U.S. launches crackdown on Cuba travel

[Osolomia]

By Rafael Lorente
Washington Bureau
Posted November 8 2003

WASHINGTON · The Bush administration for the first time is beginning judicial proceedings against dozens of people accused of illegally visiting Cuba, even as Republicans and Democrats in Congress move to end enforcement of the four-decade-old U.S. travel ban to the island.

Last month, unauthorized travelers to Cuba started receiving notices from the Treasury Department that they would be required to appear before a judge. The notices went out about the same time the Senate voted to prohibit enforcement of the travel ban.

"It's incredible that hearings to enforce fines against Cuba travelers are beginning at a time when Congress and the American people have clearly stated their opposition to the travel ban," said Nancy Chang, an attorney with the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights. Chang said two of her center's clients have received such notices and could face hearings early next year.

... Fifty cases have been referred to the judges, said Taylor Griffin, a Treasury Department spokesman.

... "We're going to be really stepping up enforcement," Griffin said.

More...
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-acubatravel08nov08,0,413204.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

[Newsjock]

1. Oh good grief, not the sex slaves again!

From the story:

... But many of Bush's Cuban-American allies have not been happy with the administration, saying it has not done enough and threatening to withhold support in next year's presidential election.

In response, Bush last month announced a new presidential commission on transition to democracy in Cuba and said his administration would crack down on travel to the island, which he said encourages "an illicit sex trade."

Sex slaves on your mind a bit too much, Mr. President? Gosh, I wonder why. What could this mean?

[eablair3]

54. he ought to walk a few blocks from the White House to see

the illicit sex trade. Of course, Bush can always just look at the local illicit sex trade happening right in his neighborhood on his computer. Oh, ... I forgot, ... he doesn't read.

It never ceases to amaze me how someone like Bush can pick an issue out like the "illicit sex trade" in another society and demonize it as part of the propaganda campaign, while completely ignoring the fact of illicit sex trade in his home country and only a few blocks from the where he sleeps.

btw, I don't have a problem with "illicit sex trade" as long as it's between two freely consenting adults, but I do have a problem with exploitation that is often involved in it. This whole issue is a sign of bigger problems.

[ClintonTyree]

2. A Cuban policy.........

that has failed for 40 years is now expected to garner different results? When will the assholes in Washington realize that the only way to reform Cuba is from within? The embargo has done nothing but hurt the people they say they want to help. Are these people braindead? I was talking to an elderly Cuban man at Democratic Headquarters the other day. He enlightened me on many misconceptions that I had of the country and as to why a seeming majority of Cubans favor Republicans. The bottom line.........brainwashing. The same thing the Republicans accuse Castro of. The Republicans, back in the 60's, started a few companies that were run by Cuban nationalists, bought stock in the companies, and over the years got very rich. These same Cubans now walk the Republican tightrope, not because they believe their policies will bring about change in Cuba, but because they made the Cubans rich. These Cubans, according to this gentleman, have foresaken their homeland for the almighty dollar. It was fascinating talking to him and I hope for more dialogue in the future. He told stories of the Cuban missle crisis that gave me a different perspective from what I've been told.

[Zuni]

4. You know

If the policies haven't worked for 44 years, they are not about start working now.
Cuba has come along way in the last ten years. The prison colonies are not there anymore, no more forced lobotomies on dissidents etc.
It is time to just forget about Cuba.

[Osolomia]

5. None of the leading Dem candidates support lifting the travel ban

Obviously our own standard of "freedom" and "democracy" leaves a geat deal to be desired when even DU and the Dem candidates are not fighting alongside the majority on this issue. Such hypocrisy reeks to high holy hell whether brainwashed dems realize it or not.

The Democratic presidential candidates on Cuba
http://www.lawg.org/pages/new%20pages/Misc/prez-candidates1.htm

[Donna Zen]

57. See Rock the Vote tape

Clark has said before and said it again, he supports lifting the Cuban embargo.

[Osolomia]

60. Oh really, and how do Clark's conditions for lifting the embargo

differ from the Bush Doctrine's? In fact, Clark supports regime change in Cuba too!

Will Dems ever learn to ask questions first before swallowing hook, line and sinker?

