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Hundreds of Cubans protest against U.S. government
at Miami airport
MIAMI,—Hundreds of Cuban émigrés
found themselves stranded in Miami today, 24 hours
before the latest measures drawn up by the Bush
administration against Cuba officially come into
effect, in a political game that has not brought the
results desired by those leading the reelection
campaign, EFE comments.
The source states that two
airlines were unable to take any passengers to Cuba
today as the State Department had only authorized
them to fly to the island empty to pick up persons
who wished to avoid being fined ($7,500) under the
new measures or, simply, those who were scheduled to
return in line with the end of their stay in the
country.
Those stranded threatened to
withdraw their vote for Bush in November due to his
“separating the Cuban family,” and acting against
the liberties that he claims to defend.
“This is an attack on freedoms
and it is only Cubans that face restrictions on
returning to their country,” Ana del Valle, who had
traveled from Idaho to Miami to visit her parents in
Santa Clara, informed EFE.
“They are using us for political
ends. We came here for economic and not political
reasons,” said Reinaldo Rodríguez, a native of
Holguín, while the woman beside him affirmed: “We
want to go to Cuba. This is not democracy.”
Another frustrated traveler who
preferred not to identify himself declared that no
way would he vote for “George Bush Jr, who wouldn’t
even get to be batboy for the minor leagues” in
baseball, EFE notes.
They all expressed horror at the
decision of prohibiting flights to the island,
waving Cuban flags and paying scant attention to the
arguments of Xiomara Almagro, the representative of
the Gulf Stream company that offered the charter
flights and was explaining that it wasn’t their
fault.
From Washington, EFE informed
that the government refused flight permits to
various companies, adducing that that is part of
U.S. policy to prevent entry into Cuba.
Meanwhile the AFP agency likewise
reported its impressions of events in Miami, saying
that dozens of passengers who could not get seats to
fly from Miami to Cuba on Tuesday were expressing
their discontent with shouts of “We want to fly!”
and “Cuba! Cuba!”
Many of those passengers had
already booked their flights, but they were
cancelled. Only empty aircraft could leave to
collect passengers in Cuba and transport them to the
United States, it adds.
A sentiment hostile to the
measures adopted by the Bush administration to
reinforce the blockade and restrict travel and
remittances to Cuba from June 30 was palpable in the
airport.
“I came from Iraq,” affirmed
Carlos Lazo, a Cuban-American who stated that he had
been deployed in that country with the U.S. army.
“And due to Mr. Bush’s policy I can’t go and see my
family in Cuba,” he added, speaking to the Hispanic
Telemundo TV network.
Lazo warned: “This year I won’t
be voting for Bush.”
The would-be passengers were
trying to get to the island before the measures
reducing those visits from once a year to once every
three years and restricting them to direct blood
relatives, come into effect, AFP continued.
Moreover, from Wednesday, trips
can only be made to see immediate family
(grandparents, grandchildren, parents, brothers and
sisters, spouses and their children).
There is no doubt that government
spokespersons have manipulated information on these
trips and the implementation of the measures to
create confusion and chaos.
After having stated the opposite, Molly Millerwise,
spokeswoman for the Office for Foreign Assets
Control attached to the Treasury Department, which
regulates that activity, specified that the date for
the return of persons traveling to Cuba had been
postponed until July 31. However, it would appear
that that this decision has not been sufficiently
circulated and many people believe that they will be
fined if they remain on Cuban territory beyond June
30.
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