this soapbox seems familiar...
Jul. 24th, 2010 08:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starsandatomsH.R. 4645, the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act, has been reported by its Committee to the full House of Representatives.
H.R. 4635 is a bill that, if passed, will lift all restrictions on travel to Cuba and remove certain restrictions on selling agricultural products to Cuba. Currently, legislation severely restricts American citizens from traveling to Cuba, and the embargo (known in Cuba as el bloqueo - the blockade) makes it incredibly difficult for farmers to sell their products in Cuba. There are several reasons to support this bill: Perhaps the most obvious is that US policy towards Cuba in general has always banked on the Castro regime dying out (sometimes literally) in the next few years...for half a century. Another is that the travel restrictions impinge on the rights of Americans to travel where they see fit, including Cuban-Americans who have no surviving relatives on the island. Opening up agricultural trade to Cuba will not only likely help with the food shortages on the island, but stimulate the economy and open up jobs for Americans.
Please consider contacting your Representative in support of this bill. You can find your representative here; even one email can make a difference.
I am writing regarding S. 428, the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act. I am Cuban-American, and I grew up thinking that seeing the house where my mother grew up and the land where she was born was an optimist's fantasy. I am one of the few who have had the opportunity to travel legally to Cuba, and to spend time there, and I cannot express how strongly I support this bill.
I am an American, and I am proud to be one, but I am ashamed of our policies towards Cuba. I cannot help but think that they are steeped in imperialism, apathy, and ignorance. Imperialism, as the US has long had a tradition of treating Cuba's attempts at sovereignty as a child's rebellion, as pointless as the proverbial "ripe fruit" attempting to fight gravity's pull. Apathy, as Cuba and news about Cuba are pulled out by the media only when there is no better story to tell than the Communist boogeyman, talking about political prisoners and human rights violations and ignoring the economic chokehold our country holds on theirs and the medical outreach that Cuba is internationally known for. And ignorance comes as a direct result of apathy; it is both damning and frustrating how many people I have met who have no idea that the US even maintains an embargo against Cuba, let alone what that entails. The travel restrictions are similarly unknown.
America is my home, but Cuba is my heritage. When I traveled to Cuba, it broke my heart to speak to Cubans and hear about their families torn apart; it broke my heart to see the poverty and know that a significant portion of it was caused by US policies; it still breaks my heart to know that I may never be able to return there due to the determined corpse of outdated policy that nobody cares enough about to remove. S. 428 has given me hope that someday I might be able to return, and I urge to you continue to support it.
Five reasons why this bill is a good start, but not enough:
1. It only removes restrictions on agricultural products. The embargo against Cuba forbids American companies from selling medicines, medical equipment, technological equipment, clean water, and other goods to Cuba. It also prevents companies or entities from donating many of these goods to Cuba, and penalizes free or open-source websites and technologies that are shared with or accessed by Cuba.
2. It only affects US agricultural products. The Helms-Burton Law allows the US to fine any foreign company that sells anything to Cuba that is more than 10% US components or ownership. This also extends to medicine, medical equipment, technology, and foodstuffs.
3. It leaves the bulk of the embargo in effect. The same embargo that has been denounced 17 consecutive times by the U.N. It's interesting to note that in deliberations for the condemnation, the US representative has walked out every time the Cuban representative has made its case.
4. The US continues to refuse to acknowledge Cuba's sovereignty. Many supporters of the embargo talk about "exporting democracy to Cuba" without stopping to consider that maybe Cubans want to decide their own damn government. The tradition of the US ignoring Cuba's wishes only begins at the Cuban War of Independence...known, rather tellingly, in the US as the Spanish-American War. (Because who cares about the two previous wars, the two-and-a-half years of fighting, or the deaths of almost one-third of Cuba's rural population, Maceo, Martí, and Gomez? The US was there for six months! That's clearly more important! [/bitterness])
5. The US media is quick to talk about Cuba's political prisoners...and not nearly so quick to talk about our own. The Cuban Five have been in jail for almost fifteen years now because the US didn't like an action taken by the Cuban government that the Five had nothing to do with. When's the last time the New York Times wrote an article on Cuban political prisoners? (Two and a half weeks ago, at this writing.) When's the last time they wrote an article about the Five? (Long enough ago that it's not in their digital archive.)
