A Cuban cashier, an employee of an ExxonMobil gas station in Kendall, Miami, asked a young man from Nicaragua to present a visa passport in exchange for selling him a pack of cigarettes.
Alberto Jiménez, who has only been in the United States for three months, went to a gas station about two weeks ago to buy cigarettes and since the law prohibits their sale to anyone under the age of 21, they asked him to identify himself.
The young man presented his passport and the employee of this establishment told him that he needed a visa, as can be seen in a video posted by Jiménez on his social networks.
CyberCuba He contacted the Nicaraguan and found out that this man had a Cuban accent, which allowed him to identify him, which he also found unbelievable since they are both immigrants.
“It was very frustrating because I don’t know how he ended up in this country, but he needs to know that his Cuban people have to go through a lot to come here and be empathetic. Even if we are not from his country, we deserve equal opportunities and we must be hospitable to others,” explained Jiménez.
On the possibility of a lawsuit against the company for discriminatory and possibly unlawful treatment, the young man said it was not his intention to harm anyone.
The video that Alberto Jiménez posted on the internet quickly went viral and received several signs of support from an online community sensitive to recent immigrants in the United States.
According to several people, other companies require immigrants to obtain visas for passports, and although they have complained, police say they have no jurisdiction as it is business policy.
Nicaraguans, like Cubans and Haitians, have the opportunity to come to the United States as part of the United States Joe Biden’s Humanitarian Parole Approvedwhose main goal is to stop the flow of migration across the border with Mexico.
With this permit, they can reside in the United States for two years, provided they meet a number of requirements and have a sponsor.
The political crisis in Nicaragua has transformed that country into a human rights violating nation, driving many citizens into exile for fear of reprisals from Daniel Ortega’s government recently exiled more than 200 political prisoners.