WITH?A WAVE?to friends and supporters, Cuban-born Raul Garcia, who found himself stateless after serving a 20-year prison sentence in Barbados, flew out of the Grantley Adams International Airport for his homeland in the custody of two immigration officers yesterday.
The arrival at the airport of the 58-year-old Cuban at around 5 a.m. signalled the end of a protracted battle to win his freedom after completing his sentence for cocaine trafficking.
“I?feel as you can see – emotional but I feel good,”?said a choked-up Garcia before checking in at the Caribbean Airlines counter. “I am leaving behind a big family and I also want to include [the entire Barbados] in that family. I give my thanks and my love to everyone, I leave behind a country that I love very much and its people.”
He also said he would keep in touch with his Barbadian friends “for the rest of my life”.
It was about 5:45 a.m. when he made a final wave before disappearing into the departure lounge for his journey home via Trinidad and Panama. (JS)
