BY CHARO MARTÍN  
It barely made the local news: Michael Italie, Socialist Workers Party candidate for mayor of Miami, has just been fired from his job at the Goodwill company, which manufactures uniforms for the U.S. army, because he supports the Cuban Revolution and opposes the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.

The announcement of Italie's firing, which he received October 22, came after he issued a series of documents expressing his views, sparking an intolerant "patriotic" reaction from Dennis Pastrana, the company's director. Pastrana regarded the mayoral candidate as "subversive" because his "communist" political inclinations "are an assault on private enterprise in America," [Mexican news agency] Notimex reported.

Of course, Michael Italie has gone to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to condemn this discriminatory treatment for expressing his views. The organization is supposed to look into the case.

It's almost obvious to say that Pastrana is of Cuban origin, and is convinced he faces no problems because the firing is legally justified by his employee's political views, an action he could not have taken on grounds of race, sex, or religion.

The Cuban-American boss must feel protected by his godfather George W. Bush, who a few days ago signed a Patriot Act that restricts many U.S. civil liberties and will give the ACLU a lot of work to do.

Police powers have been expanded on an institutional level, and Mr. Pastrana, by his own account, has assumed the role of enforcer.

The action in Miami has a reflection in Managua. What a coincidence! The Nicaraguan foreign ministry announced that its advisor on border affairs, Augusto Zamora, has been dismissed because he criticized the U.S. war in a local paper.

This extreme measure only reinforced the argument made by Zamora, an attorney, whose article, entitled "Terminator," states, "Terrorism threatens all of humanity. The terror of being the next ones. Of being singled out. Of being targeted by the Great Terminator's aircraft carriers and missiles. Of being pushed back to the Stone Age."
 
 
Related articles:
Support grows for Italie's fight to be reinstated to his job
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Minnesota UFCW leader 'appalled' by firing
Art student, a native of Lebanon, framed for having a plastic utility knife at airport  
 
 
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