And thanks to George W. Bush who has had plenty of time to rescind this this brutal policy. Damn them.

And add all the politicians that in spite of representing the wishes of their voters have choosen to form the BIG WALL OF SILENCE regarding this criminal policy. And all the celebrities that are choosing not to lobby for the elimination of that executive order that sends people back to the bearded butcher.
Whoever doesn't protest this policy is equally responsible for the mistreatments (here and in Cuba) of these unfortunate souls. All of those who are public personas and stay silent are accomplices in equal measure. TV personalities, artists, academics, journalists, sports people, everyone who has a soapbox at his or her disposal should climb on it and use the right to free speech to denounce these acts of brutality. I only hear the bloggers taking the stand.

Wheres Kanye West when you need him??
George Bush doesn't care about the Cuban People.

A great post, Val, it's a real public service.

This wetfoot-dryfoot garbage is full Clintonian dissembling in action. It's way past time that Bush got rid of it, it's just plain evil.

Mister Bush, for MY sake, me, a voter, I cannot stand the sight of people fleeing tyranny getting the treatment you are giving them. Stop it for my sake. STOP IT RIGHT NOW!

That policy was designed to turn Cubans into antiAmericans. Whoever suffer this kind of treatment is left with nowhere to turn to. In Cuba, a pariah, and his name on the records prevents him or her from asking a visa in the interest section in Havana, even if it was won in the famous visa lottery. The left -embodied in Clinton- made this policy a reality. It hasn't been taken down because there's no lobby movement against it. The people with a voice in the goverment are silent. The visible talking heads are silent. The people who supposedly represent us politically and culturally are silent. So the government is not moved to act on it. There has not been a single referendum over this policy, at any level. The politicians have abandoned their constituency.

Our poor brothers captured ONLY TWO MILES from freedome. It kills me. I was captivated by thier journey (thank goodness for web cast as I'm in DC). This government needs to do something about Wet Foot/Dry Foot. I know the Miami delegation has asked dozens of times to end this policy. This year alone the Coast Guard has intersected over 2,000. This a a crewl horrible policy. To hell with Clinton for starting this stupid policy that makes so many suffer. I call on everyone reading this to call their member of Congress and ask them to ask the administration to stop sending Cubans back the the tryanny of the Castro dictatorship. It can't always be tres gatos in Miami. We need more people to put pressure.

Bush needs to get the New Orleans treatment again. He doesn't learn. While Mexicans get across our border with no serious enforcement effort, this kind of garbage is going on against people who are truly in need of freedom. Think about that suicide rate I posted early this morning, the place makes people want to take their own lives and many do. This wetfoot-dryfoot has absolutely got to go.

They were so close!!! This makes me so sad. My neighbor's twin brother in Cuba has gotten word out that he wil be taking this journey to freedom sometime before the end of this month. My neighbor is a total mess. She is so worried about him. She's been crying for three days. It's really awful. Not only do you worry about drowning, you must worry about being "rescued" by the US coast gaurd. It's so difficult to escape and the anguish one must feel upon being returned has got to be too devestating for words. Castro has destroyed so many families. This woman hasn't seen her brother in over 10 years. I hope and pray that he makes it safely.

THE ONLY THING BUSH HAS DONE FOR THE CUBAN PEOPLE IS EVERY MAY 20TH SAY " VIVA CUBA LIBRE" AND WE ALL FALL FOR IT!!! GO FUCK YOURSELF BUSH!!

Despicable. I (and the anonymous writer) got slammed a while back when the content of the serial 'Point The Bow Towards Hope' depicted the conditions aboard USCG cutters and at Guantanamo in a less than favorable light. Now we all see what really happens. I am so upset now I can hardly write.

We all are George, if every Cuban American and their supporters gave ONE dollar, we would have enough to launch a major campaign against this barbaric practice. A.M. Mora, you are right, this has to contribute to the suicide rate, anyone who stands by this policy has blood on their hands.

