Follow the Cuban story via CubaNews, a free Yahoo news group now in its tenth year. CubaNews posts materials from, about and related to Cuba from a wide range of sources and perspectives. Over 100,000 items are available in its free, easy-to-use database. As editor-in-chief, I'm strongly supportive of Cuba, but CubaNews provides all sorts of information, political, cultural, human interest and so on. And all of it at no charge whatsoever.
Details: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
Thank you.
Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California
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Because of the Cuban Adjustment Act, all Cubans who
arrive can stay, unlike any other immigrants from any country on earth. If the
Cuban Adjustment Act were repealed, this gigantic financial incentive would be
removed. Learn more about this remarkable, but little-known, federal
legislation:
http://www.walterlippmann.com/migration.html
Washington has budgeted $80 million dollars to organize the overthrow of the Cuban government and the social system which it defends, the one which provides free health care and education for everyone. Don’t take my word for the amount, look at the website of the U.S. government: http://www.cafc.gov
Cuba is the only country on the planet where a military base and a torture prison for people who may be held indefinitely, continues to occupy a part of the country’s territory. This is done by the United States government, whose public legislation commits it to the overthrow of the Cuban system and the restoration of capitalism. Through the laws such as Helms-Burton and Torricelli, and the Cuban Adjustment Act, Washington works ACTIVELY to overthrow the Cuban system.
Cuba: has it ever tried to overthrow the United States government? Never! They sent a few agents to infiltrate right-wing Cuban exile organizations, ones which organized terrorist activities against Cuba, but that’s all.
This year the New York Philharmonic went to North Korea to perform. Cuba is the only place on earth where people from the United States need a permission slip from the federal government to go for a visit. What are they so afraid that we'll see? How bad life supposedly is there? Of course Cuba has any number of problems, but somehow the society manages to work despite many obstacles. It's a good thing we don't have any problems here in the United States.
Considering everything, from geography to population magnitude and more, Cuba and the United States are not and cannot be equal. Cuba’s government certainly does limit democratic rights. But in a situation like David and Goliath, Cuba does what it feels it must to defend itself. Look at Iraq or Afghanistan today and you can see what Cuba would look like if it were “liberated” by Washington.
In Guantanamo, the world can see what legal system Washington would impose on the rest of Cuba if only it could. In Guantanamo, which is United States occupied territory, prisoners are held without trial for years, and are told they could be held indefinitely even if not found guilty there. In this context, Cuba’s defensive measures should surprise no one.
My father and his parents lived in Cuba from 1939 to 1942. They were German Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, not political left-wingers. That family history is where my own interest in Cuba comes from.
Cuban society today represents an effort to build an alternative to the way life was under the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who ran Cuba before Fidel Castro led a revolution there. No one complained about a lack of human rights and democracy in those days, but U.S. business interests were protected.
Some things work, some don’t. Like any society, Cuba its flaws and contradictions, as well as having some solid achievements. No society is perfect. But we can certainly learn a few things from Cuba’s experience. If there's to be talk about bringing freedom to Cuba, how can that make any sense if people from the United States aren't free to go and see it for ourselves? Cuba is the only country on earth for which people from the United States need a permission slip from the federal government to go for a visit.
We can visit Saudi Arabia, China and Vietnam, even North Korea, Syria and Iran, why can't we visit Cuba and see it for ourselves? Cuba is our neighbor and we should simply normalize relations. We should all be free to visit Cuba.
Since August 2000, the CubaNews list, a free Yahoo news group has compiled a
wide range of materials, pro and con, about Cuba, its people, politics and
culture, and life within the island and affecting it in the Cuban diaspora
abroad.
Details on the Yahoo newsgroup:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
Dear
Would it be possible for me to get a review copy of the book
For the past nine years I've been the principal contributor and editor at CubaNews, an online news service which focuses on Cuba and the Cuban diaspora.
The service collects, and shares out information from, about or related to Cuba
to over 1300 subscribers, mostly in the United States, but with an international
audience as well. Details on the news group can be found here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
Please send the book to me at:
Walter Lippmann
3339 Descanso Drive.
Los Angeles, CA 90028-6219
323-667-3471
Thanks very much,
Walter Lippmann
Links to hundreds of articles about the trials, tribulations
and advances of Cuba's lesbian-gay-bisexual, transsexual and transgendered
people can be found on a webpage devoted to tracking these developments. Some of
the material goes back nearly fifty years. It includes news articles, documents,
excerpts from speeches and writings by Fidel Castro and other Cuban leaders.
Many original translations of materials from the Cuban media focusing on LGBT
people and their issues on the island can be found at this page:
http://www.walterlippmann.com/lgbt-cuba.html
Hundreds of articles, reports, commentaries and original translations from
Spanish to English focusing on Cuba's LGBT population, its trials, tribulations
and progress can be found on this page:
http://www.walterlippmann.com/lgbt-cuba.html
As a journalist and researcher I continue to travel frequently to Cuba for my
work, and so try to update this web-page frequently. The web-page contains
materials on Cuba and LGBT people going back to the 1960s. Through the CubaNews
list which I've directed for nearly ten years, I try to keep abreast of news
from, about and related to Cuba on many levels.
Please check these resources out.
Today the road to Latin America leads through Havana, not around it nor against it. After fifty years of trying