CUBA Call In Days - May 1 & 2 - For all you Yanks

I received an email from the Pastors for Peace (inside) asking people (that is, American people) to let your Congressional Representative know that you appreciate their support of, or would like them to support: HR654 (the Rangel/Flake bill) and S721 (the Enzi/Baucus bill).

So, all of you who would like to see the travel restrictions lifted, maybe you could call in on May 1 or 2 and support these two bills.

We are writing to urge you – and everyone in our national IFCO/Pastors for Peace network – to be
part of the National Cuba Call-In Days on Tuesday and Wednesday May 1-2. Mark these dates
on your calendar now, because we need you to make three phone calls to Capitol Hill next week: to
ask your Congressional representative to sign on as a co-sponsor of HR654 (the Rangel/Flake bill),
and to ask both your Senators to sign on as co-sponsors of S721 (the Enzi/Baucus bill). Both of
these bills would end all restrictions on travel to Cuba.

Our friends on Capitol Hill have been busy dealing with the war in Iraq and other issues, and they
have not been talking too much about Cuba policy. Now it’s time to change that! A number of
national public-policy groups have joined to initiate the National Cuba Call-In Days to generate
broad Congressional support for these companion bills to end the Cuba travel ban.

Let’s FLOOD Capitol Hill with phone calls on May 1-2, to let our reps and senators know that it’s
time to end all restrictions on travel to Cuba! Please ask everyone you know to join in this effort;
our calls will have a really big impact.

Call the Congressional switchboard: 202/225-3121; they will connect you to the offices of your rep
and your senators. Ask for the foreign policy staff person who handles Cuba issues; then ask them
to make sure that your congressperson/senator signs on as a co-sponsor to the bill to end
restrictions on travel to Cuba (HR654 in the House, S721 in the Senate). If you can’t speak directly
with the staffer, it’s FINE to leave a voicemail message: just be ready with a good concise
statement, less than a minute long; let them know your name and what town you live in, and tell
them why you think it’s important that they sign on to the bill.

HR654 currently has 101 House co-sponsors, and S721 has 18 co-sponsors in the Senate; they are
listed below. If your rep or senator has already co-sponsored the bill, let them know how grateful
we are! If not, let’s get them on this list:


HOUSE CO-SPONSORS OF HR654: Rangel (D-NY), Flake (R-AZ), Allen (D-ME), Baird (D-WA), Baldwin
(D-WI), Becerra (D-CA), Berman (D-CA), Berry (D-AR), Biggert (R-IL), Blumenauer (D-OR), Boucher (D-VA), Brady
(D-PA), Capps (D-CA), Capuano (D-MA), Carson (D-IN), Christiansen (D-VI), Clarke (D-NY), Clay (D-MO),
Cohen (D-TN), Conyers (D-MI), Cubin (R-WY), C*mmings (D-MD), Davis, D (D-IL), Davis, L (D-TN), Davis, S
(D-CA), DeFazio (D-OR), Degette (D-CO), Delahunt (D-MA), DeLauro (D-CT), Doyle (D-PA), Ellison (D-MN),
Emerson (R-MO), Farr (D-CA), Fattah (D-PA), Filner (D-CA), Frank (D-MA), Gonzalez (D-TX), Gordon (D-TN),
Grijalva (D-AZ), Harman (D-CA), Hinchey (D-NY), Honda (D-CA), Jackson (D-IL), Jackson Lee (D-TX), Jefferson
(D-LA), Johnson, EB (D-TX), Johnson, T (R-IL), Kildee (D-MI), Kilpatrick (D-MI), Kind (D-WI), Kucinich (D-OH),
LaHood (R-IL), Lee (D-CA), Lewis (D-GA), Lofgren (D-CA), Lowey (D-NY), Maloney (D-NY), Matheson (D-UT),
McCollum (D-MN), McDermott (D-WA), McGovern (D-MA), McNulty (D-NY), Meehan (D-MA), Meeks (D-NY),
Michaud (D-ME), Miller (D-CA), Moore, D. (D-KS), Moore, G. (D-WI), Moran, James (D-VA), Moran, Jerry (R-KS),
Nadler (D-NY), Oberstar (D-MN), Olver, (D-MA), Pastor (D-AZ), Paul (R-TX), Payne (D-NJ), Peterson (D-MN),
Pomeroy (D-ND), Price (D-NC), Ramstad, (R-MN), Rush (D-IL), Sanchez (D-CA), Schakowsky (D-IL), Schwartz
(D-PA), Serrano (D-NY), Shays (R-CT), Snyder (D-AR), Solis (D-CA), Stark (D-CA), Tanner (D-TN), Tauscher
(D-CA), Thompson, B. (D-MS), Thompson, M. (D-CA), Towns (D-NY), Velazquez (D-NY), Walz (D-MN), Waters
(D-CA), Watson (D-CA), Waxman (D-CA), Welch (D-VT), Woolsey (D-CA) (101 as of 4/25/07).

SENATE CO-SPONSORS OF S721: Enzi (R-WY), Baucus (D-MT), Bingaman (D-NM), Boxer (D-CA),
Cantwell (D-WA), Conrad (D-ND), Craig (R-ID), Dorgan (D-ND), Durbin (D-IL), Feingold (D-WI), Feinstein
(D-CA), Hagel (R-NE), Harkin (D-IA), Inouye (D-HI), Johnson ( -SD), Leahy (D-VT), Murray (D-WA), Thomas
(R-WY) (18 as of 4/25/07).

