Cubans keep breaking Canadian hearts
Canadians love to vacation in communist Cuba. They frolic on the beaches, dance in the clubs, and some of them bring home a souvenir from their island slave plantation adventure in the form of a Cuban wife or husband. And that is when Canadian hearts start breaking...
Marriage to Cuban leaves Brampton bride brokenhearted — and broke
Erin Standen says the man she met in April 2010 vanished three days after finally joining her in Canada — an all-too-familiar story for Border Services.
After Erin Standen married the man of her dreams a year ago, she showered him and his family in Cuba with love — and gifts.
In June, while waiting for the spousal sponsorship to come through in Havana, the 28-year-old Brampton single mother began renovating her basement apartment for their new life.
She ripped out the carpet, installed tile floors, bought a 47-inch big-screen TV and put in a $4,000 bedroom set, anticipating his arrival.
On Jan. 12, the long wait was finally over and Jorge Manuel Batista Gonzalez, 33, arrived at Pearson International Airport, embraced by an exhilarated Standen.
Three days later, Standen says, Gonzalez — after kissing her goodbye as she left for her waitressing job — walked out the door with all the clothes and other things she had bought for him, along with $1,000 tip money she had collected in the bedroom.
All that remained of him, she says, was a misspelled note on a crumpled napkin: “Sorry I don’t fell love anymore. Don’t lock for me. I’l be good. I will try to pay you back. Thank x Everithing. Jorge Manuel.”
Continue reading HERE.
Another broken Canadian heart from The Star:
From Cuba, yet another broken heart
Like Brampton's Erin Standen, John-Barry Livingstone claims he was taken advantage of by a spouse who left soon after arriving in Canada.
Two years after his Cuban wife left him, John-Barry Livingstone is left with more than a broken heart.
When his three-year financial commitment as spousal sponsor to Vilma-Rosa Morales-Rodriguez ended last April, the Toronto architect received a $3,800 bill from the province for the welfare benefits his wife has collected.
Stories like his — and that of a Brampton woman whose tale of crushed Cuban love appeared in Thursday’s Star — occur often, according to immigration lawyer Sergio Karas. Many of his clients come seeking help after a sponsored spouse abruptly leaves — five or six a year from the Dominican Republic alone.
“On a resort, in the tropic sun, when you have too many margaritas and pina coladas and these guys are sweet-talking you, you are vulnerable,” Karas said. “I have people coming into my office, saying, ‘I met this person; I want him here; how quickly can he be here?’ Then (the sponsored spouses) came here and leave them.”
In the past decade, 10,563 Cubans came to Canada as permanent residents, the majority under spousal sponsorships or family reunification.
According to an immigration official, marriages of convenience have become a concern at the Havana visa office. In a quality assurance exercise in 2011, officials contacted a sample of Canadians who had married and sponsored Cubans. About one-third of those relationships had ended soon after the new spouse’s arrival in Canada. Fraud and misrepresentation were often cited as the reason, leading officials to review applications more closely than before.
Livingstone, 56, said he met Morales-Rodriguez, 27, at a park in Cuba in April 2007 while he was on a bike tour. After four return visits, he married her on Dec. 24, 2007, and sponsored her to Canada.
The former Cuban civil servant joined him in April 2009. But Livingstone said she left his home as soon as her 11-year-old daughter arrived in Toronto a year later — while he was on a business trip to Chicago.
The Star tried to reach Morales by phone for comment, but the number was no longer in service. An email to her was not returned.
Continue reading HERE.
It's just the embargo's fault. Move along.
You know the worst of this boo-hooing? They actually expect sympathy.
Are these just lone-wolf small-time operators, or is this a low profile albeit lucrative racket run by the regime to demoralize people and loot them?
Paul, I would imagine these are all of the "lone wolf" variety. Che's "New Man," if you will. If you think about it, it would be a lot of trouble for the Cuban regime to set this up as an operation for relatively little monetary return on their investment. Then again, I could be wrong.
The most charitable explanation for how Canadians behave regarding Cuba is that they're borderline retarded and VERY easily fooled and manipulated. Alas, I expect that's too charitable.
What difference does it make?
It makes a difference because Canadians should never get shafted by little island people. I mean, the nerve.
"Livingstone, 56, said he met Morales-Rodriguez, 27" There's no fool like an old fool, Architects should know better!
"I will try to pay you back." Right after I collect my obamamoney in Miami!!
Asombra you are 100% on it, they REALLY expect sumpathy.
Lynx, don't forget that Frank Lloyd Wright didn't know better...
The Cuban people have taken a page from their uncle Fidel on how to con the foreigners, lol. Their uncle Fidel has been doing it since 1959...
True George, but that dude ain't no Frank Wright!!
Heh!
You marry for love or you marry for money and a fool and his money are soon parted.
Alberto/Paul,
This is not a plot by the Castro tyranny as I have been told by members of my family Cubans are desperate to leave the island and have no scrupples on how they go about it.
It is that simple...
Add to this mix the reality of how much the Castro brothers have destroyed the Cuban people for the last 54 years and you can easily figure out the rest of the answers.
"You marry for love or you marry for money and a fool and his money are soon parted."
That's right antonio, you cannot trust the majority of the Cubans in the island...