Hopping Christ on a pogo stick. I live about 18 miles north of a border so fucking porous, you'd be hard pressed to find evidence of it. We have refugees from Mexico, Central and South America in a nearly unbroken stream that come across with more fear of their Coyotes than of our law enforcement. Pres. Fox encourages this, knowing full well that we will do little to nothing about it. In many if not most cases, these people are fleeing economic, not political hardship. DHS is virtually worthless here, absolutely unable to stem the flow. Even if they could, it's a political crapshoot for them, what with the left in this country in it's abject denial of an illegal immigration problem. On the other hand, here we have a small group of men literally risking everything to escape complete political devastation. What do they meet? The military might of the U.S. Armed Forces (you read that right- The Coast Guard is a military organization)
doing whatever necessary to deny entry. Now, for them to do interdiction, I don't have a lot to say, except that could have been handled with a bit more grace. Being a branch of the military, they do operate at the President's discretion. But come to that note, I have just one simple question- Mr. President, just what the hell is with you?? I mean, you were a two-term governor of a state with a very large Hispanic population, and your brother is the governor of a state with a large Cuban population. You have no excuse for being so ignorant, so callow to the plight of a group of men trying desperately to escape El Chilito's Paradise.

Here's a group that should be doing something about the wet foot dry foot. Send an email and let them know what you think.

http://www.uscubapac.com/index.html

Too bad, and I echo the comments from the others as far as the wet-foot/dry-foot policy is concerned.

While Clinton's wet foot/dry foot policy "sucks," Cuban American community leaders and politicians have done nothing to pressure Bush to rescind this. Remember the Helms-Burton Act that Clinton signed into law and then didn't enforce Title III and Title IV of the law? Well, Bush continued the same policy, leaving it toothless. No one mentions the Helms-Burton Act anymore, not even Castro. U.S. policy toward Cuba has not had significant changes since the Kennedy-Khrushchev agreement went into effect in 1962.

Why blame Clinton?

That chimp w has been in power for almost FIVE years. The wet foot/dry foot policy can be changed by the chimp with just a stroke of the pen (provided he knows how to sign his name).

Where's the chimps brother & your governor?

Bailing his 1/2 breed offspring out of jail?

I don't think you Miami Cubans have 1/2 the influence you think you do.

"Why blame Clinton"? What a loaded question.

Will the wonderful readers of BabaluBlog give this idiot Vergonero his sorely needed history lesson? (And, BTW, calling Bush a "chimp" in your second sentence kinda takes you out of the credibility sweepstakes altogether.)

I don't need a history lesson. You need a lesson in civics.

W is the president. He can change the policy in less time than it took him to polish off a bottle of bourbon.

Why won't he?

I'll tell you. It will provoke a tidal wave of Cubans getting in rafts which nobody (except for a few Cubans in Miami) wants.

Vergonero: I was about to be sympathetic with your point of view because I too am angry with Bush until you came out with that Ku Klux Klansman Grand Kloogle crap about

'nobody (except a few Cubans in Miami)wants.'

Go f*** yourself.

George,

vergonero doesn't deserve a response.

Mora, eloquent as always. Thank you.

vergonero simply wants a forum to show his hate for Bush, which is all the left is doing now adays. I don't know if Bush can rescind this terrible policy or not "at the stroke of a pen", but I know that Bush has done the most, or at least been one of the most supportive presidents to the cause of a free Cuba. If one of the stinkin democrats had been elected, you can be almost certain there would be no embargo, and Fidel's wallet would be that much fatter. vergonero is simply a wolf in sheep's clothing playing on our emotions, tragic as this episode is. We should be outraged and demand this policy be reversed. I can't begin to imagine the alternative to Bush as president on the democratic side.

vergonero, where were you when the instigator of this policy Clinton, started this? Like taxes, these policies are harder to take away than start. You don't give a crap about democracy, or freedom, Cubans or destroying tyranny. Your agenda is simply to bash Bush. That is your AGENDA.

Max,

You don't know if Bush can change this policy?

