The black list
By Varela
MIAMI – Apropos the little black list of countries that sponsor terrorism, Cuba should expel the U.S. Interests Section from Havana, because it is a center of terrorism on Cuban soil. The USINT supports, protects and promotes terrorism against Cuba from Cuban soil.
How? Well, very simple. In addition to paying and creating dissidents (not to brand as terrorists those old geezers sitting in sofas and spouting foolishness to the foreign press), that office on Havana’s Malecón does all the paperwork for covert attacks on Cuba. Let me explain.
The USINT is where official arrangements are made and passports issued to come to Miami. And it is from Miami that 99 percent of all the terrorism against Cuba has been launched. As simple as 1 plus 2 equals 3, the USINT is a port of embarkation for the preparation of terrorists against Cuba.
Nothing could be more ironic. Miami is home to the cream of the crop of Cuban terrorism. Of all kinds. Airline bombers; commandos in armed speedboats; assassins of diplomats and functionaries; demolition specialists who just as easily set off bombs against a tourist on the island as a radio journalist in Miami; instigators who rant on radio for the murder of heads of state and government; agitators who threaten musical concerts, artistic activities and Rosita Fornés’ life; and goons who break CDs and burn books on the street – those are cultural terrorists, of course.
Imagine for a moment that Cuba places Miami on a black list. And that it designs its own rules and inflicts all kinds of humiliation on any traveler from Miami who arrives at the airport; a Cuban inspector strips him, does an anal search, inspects his oral cavity (with the same finger he used for the anal search), and pores over the passport looking for an error in the date, number, letter or photograph that doesn’t match because the traveler is heavier, balder or less wrinkled (Miami is the Mecca for skin-stretching facial surgery). To boot, imagine that the inspector, while trying to find out if the visitor is vaccinated against swine flu or avian flu, removes the foreigner’s shoes to check them for disease.
What would happen? The U.S. Department of State – with that Puritanism and alacrity that characterizes the empire – would raise a ruckus over the humiliating, unilateral, punitive and exaggerated measures against American citizens born in Cuba. The press would say that the travelers are simple exiles who are going to visit their relatives. Aw, come on. The fact is that the Department of State is going to do the same to those travelers when they return to Miami from Cuba.
There’s no logic to it. The true terrorism between Cuba and the United States flows from here to there, not the other way. That demonstrates the futility and foolishness of the little black list. Except that, because Cuba knows that all this is due to an American political maneuver, it is using the proper available channels to protest – demonstrations and discussions.
Well, I respect the Cuban government’s decision and know that the travelers who go to the island to see their relatives don’t have to go through such a wild experience in Cuban Customs. But the world, dear reader, is turning upside down. And now it turns out that the Cuban government is protecting its émigrés in Miami from the laws of the American government. Incredible, but true.
José Varela was born in Cuba in 1955. He was editorial cartoonist in Miami for 15 years, working for the magazine Exito (1991-97) and El Nuevo Herald (1993-2006). A publicist and a television writer, he is a member of the Progreso Weekly team.
