Terrorism–Cuban Style

We post here an English translation of a Spanish op-ed that came out in the U.S. The piece speaks for itself.

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Terrorism –Cuban Style

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El Diario - La Prensa January 7, 2010

By Dolores Prida / doloresprida@aol.com

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Although U.S. policy toward Cuba has been a string of striking stupidity for six decades, including the Caribbean island on the list of fourteen terrorist countries, the policy now contrived by the administration of President Obama following the attempted attack [in Detroit] December 25, has left much of the [Cuban and Cuban American] population stunned.

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It is assumed that under the new regulations for passengers arriving into the United States from Afghanistan, Algeria, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen will be subject to extreme inspection.

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This policy makes no sense because judging from the two failed attempts, the passengers / terrorists in question did not come here directly from any of those countries. The shoe bomber[Richard Reid], boarded the plane in London, and the underwear bomber [Umar Abdulmutallab] boarded his flight in Amsterdam.

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There is already an embargo and a string of prohibitions concerning travel to or from Cuba. It is extremely difficult for Cuban citizens living on the island to get a visa to enter the United States, even if they are internationally renowned artists who want to come to receive their Grammy awards. More difficult still is the possibility of a Cuban citizen getting their own weapons or explosives of any kind. So what is this all about?

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The vast majority of passengers on those flights from Havana are U.S. citizens of Cuban descent returning from visiting relatives. Many are elderly. Will they inspect the underpants and panties of these poor senior citizens to see if they are bringing a bomb hidden in a Cohiba or liquid explosives disguised as sugar cane juice or napalm packed in a bag of Cubita coffee?

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The truth is that the only Cuban terrorists on record are several extreme hardline exiles who, aided by the CIA, have carried out attacks, failed in some cases, successful in others, like the explosion in 1978 of a [Cubana Airlines] plane traveling to Cuba, killing all passengers and crew. Almost all the perpetrators are free [in the United States].

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All U.S. citizens, especially Latinos, should be voicing their outrage about Cuba's inclusion on this list. It is a direct affront towards a specific group of citizens, and a backward foreign policy strategy. Obama took several steps forward by lifting travel restrictions and economic aid by Cuban-Americans sent to relatives in Cuba. For a brief moment we thought that at last the U.S. would have a realistic attitude toward Cuba that sooner or later would result in the normalization of diplomatic relations.

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But, again, we see that dreams are just dreams ... And once again we are disappointed with Obama.