Thursday, May 20, 2010

Cuban insurance snag holds up return of body

Posted on Wednesday, 05.19.10
Cuban insurance snag holds up return of body
The body of a slain Cuban exile might be shipped to Miami this week,
with a Cuban government required insurance policy apparently covering
expenses.
BY ALFONSO CHARDY
achardy@ElNuevoHerald.com

Relatives say the body of a Cuban exile might be shipped to Miami this
week now that the family's initial problems with a Cuban government
medical insurance requirement appear to be almost over.

The victim and her husband arrived in Cuba on May 5. Two days later, as
they were attending a family birthday party in their hometown of
Santiago in eastern Cuba, they were attacked by two men wielding iron
bars and wooden sticks filled with cement. The woman, Layda Licet Recio,
40, was killed. Her husband, Rolando Suarez, 43, was left hospitalized
with injuries. The couple, from Lehigh Acres, has three young daughters.

Like all travelers headed to Cuba, Recio and Suárez had purchased the
new medical insurance policy required by the Cuban government for all
foreign visitors to the island. But after Recio's death, Cuban
authorities told her mother, Aurelia Rodríguez, that the family had to
come up with $10,000, plus $50 a day for keeping Recio's body refrigerated.

Rodríguez, 60, expected the government insurance would cover expenses.
She thought she would never be able to retrieve her daughter's body.

Now, ``the situation appears to have changed for the better,'' she said.

The Cuban Interests Section in Washington released a statement disputing
Rodríguez's statements that the government demanded more money, saying
costs have been ``covered totally by the insurance policy.''

The insurance policy would cover claims for Recio's death and medical
care for her injured husband, according to the statement, which also
said Recio's body could be shipped Wednesday -- if the family provides
all the necessary information.

Recio's death catapulted into the headlines the new Cuban medical
insurance policy. The case roiled the exile community whose members are
traveling to Cuba for family visits in increasing numbers.

More than 20,000 people each month travel to the island from the United
States compared with less than 9,000 before President Barack Obama last
year lifted Cuba family travel restrictions that limited trips to once
every three years. Now exiles can return to the island to visit family
any time they want.

The statement sent by the Cuban Interests Section said the Cuban
insurance service learned of the attack May 8, one day after it happened.

While the statement did not say how much the insurance policy will cover
in Suárez's case, executives of Miami travel agencies that charter
planes to Cuba have said the Cuba policy is supposed to cover up to
$25,000 in emergency room care and hospitalization for accidents or
unexpected illnesses.

The attack on Recio and Suárez happened seven days after the new
requirement took effect. The attack did not appear to be a random
criminal act but may have been carried out by people known to the couple
or their relatives.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/19/1636186/cuban-insurance-snag-holds-up.html

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