Please feel free to link to this post or ask questions; I am always happy to provide citations. Crossposted everywhere, because this is a subject that is very near and dear to my heart, for obvious reasons.
H.R. 4635 is a bill that, if passed, will lift all restrictions on travel to Cuba and remove certain restrictions on selling agricultural products to Cuba. Currently, legislation severely restricts American citizens from traveling to Cuba, and the embargo (known in Cuba as el bloqueo - the blockade) makes it incredibly difficult for farmers to sell their products in Cuba. There are several reasons to support this bill: Perhaps the most obvious is that US policy towards Cuba in general has always banked on the Castro regime dying out (sometimes literally) in the next few years...for half a century. Another is that the travel restrictions impinge on the rights of Americans to travel where they see fit, including Cuban-Americans who have no surviving relatives on the island. Opening up agricultural trade to Cuba will not only likely help with the food shortages on the island, but stimulate the economy and open up jobs for Americans.
Please consider contacting your Representative in support of this bill. You can find your representative here; even one email can make a difference.
I am writing regarding S. 428, the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act. I am Cuban-American, and I grew up thinking that seeing the house where my mother grew up and the land where she was born was an optimist's fantasy. I am one of the few who have had the opportunity to travel legally to Cuba, and to spend time there, and I cannot express how strongly I support this bill.
I am an American, and I am proud to be one, but I am ashamed of our policies towards Cuba. I cannot help but think that they are steeped in imperialism, apathy, and ignorance. Imperialism, as the US has long had a tradition of treating Cuba's attempts at sovereignty as a child's rebellion, as pointless as the proverbial "ripe fruit" attempting to fight gravity's pull. Apathy, as Cuba and news about Cuba are pulled out by the media only when there is no better story to tell than the Communist boogeyman, talking about political prisoners and human rights violations and ignoring the economic chokehold our country holds on theirs and the medical outreach that Cuba is internationally known for. And ignorance comes as a direct result of apathy; it is both damning and frustrating how many people I have met who have no idea that the US even maintains an embargo against Cuba, let alone what that entails. The travel restrictions are similarly unknown.
America is my home, but Cuba is my heritage. When I traveled to Cuba, it broke my heart to speak to Cubans and hear about their families torn apart; it broke my heart to see the poverty and know that a significant portion of it was caused by US policies; it still breaks my heart to know that I may never be able to return there due to the determined corpse of outdated policy that nobody cares enough about to remove. S. 428 has given me hope that someday I might be able to return, and I urge to you continue to support it.
Five reasons why this bill is a good start, but not enough:
1. It only removes restrictions on agricultural products. The embargo against Cuba forbids American companies from selling medicines, medical equipment, technological equipment, clean water, and other goods to Cuba. It also prevents companies or entities from donating many of these goods to Cuba, and penalizes free or open-source websites and technologies that are shared with or accessed by Cuba.
2. It only affects US agricultural products. The Helms-Burton Law allows the US to fine any foreign company that sells anything to Cuba that is more than 10% US components or ownership. This also extends to medicine, medical equipment, technology, and foodstuffs.
3. It leaves the bulk of the embargo in effect. The same embargo that has been denounced 17 consecutive times by the U.N. It's interesting to note that in deliberations for the condemnation, the US representative has walked out every time the Cuban representative has made its case.
4. The US continues to refuse to acknowledge Cuba's sovereignty. Many supporters of the embargo talk about "exporting democracy to Cuba" without stopping to consider that maybe Cubans want to decide their own damn government. The tradition of the US ignoring Cuba's wishes only begins at the Cuban War of Independence...known, rather tellingly, in the US as the Spanish-American War. (Because who cares about the two previous wars, the two-and-a-half years of fighting, or the deaths of almost one-third of Cuba's rural population, Maceo, Martí, and Gomez? The US was there for six months! That's clearly more important! [/bitterness])
5. The US media is quick to talk about Cuba's political prisoners...and not nearly so quick to talk about our own. The Cuban Five have been in jail for almost fifteen years now because the US didn't like an action taken by the Cuban government that the Five had nothing to do with. When's the last time the New York Times wrote an article on Cuban political prisoners? (Two and a half weeks ago, at this writing.) When's the last time they wrote an article about the Five? (Long enough ago that it's not in their digital archive.)
Please feel free to link to this post or ask questions; I am always happy to provide citations. Crossposted everywhere, because this is a subject that is very near and dear to my heart, for obvious reasons.