Hilda Molina's family met today the President in the presidential residence in Olivos district. The son of the Cuban-Argentine physician, Roberto Quiñones, said there is no "resentment" towards Cuban authorities that prevented Molina leaving the country during fifteen years, and thanked the Cuban President Raúl Castro and also Cristina Fernández de Kirchner for having a "mother's sensitivity".

"The President received us with great sensitivity, affection and respect, she was as happy as we are. We felt we met with a mother and not with the President," said Molina's son during the encounter.

"It was so fast that I still can't believe it," said Quiñones when he arrived from Tierra del Fuego province to Jorge Newbery Airport in Buenos Aires City. He came to Buenos Aires with his wife, Veronica Scarpatti, and both of his sons, Roberto Carlos (13-years-old) and Juan Pablo (8-years-old).

"I know that President Cristina's sensitivity is very important, because since 2003 when she was Senator, she was involved in our issue," described Quiñones.

He said his 66-year-old mother will arrive tomorrow morning to Ezeiza Airport, "she has the Cuban authorities authorization and a courtesy three-months visa that Argentine authorities gave her."

"Even though this situation was very painful to our family, our hearts will never feel resenment or hate, we sincerely thank General Raúl Castro," said Quiñones.

HILDA MOLINA AUTHORIZED TO COME TO ARGENTINA

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced that Hilda Molina, a Cuban-Argentine physician who was not allowed to leave the communist country, had received an authorization from Havana to visit her family in Argentina. She confirmed she would leave Cuba tomorrow. On Sunday, she will visit President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

"I wanted to tell you the good news," the President told journalists over the telephone.

Since 1994, Molina had repeatedly asked that the Cuban government grant her an authorization to visit her son, Roberto Quiñones, who left the island years ago and currently lives in Argentine with his wife and two children. The communist government had rejected the possibility on the basis that the doctor's knowledge was "Cuban property."

"Molina is at the Argentine Embassy in Havana, with her passport with an authorization to leave the country," said the President, who described the decision of the Cuban government as "an important gesture from President Raúl Castro." Tha family of the Cuban doctor said she would arrive in Argentine on Sunday.

Molina, aged 67, was a high-ranked member of the Cuban Communist party, a member of the Legislative Assembly and the director of one of the most important clinics in the island.

However, in 1994 she distanced from the leaders of the party as a result of differences regarding the administration of the clinic. That year, Molina resigned to her post in the health centre and the legislature, as a way of protesting the government's health policies.

Unofficial sources said the possibility of granting her a travel permit was one of the issues discussed at a private meeting between the President and Castro in January. On that occasion, the President also visited the ailing former leader of the Caribbean island and brother of President Castro, Fidel Castro.