Hung(a)ry for Freedom

Hardly a day goes by that I don’t get a news alert about “Guantanamo”.
The press likes to report on the incarcerated alleged terrorists held there. Intelligent people discuss the closing of the “camp” because it is perceived as a blemish on America. Never mind that these guys were captured during battles in Afghanistan while defending the Taliban and al Qaeda , plotting and training to send agents here to kill our children.
But there are other detainees in Guantanamo. Cuban Nationals. Refugees.
These detainees did not travel to a foreign land to join a terrorist movement whose purpose is to destroy America. No. Their crime was to try to reach America by escaping a terrorist State whose stated purpose is to destroy America and what America stands for.
Yet, the declared enemies of the USA are defended, embraced and fussed over while those who share the American values of individual freedom and justice for all are mostly ignored.
These refugees were picked up at sea by the US Coast Guard and it was determined that they were at risk of “persecution” if they were repatriated as is the usual procedure under the wet foot/dry foot policy. (As if the rest of the population in Cuba isn’t at risk of being persecuted?). But, the US would not grant these persecuted Cubans visas and sent them to Guantanamo. (like terrorists-only with worse food and less luxurious digs).
The number of Cuban refugees at Gitmo: 44. Yes, our government couldn’t and wouldn’t find room for 44 more Cubans. 44.
According to this AP piece, 19 of the 44 had gone on a hunger strike as a protest not being allowed entry into the US. Two hunger strikers were forced to quit the strike last week after being hospitalized with health problems:

MIAMI — Cubans held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay ended their hunger strike Friday after learning that they would receive visas to go to either the U.S., Hungary or a third country, a Miami-based exile group said.
The 17 hunger-strikers were entering their 20th day of fasting to protest their conditions and Washington’s refusal to let them settle in the United States, said Ramon Saul Sanchez, head of the group Democracy Movement, which has long supported those seeking to leave Cuba.
… they were held at the base while officials sought a third country to take them. Many were dissidents and some had been there for more than two years.
Five of the Cubans already held U.S. visas and were given the green light to come to the United States, Sanchez said. Another 29 were accepted by Hungary, and seven others were still awaiting word that a third country would accept them. One man decided to return to Cuba on his own for family reasons, Sanchez said.

Though I’m disappointed that a country that’s identified world-wide by the Statue of Liberty, Mother of Exiles, could not find room in its bosom for 44 freedom seekers, I’m glad that its government has finally moved to find a solution to these refugee’s plight for freedom.
I am also grateful that Hungary, who knows all too well the oppression of communist tyranny, has once again stepped up to support Cubans.