Were you educated in the US? Do you know what
an "executive order" is?

When Blow Job Bill initiated this policy, he simply issued an executive order to change the way Cuban migrants are to be treated. It did not involve Congress.

W the chimp can issue another order and allow all Cuban migrants to be admitted into the US.

It's as simple as that.

vergonero,
I am almost certain that my level of education is greater than yours. I agree with you that this policy is atrocious and reprehensible. Bush did NOT instill this policy. Clinton DID- that is a fact. Your comments about exiles do expose your real intentions, and I will also bet that you were silent when Clinton INSTILLED this policy, along with sending Elian back to Fidel, trying to rid the embargo until the plane shootdown, etc, etc. At the very least I consider Bush the lesser of two evils when you consider the alternative - Kerry, who coddled communists all over since he left Vietnam. Sorry, but you lost all credibility and there is not a shoehorn big enough to extract the shoe in your mouth with your comments.

The main culprit here is neither Clinton nor Bush: it's Castro.

If Castro is gonna unleash a Mariel every 10 years an American president can:

a) let everyone in (Carter)
b) install a naval blockade or something like that
c) install a policy to discourage people to leave Cuba.

We know what happened with Jimmy.

We know that NO American gov. has stomach for a militar confrontation with Castro (we cannot forget that there is something called national interest and the US' is not necesarily always aligned with the Cuban people's)

All that rest is (c). The wet-foot/dry-foot is yes, Clintonian in its search for finding some medium term, but it basically aims to prevent another Mariel. The reason that W keeps it, is, well, because he thinks that policy is in the best interest of the US.

People,
Our enemies that side with Fidel attempt to use this argument against us to cloud the issue to the REAL problem, the eradication of the regime.
I invite you to visit the following Marxist web site about "the murderous cuban adjustment act"..
http://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wdie-04/d04-032.htm#security

This stupid policy should never have been implemented to start, and Bush should lift it. It does give the enemy (marxists) an opportunity to falsely point to the Haitians as requiring equal treatment (as human beings needing help, that can be argued) but they are not fleeing communism, but simply better lives. It has been forgotten that Clinton INVADED Haiti for a regime change. The opposite happened in Cuba under Clinton. Fidel was supported. Let's not lose our main focus and the absolute ROOT CAUSE OF OUR PROBLEM - Fidel.

vergonero is using much the same argument as a marxist web site in Britain

Max:

I agree 100% with you in that Castro is the real enemy and the real problem. I wish the policy didn't exist. But if Bush lifts the wet/dry policy, the US must be ready for either a massive Cuba's immigration or a war with Castro. Let's be realist here: the US government wants neither, much less now that it is dealing with Iraq, Iran, NoKo, Katrina, Rita, etc.

Things haven't changed terribly from Clinton to Bush (at least in substance) I think we will be living with the status quo in the US-Cuba relations until the grandisimo hijo de puta dies or is killed.

Eduardo:
You are right about the consequences that lifting the policy could bring. I do reiterate, however, that had Kerry been elected or the shootdown had not occured, there would be no embargo in place with the dems in power. IMO there is a significant difference in what Bush or a dem president would have offered.
I do agree that Bush has not gone far enough. If I had my way, I would have pushed for a world-wide South African style embargo against Cuba, although I know that the usefull idiots in power throughout the world would show their hypocrisy in only supporting embargos against "rightist" tyrannies. If that wouldn't have worked I would have pushed for an INVASION (we did it in Haiti, not just Iraq and the press never mentions that).
A free Cuba renders the Cuban adjustment act TOTALLY irrelevent. With all his faults, Bush is still better than the alternative. Just my opinion.

One more thing:
There are those on the left that may try to cloud the issue and say that the exiles want America to do the fighting for them. I say send US (the exiles) in with REAL logistical support and without impeding our effort. Kennedy sold us out by law by cutting a deal with the Soviets. I say to hell with it, the Soviets don't exist any more.