[Judi Lynn]

3. Gotta feed the Miami monster by taking kicks at Cuba

How shabby!

(snip) But many of Bush's Cuban-American allies have not been happy with the administration, saying it has not done enough and threatening to withhold support in next year's presidential election.
(/snip...)

Bush does need their support. How could he have ever stolen Florida without their help, and without the immoral loss of thousands of valid votes denied by Choicepoint's nasty deal with Katherine Harris/Jeb Bush?

Concerning the great article, it's interesting to note the American couple which had BEEN on a humanitarian trip to Cuba, church-related, STILL got hit with a 15,000 dollar fine, when grilled coming back to the States from Canada. Yeah, that really sounds like freedom, doesn't it?

Concerning the terrifying "sexual trade" here's an article written in response to _Bush's infantile, bogus, and stupid insults to the Cuban population:

(snip)......the statement accuses the Cuban government of "encouraging" both. But where is the evidence of government "encouragement"? None was presented by the White House, which apparently wants us to assume that the mere existence of prostitution implies "encouragement." If that is the case, then we would have to say that the US government, and all state and city governments in the United States, encourage prostitution -- and that's not even counting Nevada, where the "oldest trade" is legal! (snip/....)

http://www.counterpunch.org/valdes10182003.html

[dArKeR]

25. So shouldn't there be an IP to investigate the Racketeering between Bush

Crime Family and the Cuban Crime Family?

[leesa]

6. They should correct these headlines to say "GOP" instead of "US"

[Osolomia]

7. Spew more hypocrisy and deceit and hope no one notices

where the Democratic presidential candidates and their supporters stand on this issue? What a truly revolting scam!

[Mika]

10. leesa, the headline is right. It is "US".

Come to Florida where almost all candidates, repukes AND Dems alike, spew this same line of crap. They run against Castro. Whomever out lies the other against "Castro's Cuba" gets the CANF, Cubanet, Alpha 66, Brigade 2506, etc, campaign contributions.

Bill Clinton did.


CANF founder and Clinton fundraiser Jorge Mas Canosa & Bill Clinton

---

••• Please Boycott Bacardi Products & the University of Miami •••
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43b/116.html
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uczxcia/ecoguide/boycotts/bacardi.htm
http://www.rcgfrfi.easynet.co.uk/ratb/boycott/wysk.htm
http://perso.club-internet.fr/vdedaj/cuba/lazy_cuba_bacardi_hb.html
http://www.cpa.org.au/garchve1/982bac.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/cuba/story/0,11983,774849,00.html
http://www.miami.edu/iccas/casabacardi.htm

[Osolomia]

12. Or look at Lieberman's recent vote on the ban for crying out loud!!!

along with a few other dozen Dems who voted WITH the minority AGAINST your freedom to travel! Obviously the Dems state of denial about this issue extends way, way beyond Florida to this day. What a shame, especially on a forum such as this one claims to be.

[guajira]

17. Mika, Jorge Mas Canosa has been dead for years!!

And although Clinton pandered to CANF, as Florida Senators Nelson and Bob Graham do today - at least Americans could travel to Cuba without fear of being arrested when Clinton was in office - unlike the way it is today with Bush-Nazi in office!

The past is the past. Now we have Homeland Security diverting valuable resources from protecting us from terrorists, to seeking out and arresting Americans returning from Cuba! This is current and this is reality!!

[Mika]

49. True

I was just illustrating the lack of awareness that many Dem voters seem to have regarding their party's pandering to the extremists in the Miamicuban community. Including the most recent Dems party hero - the Big Dog.

You are right, Mas is dead & Bill C is gone.. but the laws, legacy, and echoes of some of his bad policy choices still linger.

Its not just the GOPers who are clinging to this 40+ year confrontation.

[gone2thechase]

22. Are you in Cuba now?

It sounds like Castro could use some diplomatic help to prove he is pro-free elections and supports the choice of the people even if it means he loses office. Have you tried to move there and help him show the world what a peaceful and honest leader he really is?

Castro is just misunderstood and really wants the people to decide their own fate and government. Right?

[Name removed]

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[Mika]

50. Not at the moment

gone2thechase-->"It sounds like Castro could use some diplomatic help to prove he is pro-free elections and supports the choice of the people even if it means he loses office."


