-------- Original Message -------- Subject: L-I: Fw: [Cuba SI] Statement by Carlos Prendes Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2000 03:26:36 -0700 From: Macdonald Stainsby <mstainsby at tao.ca> Reply-To: leninist-international at buo319b.econ.utah.edu To: Leninist International <leninist-international at buo319b.econ.utah.edu>
> (The author is a coordinator of reality tours
> to Cuba through Global Exchange.)
>
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> Statement on Elian Gonzalez case and the
> media/political manipulation of this case:
>
> I am a Cuban, not a Cuban American. I live
> in the United States and enjoy this so-called
> "freedom of the press". I have been reading
> newspapers and magazines, watched count-
> less hours of TV shows, political debates,
> Congressional and Senate presentations and
> have been interviewed about this case.
>
> Throughout the whole coverage of the Elian
> Gonzalez case, I have heard everyone, from
> the President of this country, to its Attorney
> General, to the Miami relatives who claimed
> custody of the child, constantly refer to Elian
> Gonzalez's BEST INTERESTS. It seems
> everybody is very concerned about the best
> interests of this young Cuban child. But I wonder:
>
> Who in this country cares about the best interests
> of all the Cuban children that live in Cuba, deprived
> of their essential resources, because of a policy
> that has imposed an embargo on the Cuban
> people for 40 long years?
>
> When they try to force the Cuban people to
> rebel against their Government by means of
> hunger and economic strangling, who considers
> the best interests of all the children and their
> struggling parents in that country?
>
> Why do we all care about the freedom and
> the possibilities Elian would have here,
> instead of making those freedoms and
> possibilities a reality in the country where
> he is from, so nobody ever has to get on
> a raft again?
>
> Who thinks about the best interests of all
> the Cuban children with access to a free
> system of health care that cannot treat them
> for lack of medicines and medical equipment
> because the US embargo forbids the US
> medical manufacturing companies from
> selling to Cuba?
>
> Why are we always so concerned about the
> fate of one individual, while there are millions
> of children in the entire Third World, suffering
> from hunger, curable and preventable diseases,
> without access to education or health care?
>
> When will the "free" media reflect the cases
> of countless children in Africa, Asia and Latin
> America, who are considerably less fortunate
> than Elian was in Cuba, and never ever have
> a space in their programs or articles?
> Where are their best interests?
>
> These are the questions I have, and I dare
> all the free media: magazines, newspapers,
> TV channels and free speech journalists in
> this country to publish them or put them in
> the mouths of any news commentator.
>
> I am sick and tired of the hypocrisy and
> double standards of those politicians involved
> in this case, of the Miami Cubans, who sent
> $800 million dollars to their relatives in Cuba
> in 1999 alone, while supporting the blockade
> of the US Government against Cuba.
>
> The embargo is not going to overthrow Fidel
> Castro, or ever has affected him, for that matter;
> it is hurting our mothers and fathers there, our
> little nieces and nephews, our friends, and
> neighbors and it is time to stop it and allow
> everyone who wants to criticize Cuba's
> Government to go there and do it there,
> lifting the travel ban. Or is anyone afraid of
> the American people going there and finding
> a different reality than they present here?
>
> It is high time we all, Cubans and Americans
> alike, start looking at the big picture, instead
> of wasting our precious time and resources
> in political skirmishes that lead nowhere. The
> Cuban children in the island are waiting for us.
> Sincerely,
>
> Carlos A. Prendes
> carlos at globalexchange.org
>
> Feel free to pass this along...
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