Thursday, May 11, 2006

Cuban-American Intellectuals Disagree with Miami Line on Cuba




AN open letter signed by more than 100 prominent Cuban-American academics, writers and artists was published as a full-page advertisement in the daily Miami Herald. The letter describes U.S. policy on Cuba as a "political and moral failure for almost half a century."

The letter says, "We have organized ourselves to voice our outrage at a policy that is inhumane, unjust, ill-conceived, hypocritical and contrary to American ideals."

"Every time the embargo, travel restrictions or any other issue related to Cuba comes up, it is the same small group of people who are consulted and interviewed," she said. "We want everybody to know that, among Cuban-Americans, there are many different positions. I would dare say that a majority in the Cuban-American academic
community disagrees with U.S. policy toward Cuba."

The New York Daily News columnist calls the "unmistakable message" in the open letter a "categorical and even angry denunciation of Washington's obsolete Cuba policy." Ruiz says that the group "seeks to reverse a U.S. policy that, for almost 50 years, has had as its centerpiece an economic embargo whose cruelty to the people of Cuba is legendary."

The article adds that "The letter is bound to resonate loudly from Washington to Miami given the nature of its signatories. Most of them are professors affiliated with 60 universities, including some of the nation's leading institutions. The rest are artists, writers, curators, playwrights, poets, novelists, attorneys and editors, many of them very well known." The signers include professors from Columbia University and New York University.

"For too long, this debate has been dominated by one sector of our community. We are determined that no longer will others in our community speak for us as they continue to insist on taking this country down a misguided path that has served neither the best interests of the U.S. nor those of the Cuban people.

Albor Ruiz, a columnist with the New York Daily News, notes that the letter was published a few weeks before a Bush administration panel - what he calls "the clearly interventionist Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba" - issues its second report and "tightens even further restrictions on travel to Cuba," and comments that the letter "is sure to cause a stir in the Cuban-American community."

5 Comments:

Blogger jsb said...

These "intellectuals" are the oligarchy. If you want to hear a response to the ENCASA letter from the workers, go to:

http://www.babalublog.com/archives/003260.html

Long live the counterrevolution. Freedom of expression, religion, business and communications will one day return to a free Cuba. Down with the communists. Abajo Fidel!

9:39 AM  
Blogger leftside said...

Wikipedia: Oligarchy is a form of government where most or all political power effectively rests with a small segment of society (typically the most powerful, whether by wealth, family, military strength, ruthlessness, or political influence).

Last time I checked Cuban-Ameican poets, writers, academics and artists did not weild ANY power in this country, let alone within their own communitiy. Of course it is those rich and powerful few in Miami, often connected to the Batista regime, who hold the real power. The exact thing this letter is meant to counter. Caling the folks at Babalu the workers is laughable. So who is guilty of double-speak?

11:51 AM  
Blogger Mark D. said...

"Down with the communists. Abajo Fidel!"

I'll drink to that!

2:09 PM  
Blogger jsb said...

" So who is guilty of double-speak? "

Compare the average salary of a signer to ENCASA with those who signed at BABALU. ENCASA signers are rich, the BABALU signers are middleclass. That is a fact. The artists, the professors, they are part of the elitist bourgoisie in this country. Limosine liberals and communists (only don't let the state dictate how much they can sell an oil painting for or how their faculties vote for tenure--better to reserve the real authoritarianism for the brown people in cuba). Your reversal of reality is pathetic and transparent. Look up "naive" in the dictionary you misguided child.

11:42 AM  
Blogger leftside said...

I don't care about Val's stupid signatures and incomes don't equate power.

My point is the power these (your) extreme voices have in shaping our Latin/Carribean policy. If the 100 who were brave enough to publicly oppose this can be called anything, it is 'intelligentsia.' But not 'oligarchy' dude.

10:16 PM  

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