(!) Cuba and family values
by Andrew Hoeksema
SojoMail 7-13-2005

The recent House vote didn't set off a flurry of talk show antics. It
barely registered as a blip in the blogosphere. I had to scour the
Internet for coverage about an issue that reflects the true priorities of
our "family values" legislators: a 211-208 vote that maintained the
stringent Cuban family travel rules imposed by the Bush administration in
recent years. The vote defeated an amendment sponsored by Rep. Jim Davis
(D-FL) that would have eased the outmoded restrictions.

What is this policy so ardently defended in Congress? Last year the Bush
administration implemented new rules that allow Cubans living in the
United States to visit their family for a total of only 14 days in the
span of three years. That's immediate family only - no aunts, uncles or
cousins. And no exceptions - not for births, marriages, nor deaths. To add
insult to restriction, per diem spending limits during visits and total
remittance limits cut off what could be life-sustaining income for many
Cubans.

In the details of such legislation, we find that family values are not
always highly valued by our elected officials. Instead, what is more
valued are the large contributions of anti-Castro political action
committees, as research by the Latin American Working Group shows. These
contributions - and the electoral concerns about a certain key swing state
with a large Cuban-American population - are the forces that drive our
legislators' decisions.

I am one of the few United States citizens who have experienced the gift
and the privilege of knowing and living with a Cuban family for even a
very short amount of time. I traveled to Cuba in March of 2003 - yes,
legally - with a combination of a religious visa from the Cuban government
and an educational visa from the U.S. Treasury Department. Part of my
travel-education experience with the Latin America Studies Program was a
home stay in San Jose de las Lajas, Provincia Havana.

When I think of Cuba, my mind does not immediately conjure the smell of a
cigar, a t-shirt with a Che graphic, or even the fascinating, strange, and
scandalous history our country has had with this neighbor island. When I
think of Cuba, I see the faces and hear the voices of the group of people
that I called family and friends in San Jose. I see Mama Rosa with her
curly white hair hovering over the stove to prepare the finest Cuban fare
for her honored American guest.