Most of the cars had signs taped on them carrying slogans, including: “Bush, see you in November!” “Cubans, defend your right to travel to Cuba!” and, “Ileana, Diaz-Balarts, Martinez don’t have their families in Cuba, I do!” The latter sign referred to Republican members of the U.S. Congress Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Lincoln Diaz-Balart and his brother Mario Diaz-Balart, and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Mel Martinez. All four are Cuban-American politicians from Florida who have backed the new sanctions against Cuba announced May 6 by U.S. president George Bush.

The measures add to Washington’s economic war on Cuba carried out by Democratic and Republican administrations alike for more than 40 years. They are designed to limit travel to Cuba and increase the financial pressure on the revolutionary government.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry told the Miami Herald in early June that Bush’s new sanctions will hurt “ordinary Cubans.” If elected president, Kerry said, he would pursue greater international condemnation as a way to bring down the Cuban government.

The two caravans totaling some 300 participants met at La Hermita de la Caridad church in Coconut Grove, where many attended an afternoon mass.

The protest was sponsored by Christian Women in Defense of the Cuban Family, José Marti Foundation, Alianza Martiana, and the Association of Workers in the Cuban Community (ATC). The latter two groups oppose Washington’s policies towards Cuba. The protest included many Cuban-Americans participating in their first protest action in this country.

About 40 people attended a meeting at the offices of Radio Miami the night before the protest. Alianza Martiana president Max Lesnik said one of the goals of the caravan was to pressure the Catholic Church in Miami to oppose the latest measures by the White House. The church has done so in Cuba, he said.

Representatives of organizations and individuals who spoke at the meeting said that the harsher restrictions that go into effect June 30 will further divide Cuban families and make it increasingly difficult to visit the island nation.

The next morning a group of more than 100 protesters assembled in a supermarket parking lot in preparation for a drive down Calle Ocho, or 8th Street, through the heart of Miami’s Little Havana. A slightly larger group assembled in Hialeah.  
 
Cross-section opposes sanctions
When asked what they thought about the new sanctions, a couple who came from Cuba six years ago and oppose the Cuban government headed by President Fidel Castro said, “These measures will effect regular Cubans.” They declined to give their names. Another participant who has lived for 23 years in the United States, said, “This is just a manipulation by Bush to get votes.” A woman added, “This is a violation of human rights. These measures won’t bring down any government.”

One counter-demonstrator showed up as the caravan started to leave the parking lot, shouting “Vendepatria!” (sellouts of your country). He was wearing a T-shirt of the organization Alpha 66—a counterrevolutionary group that has carried out armed assaults against Cuba. Alpha 66 is also responsible for attacks on individuals in the United States who support the Cuban Revolution or advocate normalization of relations with Cuba.

Many honked in support as the caravan wound its way through Little Havana.

Drivers and passengers in some passing cars shouted hostile remarks at caravan participants. A few small groups on the street along the caravan route were also hostile to the action. Spanish-language TV Channel 23 later that evening repeatedly showed footage of a man attempting to rip a sign off one of the cars and another man throwing a rock at a passing car.

The Yoruba association, an Afro-Cuban religious organization, showed up at the head of the caravan from Hialeah with a Cuban flag waving from their large, colorfully decorated truck. T-shirts were handed out with the message on the back, “No political games with our families!”

Many caravan participants expressed support for Kerry. As they gathered after the caravan prior to entering the church in Coconut Grove, several chanted, “Cambio, cambio!” (change) and “Kerry, Kerry!”

The action reflected widespread anger and debate among Cuban-Americans here sparked by Washington’s new sanctions. The “Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba,” appointed by Bush last October and headed by Secretary of State Colin Powell, submitted the proposals to the White House May 3. Bush announced his support for the measures three days later.

At the church where the caravan converged, Julia Lopez, who has lived in the U.S. for six years, told the Militant that the latest measures “are not just, they are dividing the family. The president is doing this to win votes. Law or no law, I’m going to Cuba. The president is making people break the law.”

