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New policies on Cuba create backlash
New regulations affecting Cuban Americans who go to Cuba to visit family there have backfired. The Bush administration is facing both divisions within the U.S. Cuban community and opposition in Congress.
In early May, a Bush-appointed “Committee for Assistance to a Free Cuba” recommended that Cuban Americans be allowed to visit relatives every third year rather than once a year, and then only by special permission. The new rules limit them to a 14-day visit, and they must conform to new limitations on money they can spend there themselves and take to their relatives.
There are even new definitions of what constitutes family. Visits to cousins, aunts, and uncles are now out. The new regulations took effect on June 30.
The days leading up to that date were marked by mob scenes at the Miami Airport, as flights were cancelled and ticket holders were kept from boarding planes. Many of those rebuffed had already traveled long distances to connect with flights to Cuba. Charter companies sent extra planes to Havana to bring back visitors concerned about overstaying their 14-day limit. Animosity toward the Bush administration from the assembled throng was palpable, according to media reports.
For some time public opinion polls have suggested that at least half of Florida’s Cubans are raising questions about U.S.-Cuba policy, and polls now show that a majority opposes the new regulations. Most respondents place the blame for the cruel and anti-family measures on an older generation of right-wing, politically influential Cuban Americans, and say Bush is pandering to the old guard. Even that kingpin of right-wing connivance, the Cuban American National Foundation, takes exception to the travel restrictions.
A nationwide coalition of Cuban Americans has set up the Cuban American Commission for Family Rights. Silvia Wilhelm, the group’s director, regards the new restrictions as disastrous for human rights and family values. Commission President Alvaro Fernandez notes that “a vast majority of Cuban Americans support family travel. This is a policy that panders to a minority of Cuban Americans and is nothing more than election year politics.” The commission will be utilizing the courts and upcoming elections to oppose the travel regulations.
On June 24, members of the House of Representatives met with Bush officials to urge them to back away from the new policies, and the next day members of Congress’ Cuba Working Group indicated that they will try to block funding for enforcing the regulations. Joining them was Rep. Jim Davis (D-Fla.), who until now has been a hard-liner against Cuba.
In a July 1 letter to the New York Times, Miguel Rivas of New Jersey writes, “This is just cheap politics aimed at older Cuban Americans with little family left in Cuba, who vote in higher numbers. Other Cuban Americans vote too, and Mr. Bush is in for a surprise.”
The new restrictions come at a time when Cubans on the socialist island nation are deeply concerned about the increased hostility towards them coming from the Bush administration.
In addition to the new travel restrictions, George W. Bush has directed some $59 million dollars to be spent on undermining Cuban sovereignty, including broadcasting State Department propaganda through U.S.-run Radio and TV Marti.
According to the Center for Defense Information (CDI) Cuba Project, the White House decided to deploy military “Commando Solo” airborne platforms in coordination with the U.S. government’s Office of Cuba Broadcasting. “It is unclear whether this aircraft will be operated by the military or the OCB,” the CDI’s June 17 press statement said. The OCB is run largely by Cuban exiles based in Miami who maintain ties to extremist, shadowy elements who “seek to trigger a violent incident that could create a pretext for military action against Cuba,” the CDI said.
Two U.S. carrier strike groups also recently sailed in the vicinity of Cuba as part of a new kind of Navy exercise. These actions have caused great concern among the Cuban people and officials about the growing possibility of a U.S. military action there, according to the CDI.
http://pww.org/article/articleview/5472/1/223/
There are even new definitions of what constitutes family. Visits to cousins, aunts, and uncles are now out. The new regulations took effect on June 30.
The days leading up to that date were marked by mob scenes at the Miami Airport, as flights were cancelled and ticket holders were kept from boarding planes. Many of those rebuffed had already traveled long distances to connect with flights to Cuba. Charter companies sent extra planes to Havana to bring back visitors concerned about overstaying their 14-day limit. Animosity toward the Bush administration from the assembled throng was palpable, according to media reports.
For some time public opinion polls have suggested that at least half of Florida’s Cubans are raising questions about U.S.-Cuba policy, and polls now show that a majority opposes the new regulations. Most respondents place the blame for the cruel and anti-family measures on an older generation of right-wing, politically influential Cuban Americans, and say Bush is pandering to the old guard. Even that kingpin of right-wing connivance, the Cuban American National Foundation, takes exception to the travel restrictions.
