On the one small piece of Cuban
territory occupied by U.S. military forces--the Naval Base at Guantanamo, the
Bush Administration has created a prison that has become notorious around the
world. Yet President Bush insists that he will bring democracy and freedom to
the rest of Cuba.
More and more evidence of torture by U.S. forces
of prisoners held at Guantanamo is emerging, including reports from five
Britons who have been released. Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld himself okayed Major General Geoffrey Miller's list of "nondoctrinal" interrogation methods for use on
prisoners at Guantanamo, who are held with no legal rights at all. Then General
Miller sent interrogation teams from Guantanamo to train teams at Abu Ghraib in
Iraq.
Meanwhile, back at the White House, President
Bush has received a lengthy report from his Commission for Assistance to a Free
Cuba, chaired by Secretary of State Colin Powell. According to this new plan
for control of Cuba, the Bush Administration would spend $59 million on trying
to implement regime change.
Of this, the largest amount, $36 million, would
go for paying so-called dissidents to foment opposition that the White House
hopes would lead to the overthrow of the Cuban Government.
Another $18 million would pay for flying C-130
planes along the Cuban coast to broadcast TV and Radio Marti to Cubans. Supposedly
these C-130s would stay in international airspace 12 miles off the coast, never
straying into Cuban territory. There are different types of C-130s. The EC-130
is electronically equipped. The AC-130 is armed with devastating firepower; it
is one of the most terrifying weapons being used on Iraq. Cubans could never be
sure that the EC-130 would not turn out to be an AC- 130. This serious
provocation could lead to disaster.
The remaining $5 million would finance
efforts--otherwise known as bribery--to get officials from other countries
involved in the campaign for overthrowing the government of Cuba.
In addition, the Bush White House is catering to
right-wing Cuban Americans like Florida Republican Representatives Ileana Ros- Lehtinin and Lincoln Diaz-Balart
who lobby for no contact at all between Cuban Americans and Cubans on the
island. Family visits by Cuban Americans would be reduced from once a year to
once every three years. Moreover, the Cuban family would be redefined to
exclude relatives like aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews.
Visits and remittances would not be legal for
those non-family relatives.
As for the rest of the citizens of the United
States, travel to Cuba is becoming nearly impossible. The Bush Administration
has already terminated people-to-people exchanges. Now most academic visits
would be eliminated. Short university programs would be allowed only if the
program "directly supports U.S. foreign policy goals." In other
words, the academic course would have to institute thought control and agree to
an agenda of regime change in Cuba.
Perhaps most startling, the new rules would
brazenly violate U.S. citizens' right to travel, as established by the Supreme
Court in 1958, by forcing fully-hosted travelers to be licensed.
Previously, travel restrictions have gotten
around our right to travel by relying on the Trading With
the Enemy Act of 1917 that outlaws economic transactions with foreign countries
or foreign nationals during time of war or national emergency. The
"national emergency" that is supposedly pertinent to these
regulations was declared over half a century ago, in 1950, at the time of the
Korean War. In fully-hosted travel, Cuba invites the guest and pays all
expenses; no money is exchanged; therefore, no license has been required.
Forcing fully-hosted travelers to get a license is a direct Constitutional
challenge, clearly part of an effort by the Bush White House that goes beyond
the issue of Cuba: this Administration is testing how far they will be allowed
to go in violating the rights of U.S. citizens.
Resistance to these draconian measures is
building. In Miami 400 Cuban Americans turned out for a press
conference to protest, giving birth to a new movement for family rights.
Prominent U.S. businesspeople and political leaders have sent an open letter to
President Bush calling for lifting all restrictions on humanitarian trade and
travel to Cuba. A bipartisan group of Congressional Representatives sent a
letter to Bush with recommendations for improving relations with Cuba,
including an end to travel restrictions. In July, Pastors for Peace, the Venceremos Brigade and the African Awareness Association
together will challenge the travel ban by going to Cuba without asking
permission. Bush may find that he has launched a boomerang.
***
Historian Jane Franklin is the author of Cuba
and the U.S. Empire: A Chronological History.
E-mail Jane Franklin: janefranklin@hotmail.com