Cubans revolt against W

[Judi Lynn]

Cubans revolt against W

(Originally published on June 3, 2004)



The Great Communicator he is not, but history could remember President George W. Bush as "The Great Uniter."
If you don't believe it, just remember that in Iraq he achieved what many had thought impossible: He brought together Shiites and Sunnis, who put aside historical enmity to present a united front against U.S. occupation.

Now he has done it again, this time in Cuba. Though no more than 200 delegates were expected at last month's "The Nation and the Emigration" conference in Havana, thanks to Bush, 521 Cuban-born people from 49 countries attended, including 242 from the U.S.

The number ballooned after Bush announced new, Draconian measures against the island on May 6. They included naming a "coordinator for the transition to democracy in Cuba" - that is, a Paul Bremer for Havana. This was widely taken, in Cuba and in Miami, as an intolerable infringement on Cuba's sovereignty.
(snip)

Bush's outrageous plan has already accomplished the unthinkable: It has united Cubans of all political tendencies on the island - and in what qualifies as a certifiable miracle, it has brought together Cubans in Cuba and a growing segment of the Cuban-American community.
(snip/...)

http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/story/199222p-172013c.html



All photos showing Santiago de Cuba.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Another American city creates a bond with a Cuban city

Tuesday, June 1st, 2004

Wisconsin Mayor Highlights Madison Sister-City Ties with Cuba


Camaguey, Cuba, Jun 1 (Prensa Latina) The tenth anniversary of the sister cities of Madison, WI and the eastern Cuban city of Camaguey, was commemorated Monday with a message from Madison Mayor David J. Cieslowicz, who presided over a weeklong celebration in the US city.

The mayor recognized that people-to-people contacts, such as those maintained for a decade between these cities, was the best way to promote friendship and international cooperation, and to that end, the Madison City Council had several times pronounced for normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States.
(snip/...)

http://www.adelante.cu/online/day/24/6/1.society.madison.php

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Take a look at how many of our towns and cities have connected with Cuba, person to person, outside political reference.

Here's the website:

http://www.uscsca.org/

No doubt this continuing communication and friendship between Americans and Cubans is causing some in _Bush's admin. to grind their teeth right down to the gum line.

[Mika]

2. Business is growing. Bush cuts off families

Repuke values on full display.

Business interests win over family values.



Thanks for the Sister Cities link, JudiLyn. :thumbsup:

[Judi Lynn]

3. Welcome, Mika! Just saw Mobile, Alabama's mayor is asking Bush

to rethink his Cuba "policy:"

May 31, 2004 Montgomery, Alabama


Mayor signs plea for Cuba trade deal


Mobile Mayor Mike Dow has signed a letter calling for President Bush to work with Congress members seeking to lift Cuban travel and sales restrictions.

Dow is one of 33 who signed the May 20 letter issued by Americans for Humanitarian Trade With Cuba. The letter raises concerns about restrictions on Cuban-Americans visiting relatives on the island, allowing one visit every three years and limiting how much money visitors can spend. There are also restrictions on the sale of agricultural products.
(snip/...)

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/NEWS/StoryAlabama3brail531w.htm

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I'm sure you know Mobile was the very first American city to reach out to Cuba for a Sister-City friendship and exchange. 1993. They connected with Havana. Went for the big one! Now they have some restricted trade going on, too.



As if it would KILL our media reporters to knock off doing their pieces from the oldest part of Havana, and go wild, broadcasting from someplace like this, a part of the Malecon.

Wouldn't be consistant with the propaganda, though, would it?

[Demonaut]

7. and tourism would destroy its beauty, that street would be choked with

cars and fat americans

[Judi Lynn]

8. I've heard Cuba travellers express anxiety about that.......

I hope their city officials have already taken the sudden influx into account and have been making plans.

I've read tons of times they are truly ready for American tourists, and welcome them. I've heard American travellers saying they are WONDERFUL people, and very much more educated and aware than you can imagine.

We have simply been kept in the dark, and the longer they have kept us out, the wilder their stories got to explain why we couldn't go, and now they know their side is going to lose, since our pro-travel Congresspeople are getting stronger, more numerous every year, regardless. We're very close to seeing the whole thing turn around.

OF course with LooneyToones in charge, we could end up invading them militarily, instead.

[struggle4progress]

4. Wow! Some anti-Castro Cubans p*ssed at Dubya's Cuba policy!

[PROGRESSIVE1]

5. The Right Wing has an archaic policy towards Cuba.

It's nice to see that the Cuban Community is waking up to the stupid idea that we should isolate Castro. I say open the borders and let the people feel some freedom. Then they will push for more reforms after that.

[Mika]

6. Castro was never isolated. Americans are isolated re: Cuba

Every country in the world has full and normalized relations with Cuba, except the USA. Castro is welcomed and celebrated almost everywhere, except America. Cuba is not isolated. Its Americans who are insulated from most of the real Cuba, both in our media and our government's restriction of our right to travel there to see for our own damn selves.

The US's travel sanctions on Americans (including further restricting Cuban-American family visits back home) and the US's stepped up denials of travel visas to Cubans who want to visit their families over here are isolating and separating families.

This affects almost all strata of the Cuban-American community and their families who choose to live in Cuba, irrespective of their political affiliation.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Trading Ideas with "the Enemy": "WMD" in Cuba

June 3, 2004

Trading Ideas with "the Enemy"
"WMD" in Cuba
By SCOTT MORRIS

I am a "criminal," a "terrorist," by some distorted Bushian measure. I have, on several occasions, exchanged ideas with "the enemy," met with "enemy" "WMD" producers, brought "enemy" literature to "the homeland," benefited from "enemy" "WMD" programs, and encouraged others to develop similar "WMD" programs for use inside the United States.

To what "enemy" do I refer, and what "WMD" programs have been encouraged? The "enemy" is Cuba. The dangerous "WMD" programs that have led the Bush administration (with Sen. John Kerry's support) to announce new, shameful and imperious measures to increase U.S. brutalization of the Cuban people and arrogantly call for "regime change" in Cuba, include: free universal health care, sustainable agriculture and quality education. If used here, these "weapons of mass development" threaten to improve the life of every U.S. citizen.

Cuba's universal, free, high-quality health care, is the best in the Third World. The island country has produced the lowest infant mortality rate in this hemisphere and life expectancy rates better than in the United States. Cuba has the highest number of both physicians per capita and health teams serving the global poor, in the world, along with the most complete infant immunization coverage and a national health and nutrition education program that has led to urban (mostly organic) gardens that produce 3 million tons of fresh produce per year for 11 million people. (Cuba expects to feed its population on organic food in the coming decade.)

If implemented here, these "WMDs" could provide quality health care to every U.S. citizen, including the 44 million currently without health coverage, and to the tens of millions of others with inadequate coverage, and improve the quality of life for all.
(snip/...)

http://www.counterpunch.org/morris06032004.html