Cubans not exceptional in Latin America. Nicaraguans and Venezuelans are also fleeing communism

Setting the record straight on Cuban exceptionalism

Cubans and Cuban Americans of all ages celebrate Fidel Castro's death in 2016.

The February 5, 2020 article by Rebecca Bodenheimer titled “Analysis: Beyond Cuban exceptionalism and toward the 2020 elections” is “problematic” on several levels and circulating on the internet and needs a response.

First, it misrepresents Cuban-Americans and events in the island. The photograph at the top of the page of her article claims that “Cuban Americans protest Raul Castro leaving office.” The fact of the matter is that Cuban Americans are protesting because Raul Castro remains in power and Miguel Diaz Canel is a puppet and not a real political leader. Hence the protest sign that reads “Raul Castro thwarts the peoples will for self-rule.”

Second, there have been other refugee exoduses in Latin America. There are over 1.272 million Cubans in the United States. It is true that for decades Cubans had been the exception to the rule of immigrants from Latin America. They were political refugees fleeing a communist dictatorship. However, there were also political refugees fleeing Guatemala due to a civil war (involving Marxist guerillas with Cuban aide) between 1960 and 1996 with a total today of 1.364 million Guatemalans. Civil war in El Salvador (again with guerrillas backed by the Castro regime) erupted in the mid-1970s and lasted for 12 years with 1.387 million El Salvadorians now in the United States.

In 1979 when Marxists took over in Nicaragua with the Sandinistas sparking a huge exodus to neighboring countries and to the United States. However, Nicaragua being a smaller country the numbers were smaller than the Cuban exodus. Today there are 405,601 Nicaraguans in the United States, but those numbers will rise with the Ortega regime cracking down on dissent (again with help from the Castro regime). But the Castro takeover in Venezuela, first with Chavez and continued with Maduro, has led to an exodus that dwarfs in absolute numbers, all others with over 3 million in mid-2019 and on track to reach five million. Venezuelans are topping asylum claims to the United States. If you ask Venezuelans you will find that many will point out the negative role of the Castro regime in helping cause this disaster.

Third, Venezuelans are the largest group of refugees fleeing communism in Latin America and seeking asylum in the United States.  Bodenheimer identifies “Cuban migrants” as “one of the largest groups seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border in recent years”, but the top group are Venezuelans. Special programs were created for Cuban refugees because their situation was unique. When one leaves Cuba, especially in the early years of the Castro regime, one was not able to return and their property was confiscated. It did not matter if you rich or poor, you were left with nothing when arriving in the United States after the regime consolidated.

Sadly, Bodenheimer is partially right but for the wrong reasons. Cubans fleeing the island are political refugees fleeing a communist dictatorship, but they are no longer exceptional in the Americas because Nicaraguans, and many more Venezuelans are also fleeing their respective communist regimes. Many of them are also moving to Florida. They also need assistance and special programs to prevent a humanitarian crisis.

Fourth, this is not preferential treatment, but dealing with human tragedies created by communist dictatorships. The U.S. in the past assisted Eastern European refugees, Vietnamese boat people, Cuban refugees, and today should be doing the same with Nicaraguan and Venezuelans refugees.

Fifth, Bodenheimer calls Fidel Castro’s communist regime socialist. Cuba is not Sweden, it has more in common with North Korea.

Ignoring that reality and the negative role it has played and is playing in this hemisphere is seriously problematic. The Castro dictatorship, like their North Korean counterpart, should not be normalized because it has been around for six decades. Bodenheimer plays the race card highlighting the first wave of refugees, which she claims were immigrants, as “wealthy and white,” raising the question of their political status when she says “these Cubans were treated not as economic migrants, but political refugees fleeing a repressive dictatorship.” Nor does she mention that later waves reflected the racial demographics on the island.