A nationwide coalition of Cuban Americans has set up the Cuban American Commission for Family Rights. Silvia Wilhelm, the group’s director, regards the new restrictions as disastrous for human rights and family values. Commission President Alvaro Fernandez notes that “a vast majority of Cuban Americans support family travel. This is a policy that panders to a minority of Cuban Americans and is nothing more than election year politics.” The commission will be utilizing the courts and upcoming elections to oppose the travel regulations.
On June 24, members of the House of Representatives met with Bush officials to urge them to back away from the new policies, and the next day members of Congress’ Cuba Working Group indicated that they will try to block funding for enforcing the regulations. Joining them was Rep. Jim Davis (D-Fla.), who until now has been a hard-liner against Cuba.
In a July 1 letter to the New York Times, Miguel Rivas of New Jersey writes, “This is just cheap politics aimed at older Cuban Americans with little family left in Cuba, who vote in higher numbers. Other Cuban Americans vote too, and Mr. Bush is in for a surprise.”
The new restrictions come at a time when Cubans on the socialist island nation are deeply concerned about the increased hostility towards them coming from the Bush administration.
In addition to the new travel restrictions, George W. Bush has directed some $59 million dollars to be spent on undermining Cuban sovereignty, including broadcasting State Department propaganda through U.S.-run Radio and TV Marti.
According to the Center for Defense Information (CDI) Cuba Project, the White House decided to deploy military “Commando Solo” airborne platforms in coordination with the U.S. government’s Office of Cuba Broadcasting. “It is unclear whether this aircraft will be operated by the military or the OCB,” the CDI’s June 17 press statement said. The OCB is run largely by Cuban exiles based in Miami who maintain ties to extremist, shadowy elements who “seek to trigger a violent incident that could create a pretext for military action against Cuba,” the CDI said.
Two U.S. carrier strike groups also recently sailed in the vicinity of Cuba as part of a new kind of Navy exercise. These actions have caused great concern among the Cuban people and officials about the growing possibility of a U.S. military action there, according to the CDI.
http://pww.org/article/articleview/5472/1/223/
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Caravan to Cuba defies U.S. travel restrictions
By: Rashard Zanders
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 7/14/2004
U.S. commercial media outlets largely ignore acts of civil disobedience and non-violent protest.
On Wednesday, June 16, the Bush Administration, reluctant to let go of Cold War posturing, published revised regulations that increase the pressure of the embargo against Cuba. As of June 30, the revisions include:
• The virtual elimination of “people to people” exchanges with Cuba and homeland security investigations of those suspected of travel to the island.
• Allowing Cuban Americans to visit immediate relatives on the island nation only once every three years, decreasing permitted visits from once every year.
• Decreasing the amount of money that authorized visitors can take to Cuba from $3,000 to $300 in cash, and reducing the daily spending limit of those travelers from $167 to $50.
• Banning travelers from bringing back any Cuban merchandise and receiving any gifts of goods or service from the Cuban government, Cuban nationals, or citizens of developing countries (travelers had previously been allowed to bring back up to $100 worth of Cuban products for personal consumption).
• Severely limiting educational visits to Cuba.
But like Rosa Parks, Pastors for Peace have no qualms opposing such restrictions by publicly challenging these policies and the deeply racist economic blockade for 15 years. Pastors for Peace are a special ministry of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, (IFCO) founded by Rev. Lucius Walker in 1967.
This year their civilly disobedient and non-violent protest, the 15th Friendship Caravan, will travel 13 separate routes across the country and be welcomed by over 120 American communities that have collected over 60 tons of humanitarian aid for the people of Cuba. An estimated 200 people will meet them at the Texas/Mexican border to travel to Cuba without U.S. Treasury Department licenses to provide the Cuban people with school buses, computers, medicine and school supplies.
The Twin Cities contingent met up with Pastors for Peace Caravanistas in Minneapolis’ Seward neighborhood early Thursday evening, June 24, in the basement/fellowship hall of St. Albert the Great Church. Over 100 people attended to welcome the Caravanistas, and see the Twin Cities contingent off. The event was sponsored by the Resource Center for the Americas, Witness for Peace, and the Minnesota Cuba Committee. Two documentaries were shown continuously throughout the evening: Estela Bravo’s Free to Fly: The U.S.-Cuba Link, and Jennifer Wagner’s Free the Cuban Five.
