STATEMENT BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF MLTODAY.COM
ON THE STATE DEPARTMENT’S DENIAL OF PERMISSION FOR
CUBAN DIPLOMATS TO TRAVEL TO NEW YORK CITY FOR THE
LEFT FORUM, March 16-18th
The Editorial Board of MLToday.com strongly protests the State
Department’s refusal to grant two Cuban diplomats in Washington, DC
permission to travel to New York City to participate in The Left Forum
the week-end of March 16-18th.
Patricia Pego, First Secretary, and Juan Lamigueiro, Deputy Chief of
the Mission, at the Cuban Interest Section in Washington were slated
to participate in a panel sponsored by MLToday.com on New Developments
in Cuba and a second panel on The Cuban Five.
Cuban diplomats based in Washington, DC and at the United Nations in
New York cannot travel outside a 50 mile radius without first
obtaining permission from the State Department
Founded as the Socialist Scholars Conference, The Left Forum is the
largest annual gathering of left academics, students, labor and
community activists. Held this year at Pace University in New York
City it attracted over 5,000 registrants.
The MLT Editorial Board wishes to thank the Cuban diplomats, based at
Cuba’s United Nations Mission, who did such an excellent job on very
short notice, filling in for their Washington colleagues. They were
received with gratitude and appreciation by a crowd so anxious to hear
their presentation that it overflowed the assigned room.
For more than 50 years the U.S. government has maintained an illegal
and criminal blockade of Cuba that has caused untold damage and injury
to Cuban citizens and Cuban society. But it is now very clear that
the illegal blockade is also used to deny American citizens the
freedom to hear Cuba?s point of view.
With the Obama Administration stepping up enforcement of the blockade
itself; with the administration trying to prevent Cuba from being
invited to the Summit of the Americas in Colombia next month; and with
the U.S. government attempting to prevent Americans from hearing first
hand from Cubans themselves, it is reasonable to ask ?Why is the
American government afraid of Cuba??
We urge all our friends and supporters to answer that question and
then call your congressperson to protest
March 19, 2012
