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Finding refuge from the Colombian Mafia in Israel By Dana Weiler-Polak Tags: refugess, mafia, colombia  "I can finally sigh with relief after four years of fear and a week of barely sleeping. Today everything looks different and I hope everything will be beseder, alright, as they say in Israel." Angelica Garcas describes her family's ordeal and her hopes for her mother and son, now that they have arrived in Israel and been released from an airport detention center. Tomer Garcas, 8, and his grandmother Mariolydia, 80, were detained upon landing Saturday at Ben-Gurion International Airport. Angelica, Tomer's mother and Mariolydia's daughter, is an illegal resident in Israel. Angelica and her husband, Carlos Hermilio lived in Colombia with their eldest son, Kevin. Hermilio, a reporter, published a story about the Colombian Mafia laundering money through soccer games. The response was quick to come, and Hermillio's co-writer was murdered. "We knew Carlos's day would come too so we fled to Israel in 1994," Garcas says. "Tomer was born here and we lived here and considered ourselves locals." Nonetheless, after three years Garcas and her son returned to Colombia in the hopes of resuming their routine. Advertisement Seven months later, a cousin was murdered in what Garcas realized was a case of mistaken identity - she was the target - and she returned to Israel. However, Hermillio was arrested by the Immigration Police and deported to Colombia in 2005. He was murdered there in 2007. "From that day forth, I wanted to get my son and my mother out of there, I knew they were in danger, and today my mother told me they recently tried to hurt her. Someone was following her but she noticed and managed to flee." In 2005, the Mafia sent Kevin and his grandmother burial wreaths and letters of condolence over Kevin's death. It also demanded that the family pay them money, allegedly owed by Hermilio. Angelica arranged for Kevin to travel to Israel on an organized tour and to stay on. Upon his arrival, she immediately applied to the United Nations and received temporary refugee status for him. "At that time, Tomer and my mother were on the run from village to village," Garcas says. "They changed their name and Tomer never went to school. Finally, on Saturday the boy and his grandmother arrived to Israel on a flight, but were arrested immediately. They first told border inspectors they were here to visit a friend, but eventually admitted coming to Gracas, an illegal resident herself. "We got an emergency stay so they weren't deported on the return flight at 5 P.M. that afternoon," attorney Yael Katz-Mastbaum, who represents Garcas, relates. "But where is the humanity when we can't let an 8-year-old and an 80-year-old out on bail and we can't let a mother banging on the gates speak to her child?" Thursday, under heavy pressure from the "Civil Watch" radio show, Population Registry official Yaakov Ganot ordered the pair released. "I am so happy to see them," Garcas says. "Tomer has grown up and I missed so much of his life. I hope the Interior Ministry will let us stay here, where I have made my home for more than 14 years." The Interior Ministry said in a response: "Early this week, a boy and his grandmother landed at the airport. Asked about the reason for their visit, they claimed they were visiting a 'friend' in Israel. However, later in the questioning the Colombian citizens said they came to see the child's mother, who is in Israel as an asylum-seeker whose status is undetermined. Due to this fact, it was decided to refuse entry to the family members. After the family appealed to the court, they changed the purpose of their visit to asylum-seekers, and the court ruled that the UN would determine their status. Until that time, Yaakov Ganot ordered the two be given entry permits." Related articles: They're no angels Former girlfriend of alleged member of crime family testifies on nightclub murder 10-day remand order issued against alleged blackmail ringleader Bookmark to del.icio.us   Israel's new policy FM Lieberman: Israel not bound by Annapolis commitment for Palestinian state. Netanyahu's cabinet: An introduction to the faces - some old and some new - who make up Israel's new coalition.   1.   what a load... 09:05  |  David 03/04/09

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