Albor Ruiz is a columnist
for the Daily News.
E-mail: aruiz@ edit.nydailynews.com

Wednesday, July 20th, 2005

Last week, the U.S. government offered hurricane-ravaged Cuba $50,000 to help the island recover from one of the worst disasters in its recent history.

So did private citizen Ruth Foote, a retired social worker from Sacramento, Calif., and her husband, Fred, who matched Washington's "generous" offer to the people of Cuba dollar for dollar.

"I read your column (7/14) about our government offering Cuba $50,000 of humanitarian aid after the disaster caused by Hurricane Dennis," Ruth Foote said in a clear voice over the phone. "Wrong is wrong, and the Bush offer was an embarrassment to me."

Hurricane Dennis left 16 people dead, 150,000 homes and buildings damaged or destroyed, and more than $1.4 billion in losses. Washington's offer was, at best, a cruel joke.

"When I read it, I became angry," Ruth Foote said. "'Fred, we can do this,' I told my husband. And he agreed. If we can donate $50,000 as individuals, imagine what our government could do."

Foote's husband teaches sociology, history and criminal justice at a Sacramento college.

They plan to make their contribution through the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), a New York-based ecumenical agency that is the parent organization of Pastors for Peace.

Volunteers of Pastors for Peace have organized 16 trips to Cuba to deliver humanitarian aid without asking for a U.S. government license.

The African-American couple is not rich, has never been to Cuba, and is not connected to any group opposed to the embargo or in favor of lifting travel restrictions to the island, not even Pastors for Peace. For them, this is a matter of pure and simple human solidarity.

"I just don't understand why we are doing this to the people of Cuba," Foote said. "I see that they are poor but honorable, they are peace-loving, they are not throwing bombs."

Of course, the real reason behind the absurd U.S. policy toward Cuba - the pandering for electoral purposes by President Bush and his brother Jeb, the governor of Florida, to the powerful ultra-rightist sectors of the Cuban-American community - is so petty that, for someone like Foote, guided by high ethical standards, it is hard to believe.

Yet, in 2004, President Bush tightened travel restrictions even more. Now family visits to the island are limited to once every three years. Also, Cuban-Americans can only send $300 in remittances per quarter to "immediate" family members - no aunts, uncles or cousins. Even shipments of food, clothing and medical supplies are severely restricted.

This means that even in this time of overwhelming need, for Cuban-Americans to help their own families in Cuba can be a crime. A cruel joke.

Which is why Rep. José Serrano (D-Bronx) introduced a congressional resolution - co-sponsored by 46 members of Congress - asking the President to "temporarily suspend restrictions ... to allow Cuban-Americans to assist their relatives in Cuba in the aftermath of Hurricane Dennis."

Foote's gesture speaks volumes of the decency of the American people. And even if she is not connected to any political movement in favor of better relations with Cuba, she expects to be criticized, even attacked.

"People are so scared that they won't even talk," she said.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro rejected Bush's "generous" offer.

"But I think he will take ours," Foote said.

And why not? Ruth and Fred Foote, and thousands like them all over the U.S., are the real representatives of the nation's values of generosity and solidarity.

They are what the American people are all about.

http://www.nydailynews.com/11-08-2002/news/col/aruiz/story/330047p-281943c.html