Fabiola Santiago discriminates against non-Cuban travelers to Cuba
Miami Herald columnist Fabiola Santiago wants to travel to Cuba. She’s decided the best way to get there is on a Carnival cruise ship leaving Miami in May. Based on the lack of available hotel rooms in Havana, I think it’s a good idea. Travel on a comfortable, modern, cruise ship guarantees you a place to sleep every night with air-conditioning and many other amenities. Sounds like a good plan.
Ms. Santiago writes that after enquiring with the booking agent, she was put “on a waiting list for a $2,470 ocean view room.” A bit rich for me, but heck, the Herald probably pays her well. There’s a catch, though. Ms. Santiago, as a Cuban living in the U.S., cannot travel to Cuba on any type of boat. It’s the law. Cuban law.
So allow me to agree with her for a second and state: Hey Cuban government, isn’t it time to change what has become an outdated law. Times, we are told, are changing. Even the president of the U.S. has traveled to the island.
But let’s get something straight before I continue. There was once good reasons for the Cuban law that now many in Miami call “discriminatory.”
Let us not forget that Cubans in the United States who opposed the Cuban government, most from the Miami area (and many financed by the U.S. government), once regularly traveled to Cuba on fast boats in order to set bombs, spray the Cuban coastline with machine gun bullets, and land with crazy, but dangerous and at times deadly, plans of overthrowing the government there.
The plans never did work. But people, innocent Cubans, were killed!
I suppose many here consider that collateral damage. You see, these types of actions coming from the U.S. to other places and in the name of democracy are fine, according to some. Dead people in these cases can be overlooked. Yet, five Cubans working in Miami for the Cuban government with no plans of killing anyone, but watchful of half-cocked plans coming from the U.S. to terrorize the island – these guys were spies, and terrorists at that.
[Another example are some Miami anti-Cubans who view the terrorist Posada Carriles as a freedom fighter. The rest of the world knows better.]
But back to Ms. Santiago.
She’s up in arms about Cuba’s discriminatory law. And yet, I don’t ever remember reading a Fabiola Santiago column in the Miami Herald with the same outrage about the discriminatory practice employed by the U.S. government against non-Cuban U.S. citizens who for years were NOT allowed to travel to Cuba – except in groups they call “people to people”. Now, even with the thawing, non-Cubans must fall in categories and and sign sworn affidavits. Not once have I heard a peep from Ms. Santiago.
I wonder if she too discriminates. You see, it appears that the Cuba situation, in her eyes, trumps all else, including the rights of everyone who is not a Cuban…
In her column she writes that “‘cultural immersion’ and designated ‘people-to-people’ activities are mandatory” and claims this is “reason enough to ditch Cuba travel.” Still she does not point out the discrimination from the U.S. side.
Ms. Santiago goes as far as to blame the Cuban government for U.S. law. She questions whether the aforementioned cultural immersion and people-to-people impositions are truly of U.S. design. “Allegedly by U.S. Treasury design,” she writes, adding, “I say allegedly because Cuba’s official travel office imposes or approves itineraries. They decide with whom travelers ‘engage.’ Propaganda-peddling at its best.”
Both sides are guilty of propaganda, Ms. Santiago, you know that. You’re not stupid. But Miami Herald readers should expect more honesty from you.
When you, Ms. Santiago, mentions that the Cuban government decides who travelers can “engage,” for example, you are handing your reader a crock of lies. Anyone who’s traveled to Cuba is able to engage whomever he or she wants. Most anywhere on the island. And Cubans rarely hold back how they feel. If you’re not aware of this, I suggest you find out. Although, honestly, I think you know better.
[The Fabiola Santiago photo at top taken from her Facebook page.]
