FLORIDA, UNITED STATES.- The US authorities released this Friday a cuban pilot who in October had fled his country aboard a plane and had landed near Miami (Florida), as he himself announced at a press conference.
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A judge accepted the request for political asylum presented by Ruben Martinez Machado that he was detained in a center for illegal immigrants since his arrival in the North American country, explained his lawyer, Eduardo Soto.
“Thank you very much to all the people who helped me fulfill my dream of finally being free,” declared Martínez Machado.
The 29-year-old pilot said the first thing he wanted to do following his release was have a beer, before thinking regarding finding a job. His long-term intention is to settle in Houston, Texas, he added.
On October 21, Martínez Machado arrived in a Russian Antonov AN-2 single-engine plane at Dade-Collier airfield, located in the Everglades, the vast reserve of wetlands that covers South Florida.
After landing, he told Miami airport officials that he was a deserter from Sancti Spíritus, a province in central Cuba.
The aviator, who worked for the Cuban Air Services Company (ENSA), recalled this Friday what the journey that took him to Florida was like, leaving behind his mother, sister and grandmother.
“The night before that I did not sleep, psychologically preparing myself to do so,” he said.
“It was three hours [de vuelo] approximately. I was very scared, I was always flying low and worrying and looking if there was someone following me and who might knock me down”.
Scores of Cubans have tried to reach the United States in recent months following leaving their country, hit by its worst economic crisis in three decades with shortages of food, medicine and fuel.
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