What Geneva should also know

Andrés Gómez

Miami.-  As the new session of the Human Rights Commission of the UN begins, the local press has started to misinform and distort the news with respect to violations of human rights in Cuba.  As the charade and the annual circus in Geneva begins, the wolves begin to disguise themselves as sweet grandmothers. 

This year the wolves have a lot of loot, for thanks to the generosity of the current administration they have been given more than 50 million dollars.  In spite of the budget cutbacks that affect federal social programs, such as education, health and welfare the wolves have been given all this loot to finance their anti-Cuban campaigns   

At his time the Miami circus has used all it's propaganda tools at it's disposal, a propaganda tool aided by the power of Washington and an inept press: to eulogize political mercenaries, converting them into victims, to convert small acts of provocations -all which are coordinated acts of subversions - into huge events.

The press does this while ignoring the systematic abuses and tortures that have occurred in the concentration camp of Guantanamo.  

The Miami press, so occupied with human rights do not ever mention the most ferocious of wolves that exist in Miami, namely, the extreme right wing terrorists of this city; terrorists who by the way live in total impunity of the laws.  In matter of fact some of them are classified by the press as "Fighters of freedom".  It should be added that some of these terrorist have been condemned by US courts for acts of terrorism.  

Why hasn't the press ever denounced the climate of intimidation that exists in Miami, a product of a large number of acts of violence, that have occurred for decades, acts of violence including murder?  Why doesn't the Miami press ever write a word on the alliance that exists between the law and the politics of these people?    

Nor does the press, who worries so much about human rights, denounce during this Miami-Geneva circus of the gross violation of a fundamental right that affects thousands of Cuban-American residents in Miami:  the prohibitions placed on the rights to travel to Cuba by the Bush administration last July; a law which makes virtually impossible for Cubans living in the US  to visit their families on the island.   

According to the new regulations Cuban residing in the US can only visit their families once every three years.  To be able to travel, once every three years, requires a permit issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a branch of the Treasury Department.  It should be added that the permit to travel takes months to process and that one is at the mercy of the the agency, as one may be denied permission.

Shamefully, the US government decides who is and who is not family.  To obtain the permit to travel one must show that he/she is visiting family considered to be of category one, a category which defines family as being only: parents, son/daughter, brothers/sisters and grandparents.  It is important to note that step parents and half brothers are not considered family; nor are uncles, nieces, cousins etc. 

What right does the administration have to determine who is family and who one can visit in Cuba?  It is not strange for this administration to toss aside moral values of the family and to impose laws which violate the fundamental laws of man.

The new regulations also dictates that a Cuban residing in the US is only authorized to stay in Cuba 14 days.  That is 14 days in three years!  Furthermore, one can only spend $50 a day while in Cuba.  Why is this amount so small?  An amount which does not allow us to use our hard earned money to help our families on the island.  This is ludicrous given the fact that the administration authorizes US firms to sell products to Cuba; a business venture that ascends hundreds of millions of dollars. 

Not a word on all of this by the Miami press which is always worried about the violation of human rights.  It is time for Geneva to know the truth.