Here’s a story, dated Nov 20, accompanied by a nine-month-old photo. Call me paranoid, but why else would the author choose this photo if not to suggest that the U.S. is in some way hindering Cubans right to travel?
From Reuters:
Cubans requesting refugee status in the U.S. stand outside the U.S. refugee office in Havana, March 6, 2006. Rude immigration officials and long delays in processing visas have turned the United States into the world’s most unfriendly country for international travelers, according to a global survey released on Monday.
There is no mention of the fact that it is the castro regime denying Cubans the right to travel freely. Nor of the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of Cubans on the U.S. visa lottery waiting list, desperate to leave. And, they sure didn’t mention this; a story (in Spanish) about a young man who committed suicide rather than face a 20 year prison sentence after being caught by the Cuban Coast Guard trying to leave Cuba in a small boat.
It is not the US interest section who is hostile, it is the communist regime who is hostile to the US interest section.
Of course it gets crowded, everyone from all over Cuba comes to the US Interest Section and all Cubans want to be on time for their appointments despite the blackouts, lack of water, lack of transportation, lack of food, lack of everything cubans have to face due to the regime.
Heck, I was there just 6 years ago when they gave our family the US visas (BTW that day and the day before that there was one of the typical blackouts so getting ready for the appointment was a hassle cause there was no running water in the entire building)
They FAIL to mention the fact that one of the regime’s police station is next to the US Interest Section, that there are police posts all throughout the avenue, and that there are police in front of the US interest section both dressed as civilians and in uniform. Next to it there is also what Castro calls a “protestatorium” where he gives speeches against the US and he enforces anti-American marches and rallies.
They also fail to mention that the employees of the US Interest Section are constantly being followed and tracked by the regime’s police and that there is a limited space to the Interest Section, that is why all those cubans are standing outside because it is not their time yet for the appointment and there is no space for them inside. The Cuban regime also has cameras on the neighboring buildings to tape whoever goes in and out of the US Interest Section.
Personally, when I went inside with my family I felt a breath of fresh air, coupled with the effect of the AC which to any cuban is a relief and uncommon.
We sat on the waiting room until we were called and there was a TV in the room which had the TV Marti channel on. Inside, the place is super clean and the bathrooms are spotless. Our interviewer was an American who spoke perfect Spanish and he was very nice.
I find it more “rude” and INDIGNATING the fact that ALL CUBANS HAVE to ask the cuban regime for permission to leave CUBA and that we had been denied the right to leave the country in years before that. No government has the right to force its citizens to stay, that is called lack of freedoms and certainly is much more “rude” and tyranic than having to wait in a long line of thousands of people who want to get by any means any VISA to leave Cuba.
The most unfriendly, huh? Well, I have been kicked by German border guards, thrown to the floor (with a 55-lb. backpack on) by an Austrian trolley driver, treated like dirt by Dutch restaurateurs, had a machine gun pointed at me by a Greek soldier, and in almost EVERY European country, I have heard anti-semitic comments that would make an American’s jaw hang open.