Group rallies against Cuba policy

Posted on Thu, Jul. 13, 2006

HIALEAH
Group rallies against Cuba policy
The Association of Christian Women in Defense of the Cuban Family held
its fourth demonstration against the Bush administration's tightening of
travel restrictions to Cuba in Hialeah on Saturday.
BY GLADYS AMADOR
gamador@MiamiHerald.com

Shouting out ''Queremos viajar, vamos a viajar!'' a group of more than
50 protesters joined together in a demonstration in front of Hialeah's
City Hall on Saturday morning.

Among those blaring out their battle cries through a bullhorn -- ''We
want to travel! We're going to travel!'' was Rosa Reyes, 68, a resident
of North Miami.

''They block travel to Cuba in order to try and resolve the problems on
the island yet it does nothing but create a cruel policy hurting the
Cuban people,'' Reyes said. ``I wanted to take my granddaughter to meet
my father, who is very old, and I can't.''

The Association of Christian Women in Defense of the Cuban Family is a
group of Cuban women, their husbands and other sympathizers who are
against the tightened restrictions placed by the Bush administration on
travel and remittances to the island.

Seeking to tighten the Helms-Burton Act of 1996 -- a federal law
strengthening the United States embargo against Cuba -- the Bush
administration placed new travel restrictions in 2004. The new travel
restrictions forbid Cubans to travel more than once every three years,
to visit immediate family members. American-born citizens are not
allowed to go to Cuba for tourism, but can travel of special
American-issued visas.

Across the street from the City Hall, Hialeah resident Orlando Lemus,
80, observed the protest.

''The dictatorship is here, that the government wants to tell us what to
do,'' he said.

On the opposite side of the street -- and the issue -- was Augustine
Rodriguez, 69, also a Hialeah resident and a six-year political prisoner
of the island. He, along with a smaller group of Cubans, are in favor of
tighter restrictions.

''Why would anyone [who] came from that oppressive and unbearable regime
want to go back to that which they fled from?'' Rodriguez asked. ``They
use the family as a false pretense to allow American money to flow
freely to Castro's government. I have family, too, including four
granddaughters and two great-granddaughters whom I have not met, and
won't under Castro's rule.''

The Helms-Burton Act, also known as the Cuban Liberty and Democratic
Solidarity Act of 1996, was passed a month after Cuban fighter jets shot
down two private planes operated by Miami-based anti-Castro Cuban
refugee support group Hermanos al Rescate -- Brothers to the Rescue --
killing four pilots.

Amid the ralliers who held up signs that read, ''Let my people go to our
promise land -- Cuba'' and ''Bush needs to respect the family.'' was
Sonja Swanson, 20, an FIU student who traveled to Cuba twice, in 2001
and 2003.

''Both times I went I was able to go legally and it was a life-changing
experience,'' said Swanson, an American, wearing an Ernesto ''Che''
Guevara necklace. Nereida Rodriguez, 52, from Miami, is angry with the
politicians who support the law.

''These are arbitrary laws that separate families, uncles, cousins,
nieces and nephews; they have no respect for family,'' she said.

U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, who supports the tightened rules,
applauds the protesters' right to free speech, but wished they would
rally against the absolute lack of rights in Cuba, as well.

''They have a right to protest and say what they want here, but it would
be nice if they protested the existence of political prisoners in Cuba
or the acts of repudiation against dissidents,'' Diaz-Balart said.

Jorge Luis Hernandez, 49, has lived in Hialeah for 16 years, since he
decided to leave Cuba.

''I left a country that doesn't know human rights, that is communist,
what business do I have there?'' Hernandez asked. ``Those demonstrators
have their mouths in America but their brains in Cuba.''

Another protest is set for 10:30 a.m. to noon July 22 in front of the
Torch of Friendship on Biscayne Boulevard, between Northeast Third and
Fourth streets in downtown Miami.

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