Hey dummy, let me school and educate you:
Congress allowed direct sales to Cuba on a cash basis ONLY. What those that side with Cuba's regime REALLY want is government subsidized trade, where Cuba is issued credit and taxpayers take the risk if Cuba follows its historical path of not paying its loans. It is obvious that YOU are the "ditto head" here.

Eduardo: I'd be willing to let castro unleash a Mariel. He would be held to scorn in the eyes of the world. Maybe Bolivia would shun Evo Morales. A lot of the gas propelling the leftwing world would be taken out with such a Mariel. We are a huge country. We can take refugees. We can take all 11 million Cubans. What castro can't take is a total brain drain of all his nation's talent. We could break him if we let him think he's winning. Break him. The last thing on earth a modern economy can stand to lose now is its human capital. castro doesn't understand this.

LET THEM IN.

Yes Mora, LET THEM IN!!! This is the executive order I'd like to see. An open invitation to All Cubans. The hijo de puta would be crapping his pants.

This idiotic nonsense must stop.

Larry

Well said, Kathleen! And Larry!

May as well plagiarize myself because can't add anything else to the comment sent to George at therealcuba.com, on the whole sad, 46-years-and-counting tragedy. These things make me wonder what kind of a world my kid was brought into...

"George - regarding your comments involving the unfortunate incident with the Coast Guard and the would-be refugees: Well said. kaSStro continues to be the successful "maximum manipulator" after all. When people on both sides of the straits of Florida and politicians at home, in Cuba, and everywhere else finally realize this (it's not rocket science, folks!) maybe then things will change for the better. Until then...
Alberto Q"

Just thought of something else, which perhaps is not relevant here but - after seeing this travesty, am more convinced than ever the posse comitatus rule needs to stay in place. Interesting how in the wake of Katrina all these supposedly conservative (a conservative should be one who wants to preserve what is logical and what works well, right?) pols are falling all over themselves and wringing their hands on the issue of giving more all-encompassing power to the Federal government. NO, dammit!

madtom:
the carrot and stick approach you mentioned was a Clinton thing, period.. We were headed straight for a full lifting of the embargo during the Clinton years had it not been for the shootdown.Let's set the facts straight. FACT: Congress voted in sales of food and certain other items only on a cash basis. Are they cheating? I have no evidence of this one way or the other. Plase cut the conspiracy bullcrap unless you have something to back it up. Please get your facts straight. Now if you are talking about Helms Burton, I agree that Bush should enforce the provision that adds the most "teeth".
This the current "cash basis" was strictly driven by elements in congress based in agricultural regions as well as the traditional left. Bush had absolutely NOTHING to do with this. I invite you to PROVE otherwise and back it up with reliable sources. Conspiracy theories are for Hollywood.

Just for the record.. I am in full agreement with those that want this rescinded IMMEDIATELY. Any ideas on how to display our outrage? These are classic refugees that went through hell to get here. Anyone have Jeb's email and/or phone number as well as his brothers? Even though I mostly agree with Bush on most things, this really stinks.

Madtom:
The link you give only supports my position, not yours-. Since you say newsmax is a "right wing rag" stick to moveon.org or www.granma.cu. It more closely matches your ideology.
"Congress in 2000 passed a law that allows cash sales of food and agricultural products to Cuba.."
You STILL have not provided any evidence to support your claims. I don't support anything that puts $$$ in Fidel's hands. If you want to be taken seriously you have got to do better than that. You have a right to your OPINION, however misguided.

Another fact: Bush has repeated stated openly that he would veto any further attempts in congress to weaken the embargo. That is one thing I agree with him on. I DON"T agree with him on this idiotic Clinton imposed wet foot/dry foot policy.
On another note: Why does the media, including the Herald, still refer to those fleeing the gulag as migrants? If ever a term fit refugee, this is it.

What part of this is hard to understand?

Bush has repeated stated openly that he would veto any further attempts in congress to weaken the embargo.