As soon as Americans can go to Cuba at will then they can see the next elections in Cuba for themselves, as I have seen in the past.

If the concern is freedom, then shouldn't American's concern be over their own freedom - before we start lecturing others about theirs?




gone2thechase-->"Have you tried to move there and help him show the world what a peaceful and honest leader he really is?"


Cuba doesn't have an open immigration policy for Americans, yet.

But the US government books reservations for the dog cages at Gitmo - if it secretly deems one an "evil doer".




gone2thechase-->"Castro is just misunderstood and really wants the people to decide their own fate and government. Right?"


To understand something it usually helps to be able to see it, review it, study it, & experience it on the ground. This is why so many Americans do not understand much about Cuba, except the abundance US government supplied propaganda.

I draw my conclusions of Cuba by actual experience.

[BlueCollar]

8. This is ridiculous

[Minstrel Boy]

9. tourists of mass dissemination

We mustn't have Americans see Cuba for themselves and bring back all kinds of stories, can we?

[Judi Lynn]

11. That's the way they see it

Once enough Americans have been there, everyone's going to know just how rotten the lies have been we've been fed for over 40 years, to keep Cuba isolated, and open ONLY TO CUBAN "EXILES" and their offspring.

Why do they run the terrifying risk of being flung into jail to swagger back, loaded down with gifts, and money, for their visits to relatives and friends, if they are re-entering "the communist zone" where you can be seized and pitched into the slammer? Americans are bound to figure out the scam, themselves, eventually. Getting travel prohibitions removed WILL inform all of us we've been denied travel for nothing beyond the politics and profit of an evil few.

[Osolomia]

13. Will Dem leaders change their minds when Bush signs this bill

in the next few weeks or will they continue to pander to the extremist minority in Florida instead?

If you can read this you've had access to all the same information the rest of the world has about Cuba for several years now. There's no excuse for Americans to behave like a bunch or arrogant ignorant morons just because they can't get on the direct flights to Cuba but where there's a will there's a way. Strangely there doesn't seem to be much of such a will on DU nor with the presidential candidates except Kucinich. What a shame.

[Judi Lynn]

14. Bush is eventually going to have to face our business people

over why he's choking off all travel to Cuba, other than for Cuban "exiles" and their offspring, and scheming against Americans who want to visit, and to do business there.

In the meantime, Minnesota food producers are moving ahead at full throttle, under the restrictions placed upon them:

(snip) Minnesota products flowing to Cuba
Joy Powell, Star Tribune Staff Writer

Published November 7, 2003 CUBA07


Fidel Castro wants to provide every Cuban child under age 7 with a liter of milk a day -- and he may use Minnesota agricultural products to do it.

This week, Cuban officials ordered 14,300 tons of corn byproducts from Minnesota ethanol plants to use as high-quality cattle feed. They snapped it up after a feeding trial showed that the byproducts, known as distiller's grain, increased the milk output of their cows.

Castro, who is so taken with the product that he's telling the leaders of other nations about it, quipped in a meeting with Minnesotans that he wouldn't charge a commission for helping them to sell it.

The distiller's dried grain and livestock sales represent more than $8 million in new exports to Cuba from farmers in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest.

But those deals could trigger at least $45 million more in farm exports to Cuba from Minnesota in the next several years, said Craig Damstrom, an international-trade consultant with the state Agriculture Department. (snip/...)

http://www.startribune.com/stories/535/4198483.html

[ithacan]

15. US agents waiting in the Toronto airport

at the exit gates of flights from Cuba, pulling aside US passport holders...

Canada has signed an agreement with the US allowing this (other countries have similar agreements with the US).

Think about the resources they are wasting on this idiotic policy

[gone2thechase]

16. What is the latest US citizen opinion of Castro and his ruling party?

Do most Americans approve of his dictatorship now? Are opposition political parties allowed to protest and march against Castro in Cuba now without being jailed?

[guajira]

18. Are Americans Allowed Freedom to Travel? In Guantanamo, are

prisoners allowed to have attorneys or any kind of justice? Are China and Vietnam democracies? You can visit those countries, also N. Korea, Middle East, and almost everywhere else in the world.

