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Search unearths 1986 murder of Bermudian's Cuban mother

A BERMUDIAN'S extensive search for her Cuban-born mother ended this year ? unearthed during the quest was a nearly two-decade-old murder, and the young woman's links to one of the great political families in exile from the communist island nation.

For Ilona Perry, 2004 began a process of closure which started with the discovery that her mother, Esther, was brutally slain by a serial killer in December 1986.

Her journey continued this week when the 29 year old was able to meet members of her mother's family, most of whom defected to the United States, having played pivotal roles in the Cuban Revolution.

Ms Perry's saga is to become a permanent part of history, to be chronicled in Virginia's Cold War Museum with tales of other families living in the aftermath of those events of more than 40 years ago. And, although only in early stages, talks are also under way to create a film documenting the search which consumed the young woman for the past ten years.

"My dad had told me and my sister Tatyana a little bit about the family history while we were growing up," Ms Perry said. "But you hear that and think, 'Oh yeah, right'. But it was actually all true. I'm finally realising how important my family was, and is."

The young woman has spent the past week in the Florida Keys with the daughters of covert operatives who disappeared during the Cold War. Accounts of the four women's individual searches were detailed by reporter Cara Buckley in this week.

"These daughters of the disappeared travelled from Maine, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Bermuda, drawn together by their parallel histories and unanswered questions haunting most of their lives: Were their fathers mercenaries, as the CIA claimed? Or were they covert operatives hired by the US Government to secretly take Castro down?

"This weekend marked the first time all five women had met. They chose to gather in the Keys because the island chain housed many anti-Castro training sites in the 1960s. Joined by (Miami historian Gordon) Winslow and another Cold War researcher, Bill Bretz, the women spoke of Cold War intrigue, of being stonewalled by the CIA, pouring over Bay of Pigs minutiae as if recounting the details would tunnel through the pain, and finding comfort in the shared understanding of each other's loss."

Karen Hughes, Janet Weininger, Sherry Sullivan, and Christy Cox are still putting together the pieces. But for Ms Perry, meeting her estranged relatives helped paint a clearer picture than the one she'd envisioned through her searches on the internet.

Her mother was one of ten siblings in the Diaz-Lanz family. Most became active opponents of the regime Fidel Castro introduced to Cuba after the revolution ? one brother, Pedro Luis, ran Castro's air force before becoming the revolution's first high profile defector; another, Guillermo, was tortured to death in a Cuban prison.

The remaining family defected to Florida and, eventually, Mrs. Perry came to the island with her Bermudian husband, Jerome. Their daughters were born here shortly after, but the marriage fell apart and Mrs. Perry returned to the United States with the two girls.

A bitter custody battle which preceded the divorce ended in their father's favour, and contact with Mrs. Perry was lost. Only 17 years later did the Perry family learn that the 42-year-old substitute teacher was murdered months after she and her husband divorced, as a result of multiple stab wounds inflicted by serial killer Donald Rhoads.

Mrs. Perry's family assumed the police had contacted Mr. Perry but, for reasons which remain unclear, they did not.

"I'd been doing all kinds of web searches and I hired a private investigator and never came up with anything," Ms Perry explained. "One day I happened to go on web site, knowing that Miami was the last place my mother lived. I put in the last name Diaz-Lanz, and my uncle Pedro came up. From there, I did a bigger, fuller search and that's how I discovered my mother's murder."

The searches also gave her a great deal of information on her mother's family including the fact that they are direct descendants of Jose Marti, one of Cuba's national heroes considered highly throughout the Latin community to this day. Born in 1853, the poet and playwright was exiled from his homeland at the age of 17, for activities against Spanish colonialism.

Ms Perry determined to find them. She found a web site ? www.cuban-exiles.com ? devoted to tales of the fight against Castro and sent an e-mail. It was through the host, Mr. Winslow, that she learned of the "daughters of the disappeared".

One, Ms Weininger, was able to put Ms Perry in touch with her relatives. She had met her uncle, Pedro Luis, while searching for her own father, a US pilot shot down during the Bay of Pigs invasion.

"My family has been just wonderful," Ms Perry said. "We were all crying. They've opened their arms to me. The (others) are still looking for their fathers. For me it's more about cataloguing; trying to understand. My uncles were all involved in the Revolution; they all did so much.

"And what I'm trying to do is get a feel for my family history. There's a lot to it. Finding them has made me feel like a whole person; I feel legitimised somehow and what they've done gives me a sense of pride."

Because of her family history and the plight Castro has forced on so many others of Cuban descent who do not agree with his politics, Ms Perry admitted her concern about the Bermuda Government's increasing involvement with that region.

"I think that the political leaders of Bermuda who have decided to establish relations with Cuba are not looking at the big picture in terms of the consequences this move will have for us," she said. "There is no benefit to Bermuda whatsoever in creating stronger ties with this nation. Our US relations will suffer. The political philosophy of Cuba does not allow freedom of speech. The nation virtually keeps their own citizens as prisoners within their own country.

"While I understand that Fidel Castro's tactics have mellowed a bit ? that the prisons are no longer torture cells ? one cannot forget how he maintained his power all these years; that he would certainly resort to (such tactics) again if needed.

"Many people say that the people of Cuba love their leader and would die for him. This is true. Of course, the majority of the population are under the age of 35 and have been exposed to his propaganda only, their entire lives. You have to understand that all television, books, Internet, etc. are constantly monitored.

"Only Fidel's message is allowed. I wonder how that would change if they were given the Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press, things that we take for granted? Bermuda's leaders once again have illustrated their inability to project into the future; to consider the consequences of their actions.

"Recently the US has tightened their sanctions on Cuba and surely will be looking at those who choose to align with them. Our economy's success is completely dependant on the United States, why would we choose to help their devout enemy of 40 years?"