Long time allies: Kim Il Sung and Fidel Castro in North Korea

Despite her claims, and that of unidentified experts, Cubans continue to suffer under a totalitarian dictatorship that systematically denies them of all their human rights. Furthermore, many Cuban “migrants” are not able to return to their homeland because of arbitrary restrictions of the Castro dictatorship. This is something that Mexicans and most Central Americans (with the possible exception of Nicaraguans) do not have to suffer.

Sixth, Bodenheimer makes the astounding claim that “Cuba is one of the least violent countries in the hemisphere.” Unlike the rest of Central America there is no legal free press in Cuba, and reporting on crime, health epidemics and other matters embarrassing to the regime are forbidden and invite prison and forced exile. How would one know what the actual levels of violence are? We do know that in the past Cubans have been shot by government snipers, their bodies pulled out with gaff hooks by agents of the Castro regime for trying to leave. Cubans on rafts in the high seas have had sand bags dropped on them for trying to leave. We also know that they have sunk a boatload of refugees for trying to leave.

We also know that when a government dissident tried to get a school reopened that she ended up the victim of a machete attack in May 2015, and a friend who warned her that the regime was going to harm her, was also killed. This woman, Sirley Avila Leon, fled Cuba for her life in November 2016.

Sirley Avila Leon lost her hand and use of her knees in 2015

Seventh, the claim that Cuban Americans have not backed other Latin American refugees and migrants is a libelous lie.

The 1997 Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act or NACARA was sponsored by Cuban American member of Congress Lincoln Diaz-Balart and co-sponsored by Cuban American members of Congress Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and Robert Menendez that provided protections to Nicaraguans, El Salvadorans, and Guatemalans.

Cuban-American members of Congress, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Lincoln Diaz Balart and Robert Menendez also co-sponsored the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act in 1998 that provided protections to Haitian migrants.

Immigration champions: Lincoln Diaz Balart, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Robert Menendez

Eighth, Ms. Bodenheimer’s negative view of Cuban Americans is probably that they view with horror Latin Americans in the United States who wear Che Guevara t-shirts and express a positive view of the Castro dictatorship. This cools victims of the Castro dictatorship to their Latino counterparts. To expect Cuban-Americans not to push back and warn other Latin Americans of this folly is unrealistic.

The author quotes Cuban American sociologist Guillermo Grenier saying that Cubans have never viewed themselves as “illegals.” Question for Ms. Bodenheimer what Latin American migrant self identifies as “illegal”?

Ms. Bodenheimer also tries to frame the Cuban American vote within the immigration debate, ignoring the Obama Administration’s normalization of relations with the Castro dictatorship that involved the freeing of Cuban spies that had murdered four Cuban Americans in 1996.

Furthermore, many Cuban Americans were terrified when President Obama issued a presidential directive in October 2016 that instructed U.S. intelligence agencies to share information with the Castro regime’s state security services.  Many remembered the 1998 WASP spy net work and their plan to carry out bombing campaigns and assassinations in South Florida.

This had much more to do with the Cuban American vote for Trump then immigration, and considering that the Democratic candidates today want to return to that policy it is more than likely that the President will do equally as well with Cuban Americans in 2020 or better.


The first individual in 2016 that told me in Spanish: “Sorry John, but Trump has to win was a middle-aged black Cuban who arrived in the United States in the early 2000s.”

Ms. Bodenheimer may want to look at Cuba and Venezuela policy to see what is driving Cuban American voters. Both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama understood this and ran as pro-sanctions candidates and did well in Florida. Hillary Clinton ran as an anti-sanctions pro-engagement candidate and lost the state.

Cubans are not exceptional, because Nicaraguans also vote Republican because of their anti-communism, and so will many Venezuelans when they get their citizenship.

Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans have a common foe.

Shame on The Miami Herald for its shortsighted editorial that will harm South Florida

Keep the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 and the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980

Cuban migrants in Costa Rica in 2016

The Miami Herald editorial board on April 16, 2016 called for ending both the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980 and the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966. Taking this course of action would be shortsighted and have a devastating impact on South Florida.  The Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980 is a law that does the following it is: "An act to provide general assistance to local educational agencies for the education of Cuban and Haitian refugee children, to provide special impact aid to such agencies for the education of Cuban and Haitian refugee children and Indochinese refugee children, and to provide assistance to State educational agencies for the education of Cuban and Haitian refugee adults."

