University of Virginia Library

Freedom Of Speech

I understand that a certain
organization has been trying to
recruit University students in order
to travel to Cuba as an expression
of solidarity with the oppressors of
the Cuban people. As a Cuban and
as an anti-Communist I wish to take
advantage of a privilege taken for
granted in the United States but
non-existent in my country today:
a privilege that I can fully
appreciate because I know what it
is to live without it: freedom of
speech.

The regime for which such an
expression of solidarity is organized
has been in power for more than
twelve years without ever bothering
to hold a single election, not even a
fake one as in other Communist
tyrannies.

This is the regime that murders
with or without trial, that
imprisons anyone at will, that has
taken over every single form of
news media, closed it to all voices
of dissent and turned it into an
instrument of propaganda. This is
the regime that has effectively cut
all political and economic ties
between Cuba and the United
States. Only to turn the country
into an absolute economic and
military dependency of the Soviet
Union.

This is the regime that has
changed one of the most
prosperous countries of Latin
America into a hell of fear and
poverty, a hell from which already
has managed to escape
approximately one tenth of the
population. And several thousand
Cubans arrive every month to
Miami. Only a few thousands
because there is no room for more
in the airplanes provided by the
United States. These are the lucky
ones. These are the ones that
already have a relative in this
country that claims them, and that
the Communist tyranny allows to
leave. Others have to try something
else. Like crossing the sea in boats
and rafts, risking to be shot on sight
by their wardens or arrested
and sent to jail for thirty years.

The organizers of this
propaganda trip to Cuba may be
friends of Fidel Castro, the man
who promised freedom and brought
tyranny, who promised Democracy
and brought Communism, the
traitor to his people. But they are
no friends of Cuba and they are no
friends of freedom.