the child, is an active member of the Communist Party, said Ms. Carbonell, who is caring for Ms. Cruz's two small dogs.

"Milagros was a very vocal dissident in Cuba," Ms. Carbonell said. "Children separated from parents, unfortunately, is nothing new for Cubans. But Milagros' case is dramatic because it highlights the hypocrisy of the Castro regime.

"He [Mr. Castro] has made the EliÃ¡n case an issue of national priority, claiming that it is about family reunification," she said. "Yet . . . [Ms. Cruz's] daughter can't be with her mother."

Refusing to eat

As community leaders muddle through both cases, Ms. Cruz continues to refuse to eat. She will take only Gatorade, water and the prescription pills to control her epilepsy.

She is not sure how much of her former 233 pounds she has shed and dismisses concern about her health. Instead, Ms. Cruz worries about her daughter, who, she says, is becoming rebellious.

"She doesn't want to go to school," Ms. Cruz said of her daughter. "She says she wants to fight human-rights abuses, like me."

Before she left the hospital, a tray of food was wheeled into her room. "I'm not touching that," Ms. Cruz said defiantly. "I'm going on with my hunger strike until I feel my daughter's presence at my side.

"Mi hija o muerte," she said. "My daughter or death."