I want my freedom to travel to Cuba legally - PERIOD!!!!

[gone2thechase]

20. Huh?

Any chance you have any answers to my queries? I'm only asking for some input here...not an argument.

[dax]

41. "opposition parties" aren't allowed to march against BUSH!!!

Either you are really naive or have not been following the news lately-- when Bush arrived in Portland the police cordoned off several blocks and bussed "the Pioneers" 100,000+ donors and 1,000 donors to a fundraiser-none was allowed anywhere near to "protest or march. If that was some kind of criteria....Bush has to travel with a security entourage to protect him from any population anywhere in the world Castro rides around in an open jeep and shakes hands- I seriously doubt he is any less loved or respected than our boy george

[Malva Zebrina]

19. How does it happen that a government can tell it's people

where they might travel?

Oh yes, I forgot--Communist Russia did restrict where it's citizens could travel.

[gone2thechase]

21. It's hard to believe

Now that Cuba is a free democracy and allows free and open elections I can't understand why we still embargo them. Any political party that wants to run in cuba is allowed to and their people can protest all hours of the day against Castro and still be fed and treated for medical .

Why is America hiding the fact that Cuba is a free and democratic nation now that respects its people and allows any peacful dissent against Castro?

[Minstrel Boy]

23. It's hard to believe

I missed the news of America's embargo against Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, China....

All countries far more repressive and less democratic than Cuba. But none just off the coast of Florida, offering a contrary example to monopoly capitalism.

[gone2thechase]

24. I missed it too

Now to the question...

Why is America hiding the fact that Cuba is a free and democratic nation now that respects its people and allows any peacful dissent against Castro?

[Judi Lynn]

26. You should take the time to educate yourself on Cuba's government

rather than spewing Miami Mafia bile around.

Here's a quick resource:

http://members.attcanada.ca/~dchris/CubaFAQ.html

On edit:
(Click "Democracy in Cuba" from the left column)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

The C.I.A. reports that most Cubans are loyal to their country:

(snip)....The CIA believes there are many reasons Cubans are content to remain in their homeland. Some don’t
want to be separated from home, family and friends. Some fear they would never be able to return, and still
others just fear change in general. Officials also say there is a reservoir of loyalty to Fidel Castro and, as in
the case of Juan Miguel Gonzalez, to the Communist Party.

U.S. officials say they no longer regard Cuba as a totalitarian state with aggressive policies toward its people,
but instead an authoritarian state, where the public can operate within certain bounds — just not push the envelope.
More important, Cuban media and Cuban culture long ago raised the banner of nationalism above that of
Marxism.
The intelligence community says the battle over Elian has presented Castro with a “unique opportunity” to
enhance that nationalism.
There is no indication, U.S. officials say, of any nascent rebellion about to spill into the streets, no great
outpouring of support for human rights activists in prison. In fact, there are fewer than 100 activists on the island
and a support group of perhaps 1,000 more, according to U.S. officials. (snip/...)

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/cuba/loyal.htm

Perhaps you know something our C.I.A. doesn't know.

[gone2thechase]

27. rather than spewing Miami Mafia bile around???????????????????????????

I asekd this simple question and you hit me with this bile?

"Why is America hiding the fact that Cuba is a free and democratic nation now that respects its people and allows any peacful dissent against Castro?"

Why did you attack me for asking this simple question?

[guajira]

45. America Hides Cuba from us Because Miami Batistianos Want

Americans kept out of Cuba. Batistiano "exiles" want to be able to travel to Cuba, stay in hotels, rent cars, go to shows and restaurants - all the time lobbying for a travel ban against Americans!

This is discrimination that is permitted by pandering politicians in exchange for votes and campaign contributions. Americans are finally beginning to catch on and ask - wtf???

[Osolomia]

46. Not to mention what would happen to the "exiles"lucrative black market

if legitimate free trade and travel were allowed.

So what if the travel ban language survives committee and Bush does not veto it? Which is what I’m inclined to think he’ll do considering who all has voted for it while throwing some cockamie crap the “exiles” way to keep them from having conniption shit fits.

Technically travel to Cuba (or rather spending money there) will still be illegal it’s just that OFAC won’t have the funds to enforce the law. But as you point out, Bush is already using Homeland Security instead for enforcement.

