Saturday, January 19, 2008

Who Is the Biggest Anti-Cuban Xenophobe in the Race? (You'll Be Surprised)

Which presidential candidate, as Assistant Attorney General, personally approved the first deportation in history of a Cuban refugee to Castro's island hell 13 years before the implementation of the "Wet Foot/Dry Foot" policy? (the repatriated Cuban was a stowaway on a freighter, not a "criminal").

Which presidential candidate was put in charge, in 1981, of running the detention camps for the Mariel refugees?

Which presidential candidate refused to release 950 Cuban refugees detained at Fort Chaffee, in Arkansas, who had no criminal record, and, when prodded by the president as to the reason, replied in a June 6, 1982 memo that they had "problems that prevent their release," categorizing them as follows: "250 mentally ill and retarded; 400 anti-social; 100 homosexuals; 100 alcoholics or drug users; 100 women, elderly and handicapped." Imprisoning "anti-social" elements appears to be an anticipation of Castro's own "preventative incarceration" of dissidents for "social dangerousness" except that these captives were to be detained indefinitely.

Which presidential candidate, in charge also of 1050 Cubans jailed in Atlanta who had been labelled "criminals" by the Castro regime, wanted to deport them en masse without reviewing their cases on an individual basis and even went to court to obtain an order to that effect?

Which presidential candidate, charged with overseeing INS operations, refused to allow 23,000 Cubans whose visas were approved by the previous administration to enter the U.S., including 1500 political prisoners and their families?

Which presidential candidate, as Assistant Attorney General, was the first to refer to Cubans fleeing Castro's tyranny as "entrants" rather than refugees?

Which presidential candidate refused for three years (his entire tenure at DOJ) to regularize the immigration status of the Mariel refugees, whom, apparently, he still had hopes of deporting en masse to Cuba?

Which presidential candidate, then in charge of filling vacant positions at the Justice Department, chose Doris Meissner, a holdover from the previous Democratic administration, as Acting Commissioner of INS, which position she held for a year until Reagan appointed his own man to the job; and then, unwilling to lose her services, secured her appointment as Associate Executive Commissioner, the #3 position at INS? Meissner, notoriously hostile to Cuban refugees, oversaw the implementtation of the "Wet Foot/Dry Foot" policy when Clinton appointed her INS Commissioner. It was Meissner, this man's protégé, who orquestrated the kidnapping and deportation of Elián González.

Who is this man, then an Assistant Attorney General in the Reagan administration and now a GOP candidate for president who hopes to revive his flagging campaign in Florida?

The notoriously pro-Castro Village Voice (Nat Hentoff exempted) dedicated its cover story this week ["Rudy's Alien Nation: Much as He Hates to Admit It, Giuliani Loved (Most of) Those Huddled Masses"] to reminding everybody that Rudy Giuliani was once partial to all immigrants except Cuban-Americans. Of course, the Voice has many accounts to settle with the former New York City mayor and is no doubt hoping that by turning Cuban-Americans against him they can secure his defeat in Florida, and, hopefully, his withdrawal from the race in which he was the front runner before the start of the primary season.

Although its motives are as dubious as its disdain for both Giuliani and Cuban exiles is apparent, the fact remains that Giuliani did everything which reporter Wayne Barrett enumerates in his article. It may be hard for Giuliani to transform himself into a xenophobe to conform to the expectations of a majority of Republicans. But, in the case of Cuban exiles, he was a xenophobe before it became popular to be one again, 15 years before even Newt Gingrich.

Something for Cuban-American voters in Florida to consider, certainly.

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0803,barrett,78878,2.html

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's like having multiple personalities, one or two for the good and the clean, even one personality dedicated to hate Castro in public, and one dominant and occult Evil personality devoted to hate and to harm Castro's victims even more.
In this article, President Reagan doesn't come that clean and shiny either, there was certainly a duplicity in his relations with Cubans, because he knew who he was appointing Fuhrer of the Camps, and eventually, Rudy had to report to him.
This goes beyond normal disappointment, and if this man had any morals he should just leave the field now, and issue an apology to his victims, who should better get a good lawyer to seek punishment for him.

Sharpshooter said...

My God, with all the crap that comes out everyday about all of these candidates from both parties, I don't know now who am I going to vote for in these coming elections. I have to think about this elections very carefully before I cast my vote for anyone. The choices from both parties are very poor.

Manuel A.Tellechea said...

Charlie:

Harper's writes that 200,000 Cuban-Americans cheered Giuliani wildly at the Three King's Parade in Miami on Jan. 6. The reason politicians like Reagan and Giuliani feel that they have carte blanche to screw our community is that we make it so easy for them. There is no charlatan so transparent that we won't lap up his spittle. If you read Thompson and Giuliani's "position papers" at Candidates on Cuba," you are struck at once by their insincerity and "drawing by dots" character. Nothing concrete is said or even hinted at. But the message is clear: "We'll do whatever the hell we want about Cuba and you'll just suck it up." Why not? We always have before.

Manuel A.Tellechea said...

Agustín:

I thank God that I don't have your problem, which this year in particular may drive the most sane man mad. The next election I will vote in will be the first which is held in the Third Cuban Republic under the auspices of the 1940 Cuban Constitution.

Anonymous said...

200,000 Cubans came out for Giuliani? And they could only muster 200 to come out against Code Pink one day earlier?

Perhaps the majority of the Cuban community down here doesn't really support Posada.

Manuel A.Tellechea said...

Carlos:

I think they are looking to the future not the past. Of course, in the case of Giuliani, they should be looking at the past.

Sharpshooter said...

Manuel,
thank God ouyr Constitution does not force anyone to vote if you don't want to. I think I will sit this one out and just don't participate in the elections. Our friend Tomas Estrada Palma wants to take a closer look at Ron Paul but I am still not convinced or know enough about his positions. What I saw in the South Carolina's debate was scary and I was not convinced. Is a sad,sad situation.

Vana said...

I'm with you Agustin, I will not be voting either.

Manuel this article about Gulliani left me in a state of shock, I did not know these things about him, seems all hate us, wake up Cubans we are not wanted here, let's go take our homeland back!

Manuel A.Tellechea said...

Vana:

It's true. One would literally have to parse their hatred to see which hates us the least, and that would be splitting some mighty fine hairs.

Anonymous said...

It's a shame that the only people who seem to be informed about the candidates are the ones who are not voting.

Manuel A.Tellechea said...

Carlos:

It's cause and effect. If they were also informed, they wouldn't be voting either.

Sharpshooter said...

Carlos,
I may yet hold my nose and vote. I just have not decided what candidate has the least malodourous scent. The scent from all of them is atrocious, so I can't make up my mind just yet. The scary and troubling thing is that I think Obama will be the candidate for the Democrats, and McCain for the Republicans. And they both scare me to death but for different reasons. I don't like Obama's background history and policies and McCain wants us to fight in Afhanistan for another 100 years if necessary. That is a very scary and troubling perspective for our future. I realized that we have had troops in Europe for over 60 years and that this fact contributed to keep the Soviets at bay and prevent them from swallowing up Western Europe, but 100 more years in Afghanistan sounds dreadful and it would probably bankrupt us in the final analysis. So what choice do we have? I honestly don't know.