Wife of defector killed in crash

BY ELAINE DE VALLE
edevalle@herald.com

Leonel Córdova Rodríguez was all set for a happy ending.The Cuban doctor made headlines last summer after he and a colleague defected from a medical mission in Zimbabwe and were nearly forced on a flight back to Havana. They spent 32 days in prison before U.S. and international pressure got them to Miami.

Córdova wasted no time getting U.S. visas for his wife and two children in Cuba, but now he can only hope for a reunion with his kids: His wife, Rosalba Clementina González, died Sunday morning in a motorcycle accident three blocks from her home in Havana's Marianao neighborhood.

``She had so many hopes about coming here. So many hopes,'' Córdova said, shaking his head Monday night in his Little Gables studio apartment.

``Everything was going so great. I had my job at Mercy Hospital, full time. I had money for a car for her. Even medical insurance for her and the children,'' he said.

Córdova said it pains him that he cannot go to Cuba to bury his wife or hold his kids.

``It breaks my heart that I couldn't be there for the burial, to kiss my wife goodbye,'' he said. ``But one of the things I learned in prison is that there are some things I cannot do anything about. And I know I can't go to Cuba. Ever.''

The Cuban government would likely jail Córdova for treason after his highly publicized defection in May 2000. Córdova and Noris Peña Martínez were on a Cuban medical mission to Zimbabwe, part of Fidel Castro's ``doctor diplomacy.'' Zimbabwe's government put the two on an Air France flight to Havana, but the pilot refused to take off after Córdova and Peña slipped a handwritten note to a crew member claiming they were kidnapped.

Peña, a dentist in Cuba, is in Atlanta working as a dental assistant as she studies to practice again. At least once a month, she visits Córdova, who she says is like a brother to her.Córdova is also studying to take his board exams to practice medicine here. He works at Mercy Hospital as a ``house physician,'' writing clinical histories of patients.

He took the day off Monday, but he planned to return to work today. ``I can't have the luxury of letting the world fall around me,'' he said. ``That is life, and I have to go on for my children.''

His 4-year-old daughter, Giselle, doesn't know yet about her mother's death. She is staying with Córdova's sister until she can come to Miami to join him. ``She was very close to her mother. This is going to be horrible for her. I cannot even begin to imagine.''

He's also concerned about his stepson, 11-year-old Yusniel, who is with his father.

``He worries me because he is very closed up. He hasn't even cried, and that's very bad,'' Córdova said. He said Yusniel's father has agreed to let the boy come to Miami.

``I hope the Cuban government doesn't try to divide the family by persuading the father to keep Yusniel there. It would be terrible to separate him from his sister. Especially now. It would be tragic.``I am his father. I've raised him since he was 2. I'm Papi.''

Córdova knows the Cuban government can deny his family reunion. Peña's parents, who got visas in the lottery last September, have not obtained exit permits. And they were told they won't get them.It is punishment, Córdova said, for Peña's defection -- a practice reminiscent of the treatment of other Cuban defectors who later reclaim relatives.

Still, he said he has to hold on to the belief that his children are coming.

``Now, it's not my happy children coming to be reunited with their father. Now they are motherless, and I have to be a father and a mother and give them a lot of attention and love.''

Copyright 2001 Miami Herald

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