🚀 go-pugleaf

Aaron:

I suggest that you leaf through some human rights reports on other Latin
American countries before you make such assertions about lack of freedom
and human rights in Cuba.  May I recommend that you study Amnesty International
and Americas Watch reports on Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Peru,
Colombia and Brazil just for starters.  Cuba is a Human Rights paradise
compared to the countries I have just listed.  Journalists can look forward
to a longer life in Cuba than in Mexico, Guatemala or Peru--where they are
systematically assassinated by one political faction or another.  Cuba's poor
have a much greater quality of life than the poor in most other Latin American
countries.  And even if Castro has not put his political office up for public
election--at least you know who's in control.  In Guatemala and many other
Latin American countries, civilians are elected President but they hold no
real political power--that remains in the hands of the military.

You may want to pay special attention to Guatemala, who recently received
10 million dollars in aid from the US.  I am reminded of that country's
abysmal human rights record everyday when I see the scars that were left
on my husband's body from his torture at the hands of the Guatemalan Army.
We pay Guatemala for what they do to their people--and we punish Cuba for
what they do to theirs.

Of course the powers-that-be in this country would prefer that US citizens
believe Cuba to be more evil than it really is.  That is why this country
makes it so difficult for its citizens to travel there.

I firmly believe that the US embargo against Cuba is immoral and should be
lifted.  If the majority of the IFLA members agree that their organization
should lobby the US to lift the embargo (for them alone or for everyone on
a permanent basis), that is their decision to make.  I'm not a part of their
organization, so I'll leave it up to them.If I were to make a personal
recommendation to IFLA members in this country, I would suggest that they,
as individuals, seek entry to Cuba through the regular application procedure.
Thatway they should be able to attend the conference even if the waiver is
not granted them as a group.

I agree with you that ALA should be cautious at best in dealing with non-
library and non-freedom-of-information issues.  But when making decisions
about these and other issues (both as individuals and as organization members),
we need to be certain that we are basing our positions on facts--not on
government propaganda.

Carolyn Ellis Gonzalez,
Cataloger, University of Texas at Austin

PS:  This posting reflects my personal views, which are based on years of
study of Latin America, but may not necessarily reflect the views of my
institution or some of my co-workers.