Cubans Allowed Into U.S.

The U.S. Coast Guard brought 28 Cuban migrants who had been detained off shore to Miami today so they can be material witnesses in an alleged smuggling case in which a woman suffered fatal head injuries during a high-speed chase to reach Florida. The migrants, who are to appear in Miami federal court this afternoon, will be allowed to stay under material witness warrants so they can testify directly against three men charged with the smuggling attempt that caused the 24-year-old woman's death. Their Miami-based family members, photographed here, had been lobbying for them to stay.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15083784.htm

Comments

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

Testifying against the smugglers? Huh? How about testifying against the Coast Guard who shot a Cuban woman in the head.

[gansibele]

This sould put to bed all that nonsense about not being a smuggling operation.

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

A.D.T.

Actually, A.D.T., legal status does not prevent a person from suing the United States or any other governmental entity. In fact it happens all the times.

http://www.floridamalpractice.com/stat768.16etseq.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/19/national/19ranch.html?ex=1282104000&en=d9c3a3d54e97d931&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

A.D.T.

Actually, here is a more accurate cite:

http://www.occupationalhazards.com/articles/13196

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

A.D.T.

My understanding was that the wetfoot/dryfoot policy was initiated by the Miami Cubans, and that Clinton merely signed it. I do some research on it next week when i have more free time.

[a thought....]

I can vouch for what John says; even if you are here illegally, you can still sue. Kind of crazy, but true.

By the way, let's see how long before the idiots muck this up.

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

A.T.

Sugah, i have missed talking to you. These have been extremely stressful times for our community here in the Cuban Connection. I think you were so eloquent, when you said "typical Miami bs." Occasionally i think about what some of these right wingers would like to do to me if they could discover my whereabouts.

I mean would they buy me some Cuban coffee, or give me a Cuban sandwich. Sometimes i think they have become rather offended by my thinking.

Anyway dont you worry about me sugah. After all of this drama, i went out and purchased a brand new pit bull. So if one of those right wing piglets showed up at my door. I will sic my pit bull on em, i actually named her Cujo. She is only 9 months, but she is already a mean bitch. Just like all of my ex-girlfriends.

So Val and Henry and the rest of you militant Chicanos, dont even think about it.

[Pee Wee Herman]

Johnfellow wrote

purchased a brand new pit bull

john c mon tell us the truth more likely you purchased a chihuahua ....

Tacos anyone?

The real Pee Wee

[a different thought]

Longfellow, fyi...pit bulls are illegal to own in Miami-Dade County...must be a "mix"

And, and my point was not their legal status, but rather the Coast Guard's legal duty...if the C.G. is pursuing a legal duty and the immigrants are in violation of law it changes the likelihood of getting damages. Shucks, anyone with the filing fee can sue in a U.S. Court.

[Juan Pancho Valquez]

"How about testifying against the Coast Guard who shot a Cuban woman in the head."

The Coast Guard would have had to shoot her in the head in order to do that. They didn't. She died because she got beat to death against the side of a speed boat that wouldn't stop.

And for crying out loud repatriate these Cubans after they're done testifying. There's no reason to treat them any differently then any other group the Coast Guard has caught trying to sneak into this country illegally.

[nonee moose]

louJIF: shame on you for trying to spread inaccuracies about the incident... nobody got shot in the head... up to your old tricks again?

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

Nonee, i thought i heard she was shot. There would be no gain by me to say she was killed. Quite the opposite, i was arguing that if she was killed, that the Coast Guard should be held liable. So i dont see what is so wrong about that. Nevertheless, Juan corrected me. Nothing to see here, move along, and stop trying to make my misunderstanding into a big deal.

I think it is interesting that you did not take Juan to task for saying that Cubans who are escaping a very repressive regime should be sent back into Fidel's arm. If i would have said that the Cubans should have been sent back you would have been all over it.

And if Juan would have said the Cuban immigrant was shot in the head you would have remained completely silent. Yup. Dont worry Nonee, i know it is easier to attack my mistake, rather than Juan's intentional statement.

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

Nonee, below is where i got it. Will you accuse Manuel of spreading falsehoods? Of course not. This is why i dont conversate with you.

Posted by: Manuel A. Tellechea | July 11, 2006 at 09:01 AM

When the U.S. Coast Guard kills Cuban refugees in cold blood, as they did in this instance, it is customary for them to blame so-called "smugglers" just as the slaveholders blamed the abolitionists whenever one of their captives escaped on the underground railroad.