The current law does not guarantee federal assistance but states: "Certain Cuban and Haitian nationals who are neither refugees nor asylees may be eligible  for ORR - funded refugee assistance programs under Part 401 of Title 45 of the Code of Federal  Regulations (45 CFR 401)." This law is not targeted to asylum seekers or refugees as The Miami Herald editorial claims and eliminating it would be a disaster not only for Cubans and Haitians but also for South Florida.

Ending Refugee Education Assistance will shift costs to local taxpayers

The 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act came into existence as the result of a migration crisis provoked by the Castro regime when it perceived the Johnson Administration as weak. It provided a mechanism to legalize tens of thousands of Cubans who had fled the Castro regime and were not free to return to their homeland.

Despite the claim made by The Miami Herald and President Obama there is no post-Cold War era with Cuba. The Carter administration in the 1970s and the Clinton administration in the 1990s sought to normalize relations with the Castro regime as Obama is doing now and the end result then as now were mass migration crisis with Mariel 1980 and the rafter crisis in 1994-1995 along with hostile actions by the Cuban dictatorship demonstrating that the Cold War was still underway. 

What has driven migration over the past half century has been the Cuban nightmare created by the Castro brothers combined with a perception of weakness of occupants in The White House. The crisis generated today in Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Mexico is regime created with the aim of achieving a long term objective: the end of the Cuban Adjustment Act and the knowledge that the Obama administration will not retaliate.  Every administration that engaged the Castro regime through unilateral concessions (LBJ, Carter, Clinton, and Obama) has seen migration waves used against it to shape policy. Administrations that took a harder line did not face these problems on their watch (Nixon, Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II).

History has demonstrated that it is not the Cuban Adjustment Act that generates mass migrations from Cuba, but rather administrations, perceived as weak by Castro, especially those that tried to normalize relations in 1977, 1993, and now 2013 that coincide with these crisis.

Contrary to the claims of The Miami Herald the Castro regime does not recognize the right of Cubans to enter and exit their own country. Tens of thousands of Cubans are not allowed to return to Cuba. The Cubans who are allowed to return must obtain a visa and pay exorbitant fees at a minimum more than three times ($250) what a non-Cuban would pay ($75) and up to eight times more ($605). No other country in this hemisphere has these restrictions. If the Cuban Adjustment Act is ended then these Cubans will exist in a legal limbo as Cubans in the United States did before 1966 or illegal and subject to deportation to a country that violates international law shooting fleeing Cuban refugees in the back.

Ending the Cuban Adjustment Act and stopping the Refugee Education Assistance Act as The Miami Herald is advocating  will cause harm not only to newly arrived Cubans and Haitians, but will also negatively effect local schools, and the local economy when the federal funds are cut. Immigration policy and the cost should fall within the realm of national policy and not be passed on to Miami-Dade County and Florida taxpayers straining local and state resources.    

The corruption condemned by The Miami Herald, the Sun Sentinel and the ongoing immigration crisis are not due to either the Cuban Adjustment Act or the Refugee Education Assistance Act but the failures of the Obama administration and its departments. Current law provides leeway to restrict those breaking the law or engaging in fraud that is all too often failing to take place. 

Finally, some advocates of engagement with the Castro regime look at the Cuban Adjustment Act as an obstacle for normalizing relations with the dictatorship. They are focused on getting rid of it addressing the emotional component while at the same time ignoring the human cost of ending it not only in the concrete terms already mentioned above but also in human rights terms. 