So what would the reaction be a if thousands of Americans are charged with traveling to Cuba without Bush’s permission, some kind of 1950’s McCarthy trials?

Who’d have thought 10 years ago that this is where Americans would be at over freedom to travel in 2003? I sure didn't!

[Judi Lynn]

48. I read an article in the Miami Herald

a couple of years ago about a Cuban "exile" couple who buy tons of stuff in Miami, at discount stores, then take these really cheap items to Cuba and sell them at huge profits.

I've also heard that there are some "exiles" who have set themselves up in businesses in Cuba ALREADY, by going through circuitous routes, like using third parties, third countries, etc.

It would be GREAT if Americans started finding out more about Miami Mafiosi business ventures in contemporary Cuba. These are conducted TOTALLY behind our backs.

[Osolomia]

51. I've met "exiles" in Cuba distributing their wares

and they're not all Batistiano mafia. The ones I've met came across as delightfully charming people with a good business sense and went out of their way to help us out on occassion. Problem is even our 2004 democratic presidential candidates prefer to pander to the extremist Batistiano minority to this day so that's all you ever hear about.

[Judi Lynn]

63. I wonder if they would have been as charming to you

if they had thought you were a U.S. citizen, and not allowed to be there!

It really seems unfair that they are actually doing business IN CUBA, while Cuban-Americans lobby HARD to keep ordinary Americans out.

I think it'd be cool if some Amerians got photos of some of these weisenheimers and brought them home, to raise hell about with their Congressmen. No kidding. I'll bet people could get some real mileage that way.

[Mika]

53. A lot of "exile" owned businesses in the Bahamas

Its better in the Bahamas. ;-)

[Osolomia]

28. Why the US fears Cuba

Hostility to the Castro regime doesn't stem from its failings, but from its achievements

Seumas Milne
Thursday July 31, 2003
The Guardian

... Which only goes to reinforce what has long been obvious: that US hostility to Cuba does not stem from the regime's human rights failings, but its social and political successes and the challenge its unyielding independence offers to other US and western satellite states. Saddled with a siege economy and a wartime political culture for more than 40 years, Cuba has achieved first world health and education standards in a third world country, its infant mortality and literacy rates now rivalling or outstripping those of the US, its class sizes a third smaller than in Britain - while next door, in the US-backed "democracy" of Haiti, half the population is unable to read and infant mortality is over 10 times higher. Those, too, are human rights, recognised by the UN declaration and European convention. Despite the catastrophic withdrawal of Soviet support more than a decade ago and the social damage wrought by dollarisation and mass tourism, Cuba has developed biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries acknowledged by the US to be the most advanced in Latin America. Meanwhile, it has sent 50,000 doctors to work for free in 93 third world countries (currently there are 1,000 working in Venezuela's slums) and given a free university education to 1,000 third world students a year. How much of that would survive a takeover by the Miami-backed opposition?

The historical importance of Cuba's struggle for social justice and sovereignty and its creative social mobilisation will continue to echo beyond its time and place: from the self-sacrificing internationalism of Che to the crucial role played by Cuban troops in bringing an end to apartheid through the defeat of South Africa at Cuito Cuanavale in Angola in 1988. But those relying on the death of Castro (the "biological solution") to restore Cuba swiftly to its traditional proprietors may be disappointed, while the Iraq imbroglio may have checked the US neo-conservatives' enthusiasm for military intervention against a far more popular regime in Cuba. That suggests Cuba will have to expect yet more destabilisation, further complicating the defence of the social and political gains of the revolution in the years to come. The greatest contribution those genuinely concerned about human rights and democracy in Cuba can make is to help get the US and its European friends off the Cubans' backs.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1009384,00.html

[gone2thechase]

29. Cuba's struggle for social justice

I'm still wondering why peaceful protesters are still in Cuban jails for speaking out for a different regime than Castro. What's up with that?

[Osolomia]

30. Because your "peaceful protesters" are financed by the US government

It's well documented that US taxpayers finance the "dissidents" in Cuba as any simple search of Google shows or government websites like USAID and NED or among the thosands of links posted on DU in recent years. In fact, it's common knowledge that you can't deny.