It is a miracle that more Cubans were not killed in this incident because the Coast Guard were firing indiscriminately at them in order to disable the boat's engine. Of course, in the past the Coast Guard has been known to capsize refugee boats and let the survivors drown while they gleefully congratulated themselves on their "catch."

When Cuba is free, these men should be indicted for crimes against humanity along with Clinton and Bush.

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

One more point. Why in the hell would any Cuban testify to imprison these "so called Cuban-American smugglers?" I understand the desire to want to remain in the U.S.A. But at the same time, i think it would be very difficult for me to help this government imprison these Cuban "smugglers" for the rest of their lives.

And why in the hell is our government imprisoning these "smugglers" anyway. I mean if the "smugglers" were smuggling drugs, or terrorist that is one thing. But they are helping people escape the most brutal dictator in this hemisphere.

Oh well, its the Bush adminstration, and they can have their way with the Cuban-American community.

[nonee moose]

louJIF:

Manuel was referring to prior incidents of alleged brutality by the coast guard, which I can neither confirm nor deny. In the end they were irrelevant in my view, to the matter at hand. If you look over the posts, there was ample discussion on the subject...

PS- sorry about the mumps situation...LOL

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

Had a busy day yesterday and could not join the discussion, but I am glad to see that John posted my prior remarks, because they are also apropos to this discussion. In fact, I am very pleased with John's embrace of the refugees and his overall respectful and even generous treatment of Cuban-Americans lately. Frankly, I think we should encourage these impulses, not scoff at them. John is certainly more interested in us than 99.9 percent of Americans, and if that interest were employed on our behalf I should have no problem accepting it as genuine. Remember the story of Paul.

Now to the matter at hand: the only reason that Bush is allowing the refugees to stay is that the next presidential election is in sight, and, whether rightly or no, Republicans regard Cuban-Americans as kingmakers; hence the $80 million to help Cuban dissidents on the island; hence this leniency towards the Coast Guard's latest victims.

If it's Christmas in July for Cubans, I would suggest that Bush consider launching a satellite that would allow Cubans to access the Internet, which they are now prohibited to do. Call it "Marti On Line."

[a different thought]

Manuel, I also like John's recent attitude.

[a thought...]

John is offering sincere and honest thoughts even though he seems to have drawn the wrath of Pee Wee. At this point, there is so much confusion on this blog about who is who that I feel I have schizophrenia. And I know who I am!

After the migrants are done testifying, will they be sent back? Anyone taking bets on this this? I have a feeling they will be allowed to stay.

[a thought...]

Sorry, I haven't had my coffee this morning and I missed the article that said the 28 are being allowed to stay.

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

Let it be duly noted that the first of the "buggery posts" appeared -- not surprisingly -- in the fifth or sixth thread about Raul Castro that Oscar has posted on this site in as many weeks. By then, everybody was sick and tired of a "news story" that is already 47 years old, which is as long as Raul has been Fidel's heir presumptive.

Topical threads, with varying matter, would probably put an end to this extended discussion of extraneous subjects that really has no place in a blogsite devoted to the Cuban experience.

[Liborio]

We all know what anger is, and we've all felt it: whether as a fleeting annoyance or as full-fledged rage.

Anger is a completely normal, usually healthy, human emotion. But when it gets out of control and turns destructive, it can lead to problems—problems at work, in your personal relationships, and in the overall quality of your life. And it can make you feel as though you're at the mercy of an unpredictable and powerful emotion.

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

John:

I am glad that no one is going to drive you from this blog, because this blog wouldn't be the same without you. However, your antogonist has succeeded in diverting your attention from Cubans and re-directing it into other subjects, and perhaps that's what he intended in the first place. Having already addressed his accusations (many, many times), it is perhaps time for you to stop being distracted by his comments and proceed as usual with your hard-hitting commentary.

[a thought...]

Great, you sickos have turned what was going to be a great discussion back to your homosexual/pedophile crap. Wrong blog, wrong website, wrong everything, idiots! This is about people who actually want to have civilized discussions and some fun. Go get 'em, John. Welcome back, Manuel.

