Judging by the MSM, you’d think that Cuba, led by the reformer, “el asesino” raul castro, was on the verge of joining the rest of the modern world by embracing democratic ideals, such as set forth in the U.N. Human Rights conventions they recently, and so meaninglessly signed. A favored story in this week’s media has been the report that the dictatorship is ending the ban on Cubans purchasing and owning computers, and other electronic equipment. I say idea, because I’m not sure that memo reached Havana, and please note, that none of these stories question the fact that there was a ban in the first place. How would you like it if Uncle Sam dictated what you are allowed to purchase with your hard-earned cash?
Also left out of the stories is the fact that the average Cuban earns less than $20 a month, which is not enough to feed themselves, let alone to go on an electorinc shopping spree purchasing computers and such. That is, if the story about the ban is even true, and not some sort of, shall we say, special Cuban poll..
If there were any hope of an end to the repression, and a better future for Cuba, joyous Cubans, both those living on the island, and in exile would embrace this promise, and work night and day to rebuild their country.
If there was any hope at all, you would not see this; you would not see desperate refugees taking to the sea on a “boat” carved from foam. Look at this photo, try to imagine how utterly intolerable life would have to be before you’d agree to spend a week on the open seas in this makeshift boat.
3 refugees float foam boat to Florida
By Jill Taylor
Palm Beach Post
After a week at sea in a flimsy 10-foot craft carved from plastic foam and powered by makeshift oars, three Cuban nationals arrived on Hutchinson Island early Tuesday, giving the sunburned voyagers the opportunity to become U.S. citizens.
“I saw them, but I thought they were just drunks out to see the shuttle launch,” said Steve McElfish, who noticed the exhausted trio wandering the beach behind Island Dunes condominiums. “They wanted to know where they were and when they heard it was Florida, they were happy.”
The refugees, a 39-year-old man and a 41-year-old man with his 16-year-old wife, told Border Patrol officials that they left Mariel, Cuba, the night of March 4 with 29 gallons of water, some food, a lantern and batteries. They were in a tiny foam boat that looks more like an oversized beer cooler than a craft that could survive more than 200 rough ocean miles.
They arrived, dehydrated and happy to be safe on land, on the beach behind Island Dunes around 1:30 a.m.
The three were identified as Luis Alvarez Lopez, Jorge Noel Isidron Rivera and his wife, Amys Gabriella Galindo Senra.
Robert Swathwood, the Border Patrol agent in charge of the West Palm Beach office, said the rafters probably were headed for Miami-Dade County, but the Gulf Stream pulled them north.
Undocumented immigrants who come ashore often exaggerate the amount of time at sea, but Swathwood said agents believed this group.
“They showed extreme signs of exposure,” he said. “They were sunburned, windburned, sea-sprayed and chapped.”
Seas have been rough the past week, with 4- to 6-foot waves during the weekend in much of South Florida.
“They said they capsized a couple of times and lost a lot of their supplies,” Swathwood said.
St. Lucie sheriff’s deputies and fire-rescue workers got the trio to Martin Memorial Medical Center, where they were treated and released to the Border Patrol.
They were to be taken to Miami for medical checks and released under federal regulations that recognize Cubans as refugees seeking asylum if they make it to shore, Swathwood said.
Oh yeah, things are fine in Cuba, Vamos Bien!
“Undocumented immigrants ….”? Perhaps in a technical sense but they are here LEGALLY! Monday morning…if not sooner the will have a handful of documents! This is a classic example of the MSM type casting.
Welcome to the 3, I wish them the best and happiness in their new lives. I hope they make the most of their new found liberty.
The caption of the photo: “Cuban ballot”.
It’s a totally different ball of wax with Cubans coming here than Mexicans. There is a lot of poverty and trouble in Mexico to be sure, and I feel great compassion for anyone who believes things are so bad in their homeland that they just can’t stay another minute and are willing to risk life and limb to leave. Although a styrofoam boat (what a picture!) on the Florida Strait is much more dangerous than crossing into California or Arizona, those border crossings can be very dangerous too.
All that said, Mexico is now a genuine democracy since an opposition party finally won an election with Vicente Fox a while back, and with all Mexico’s troubles (particularly with drug lords and “the bite”), they still do have freedom of movement, freedom of speech, and many, many other rights that Cubans don’t have. The election of Calderon over AMLO, although it was admittedly too close for comfort, is another sign of progress. If there was no USA, the same Cubans who cross the Florida Strait would probably be crossing the Yucatan Strait to Mexico.
(Which, looking at the map and seeing that Cancun is actually closer to Cuba than Florida, makes me wonder if some do. Mexico’s immigration policy is a lot tougher than America’s, but does this sometimes happen, and if so, how often?)
Mexico was never an arm of the USSR, and so has never posed any sort of military threat to the US like Oct/1962 or in any other way. Cubans are fleeing genuine hardcore bonafide oppression and political persection and so America’s immigration rules for them are justly different. With all its troubles, Mexico is not a dictatorship and does not oppress its citizens, and is still a far better place to live than Cuba.
Zhangligun, to answer your question, a lot of Cubans are travelling through Mexico. Here’s an Reuters article from last fall.
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1130714320071011
I thought that might be the case. Everything else I said above probably earns me the nickname Captain Obvious, especially in here, but I guess it’s for the pro-Castro lurkers…