Damian Diaz, who carried a poster with a picture of his 95-year-old mother, whom he visits annually to celebrate her birthday, said, “I’ll vote for Kerry—he’s not different from Bush but he’s in favor of travel. Bush is making Cubans vote against him.” Diaz said that because of the new regulations he won’t be eligible to travel to Cuba again until mid-2007.

Under the new strictures, travel to the island by those visiting family is limited to one visit every three years, as opposed to the previous limit of once per year. A family visit is also limited to a total of 14 days. Those who stay longer may be fined up to $7,500.

Cash remittances sent to relatives on the island are now limited to immediate family members such as grandparents, parents, children, and spouses. Aunts, cousins, and other more distant relatives cannot receive such funds. In addition, any members of the Cuban Communist Party and the Cuban government are prohibited from receiving these remittances. The sum travelers may carry to Cuba for their famies is reduced from $3,000 to $300.

The amount a person can spend for living expenses while visiting a family member in Cuba is now reduced from $164 to $50 per day.

According to the new regulations, only one package a month can be sent to a household in Cuba from relatives in the United States. Until now, such packages could be sent monthly to several recipients in a household. In addition, packages can now be sent only to immediate family, not aunts, uncles, and cousins. The only items permitted in such shipments are food, medicines, medical supplies, vitamins, and “receive only” radio equipment. Shipments of clothing and hygiene items like soap and toothpaste are now prohibited.

The new rules, which the Office of Foreign Assets Controls has published in the Federal Registry, include eliminating the “fully-hosted” travel category, under which costs were covered or waived by groups in Cuba. Under previous regulations licensed travelers to Cuba could bring back with them up to $100 of Cuban merchandise. This is now prohibited, except for informational materials. The amount of baggage permitted is limited to 44 pounds per authorized traveler.  
 
Varying views on Cuban Revolution
The June 19 protest received widespread coverage in the media, generating more discussion in workplaces in the area. At the Point Blank Body Armor plant in Oakland Park north of Miami, for example, several workers in the recently unionized factory are Cuban-Americans and hold a variety of views about the Cuban Revolution.

Irene Bolaños, a sewing machine operator at Point Blank, told co-workers, “These new measures don’t hurt Fidel Castro. They just hurt our families. I came here so that I could work and send money back to my kid in Cuba so he can have a better life. Why don’t they do something that affects Fidel instead?”

Flor Amarilla, another worker there, responded to Bolaños. Referring to right-wing Cuban-American politicians like Diaz-Ballart and Ross-Lehtinen, she said, “Those mafia scoundrels just want to go to Cuba after Fidel dies and try to get back the properties and businesses they lost. Bush, we’ve got to get him out of office.”

“The new restrictions are completely unjust,” said Virginia Salazar, a sewing machine operator and a leader of the struggle that led to the unionization of the factory. “Even though I can understand the reasons for some restrictions, these new restrictions on travel and on what you can send to your family are completely wrong.”

Lawrence Mikesh, the Socialist Workers Party candidate for mayor of Miami-Dade, issued a statement calling for unconditional opposition to the new regulations and explaining, “This is the latest step in Washington’s more than four-decades-long economic war against Cuba. These policies, designed to overthrow the revolution, have been implemented by Democratic and Republican party presidents alike with the bipartisan backing of the U.S. Senate and Congress.

“What the ruling rich in this country hate and will never accept is the fact that working people took power in that country away from the capitalists and run Cuba in their own interests. Wherever the SWP candidates campaign in the coming months, we will demand an end to Washington’s economic war against Cuba, the right to travel to Cuba free of U.S. government hassle and regulation, and the normalization of relations with the revolutionary government,” said Mikesh.

With the deadline for the new measures about to go into effect, the U.S. State Department refused to allow flights to depart to Cuba from Miami International Airport on June 29. Dozen of individuals who had purchased tickets were left stranded. An angry crowd at the airport responded by chanting, “We want to travel! We want to travel to Cuba!”  
 
 
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