Host Tom Hill III: Interview with Ralph Nader, founder, and Andy Thibault, editor & publisher, The Winsted Citizen. Pilot edition February 2023.
- PHOTO by ERICK CUATZO
Cuban sportswriter and photographer Reynaldo Cruz Diaz, 40, seeking political asylum in the U.S., in November told journalism students at the University of New Haven he left a government job after being censored. Diaz fled the country, he said, following a pattern of threats and harassment for his reports on independent sites about long lines and food shortages leading some to eat undesirable shark meat. He said secret police – noted for their polo shirts, Suzuki motorcycles and small satchels carrying guns – were stationed outside his house. His journey – which he said included months being hosted by Mexican and American friends before crossing the Rio Grande River into Texas in January – was featured on WNPR:
https://www.ctpublic.org/news/2022-10-20/in-connecticut-an-undocumented-cuban-baseball-journalist-awaits-word-on-political-asylum
Diaz said he found a 250-foot crossing several feet high but suffered lung damage from the frigid waters: “You have to walk; the current is so strong that if you try to swim it washes you away.” While in detention, he organized prisoners to sit, stand and sleep in two-hour shifts as some pods designed for 15 were filled with 40 people. He said Border Patrol and Texas prison officials appreciated his work as a translator as he speaks Spanish, English and French. Friends he met via sports exchange programs over several years arranged for him to fly to Connecticut from a Texas prison and establish residence near Hartford in February. His attorney Glenn Formica of New Haven, filed for asylum in November.
WFSB TV3: CT '23 w/ Eric Parker, CBS Sunday Show, Aired 1-15-23 #TheWinstedCitizen
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