 

This mentality was perfectly represented in another controversy by Pedro Freyre, whose law firm, Akerman, represents Carnival who was quoted in The New York Times on April 22, 2016 concerning Carnival Cuba cruise controversy.“I had been around my community long enough to know that emotions are very deep here,” he said. “At the beginning, I said, ‘What? Why are people so upset - 300,000 travel every year to Cuba.’ But this one tugged at the heart strings.”  

The fact that Carnival had no issue with discriminating against an entire class of American citizens, because of their national origin, and went along with the Cuban dictatorship's demands is not primarily an emotional issue as Attorney Freyre, who is Cuban American, claimed in The New York Times but a legal and a civil rights issue with a particular resonance with U.S. history. Jim Crow segregation and the discrimination of entire classes of people by corporations bending to discriminatory laws in a variation of the "separate but equal" doctrine.  This is why there is a lawsuit underway against Carnival. 

This mentality is also at work in the efforts to repeal the Cuban Adjustment Act and water down the State Department's Human Trafficking report on Cuba and what a Texas African American professor described as a variation of Dred Scott. 

 

Iberoamerican Vanguard back Plebiscite for Cuba

Contained in the Final Act of the Iberoamerican Vanguard meeting (Panama) petition of Plebiscite for Cuba, presented by the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL)

We call attention to the alarming human rights situation in Cuba and recognize the historical solidarity between the Haitian and Dominican peoples. 

Taking into account the petition of thousands of Cuban citizens that using their constitutional rights ( art. 88 g ) propose that the people be consulted about legal changes that guarantee fundamental freedomsResolved:

To call on the Cuban government to respond to the democratic proposal of a plebiscite of its citizens

Minutes Caribbean 2

As part of the XXIII Iberoamerican Summit of Heads of State and government committed to the Iberoamerican theme: alliance for a new paradigm; young representatives of 25 Latin American countries in order to address the major challenges and problems of the region met in Iberoamerican Vanguard, as part of the 500 years of the discovery of the Pacific Ocean, from October 13 to 16  in Panama City, Panama.

Mindful of our responsibility in the development of the Iberoamerican peoples we declare necessary that with our commitment to action and critical support the governments, local institutions and multilateral organizations we contribute to:Considering the importance of maintaining a healthy relationship between all the states of the Caribbean region .We call attention to the alarming human rights situation in Cuba and recognize the historical solidarity between the Haitian and Dominican peoples. Taking into account the request of thousands of Cuban citizens using their constitutional right (Article 88 g ) propose to consult the people about legal changes that guarantee fundamental freedoms, and the petition of Haitians and Dominicans to review the sentence TC/06168 of September 27, 2013 of the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic that will leave without nationality a significant population of Dominicans descendants of foreigners, principally Haitians.

Resolved:

To call on the Cuban government to respond to the democratic proposal of a plebiscite of its citizens and invite the Dominican Constitutional Court to review its decision.

Original Spanish text

Cell phone usage in Cuba and in Haiti

 1 out of 10 Cubans has a cell phone in Cuba versus 4 out of 10 Haitians in Haiti

Man rents cell phone chargers in Port-au-Prince  Reuters/Eduardo Munoz

 Some argue that comparing Cuba with the United States or other developed economies such as Chile is unfair. One wonders how they will react to the following comparison between Cuba and Haiti?

In 2012, Cuba a country with a population of 11 million had 1.3 million cellphones; while Haiti a country with a population of 10 million had 4.2 million cellphones. Breaking it down on a per capita basis: 42% of Haitians in Haiti have cell phones whereas in Cuba only 12% of Cubans have cell phones.

The numbers above are taken from CIA world factbook on the Science Daily website. Havana times based out of Cuba places the number of cell phones in Cuba at 1.6 million as of May 2013.

And, before the Pavlovian response kicks in the U.S. embargo has nothing to do with it. Treasury Department regulations with regards to telecommunications in Cuba are self-explanatory:

1. U.S. telecommunications services providers are authorized to engage in all
transactions incident to the provision of telecommunications services between
the United States and Cuba, the provision of satellite radio or satellite
television services to Cuba, and the provision of roaming services involving
telecommunications services providers in Cuba. Please see: 515.542(b).

