A U.S. State Department fact sheet on the “wet foot, dry foot” policy states that Cuban refugees interdicted at sea or caught trying to enter the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, will be returned to Cuba, if they “did not have a well-founded fear of persecution if returned.”
Apparently the fear that comes with having to live one more day under dictatorship and tyranny, is not enough to stop the American government from conspiring with the castro dictatorship to keep Cubans enslaved.
Earlier this month, American officials misjudged the risk for two Cubans, Arsenio Pérez Domínguez and Adroli Castillo Pérez, who had snuck onto the base. They were turned over to Cuban officials, who then tried and convicted them on charges of “social dangerousness,” for trying to leave Cuba. Pérez Domínguez was sentenced to 2 years in prison, and Castillo Pérez received a 3-year sentence.
In recent years, the base at Guantanamo Bay has been an embarassment for the United States. It’s where we keep suspected terrorists in secret, away from judicial scrutiny.
And it’s where we have created an illusion that it is a pocket of freedom on an island in desperate need of liberty, when in reality, officials there have been made complicit with the castros.
I would hazard a guess that this is not the first time that Cubans returned to their captors by the American military, have ended locked up in the gulag. The Americans had to know that Pérez Domínguez and Castillo Pérez would soon be in bigger trouble. After all, as the desperation of those who risk escape shows, leaving the island without the dictatorship’s permission, is against the law.
This is where “wet foot, dry foot,” and the Guantanamo Bay corollary — which I am sure some will defend as being better than the alternative — have brought us:
Cooperating with a dictatorship to keep as many Cubans as possible enslaved by tyranny, and adding to the toll of its gulag.
All Americans should be ashamed.
(Cross-posted at Uncommon Sense.)
9 thoughts on “Complicity”
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I agree. All Americans should be ashamed of what is happening at Guantanamo, especially with U.S. officials conspiring with the castros. Your post here is an interesting and different perspective I hadn’t previously considered.
marc,USA is not “embarassed” by anything,because,those islamofascists deserve what they got,if you can find for them a better place,besides hell,please,by all means,inform the president of this country about it….
also,to say that USA is “cooperating” with the regime in cuba is,to say the least,pathetic….
the “wet/dry foot” is a law,so,the navy,has to follow through,like it or not….
in my opinion it’s a wrong law,but getting rid of that law is in the hands of the congress….]
and remember,the responsability for cuba’s freedom is in the hands of the cubans inside the island,not in the hands of any country’s army,or laws,unless the cuban regime threaten the security of this country,it’ll be the cubans inside the island, the ones who are in charge of their own freedom…
I hate to say it, but Wet-foot-dry-foot, as bad as it is, keeps American patrols and spy boats in the Straits of Florida by “enforcing” a policy the castros are in no position to object to.
Otherwise, fidel would have spent the past ten years throwing a shitfit every time an American rubber dinghy ventured into the Straits. This would have given drug smugglers a clear route to the US for which they would owe castro big-time and hampered American efforts to work with assets on the island to find out what is really going on over there.
I have to agree with Marc on this because the immigration agreement the US has with Cuba is not based on a mutual understanding, but on threats by the regime to unleash mass migrations on the US if it does not cooperate. Clinton came up with the “wet foot/dry foot” policy out of fear, not out of what is the best policy.
Although I agree that Cuba’s freedom should not depend on any law passed and enforced by another nation, neither should the freedom of its citizens be hindered and the repressive regime aided by any laws passed and enforced by another nation. We have already seen how the policies of “engagement and cooperation” adopted by nations such as Spain has only helped to strengthen the dictatorship. Even more heinous is the fact that Spain is making billions of dollars doing so.
By cooperating with the Cuban regime the US is turning its back on what it stands for; freedom and justice. All so that an administration can avoid the potentially embarrassing migration castro has threatened us with.
When you get down to the nuts and bolts of it, that is all we are doing: Kowtowing to a tin pot dictator out of fear.
First impression was that CODE PINK had Val tied up in his Man-Camp and were protesting the base via the Babalu Blog!
Second, the well founded fear of persecution is a high standard to meet in Immigration Court. They could lighten up about 15% and still keep the enemies out.
Last, When did we become so weak as to believe 1) that we care what the world thinks, 2) That we are one of many citizens of the world and they make the rules, 3) to vote for McCain (R.I.N.O.) over my firend and hero FRED THOMPSON!
My firends…..I am starting to think that the game is rigged! by Code Pink!
Before I forget it was CLINTON who signed the agreement making it law. Do we need another Clinton in office for wet foot dry foot?
Since when is the dry foot wet foot a law ? No sir it is a policy not a law, a presidential policy.
Funny how we ran to vote for Bush and he didn’t change it, he strengthen it.
Like I said before no US president is a friend of the exiles.
I have family that work for the Navy in a base engineer capacity. They tell me that most of the naval officers despise Cubans.
This reaction to the two refugees is not at all suprising.
Pito10,,,dont know wich “naval officers” your are reffering to…”china’s navy officers..??…Cuban navy esbirros/officers..??
i was in guantanamo bay,and beleive me,officers from the navy,marines and army,all of them where more than helpfull….and yes,we,in guantanamo,had the army first,and later the marines…the navy took care of us,35 000 very well…i could say .OUTSTANDING JOB THEY DID ….GOD BLESS THEM ALL…!!