Every year, thousands of people seek asylum in the United States because they have been persecuted in other countries due to their race, religion, nationality, social group, or political opinion. In seeking refuge and protection, these immigrants must rel BENCH-PRESSED A Judge Recounts the Many Blessings and Heavy Lessons of Hearing Immigration Asylum Cases By SUSAN L. YARBROUGH iUniverse, Inc. Copyright © 2013 Susan L. Yarbrough All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4759-7542-0 Contents Preface....................................................................ixIntroduction...............................................................xv1. Persecution on Account of Race: Esteban Marcial Mosqueda of Cuba........12. Persecution on Account of Religion: Josué Maldonado Ortiz of El Salvador...................................................................233. Persecution on Account of Nationality: Khalid Talhami of Palestine......414. Persecution on Account of Membership in a Particular Social Group: Elena Segura Jiménez of Nicaragua..........................................675. Persecution on Account of Political Opinion: Daniel Quetzal Monzon of Guatemala..................................................................81Afterword..................................................................99Acknowledgments............................................................109Notes......................................................................113Other Sources..............................................................121About the Author...........................................................125 CHAPTER 1 Persecution on Account of Race:Esteban Marcial Mosqueda of Cuba Background The island now called Cuba was discovered by ChristopherColumbus during his voyage to the New World in 1492. By 1514the Spanish Empire had colonized the island after brutal suppressionand massacres of the indigenous people, who were understandablyreluctant to work for their new European masters. In the absence ofa ready and willing pool of laborers, the Spanish eventually beganimporting slaves from Africa to work in the burgeoning and profitabletobacco, sugar cane, and coal-mining industries—a practice thatcontinued until slavery was abolished in Cuba in 1886. Except for a short period in the eighteenth century when it washeld by Great Britain, Cuba was ruled by Spanish governors until itgained independence in 1902 following four years of United Statesoccupation at the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898. For thenext four decades, Cuba democratically elected a series of presidents,many of whom proved ineffective in dealing with the corruptionthat arose in response to increased prosperity. After World War II,Cuba enjoyed a boom in its economy, health services, and educationalopportunities, but many of these gains were undermined by thegovernment of Fulgencio Batista, who had been elected president in 1953. On January 1, 1959, under pressure from the United States anda growing number of opposition citizen and guerrilla groups withinCuba, Batista fled the country. Backed by his own followers as wellas other rebel armies and groups that had been gathering with himin the mountains, Fidel Castro stepped into the void. Six days later,the United States recognized the Castro government and sent a newambassador to the island. Within months of seizing power, however, Castro purgedall of his political opponents (and even some of his supporters),took over the media and schools, and instituted a one-partyCommunist system that brooked no opposition or questions.By the summer of 1959, the stunned Eisenhower administrationbegan planning the ouster of Fidel Castro, and relations betweenthe two countries deteriorated rapidly as it became apparent fromhis public statements that the new dictator wanted nothing to dowith the United States. Soon after his inauguration in January 1961, President John F.Kennedy authorized the notorious Bay of Pigs invasion in whicha US-trained force of approximately 1,300 Cuban exiles invadedthe southern coast of Cuba with the intention of overthrowing theCastro government. Castro's armed forces defeated the invaderswithin three days. In October 1962, in what became known as the Cuban MissileCrisis, the United States successfully cordoned off internationalwaters in order to prevent the Soviet Union from sending into Cubamore missiles than those previously discovered in U-2 reconnaissancephotos. Soviet economic aid, however, continued to pour into Cubauntil the final collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Left largely unchecked either by any internal voice of reason orby the Soviet Union, the Communist Party of Fidel Castro beganimprisoning moderates and members of the middle class in forcedlabor camps soon after it came to power. Many Cubans of Europeandescent who could afford to leave the island did so, and as theeconomy declined, unemployment soared. In 1972, the Castro government