31 March 2007

Beginning of the End for the Wet Foot/ Dry Foot Policy?


Well maybe, but not the way you may prefer.


On Wednesday 101 Haitian Migrants who fled troubled and impoverished Haiti, landed on a South Florida beach. They were quickly rounded up and taken into custody. The immigrants had been at sea for nearly three weeks in a small dilapidated boat that was reportedly un-seaworthy and overloaded. One passenger died.

Immigration authorities will process the migrants and likely repatriate them back to Haiti.

According to the Sun Sentinel, this isn’t sitting well with Haitian community activists who claim that Cubans are given preferential treatment under the wet foot/ dry foot policy in which if a Cuban caught at sea he is a migrant who is sent back to Cuba, and if he makes it to land, he magically becomes a refugee protected under the Cuban adjustment act and is granted political asylum.


Creole radio host Yeye Boul was less diplomatic, taking direct aim at the so-called wet foot-dry foot policy that fast-tracks Cubans to a green card application if they set foot on U.S. soil. He said it's unfair to give special treatment to one group of refugees because they come from a communist island, then turn away Haitians who endure deep economic hardship and rampant violence.


Will these protests bring about the inclusion of Haitian under the wet foot/dry foot policy? Not a chance. What it might eventually do, however, is end the dry foot part of the wet/foot dry foot equation so that the US’s immigration policy brings equal misery to all those seeking freedom and opportunity be they Cuban, Haitian, or Dominican.

The Sun Sentinel, always quick to jump on the anti-Cuban exile bandwagon, of course conveniently fails to set the record straight and doesn’t mention the that Cuba has been suffering under a totalitarian communist dictatorship for 48years and that everyone in Cuba is politically persecuted and oppressed.

Haiti, on the other hand, has had multiple elections, UN interventions, government restorations and US marine invasions during the same time period and nothing has changed. Haitians citizens can get on a plane or boat and go anywhere, if they have the money. If Haitian leaders want to help Haitians, they should concentrate their efforts on rebuilding Haiti and leave Cubans out of it.

Had Cuba had the same international help, there would now be Americans trying to move Cuba from the US.

What are Cuban American leaders doing about it?:




The Cuban-American Brothers to the Rescue group, along with the Haitian Women of Miami grass-roots organization, will offer a Mass in support of the Haitians in Miami on Sunday, followed by a blank cannon blast to "awaken our community."

Blank my ass. That's a fully loaded cannon shot aimed right at every raft or craft trying to reach freedom.

Political correctness in South Florida is a one way road leading away from the exile community and we're helping them built it.

4 comments:

Henry Louis Gomez said...

Not only the nature of the dictatorship but the US' guilt in tragedy. A big part of the reason Cuba has lived this tagedy for so long is because of US mistakes and missteps.

Gusano said...

I hope we're not heading for another one here.

Anonymous said...

Ah, that Yeye bloke says "communist island"....
He missed one good point: the US intervened in Haiti to restore democracy, which HAS NOT BEEN DONE in the case of Cuba.
But now, what will be done is simple -and with the blessings of many- "just turn off the switch on those pesky Cubans, send them back, nomatter how they get here and we appease everyone". That's the formula they will apply.
I fault the government for not taking down that Clintonista monstrousity, which by the way goes against the Cuban Adjustment Act (Johnson, 1966). In my opinion, that sole condition renders it illegal. But hey, our politicos are silent. You know, balseros take a few years to morphe into voters.

Gusano said...

o yea that's what i'm afraid of. and our "exile leaders" are complicit by not telling the Haitians the truth.

and how many times has democracy been "restored" in Haiti in the last 48 years? and how many $$$$$ wasted over there?

freakin clinton.

please!!!!