[gone2thechase]

32. And that is cause to lock them up?

The simple act of using American money to finance a protest is cause for jailtime? So all protests in Cuba against Castrol are ok as long as no American money is used to pay for the posters etc?

Wow. What if the US used the same rules for protesters using ANSWER and their outside cash for their protests? Is that ok too?

[Judi Lynn]

34. This might help

(snip) The NED's non-governmental status provides the fiction that recipients of NED money are getting "private" rather than U.S. government money. This is important because so many countries, including both the U.S. and Cuba, have laws relating to their citizens' being paid to carry out activities for foreign governments. The U.S. requires an individual or organization "subject to foreign control," i.e., who receives money and instructions from a foreign government, to register with the Attorney General and to file detailed activities reports, including finances, every six months. The five Cuban intelligence officers were convicted for failing to register under this law.

Cuba has its own laws criminalizing actions intended to jeopardize its sovereignty or territorial integrity as well as any actions supporting the goals of the U.S. Helms-Burton Act of 1996, i.e., by collecting information to support the embargo or to subvert the government, or for disseminating U.S. government information to undermine the Cuban government. (snip/...)

from the article in Counterpunch,
August 9, 2003

Terrorism and Civil Society
The Instruments of US Policy in Cuba

http://www.counterpunch.org/agee08092003.html

[dax]

47. from the same article...to the POINT

"Whatever the amounts of money reaching Cuba may have been, everyone in Cuba working in the various dissident projects knows of U.S. government sponsorship and funding and of the purpose: regime change. Far from being "independent" journalists, "idealistic" human rights activists, "legitimate" advocates for change, or "Marian librarians from River City," every one of the 75 arrested and convicted was knowingly a participant in U.S. government operations to overthrow the government and install a different, U.S.-favored, political, economic and social order. They knew what they were doing was illegal, they got caught, and they are paying the price. Anyone who thinks they are prisoners of conscience, persecuted for their ideas or speech, or victims of repression, simply fails to see them properly as instruments of a U.S. government that has declared revolutionary Cuba its enemy. They were not convicted for ideas but for paid actions on behalf of a foreign power that has waged a 44-year war of varying degrees of intensity against this country.

To think that the dissidents were creating an independent, free civil society is absurd, for they were funded and controlled by a hostile foreign power and to that degree, which was total, they were not free or independent in the least. The civil society they wished to create was not just your normal, garden variety civil society of Harley freaks and Boxer breeders, but a political opposition movement fomented openly by the U.S. government. What government in the world would be so self-destructive as to sit by and just watch this happen?". Philip Agee in Counterpunch

[Osolomia]

36. Yes, the US does arrest foreign financed agents

Suspected of trying to overthrow the US government by the hundreds, what planet have you been living on since September 11th?

Cuba has as much right to defend itself against terrorist attacks as the USA does don’t you think?

Apparently not.

[dax]

43. If Cuba financed "dissidents" to disrupt the US-Ashcroft would let them go

You have got to be living in a goldfish bowl...If a Cuban came to the US and posed as a journalist and started organizing the overthrow of the US government they would be locked up, without a phone call and sent to Guantanamo for a military trial without counsel and possibly tortured by soldiers doing their "duty. The so called dissidents are mostly (INCOMPETENT) US Spies and their recruited pawns...you know that Cuba has more intelligent intelligence than the US, they just nabbed a plot last week. ADVICE for YOU-if your IQ ever reaches 50--SELL

[Judi Lynn]

44. Bravo, dax

Welcome to D.U. :hi: :hi: :hi:

[Say_What]

59. US Code: Sec. 951. - Agents of foreign governments

get an education instead of believing the Calle Ocho lies.

<clips>
US Code: Sec. 951. - Agents of foreign governments

(a) Whoever, other than a diplomatic or consular officer or attacheAE1, acts in the United States as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General if required in subsection (b), shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

...(e) Notwithstanding paragraph (d)(4), any person engaged in a legal commercial transaction shall be considered to be an agent of a foreign government for purposes of this section if -

(1) such person agrees to operate within the United States subject to the direction or control of a foreign government or official; and

(2) such person -

(A) is an agent of Cuba or any other country that the President determines (and so reports to the Congress) poses a threat to the national security interest of the United States for purposes of this section, unless the Attorney General, after consultation with the Secretary of State, determines and so reports to the Congress that the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States require that the provisions of this section do not apply in specific circumstances to agents of such country; or

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/951.html

[eablair3]

55. Yes, it is hard to believe how the U.S. uses money to subvert, terrorize

Tell me when the U.S. cared about "freedom" and "democracy" in other countries.

