Hortensia Hernandez, 68, left, of Union City, is reunited after 32 years with her daughter, Amalia Dell Amico, 50, who she left in Cuba. - Courtesy of Amalia Dell Amico

GUTTENBERG -- After 32 years, a mother and daughter reunited in Guttenberg late last month.

Both native Cubans, Amalia Dell Amico, 50, has lived in Germany since 2002; while her mother, Hortensia Hernandez, 68, moved to the U.S. in 1980 and has lived at the Palisade Nursing Center on Boulevard East in Guttenberg since 2005.

Dell Amico lost touch with her mother shortly after Hernandez left Cuba. And until two years ago, she thought her mother was dead.

But then Dell Amico's son called her from Cuba. He told her that Hernandez had written to the family, hoping for a reunion.

"I cried and I was very excited. It was a very, very big moment or me." Dell Amico said Thursday through a Spanish interpreter at the nursing home.

Dell Amico, who was 16 when her mother left Cuba, located a phone number for the nursing home though the Internet and began regularly speaking to her. But it would be two years, before Dell Amico, would raise enough money to make the trip to the U.S. to see and touch her mother again.

The joyous reunion occurred Saturday, June 30.

"I never saw Hortensia that happy. She was the happiest person on earth," said her nurse Jarina Contreras. "She kept saying, 'My daughter is coming, my daughter is coming.' She was smiling from ear to ear. It's something you don't see every day."

Asked why her mother left Cuba, Dell Amico responded that everyone in Cuba wants to leave. She said Hernandez wanted to take her with her to the U.S., but Dell Amico's father refused to sign the paperwork allowing her to go.

According to officials at the nursing home, Hernandez was homeless for a time before becoming a resident at the facility.

Since reuniting, mother and daughter have spent time catching up on the lost years.
Through Facebook, Dell Amico discovered she has a half-sister and stepsister living in Elizabeth and she took her mom to visit the relatives.

Dell Amico, who was scheduled to return to Germany on Friday said leaving her mother "hurts," but she hopes to return soon for another visit.

"I am happy. My mother is so well taken care of," Dell Amico said. "It's a miracle from God."

Charles Hack/The Jersey Journal

Source: nj.com