Video: Mother of slain student speaks out (Juan Carlos Rivera's mother)

[Billy Burnett]

Mother of slain student speaks out
http://www.miamiherald.com/video/index.html?media_id=6465741

Anais Cruz, the mother of stabbing victim Juan Carlos Rivera,
spoke to the media today for the first time since her son was
murdered at Coral Gables High School two weeks ago

[rabs]

1. First I had seen she is in Miami

and recall Ros-Lehtenin had said she would bring Anais Cruz for her son's funeral.

Was wondering if that was the case and will Cruz be staying in Miami?

[Judi Lynn]

2. Found an older article from Sept. written when she arrived:

Posted on Sunday, 09.20.09
CORAL GABLES HIGH TRAGEDY
Mother arrives from Cuba for son's funeral

The Cuban mother of Juan Carlos Rivera, the teen stabbed to death at Coral Gables Senior High School, was reunited with her family in Miami on Saturday.

BY KATHLEEN McGRORY
[e-mail]

As she arrived in Miami to bury her teenage son, slain last week at Coral Gables Senior High School, Anais Cruz collapsed into the arms of her own mother.

``Mami, mami,'' she wept to Bruna Peinado, with whom the boy had been living in Miami.

Saturday's reunion, at Miami International Airport, marked the latest step in Cruz's journey from Cuba to say a final goodbye to her son, Juan Carlos Rivera.

A dozen friends and relatives came to MIA to comfort Cruz. They brushed her hair, rubbed her back and kissed her head. The mother was too weak to say anything.

``My daughter is destroyed,'' Peinado later said. ``The two of them, they were the same person. He couldn't wait to see her -- and she to see him. But unfortunately, she's only going to see him at his funeral.''

Rivera, a 17-year-old sophomore, was stabbed to death at Coral Gables Senior High on Tuesday morning.

A classmate, Andy Rodriguez, 17, is charged with second-degree murder.

The two boys had been pushing each other in the courtyard outside of the school gymnasium, witnesses told The Miami Herald. Rodriguez then pulled out a switch blade, police said, fatally stabbing Rivera.

Students have said the dispute was over a girl. Rodriguez's family disputes that claim.

Rivera, who was born in Cuba, had come to Miami five months ago to live with his grandmother and uncle. Friends and family say he was adjusting well to his new life.

The teenager often talked about graduating from high school and becoming a veterinarian.

``He was an educated boy, a good boy, a boy who had earned everybody's love, and he lost his life unjustly,'' Peinado said on Saturday.

After Rivera's death, U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho worked to bring Cruz, 42, from Havana to attend her son's funeral.

Securing the appropriate visa from the Cuban government was a challenge. Because Cruz is a practicing doctor, she needed special permission to leave the island nation.

ABC Charters provided Cruz with a free flight to Miami.

A dozen people came to pick her up at the airport on Saturday morning.

While other families waited with smiles and posters, the family of Anais Cruz waited in a somber silence.

Later, Peinado, who wore a silver cross around her neck, gave an impromptu press conference. Cruz had left the airport through a different exit.

Reporters asked Peinado what Cruz had said after they embraced.

``She didn't speak,'' Peinado replied.

``She didn't have the strength.''

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/5min/story/1242322.html

[Judi Lynn]

3. Thanks for this video. What a shock to this parent. n/t