2. Section 515.542(c) authorizes persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction to
contract with and pay non-Cuban telecommunications services providers for
services provided to particular individuals in Cuba (other than certain
prohibited Cubans). For example, an individual in the United States may pay a
U.S. or third-country telecommunications company to provide cellular telephone
service for a phone owned and used by that individual's friend in Cuba.
Likewise, a U.S. telecommunications services provider may enter into a contract
with a particular individual in Cuba to provide telecommunications services to
that individual.

3. Transactions incident to establishing facilities to provide
telecommunications services linking the United States and Cuba, including
fiber-optic cables and satellite facilities, are authorized pursuant to:
515.542(d)(1). OFAC also may issue specific licenses on a case-by-case basis
authorizing transactions incident to establishing facilities to provide
telecommunications services linking third countries and Cuba in certain
circumstances pursuant to': 515.542(d)(2). 

The Cuban government only allowed the sale of cell phones to every day Cubans in 2009. Whereas the Bush Administration lifted restrictions on cell phones being shipped to Cuba in 2008, when Raul Castro allowed Cubans to own them. The liberalization of U.S. regulations in telecommunications has continued under the Obama Administration.

José Martí visited Haiti September 7-9, 1892 and the ties that bind

Dr. Jorge Camacho of the Universtiy of South Carolina-Colombia authored an essay titled “We are an army of light” / “somos un ejército de luz y nada prevalecerá contra nosotros: José Martí and the American News Press in an online magazine La Habana Elegante edited by Francisco Morán in which José Martí's 1892 visit to Haiti is mentioned:

According to Ibrahin Hidalgo Paz on August 31, 1892, Martí went on a political trip to the Caribbean. He visited Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica, where he met important political leaders, and in October 13, 1892 he came back to New York.

Now according to the Louverture project José Martí visited the cities of Gonaives, Cap Haïtien and Fort Liberte between September 7 through the 9, 1892.

As Haiti begins to rebuild and heal from this horrible earthquake it is important for Cubans everywhere to remember our neighbors and the historic ties that bind us. Today around the heart of the Cuban exile there was a Marathon gathering humanitarian assistance from 8:00am to 8:00pm and Free Cuba Foundation president Julio Menache is calling on members to join in a volunteer effort being organized by Florida International University:

Florida International University is issuing a call to students, faculty and staff to volunteer on Sunday to help sort and package relief supplies for Haiti. Volunteers are needed from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. at the Miami-Dade County Warehouse at 11500 NW 25th Street in Doral.

Massive Earthquake in Haiti: Time for Solidarity with the Haitian People

In Solidarity with our Haitian Brothers and Sisters

"Pray as if everything depended upon God and work as if everything depended upon man." - Francis Cardinal Spellman (1946)

Massive Earthquake Jolts Haiti

The U.S. Geological Survey reports that a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti 10 miles southwest of the capital of Port au Prince at 4:53 p.m. Eastern, Tuesday, Jan. 12. More detailed information available here.

The initial quake was followed by two aftershocks.

Reliable damage and casualty estimates are unavailable at this time. CRS staffers in Baltimore have been in touch with Haiti staff. CRS/Haiti reports that those who remained at the office after 4 p.m. are safe. The condition of other CRS staff is unknown at this time (7:30 p.m. Eastern).

CRS/Haiti reports that cell phone use is unavailable. They communicated with Baltimore via land line. They reported that the CRS office building is still standing, but others, including one near the office, had collapsed. They reported that clouds of dust and smoke surround the city of Port au Prince. Before the phone connection was lost they characterized the situation as choatic, and feared many dead in what they called “a major hit … a direct hit.”

A tsunami watch was issued for Haiti, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Bahamas and nearby islands.

CRS will continue to update with information as it becomes available. Our prayers and thoughts are with the people of Haiti and all CRS/Haiti staff and their loved ones.

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