Bush is not the one that created or has anything to do with the cash basis sale details. Bush opposed it from the start, as I do. If there is indeed fraud, thank the agricultural base of congress and the leftist segment for this. I would not be surprised if Castro does resell the food, on that I agree with you. What I disagree with is your insinuation that Bush is a protagonist of this cash sales situation. You're right in a way, but you're barking up the wrong tree.

oh and,
At the time the bill was being voted on in congress, there was an overwhelming sentiment to lift the embargo so there was a likelihood that any veto would be overwritten by a 2/3 majority, that is why a compromise had to be worked out with the "cash only" provision. I am against ANY trade with Cuba, with the exception of humanitarian aid ONLY..
Nice try... thank the lefties and those interested in the almighty dollar. I stand with my belief that if a dem would have been elected, we would be subsidizing trade in the open that would only serve to raise Fidel's standing in the Forbes list.

madtom:
Let's see what happened on Clinton's watch:
The wet foot/dry foot crap was CREATED.
Elian was sent back to Fidel, that is a doozy.
Embargo would have been lifted almost certainly if not for shootdown.
Clinton's legacy: Blowjobs and interns and having rubbers in China named after him.
As much as I disagree with Bush on not reneging this terrible wet foot... crap.. It would have been much worse with kerry at the helm. He would likely be shaking hands with Fidel today.

It is well documented that Clinton was using the carrot and stick approach with Cuba, and was well on his way to establishing relations with the regime if not for the shootdown. This is common knowledge. Let's reiterate, AGAIN!
Clinton created the wet foot/dry foot policy
Clinton facilitated sending Elian back to Fidel.
Clinton created all sorts of programs to negotiate with the regime, ie, people to people contacts, negotiating immigration, anything to legitimize the regime.
All this happened during the Clinton administration, and more, like letting Osama get away when he had a clear shot at him.
You can keep denying this all you want, but facts are facts.

Desde ayer eatoy al tanto de todo lo que ha pasado alla abajo en miami...pero el ecojonamiento fue tan grande que no podia ni hablar de eso con nadie
hasta hoy me decidi a escribir algo aunque yo creo que ya esta todo dicho gracias a ustedes cubanos de verdad luchadores por la libertad de nuestra patria esclava.
Solo tengo que añadir que me resingo en la madre del gobierno entero de eua .que hipocresia mas grande ,..hasta los arabes en guantanamo base tienen mejor tratamiento que esos desdichados balseros..la verdad que lo que me dice mi padre que la politica es cochina ..yo tengo que agredirle que tambien la politica es una mierda e inhumana..the cubans are place in the bottom of the food chain....se pueden ir pa la pinga bush
y todos aquellos que estan en el gobierno y no son capacez de revertir la creacion del hijo de puta de clinton ....bush perdiste mi confianza y mi apoyo y el de muchos de cubanos tambien ..

cuando un pueblo emigra los gobernantes sobran..
Jose Marti

VIVA CUBA LIBRE COJONEEEEE

vergonero si no eres cubano no se que cojones haces discutiendo un tema que no deberias de discutir.

let the cubans alone ..if none of yours busines .get
to fuck away anticuban piece of shit

Mora,

I totally agree with letting Castro unleash another Mariel and letting everyone in. But what are the chances that the American public suppports it? Very slim. Congress and the President are elected by the people. I am not saying that wet/dry is not a heinous thing but that it has survived 6 years of Clinton and 5 of Bush because it is really difficult por any president to overturn it.

Eduardo- Have you been to LA lately? Eleven million Educated Cubans would be a piece of cake compared to what Los Angeles and the southwest has absorbed in recent years.

Quite right, Kathleen. I just walked through the so-called 'fashion district' of LA yesterday and I was, for the first time, grossed out. I've never seen anything as gross even in Latam itself! Truly the dumping ground of Latam!

A.M. Mora

"I've never seen anything as gross in latam itself.truly the dumping groud of latam"

What do you mean by latam?

Latin america?

lol,is it really that bad down there?