[moby's wife aka katie couric]

I am Maribel, moby's wife and I am asking to please stop sending e-mails since he passed away 3 weeks ago from a sudden heart attack. I am sorry to some of you who were his friends. Funeral held in Iowa, but his ashes were spread down in Florida between the keys and Cuba. He loved being an AMERICAN, but was sad he could notsee Cuba free. The years he was tortured in cuba's gulag took a toll, yet he never complained.

SO, please respect my wishes. Stopthe nasty grams,all my husband wanted is freedom nd for the world to know the truth about the horrors of communism.

Thanks,
Maribel

[Cuban American]

John

What goes around comes around watch your back! you never know!!!!!

[Pee Wee Herman]

Yoo hoo, Oh John, if you hate NAMBLA so much, how come you do not denounce the ACLU, which defends NAMBLA and all pedophiles? It's the old "liberal" double standard. Just like Ted Kennedy. He has shit on women all his life, killed Mary Jo Kopekne, uses women as mere throw away sex objects, yet the feminists keep voting for him because of his liberal record in the Senate.

[Pee Wee Herman]

Longfellow, you fail to realize that you and Rush Limbaugh have a lot in common. You are both extremists and verbose. I don't know why you keep addressing Henry, who would never say that Limbaugh is an asshole just like you. He needs Viagra and you need Preparation-H for your homosexual tendencies.

[Pee Wee Herman]

John your sickly masochistic obsession with Henry, thinking that any criticism of you comes from him, depicts homosexual tendencies.

[Nonee Moose]

He's So Gay
Artist: Frank Zappa
Album: Thing-Fish

ENSEMBLE: (singing)
He's so gay
He's so gay
He's very very gay
He's so gay
He's so gay
And he likes to be that way
With his keys all on the right
He's into rubber every night
He's so gay
He's so gay
He's ALMOST EVERYONE TODAY

[nonee moose]

Actually, I prefer the Joe's Garage stuff, like Catholic Girl's and Wet T-shirt Night...

I guess I've graduated to having my nick jacked. I feel... pretty. Oh so pretty.

[nonee moose]

louJIF:

I forgot that one... Gono-coc-coc-coccus!

[cubanpatriot]

The woman that died, died of head trauma from bouncing around inside the boat during the chase. The shots fired by the coast guard were fired at the boats outboard motors. Of course there is no footage of the boat when it was actually stopped and boarded by the coast guard because the camera "malfunctioned."

But make no mistake about it, this was a smuggling operation. Nice cash-generating business for Fidel Castro.

[another view]

From Havana

Back to the past

By Manuel Alberto Ramy

A press dispatch recently announced that a University of Connecticut scientist by the name of Ronald Mallet has created a new model for time travel. The prototype would use the energy of light to curve space and could be functional in 10 years. But Mallet arrived late. Washington bureaucrats have won this race without recurring to science.

As of this moment the Bush Administration is implementing its model to take Cuba back more than a century in time. The genius of their plan is that it doesn’t need the energy of light, but a new report by the Commission for the Assistance to a Free Cuba. The report has many points worth mentioning, but I’ll limit myself to some of its aspects. There will be other occasions for more.

Made public July 10, 2006, and approved by President Bush, the document has 93 pages which will be annexed to the 400 pages of the previous report (2004). I have never seen so many words for a clear goal: to terminate the Cuban nation and send it back in time. Why is the Cuban nation the real target and not the island’s political “regime” , as it would make us believe?

The history of Cuba is mired in permanent controversy with the U.S. due to Washington’s cravings. In 1823, with the purchase of Florida from Spain, the U.S. had expanded to only 90 miles from Cuba. Spain was a decadent empire; the American empire was on the rise. Secretary of State and later President John Quincy Adams made clear what since that time has been the foundation of U.S. policy towards Cuba:

“But there are laws of political as well as of physical gravitation; and if an apple severed by the tempest from its native tree cannot choose but fall to the ground, Cuba, forcibly disjoined from its own unnatural connection with Spain, and incapable of self support, can gravitate only towards the North American Union, which by the same law of nature cannot cast her off from its bosom.”

Historians call that intention the “ripe fruit policy.”

In the midst of the War of Independence, waged by Cubans against Spanish colonial power, on April 20th, 1898, the U.S. Congress voted on a Joint Resolution which stated that “the people of Cuba is and of right should be, free and independent.” This declaration was made 24 hours after the U.S. declared war on Spain due to the still mysterious event which was the sinking of the USS Maine in the Port of Havana. In this manner the United States entered the Cuban-Spanish conflict at a moment when the Cuban Independence Army had already practically won the war after 30 years of fighting. At the time, Spain was bankrupt and unable to send a single extra soldier to the island. Well, it was time for the ripe fruit to fall right on their lap.