Really, nothing these flakes are doing is having an effect on the current and/or future travel plans of Americans into Cuba.

I would not say that is totally true. Definitely, people who are determined to go have no trouble going, once they've decided they want to. But there is a HUGE percentage of the (clueless) public that doesn't realize they can easily ignore the ban and go if they please. Many Americans (again, the clueless) don't even realize that our neighbors to the North visit Cuba in droves. Once the ban gets lifted, many Americans will visit Cuba who would have never tried to with the ban in place.

Of course, whether that has a negative effect is another question, but to say it doesn't effect people's travel plans? Sure it will. I could easily see $99 round trip shuttle service from Miami, 10 flights a day easily.

#3, you're quite new to this discussion, my advice to you is to find some Cuban Americans outside of Miami who put little or no faith into this annual event by the congress and senate to lift the sanctions against Cuba. Most CAs' like myself are very cynical and view this as nothing more than politics.

Americans? I presume you refer to North Americans from the United States?

I don't think people living in the three mainland countries of North America think of themselves as "North Americans". I don't. There are Mexicans in Mexico, Americans in the United States, and Canadians in Canada - although Canada is quickly being sold by our Bush-alike PM to the US.

Most CAs' like myself are very cynical and view this as nothing more than politics.

Duh. Does a bear sh*t in the woods? Of course it's politics, and of course it's partisan. Look at the co-sponsors above. I counted 14 Republicans and 105 Democrats. When the restrictions finally get lifted, they're not gonna lift themselves, are they? It'll be from political pressure and a bill like this one passing. So you've see this before, what's different now? Well, how bout majority Democrats in both House and Senate, the US$ the weakest it's been in years, and farm states wanting to expand export markets? Now is the best chance it's had in a long time, should they just "not bother" now?

As Jim said so well, there have been many changes that make this latest attempt more likely of success than the ones that preceded it. Political change never occurs unless there is a persistency on the part of the minority to sway enough of the majority to their side of the issue. If this were the first attempt to lift the embargo through legislation then it would probably be doomed to failure even with the shift in Democrats and Republicans in office. If there had not already been many attempts to lift this embargo through legislation then this current effort would have no "shoulders to stand on".

You are partially right, RO. If everyone took your attitude it might NEVER change.

So happy that #5 &6 brought up the subject of North Americans / Norte Americanos. Cubans seem to have created or adapted to terms that make no sense beyond their own very narrow perspective. I'm rather tempted to create a bilingual T-shirt with "I'm a North American " Canadian Flag "Soy Norte Americano" inscriptions.

Some of them have difficulty accepting that geography has placed all the countries north of Panama and certainly all the Greater Antilles in, guess where, North America? The Cuban news report daily perpetuates this myth by dividing "North America" from the rest of the world, guess where? At the Rio Grande!

No apology, Patty. If any thread deserves to be hi-jacked, this one is it. Besides, you helped bring it up.

And who doesn't perceive the term "North America" to refer to all the countries north of the Rio Grande? Is it just me?

Who is it that thinks even Mexico is a part of "North America"?

Isn't there Canada and the US that make up "North America", and then Mexico, and then Central America and then South America? Where have we gone wrong, maestro?

It's not just Cubans who refer to people from the US as "Norte Americanos", so don't blame it on Cubans' "narrow perspective". I've heard it lots from Central Americans too. Many people in Central America and South America do think of themselves as living in "Las Americas" and NO, they do not mean everyone who's living both the US and Canada. I don't know what they think it gains them to think of themselves as living in "the Americas" and therefore also being "Americanos", but it definitely bugs some people. It doesn't translate well into English, but that's why some use the word "Estadounidense"? And you hear it from Spanish speakers other places in "the Americas" besides Cuba.

I think there is a point that Cubans are trying to make that you have turned your usual blind ear to, David. Their question is what makes the citizens of the USA so presumptuous as to think that they own the term "America" when everyone else needs to further define it, e.g. Central, South, etc.. Isn't Cuba also a part of the "Americas"?

#11

We are not really in disagreement. The correct term for residents of the United States of America is Estadounidensesians or some such as you point out. BTW there is a United States of Mexico and a United States of Brazil as well. Americans live in all of the Americas: North and South. Somehow or other "Vespuccian" just did not catch on.

Cubans, as I mentoned, tend to include themselves OUT of North America. This simply ignores or in more Cuban fashion defies geography.

This is simply a matter of usage, NOT geography. AMERICANS means "people of the USA," even Canadians embrace this usage. I have heard this Canadian protest, and asked people from South America is they are "Americans," and its obviously a non-starter.

I have heard '(Norte) Americano' 'Gringo' 'Yuma' 'Yanqui' and 'Estadounidense' used : the latter being most accurate AND least used. Sometimes applied to Canadians, but not intentionally.

Peculiar geographical note for Yanks, re: US Customs. If you are asked by US Customs if you've been "to the Caribbean," you may accurately & honestly reply 'No.'

Unless you have visited the southern part of Cuba, the DR, Cancun, Grand Cayman, etc., you have NOT visited the Caribbean Sea. Havana most definitely is NOT in or on the Caribbean. Technically ; ) Usage be damned, formal definitions rule where law applies.