Cuban-Americans ask U.S. government to relax restrictions on travel and r

[Judi Lynn]

April 20, 2004
Cuban-Americans ask U.S. government to relax restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba.
We call on Congress to lift all restrictions on our right to travel to Cuba and our right to send remittances to our loved ones. We also call on Congress to eliminate the Cuban Adjustment Act. Moreover, we call on the Bush Administration to resume the Migration talks with Cuba and to abide by the agreements already entered into with Cuba in 1994 and 1995.

Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) April 20, 2004 -- As Cuban-Americans we yearn for a normal relationship with our country of origin. We have families on the island that we desire to visit and help on a regular basis. U.S. laws severely limit our ability to visit and to send remittances to our loved ones in Cuba, and the Bush Administration's recent suspension of the U.S./Cuba migration conversations threaten to further isolate us from our families.

We are now permitted only one family visit to Cuba within a twelve-month period, and our remittances are limited to only $1200 per family per year.

It is immoral to premise our foreign policy toward Cuba on isolating the Cuban people from their loved ones and causing unnecessary economic hardship to our families there. Moreover, we have a constitutional right to travel to Cuba to visit our families, and we have a constitutional right to send remittances without any arbitrary restrictions imposed on us by the United States government.

The U.S. Interests Section in Havana routinely denies visitors' visas to our families in Cuba, because of concerns that under the terms of the Cuban Adjustment Act any Cuban who touches U.S. soil is eligible to remain as a lawful permanent resident. As a result, Cubans risk their lives by trying to cross the dangerous Florida straights on flimsy rafts in an often fatal effort to reach U.S. shores. Many Cuban men, women and children have lost their lives trying to cross those shark-infested waters.
(snip/...)

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/4/prwebxml119879.php

[Mika]

1. Lets hope that Democrats wake up and defend our rights!

Lets hope Dem party members wake up and smell the coffee too.

Not all Cuban-Americans in S Florida are right wingers.

Do you all get that yet?

[Judi Lynn]

2. Hi, Mika. Here's a statement Delvis Fernandez made in the Senate

while he was apparently working with our great Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan, whom, as I'm sure you remember, has been the sponsor of multiple ammendments to end the travel ban and the embargo on Cuba.

STATEMENT TO THE SENATE COMMERCE, SCIENCE AND TRANSPORTATION SUBCOMMITTEE ON CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOREIGN COMMERCE, AND TOURISM
Regarding U.S. Trade and Travel Policy toward Cuba
Presented by
Delvis Fernandez Levy, President
The Cuban American Alliance Education Fund, Inc.

May 31, 2002


Mr. Chairman, Senator Byron Dorgan, and distinguished members of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Transportation thank you for the opportunity to present a statement by the Cuban American Alliance Education Fund (CAAEF) for your deliberations.

CAAEF works within the dynamics of the U.S. Cuban Community in cooperation with more than 40 U.S. based organizations. We strive to put a human face on the ongoing hardships due to the lack of normal relations between the U.S. and Cuba and call for a reassessment of policies that are outside the best interests of the American people and carry undue harm on both Cubans and Americans. Our Council and Board members forge engagements that promote understanding and human compassion between the people of the Republic of Cuba and the United States of America.
(snip)

Under the Cuban Adjustment Act, our privileges extend far beyond what is offered to other exiles or immigrants. Even in post 9/11 times, Cubans reaching U.S. soil, lacking documents or with false papers, have access to a work permit, welfare assistance, U.S. residency, and in due course full citizenship rights. These privileges stand in sharp contrast to the hardships endured by millions of Latin American immigrants; living lives outside legal protection and without political representation. In Hoffman v. NLRB, for example, the Supreme Court ruled that an undocumented immigrant has no right to back pay or salary compensation even if unjustifiably fired from work.
(snip)

Today, support for Cuba-policy is fueled more by the perks and turf protection granted to hardliners in the Cuban American enclave of Miami than by what is in the wider interests of all Americans. Federal funded Radio/TV Marti has been granted millions of dollars this year alone, money which is lavished through a patronage system to pro-embargo ideologues, despite the fact that TV Marti is not seen in Cuba and Radio Marti is ignored by 95% of the population. U.S. funds also rain on other groups in the Cuban American community, rewarded for the preservation Cold War rhetoric and policies still directed towards Cuba. These rewards foster dependency on Federal funded funds with ensuing corrupting effect on community life, making it unusually difficult for Cuban Americans to speak out against a policy that is in direct contradiction to American principles of free trade and travel.
(snip/...)

http://ciponline.org/cuba/cubainthenews/newsarticles/scst053102levy.htm

We hear it straight from the source: some looneytoons in our government fixed it so there is an eternal ongoing bribe open to bring Cuban immigrants here which does NOT exist for any other group.

Delvis Fernandez, a Cuban-American sees it's dead wrong to tempt Cubans with the Cuban Adjustment Act, which has produced a lot of death and misery for Cuban survivors of drowning victems, in Cuba and here. It has been an unfair advantage offered to Cubans and withheld from people in FAR more dire circumstances. The Cuban Adjustment Act's a real shame, and also an unpublicized financial burden on the U.S. taxpayer.