The Joint Resolution was sold to the U.S. public and touted by the media as Washington’s support to the freedom and independence of Cubans. The Statue of Liberty had changed her torch for the “liberating” sabers of Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. But when the U.S. troops had substituted the Spanish Army and a U.S. governor sat at the chair of the Governor General of Spain, Washington was so kind as to reinforce its good intention of gathering the ripe fruit with the imposition of an annex to the Cuban constitution as a condition for independence. It was called the Platt Amendment, after Congressman Orville H. Platt, who sponsored it, and several clauses contradicted the right of Cuba to be free and independent, as had been proclaimed three years earlier by the Joint Resolution.

For example, the U.S. could intervene militarily in Cuba whenever it deemed it necessary – as it did subsequently on two occasions. The amendment constrained Cuba’s ability to exercise foreign policy as well the jurisdiction of the new government on national territory, for it excluded the Isle of Pines as part of Cuba (at present the Isle of Youth). The Platt Amendment also demanded territory for “coal supply bases” (the present Guantánamo Naval Base and Concentration Camp), with no time limit on the treaty, which could only be returned to Cuba if both parties so agreed. No need to say that the U.S .denies the right of Cuba to that territory.

The support of the Joint Resolution resulted in virtual freedom and sovereignty, and in Hollywood special effects independence, an unreal mirage. The destiny of Cuba was to be absorbed through the fabulous machination of economic control and political power and the imposition of a pseudo-culture that would erase authentic national values.

The history of the Cuban 20th century is more than the effort of a nation to recover and steer the destiny of a new society. And the revolution that triumphed in 1959 may be considered the culmination of that long process. The changes brought on by the revolution – whose speed and range may be partly in debt to the initial hostility by U.S. administrations – culminated in a form of Socialist society that is in a constant process of revision and adjustment by Cubans themselves and not because of any external pressure.

The manner in which societies are organized are the result of history and influenced by the global context, so that what transcends is the nation from which stems the primary sediment that made it stand on its own feet and affirm itself in front of its peers. To eliminate that Cuban reserve is the objective, and U.S. governments have shown enough evidence of that intention. If in 1925 the U.S. returned Cuban sovereignty to the Isle of Pines, and in 1934 finally negotiated the Platt amendment for a Reciprocity Treaty, it was due not only to the formidable struggle by the masses and Cuban intellectuals, but also because they already had in place a control mechanism with which they could afford to make formal concessions. In spite of it, in the late 1950s, the essence of the nation emerged triumphant.

It’s enough to read the document to understand that it’s back to the period before the revolution – if possible, to 1901 – as its main objective, and it is why the Bush Administration shoots with both barrels: to liquidate by exhaustion the idea of Socialism as a viable model in the mind and attitudes of the people and later on to dismantle the nation.

Transition yes, succession no. That’s the marketing campaign’s slogan the U.S. is launching for this product known as a “Free Cuba”. Washington and Miami understand the transition as regime change, and what Cubans can understand for transition is what they call succession.

But Castro’s relay could be a turning point in any direction, a fact that is really worrisome for them.

So here is a hypothetical question: What would happen if tomorrow Cuba made changes similar to the Chinese or Vietnamese model? What would happen if the transition team in Cuba mobilized and channeled new productive energies without losing political control?

Marxists believe that Marxism is an instrument for analysis, and that Socialism is the result. Realities in the contemporary world have promoted the search of new solutions devoid of dogmatism and capable of freeing forces, but keeping to a minimum the differences among components of society.

Can it happen? No doubt the Administration’s gurus have studied those possible scenarios and for that reason want to act “now”, as Bush stressed, to take the island back in time.

The useless documents of the Commission are the equivalent of the 1898 Joint Resolution; the Platt Amendment is already present in the Helms-Burton Law, which conditions the lifting of the embargo and “normal” relations with the U.S. only if Cuba dances to Washington’s tune – just as in 1901. At that time it was only the control of the country and the modeling of a society according to somebody else’s whims. Its new version has the same pretension, as well as reversing essentially human conquests never before experienced by the Cuban people during its pre-revolutionary past of “free” elections and U.S.-approved democracy.