What is hard to believe is how the U.S. uses organizations like the National Endowment for Democracy to fund opposition groups in countries with democracies so that they can back military coups. The history of this is long and distinguished. Iran in 1954. Chile in 1973. All over the Carribean, Central America and South America. Columbia today. And, that's only naming a few. I could go on and on.

I do assume that you are familiar with this history. If not, you should enlighten yourself. Check out some books by William Blum. There is a current new book out now that is excellent by Stephen Kinzer on the U.S. and CIA overthrowing the democratically elected Mossadegh in Iran in 1954. The book is called "All The Shah's Men."

So, yes, the U.S. has a long history of supporting "freedom" and "democracy" in foregin countries, esp in the Third World, and esp if they have oil or other resources.

Of course, we can't forget the U.S. support for Castro's predecessor Batista, who wouldn't let elections proceed when Castro ran fair and square. Of course, the U.S. has tried multiple times to assassinate Castro. Not to mention allowing the U.S. to be used as a base for terrorist operations against Castro and Cuba.

Read up.

[DivinBreuvage]

40. There's a song by Phil Ochs...

about just this very thing! From "The Ballad of William Worthy":

"William Worthy is unworthy to enter our door:
Went down to Cuba, he's not American any more.
But somehow it is strange to hear the State Department say
'You are living in the free world, in the free world you must stay.'"

Later in the song:

"Yes, there really is no need to travel to these evil lands,
And although the list grows larger you must try to understand.
Try hard not to worry if someday you should hear
That 'The whole world is off limits, visit Disneyland this year.'"

I can hardly listen to half of Phil Ochs' songs without feeling so sad that he is dead.

Françoise

[Osolomia]

38. Our Man in Havana

Published on Saturday, November 8, 2003 by the New York Times
Our Man in Havana
by Nicholas D. Kristof

It would take some chutzpah for me to accuse President Bush, Congressional Democrats and a courageous Nobel Peace Prize-winning dissident of bolstering some of the world's most odious dictators.

But here goes.

The Bush administration has variously backed, threatened, acquiesced in or hinted at tough new sanctions against Cuba, Syria, North Korea and Burma. Democrats helped lead the fight for a new ban on imports from Burma. And the gutsy Nobel laureate from Burma, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, backs sanctions that help impoverish her own people.

The U.S. imposed 85 new unilateral economic sanctions on foreign nations from 1996 to 2001. But sanctions, which cost U.S. companies up to $19 billion in 1995 alone, aren't a policy; they're a feel-good substitute for one. Usually they hurt just the people we're trying to help.

Fortunately, the Senate last month joined the House in voting to ease restrictions on travel to Cuba. There is now some hope that the U.S. will dismantle the Cuba sanctions, which have hurt ordinary Cubans while helping Fidel Castro, giving him a scapegoat for his economic failures.

More...
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1108-05.htm

[Judi Lynn]

42. Phoenix missionary to preach in Cuba

Phoenix missionary to preach in Cuba


Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 8, 2003 12:00 AM


Phoenix resident Dana Pankey makes his fourth trip to Cuba on Sunday, where he plans to work with Christian churches across the Communist-ruled island through Nov. 19.

It will be the first time he is allowed to preach openly, because Pankey is traveling using a religious visa issued by the Cuban government. Previously, he has traveled using a tourist visa.

Pankey, 75, operates Missionary Action Projects, which sponsors Christian pastors in more than a dozen countries.

Traveling to Cuba violates U.S. law, but that hasn't stopped Pankey.

"I've told the authorities to go ahead and arrest me," he said. "I've been as bold as the devil himself, and no danger will stop me." (snip/...)

