Cuban family finds welcome, refugee status in distant Serbia

DONJI LAJKOVAC – Belquis Gonzales and her household bask thing adjacent to personage presumption successful a tiny municipality successful Serbia, wherever they unrecorded aft fleeing Cuba 5 years ago.

They reached the Balkan state by an improbable migration way that led done Russia, 1 of the fewer places successful Europe for which Cubans don't request a visa. While astir emigrants from the Caribbean land spell to the United States oregon Spanish-speaking countries, Gonzales and her hubby chose Serbia — again owed to the deficiency of a visa requirement.

“We didn’t cognize thing astir Serbia,” Gonzales told The Associated Press astatine the family's location successful Lajkovac, a municipality astir 80 kilometers (50 miles) southwest of the Serbian capital, Belgrade. "We had galore doubts and galore fears arsenic well, but things person been a batch amended than we had expected.”

Still struggling with the aftermath of wars and sanctions successful the 1990s, Serbia is acold from a promised onshore for radical seeking to physique caller lives aft fleeing violence, repression oregon poorness astatine home.

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While implicit a cardinal refugees and migrants person arrived since the large migration question into Europe successful 2015-16, astir were lone connected their mode toward affluent European Union nations further northbound and west.

Mirjana Milenkovski, who works successful Serbia for the U.N. exile bureau UNHCR, said conscionable 3,700 radical person formally applied for asylum successful the state since 2008, portion 212 person received it.

Among them are 7 Cubans, including Gonzales, her husband, Yordelis Pimienta, and their 11-year-old daughter, Islena Danay Pimienta.

They are a “very bully illustration of integration," Milenkovski said. “This is 1 of the top occurrence stories that we person here.”

Even arsenic Serbians person emigrated successful ample numbers for much prosperous countries, Gonzales said her household is blessed with its caller life.

Gonzales said the household near Cuba due to the fact that of some governmental problems and deficiency of opportunities.

Though Cuba resembles a Caribbean paradise to outsiders, beingness determination is hard and the strategy does not “favor the radical astatine all. It alternatively limits them,” Gonzales said.

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Once successful Serbia, the household stayed successful a halfway for asylum-seekers earlier being granted exile presumption successful 2019. UNHCR and Serbian authorities helped the mates find jobs successful Lajkovac and determination there.

Settled successful a tiny apartment, Gonzales works astatine a adjacent butcher store and her hubby astatine operation sites successful the area. She didn’t adjacent look to miss the Caribbean sunshine connected a cold, windy time successful precocious November.

“What I similar astir astir this state is that you spot each the seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter," Gonzales said.

Unfamiliar with the ways of beingness successful Europe, the Cuban household initially disquieted whether they would find acceptance. Gonzales said they faced nary rejection oregon racism though “people bash look astatine you, but it’s similar retired of curiosity.”

They person managed to marque friends and socialize contempt agelong hours astatine enactment — and Gonzales besides has taken accounting and Serbian connection classes.

“We person our friends and we bask each other’s institution oregon day parties....We get on with everyone,” she said. “Everyone knows that we are ‘the Cubans.’”

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Unused to newcomers and astonished that idiosyncratic really moved from Cuba to their drab-looking municipality of respective 1000 people, immoderate locals person visited the butcher's store lone to spot Gonzales, oregon “Belka,” arsenic she is nicknamed here.

"They privation to cognize if the upwind successful Cuba is bully and if she would instrumentality them there," said Gonzales' employer, Dragana Isailovic.

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