We are not witnessing a Commission to assist the Cuban people, but to put in power a government that “consents that the United States may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty(…)” (Platt Amendment, Article III)

“An adequate government” could be one led by former “President” Fulgencio Batista, “democratically elected” by a U.S.-backed coup on March 10, 1952, and to whom a United States Military Mission assisted – by the way, with little success – up to the revolutionary triumph of the rebel forces led by Fidel Castro. Or the one presided by Tomás Estrada Palma, first president of Cuba, hand-picked by the U.S. and who had to resign his 25-year U.S. citizenship in order to be sworn to office in 1902. Or a government by some other candidate, a new Estrada Palma resident of Miami, U.S. citizenship included, whose mouth is watering at present with the prospect of running in a free and democratic election organized by the same Florida experts who handed George W. Bush the U.S. presidency in 2000.

Speaking of the Platt Amendment, its Article I says that:

“That the government of Cuba shall never enter into any treaty or other compact with any foreign power or powers which will impair or tend to impair the independence of Cuba, nor in any manner authorize or permit any foreign power or powers to obtain by colonization or for military or naval purposes or otherwise, lodgment in or control over any portion of said island.”

Can you see the echoes of the relation between Cuba and Venezuela – the latter mentioned 9 times in the Commission’s report – and of the pressure on other countries to keep away from the island. What will be the new version of this article so that the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) is considered an impairment on national sovereignty?

It’s too late for Professor Ronald Mallet: the time machine has been invented and they are attempting to use it once more on Cuba. But the experiment will show, once again, how little they know of the vocation for independence of the people of Cuba. The ripe fruit has turned out, and will always be, a poisoned one for any empire bent on biting it.

[Pee Wee Herman]

Is there an echo in here? John has no wit and keeps repeating himself. Must be a college dropout.

[Oscar Ramirez]

CUBA, I REMEMBER YOU/CUBA, TE RECUERDO
By OSCAR M. RAMÍREZ-ORBEA, PH.D.

**Cuba, I Remember You is a book about family, love, relationships, and survival in difficult circumstances that all readers will find to be a wonderful reading experience.

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For IP Book Reviewers
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CUBA, I REMEMBER YOU/CUBA, TE RECUERDO
A collection of 14 short stories, all in Spanish and English, based on the author’s experiences of childhood before and after the Communist revolution. Includes Appendix for educators wishing to use the book in Spanish or English foreign language classes. Lots of nostalgia for those who knew Cuba in the 50’s and 60’s and plenty of humor for readers in general. Includes also many period family photographs that illustrate the stories and bring them vividly to life!

About the Author
Dr. Oscar M. Ramírez-Orbea, was born in Camagüey, Cuba, in 1955. He emigrated with his family to the US in 1966, after completing elementary school in his home country. He longs one day to return to his native city of Camagüey and to all the fond memories it holds for him. CUBA, I REMEMBER YOU/CUBA, TE RECUERDO is Dr. Ramírez’s first narrative work.

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§ Product Details
§ Paperback: 392 pages
§ Publisher: Airleaf Publishing; 1st edition (January 10, 2006)
§ Language: English, Spanish
§ ISBN: 1594539553

New work by the same author, published and in bookstores by winter of 2007:

Cuba, Between History and Legend
A collection of short stories based on Cuban legends and unusual histories, all told in thoroughly original and creative ways. All stories are narrated in English and Spanish on facing pages. Includes also substantial background information on the actual events on which the stories are based, as well as references for follow-up reading, and historical illustrations for all the stories. For brief descriptions of the stories, go to www.cubairememberyou.zoomshare.com On the market by year’s end. Cuba … like you’ve never read it before!

Por el mismo autor:

Cuba, Entre la Historia y la Leyenda
Una colección de cuentos cortos basados en leyendas cubanas y en eventos insólitos de la historia de Cuba, todos narrados en un estilo originalísimo y de gran fantasía. Se narran todos los cuentos en inglés y en español, en páginas opuestas. Incluye considerable información adicional sobre el fondo histórico de cada cuento, al igual que sugerencias para otras lecturas sobre la misma temática, y se incluyen ilustraciones históricas de cada uno de los cuentos. Para leer breves descripciones de cada cuento, favor de dirgirse a www.cubairememberyou.zoomshare.com En venta hacia finales del año. Cuba ¡como nunca te la imaginaste!