Reply #11: More visa denials by the USA [View All]

[Osolomia]

Help for twins' parents remains stalled in Cuba

Home News Tribune 1/03/04

Beatriz Alvarez gave birth to twins on New Year's Day, and the new mom was hoping her own mother would come to New Brunswick from Cuba to help care for the babies for a few months.

But despite letters from Alvarez's doctor and her congressman, as well as a bit of intervention from Greek and Swiss officials, the grandmother must stay home.

Alvarez's mother, a physical therapist in Cuba, has been denied a visa to visit the United States.

…"(My mother) really wants to be with me. She's frustrated. This would be a wonderful thing for her and for me, and they are pulling us apart without a good reason."

http://www.thnt.com/thnt/story/0,21282,881087,00.html

US National Council of Churches is Denied Visa Request for Cuban Five Family Visits
December 16, 2003

The US National Council of Churches which brings together 36 different religious denominations, has received a summary denial to its humanitarian request of the State Department to issue visas to two of the wives of the Cuban Five to enable them to visit René González and Gerardo Hernández in their respective prisons during the coming holiday season. Both of the wives, Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez, have been repeatedly denied the right to visit their spouses by US authorities. The younger daughter of René González, Ivette, has by extension also been denied the right to see her father.

Robert Edgar, the general secretary of the National Council of Churches, formally solicited the visas of the State Department in what the Council sees as a humanitarian gesture.

http://www.ain.cubaweb.cu/patriotas2/coberturacompleta/2003/dic1903visas.htm

Visa Denials for NYC Cultural Events Continue with Cuban Artist Unable to Attend Film Premiere

(indieWIRE: 10.10.02) -- In a continued rash of recent visa denials involving cultural exchange personalities hoping to attend New York City events, Cuban artist Salvador Gonzalez, subject of the new documentary by Bette Wanderman, has been denied an entry visa into the U.S. for the October 11 premiere of the film about his life. The State Department, under the recently enacted Enhanced Border Security and Visa Reform Act, requires applicants from seven countries, including Cuba, to undergo extra background checks because they're named as "state sponsors of terrorism."

Gonzalez is renowned for using African-derived imagery in public spaces in Cuba in addition to murals he has created in this country in both Philadelphia and New York's Harlem. "This was suppose to be Salvador's big moment," said Wanderman in a prepared statement. "But keeping him out isn't fighting terrorism. All it's doing is impeding international cultural and intellectual exchange, the very thing the world needs more of not less." In an unrelated incident involving Cuban artists, 22 musicians were recently denied visas in order to attend the Latin Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.

http://www.indiewire.com/biz/biz_021010_briefs.html

The Miami Herald
May. 01, 2002
Cuban official's U.S. visa denied; action criticized

WASHINGTON - (AP) -- The State Department denied a U.S. visa to the head of Cuba's food import agency in March because he lobbied against American policy during his last visit, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday.

The visa denial drew criticism from Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who suggested that the action eliminated an opportunity for farmers to increase food exports.

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

Cubans denied visa for Bloomington conference, 6/3/2001

… Each individual Cuban invited, received letters in support of their invitations from Mayors, City Council persons, Congressional representatives,
clergy, educators, and other community leaders.

One of the invited, Juana Ortiz from Matanzas Province, was just in
Pittsburgh in March, as a guest of the city, to accept the keys to the city
and to celebrate the first state-to-province relationship (Pennsylvania &
Matanzas) in the United States.

Her visa was denied as were a dozen others whose work is to promote
international relations within their cities and provinces.

http://www.uscsca.org/thirdconfbloom.htm#Cubans%20denied%20visa

The Miami Herald
August 30, 2000
Cuba's top lawmaker denied U.S. visitor's visa

The Clinton administration has denied a visa to Cuban National Assembly
President Ricardo Alarcón to travel to the United States for an international
parliamentary conference, State Department officials said Tuesday.

Alarcón's personal assistant also was refused a visa, but visas were granted two
Cuban National Assembly deputies to attend the three-day conference in that
opens today in New York, according to U.S. officials.

… The rejection also coincided with increasing indications that Cuban President
Fidel Castro would be among the more than 100 heads of government attending a
Millennium Summit at the United Nations next week.

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/us-cuba/alarcon-denied.htm

But DUers still swallow the US government's lies and bullshit no questions asked on why this happens:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=346436#348491

Go figure!