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 If the Cuban Adjustment Act were repealed, this gigantic financial incentive would be removed.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 now a torture prison for people held indefinitely without charge or trial 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, one which organized terrorist activities against Cuba, but that’s about it.
Not long ago 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.
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 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, and 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. businesses were protected.
Some things work, some don’t. Like any society, Cuba its flaws and contradictions, as well as having solid achievements. No society is perfect. But we can certainly learn a few things from Cuba’s experience. I think we can learn more than a few. If we want to bring freedom to Cuba, the best thing we can do is practice what we preach.
We should all be free to visit Cuba. We can visit 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 normalized relations with the island.
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 eight 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 1200 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