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/suncities/articles/1108missionary08Z1.html

[Judi Lynn]

52. Great article, the Seattle Times ran it today

They included this photo of some obviously American tourists: evildoers, if I'm any judge! Throw the book at 'em, why not? How dare they think they can just get on a plane and arrive in Cuba, just as if they were Cuban "exiles?, or Cuban-Americans?"


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2001786723_cuba09.html

[Mika]

58. Thanks for posting that, JudiLyn

The last sentence in the article,

"There's only one man standing between my wife and myself and our friends who want to make connections (in Cuba)," Michael McCarthy said. "And that man is George W. Bush."

__

[Judi Lynn]

64. Hi, Mika!

Nice Flying Pretzeldent.

I just learned there is a Cuban group in New York, called the "Cuban American Republican Council"


http://www.cubangop.com/

One of their candidates:

"Dr. Masullo is running against Fidel Castro's Best Puppet Sen. Chris Dodd"



Isn't that a hoot? They sound the same, whether in New England, or Miami, don't they? Sick.

[Say_What]

61. Compay Segundo!! How sorely he is missed in the world.

I found this album cover of him (on the left) as a young man in contrast with the other album cover from several years ago. He was known throughout the world except in the *free and democratic* USSA. Not too many years ago while traveling through Miami he was physically attacked by the subhuman Gusanos because, unlike them, he stayed in his beloved Cuba. He has a song, the name is Son de Negros en Cuba (Song of Negroes in Cuba), it's on the CD Lo Mejor de la Vida (below). It's a poem about Cuba that he sets to music and to hear him recite this lovely piece is better than a rum soaked cohiba. If you have the CD check it out, you won't be sorry. All his stuff is good, but I like that one especially. He talked about it in an interview on pbs when he was 90. Here's a clip:

<clips>
BA: Last November, you celebrated your 90th birthday. If someone wanted to, they could write the history of Cuban music through the life of Compay Segundo.

CS: The music that I play and that I like is traditional music, maybe it's because of my age. I play that music because it's history. Young people want to know their roots. And there has to be somebody who shows them, says, "Look here, this is the way they played it in yesteryear." I don't let it go, because this is the history of music, that's what I represent. It's also the music that's been popular. I've traveled to Europe, Italy, France, Madrid, the Canary Islands, all those places. Big crowds, because it's a music to be enjoyed,, that's very important. I wrote three numbers in Spain, a "bolero-son" to Madrid, one to a bull, and one based on a poem by García-Lorca. I visited his house. And his great-granddaughter sent me the poem to set it to music. And I gave it a youthful style, and she liked it a lot. García-Lorca, if he were alive, would be an old man like me, but I wasn't going to have the music be old. So I made "Ire a Santiago," the poem by García-Lorca. The day I played it, the great-granddaughter cried a lot. I've done a lot of things away from my homeland. Now I'm here in Havana and people know who Compay Segundo is. They've given me all kinds of honors. When it comes to musicians, I'm like the daddy of musicians here in Cuba. There's isn't a musician around older than I am. I know all the musicians of Cuba.

http://www.pbs.org/buenavista/musicians/bios/compay_interview_eng.html

[peterh]

56. What ever happen to that freedom of movement thingie?

It’s nice to see that there is a part of Washington that is waking up, but the tyranny of the Executive branch remains a problem. Progress is not achieved with a thumb….and that applies to Castro also. But, where I see Castro actually making some overtures, the thumb on this side wants to get bigger…

[Judi Lynn]

62. A message from Ireland

10/11/03
US must be made to lift illegal embargo

FOR the 12th consecutive time the UN recently voted to oppose the US economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba.

This year a record 179 countries (including Ireland and Britain) voted against the blockade, with only the US, Israel and the Marshall Islands supporting its continuation. The illegal and immoral blockade of Cuba by the US continues to create great hardship for Cubans and must be lifted.

Given increased threats from the US, including the real possibility of military invasion, a recent tightening of the blockade by George W Bush (despite Congressional opposition) and increased hostility towards Cuba by the EU, international support for the Cuban revolution and the country’s right to national self-determination free from US interference has never been greater. (snip/...)

http://www.examiner.ie/pport/web/opinion/Full_Story/did-sgpm1MFDzV3TksgDQQ5wn3uAIg.asp