Speakers included Cuban community leader Victor Valens, owner of Victor’s Café (which provided the bomb food); Professor Gary Prevost, author of Cuba: A Different America and co-author of the soon-to-be-published book, A History of U.S.-Cuban Relations. Provost had just returned from Cuba after leading a trip of U of M students on a summer study to Cuba, and Brianna Harris, a Macalester graduate who joined IFCO/Pastors for Peace in February. Harris is the designated leader of the Minnesota Caravanistas, which numbered four persons.
Valens was visibly moved by the outpouring of support from the community and said he was determined not to let the recent travel restrictions stop him from visiting his loved ones. “I will travel to Cuba to see my family whenever I want,” said Valens. He challenged people to actually learn about Cuba for themselves.
“You have to go for yourself. Cuba is not a threat. Cuba can offer a lot to America.” He thanked all those who were not Cuban for coming out and supporting Cuba, and said that he hoped for their continued support of Cuba.
Resource Center of the America’s Rosita Balch implored the audience to call Sen. Norm Coleman’s office “and tell him what you’ve learned about Cuba.”
IFCO/Pastors for Peace Executive Director Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr., issued a statement in May praising all that Cuba has achieved despite the embargo. “We are inspired by the Cuban people; by their remarkable achievements in health care, education and culture; by their determination to maintain their sovereignty; and by their consistent advocacy for the least advantaged people of the world.”
African Americans have a vested interest in the well being of Cuba, as the revolution in 1959 lifted the island’s Black and Brown population from the second-class, marginalized status they suffered under the Jim-Crow styled, U.S. backed government of dictator Fulgencio Batista, the style of government still favored by the majority of Miami’s Cuban American population. People of African descent in Cuba thrive in every profession in Cuba’s more equal social stratum. In the African Diaspora, Cuba is a model of success, equality, and a real, color-blind society.
Writing for Southside Pride, Lydia Howell writes that “a shrinking minority still determines U.S. policy towards Cuba: anti-Castro (referring to Cuban President Fidel Castro) exiles in Miami... In those days, Cuba was known as ‘Little Las Vegas,’ its wealth divided up between U.S. corporations, the Mafia, and Batista’s elite. By the 1950s, infamous Miami mob-boss Meyer Lansky profited from casinos and prostitution, and Havana was an international drug port. By 1959, American corporations controlled much of Cuba’s resources: 90 percent of mines, 80 percent of utilities, 50 percent of railroads, 40 percent of sugar plantations, and 25 percent of bank deposits,” (Southside Pride, July 2004).
Consequently, the new travel restrictions dictated by the Bush administration could backfire on them. They limit all Cuban Americans’ right to travel, visit family, and send money, including the Miami exiles who have been a force in U.S. conservative politics since Batista fled Cuba with $40 million from the Cuba treasury in 1959. Rev. Walker, Jr., said, “As people of faith and conscience, it is our duty to resist and expose this cruel contradiction.”
To contact IFCO/Pastors for Peace, call 212-926-5757 or email ifco@ ifc.org. To call Sen. Norm Colemans St. Paul office: 651-645-0323.
http://www.spokesman-recorder.com/News/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=45945&sID=13
By: Rashard Zanders
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 7/14/2004
U.S. commercial media outlets largely ignore acts of civil disobedience and non-violent protest.
On Wednesday, June 16, the Bush Administration, reluctant to let go of Cold War posturing, published revised regulations that increase the pressure of the embargo against Cuba. As of June 30, the revisions include:
• The virtual elimination of “people to people” exchanges with Cuba and homeland security investigations of those suspected of travel to the island.
• Allowing Cuban Americans to visit immediate relatives on the island nation only once every three years, decreasing permitted visits from once every year.
• Decreasing the amount of money that authorized visitors can take to Cuba from $3,000 to $300 in cash, and reducing the daily spending limit of those travelers from $167 to $50.
• Banning travelers from bringing back any Cuban merchandise and receiving any gifts of goods or service from the Cuban government, Cuban nationals, or citizens of developing countries (travelers had previously been allowed to bring back up to $100 worth of Cuban products for personal consumption).
• Severely limiting educational visits to Cuba.
