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, 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, 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.
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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, 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, 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.
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Veteran
of Iraq war denied 