"Who is saying they should be sent back? [They won't need to be sent back if what you espouse is implemented: excluding them altogether]. I think that's a bullshit generalization [you can't "generalize" falsehoods; you can only generalize facts]. There was a crisis with the rafters, if you don't remember many of them were dying at sea [natural deaths as opposed to being killed or drowned by the U.S. Coast Guard]. The US said that it would be better for everyone if that ended and so this much maligned country said it would accept 20,000 Cubans a year [and then this "much-maligned" country didn't accept 20,000 a year, but 10 percent of that number]. More than just an agreement with the regime [the Clinton-Castro Migratory Accords are nothing more than a treaty with Castro to contain, not manage, Cuban immigration] it was a compact with the Cuban people [really? The Cuban people are free to enter into "compacts" with the U.S.?] saying, look don't risk your life [just resign yourselves to tyranny, live and die as slaves]. There's a way with real possibilities to come to the US without doing that [what way?]. There's no Hatian [sic] Adjustment Act, no Mexican Adjustment Act, no Guatemalan Adjustment Act, just a Cuban Adjustment Act [a special law for a special case. When exactly did Haiti, Mexico or Guatemala declare themselves Marxist states?]. Am I happy about it Cubans being sent back? No. [Liar]. But I again ask is our objective for every Cuban to live in the US? If so, then let's just annex it the way fidel says we want to. — Henry Gómez, July 31, 2007
Finally Henry, the "American-Cuban," as he calls himself (and now we know why), has revealed Babalu's secret agenda for Cuba's future: annexation to the U.S. If Cubans continue to insist on fleeing Castro's island prison, Henry wants the U.S. to annex the island. It does not occur to him that such an annexation as he proposes is playing into Castro's hands or that were it attempted it would result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of the Cuban people, who have not endured 48-years of a U.S.-created, U.S.-sanctioned and U.S.-protected dictatorial regime only as a prelude to annexation. Did the U.S. contrive to destroy our country and squeeze every last ounce of strength from our people only too sweep-in like a raptor and steal our independence as it did our freedom 48 years ago?
I will not bother to refute Henry about annexation: Martí refuted him 120 years ago and I cannot improve on him.
Rarely discussed:
ReplyDeleteThat there would actually be a net migration into Cuba if a modern capitalist, democratic state was to take hold there. And even if democracy wasn't on the menu, if Cubans had the ability to freely leave Cuba to travel abroad, and then return, were a capitalist-in-everything-but-name system that provided a significant level of prosperity and material comfort for its citizens to be established there, a mass exodus of Cubans would never take place. (terrible grammar, sorry)
Why would a Cuban living well in Cuba want to flee to Miami? For the sun? Cuba is the most physically beautiful country in the world - blessed with a location ideal for selling to one of the world's largest markets and for its general participation in international trade and shipping. There is great biodiversity, natural resources, endless beaches, mountains, semi-desert, lush forests, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc.
The USA is a great country, I'm glad I was born here, etc., etc., but Cuba's potential is not so shabby...if it was, we wouldn't have all these old-school exiles waxing nostalgic about the good old days, pre-Castro.
Manuel,
ReplyDeleteYou and I both know that there is no Annexation agenda at Babalu. I have been reading Babalu for a long time and they have always advocated for Cuba and Cubans to gain their total freedom, period. By taking Henry's comment out of context I think you are being intellectually dishonest. You are an excellent writer, a very intelligent and knowledgable man and I think you could be extremely successful if you would stop being so negative.
Sincerely, Jose
José:
ReplyDeleteI do not put words into their mouths. I don't have to: their own words are bad enough.
But since you obviously cannot or will not understand the meaning of Henry's own quoted words, I will parse them for you:
Henry said that if Cubans are allowed free access to the U.S. as originally envisioned in the Cuban Adjustment Act, they would immigrate here en masse, in which case it would be better if the United States just annexed Cuba, as Fidel Castro has always said it wanted to do.
There it is, in better English. Do you understand Henry now?
If you are going to have a secret agenda, José, you are not going to expose it every day. Occasionally, though, it does come through. This appears to be the season for candid confessions; for they have also revealed their disdain for Cubans on the island in their latest posts.
I am sorry that you can't see it; but I see it clearly enough.
Joe:
ReplyDeleteBefore the Revolution more Americans lived in Cuba than Cubans in the United States.
More than a million immigrants came to Cuba from 1905-1958, more immigrants proportionally, in fact, than were received by the United States in the same period. They came to Cuba because, at that time, the island enjoyed a higher standard of living than most of Europe and greater freedom and class mobility as well.
Perhaps this pattern will again be repeated when Cuba is again free and independent. However, without "democracy on the menu" or if Cuba were a "capitalist-in-everything-but-name-system," I should not think that many foreigners would wish to immigrate to Cuba nor would Cubans desire to live on the island anymore than they do now.
But I again ask is our objective for every Cuban to live in the US? If so, then let's just annex it the way fidel says we want to. — Henry Gómez, July 31, 2007
ReplyDeleteManuel, I can't read Henry's mind but I think in his question above he meant to lead his readers to say, "No, we don't want every Cuban to live here, we all want to live in a free Cuba". I think he used sarcasm when saying we might as well annex Cuba the way fidel says we want to.
José:
ReplyDeleteSimple Henry, when he employs sarcasm, labels it sarcasm in parenthesis — [/sarcasm].
Y Cuba debe ser libre de España, y de los Estados Unidos
ReplyDeleteJose Marti
Manuel I do not doubt in the least bit, that there is nothing Henry wants more then anexation, if he's so fond of using parenthesis, maybe that's him who opened that misfits blog, because the person there uses them a lot.
Joe:
ReplyDeleteYou for one see the truth, why indeed would we have left our beautiful Island, if it wasn't for the castros most of us would have never left, also I want to thank you for loving Cuba as we do, most don't understand our plight
tfiywt1c
ReplyDeletexi0j93q8
f39s020t9d
etuou6c2
vm5eg6jy
n8qvw7cl
ReplyDeleteeprbokxu
f39s020t9d
r19kn52j
qipegpx7
dmuu8f71
ReplyDeletedpgjky5s
f54yewr4t536
x8pe5dxq
rjjpngj2