But like Rosa Parks, Pastors for Peace have no qualms opposing such restrictions by publicly challenging these policies and the deeply racist economic blockade for 15 years. Pastors for Peace are a special ministry of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, (IFCO) founded by Rev. Lucius Walker in 1967.
This year their civilly disobedient and non-violent protest, the 15th Friendship Caravan, will travel 13 separate routes across the country and be welcomed by over 120 American communities that have collected over 60 tons of humanitarian aid for the people of Cuba. An estimated 200 people will meet them at the Texas/Mexican border to travel to Cuba without U.S. Treasury Department licenses to provide the Cuban people with school buses, computers, medicine and school supplies.
The Twin Cities contingent met up with Pastors for Peace Caravanistas in Minneapolis’ Seward neighborhood early Thursday evening, June 24, in the basement/fellowship hall of St. Albert the Great Church. Over 100 people attended to welcome the Caravanistas, and see the Twin Cities contingent off. The event was sponsored by the Resource Center for the Americas, Witness for Peace, and the Minnesota Cuba Committee. Two documentaries were shown continuously throughout the evening: Estela Bravo’s Free to Fly: The U.S.-Cuba Link, and Jennifer Wagner’s Free the Cuban Five.
Speakers included Cuban community leader Victor Valens, owner of Victor’s Café (which provided the bomb food); Professor Gary Prevost, author of Cuba: A Different America and co-author of the soon-to-be-published book, A History of U.S.-Cuban Relations. Provost had just returned from Cuba after leading a trip of U of M students on a summer study to Cuba, and Brianna Harris, a Macalester graduate who joined IFCO/Pastors for Peace in February. Harris is the designated leader of the Minnesota Caravanistas, which numbered four persons.
Valens was visibly moved by the outpouring of support from the community and said he was determined not to let the recent travel restrictions stop him from visiting his loved ones. “I will travel to Cuba to see my family whenever I want,” said Valens. He challenged people to actually learn about Cuba for themselves.
“You have to go for yourself. Cuba is not a threat. Cuba can offer a lot to America.” He thanked all those who were not Cuban for coming out and supporting Cuba, and said that he hoped for their continued support of Cuba.
Resource Center of the America’s Rosita Balch implored the audience to call Sen. Norm Coleman’s office “and tell him what you’ve learned about Cuba.”
IFCO/Pastors for Peace Executive Director Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr., issued a statement in May praising all that Cuba has achieved despite the embargo. “We are inspired by the Cuban people; by their remarkable achievements in health care, education and culture; by their determination to maintain their sovereignty; and by their consistent advocacy for the least advantaged people of the world.”
African Americans have a vested interest in the well being of Cuba, as the revolution in 1959 lifted the island’s Black and Brown population from the second-class, marginalized status they suffered under the Jim-Crow styled, U.S. backed government of dictator Fulgencio Batista, the style of government still favored by the majority of Miami’s Cuban American population. People of African descent in Cuba thrive in every profession in Cuba’s more equal social stratum. In the African Diaspora, Cuba is a model of success, equality, and a real, color-blind society.
Writing for Southside Pride, Lydia Howell writes that “a shrinking minority still determines U.S. policy towards Cuba: anti-Castro (referring to Cuban President Fidel Castro) exiles in Miami... In those days, Cuba was known as ‘Little Las Vegas,’ its wealth divided up between U.S. corporations, the Mafia, and Batista’s elite. By the 1950s, infamous Miami mob-boss Meyer Lansky profited from casinos and prostitution, and Havana was an international drug port. By 1959, American corporations controlled much of Cuba’s resources: 90 percent of mines, 80 percent of utilities, 50 percent of railroads, 40 percent of sugar plantations, and 25 percent of bank deposits,” (Southside Pride, July 2004).
Consequently, the new travel restrictions dictated by the Bush administration could backfire on them. They limit all Cuban Americans’ right to travel, visit family, and send money, including the Miami exiles who have been a force in U.S. conservative politics since Batista fled Cuba with $40 million from the Cuba treasury in 1959. Rev. Walker, Jr., said, “As people of faith and conscience, it is our duty to resist and expose this cruel contradiction.”
To contact IFCO/Pastors for Peace, call 212-926-5757 or email ifco@ ifc.org. To call Sen. Norm Colemans St. Paul office: 651-645-0323.
http://www.spokesman-recorder.com/News/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=45945&sID=13
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