BY VALERHE JOHNSON
BOSTON - "I am really encouraged that the reaction to my case indicates there is widespread opposition to travel restrictions, and perhaps the media and the public were not fully aware of these restrictions," stated Tom Reeves in a recent interview. "It is clear that people do not believe that academic study should be scrutinized by the government. My case has brought the issue to a higher level of discussion, the whole issue of travel restrictions to anywhere in the world, Libya, Iraq, etc. This is not consistent with any concept of democracy."

Reeves is facilitator of the Caribbean Focus Program at the Roxbury Community College (RCC) here. He spoke to Militant reporters after the conclusion of a successful series of events to defend his constitutional rights in face of harassment by the U.S. Treasury Department and to protest threats by the RCC administration to fire him. Hundreds of students and others attended meetings at area campuses in late November, organized by the Ad Hoc RCC Cuba Tour Defense Committee. The group was formed to protest the government's actions and defend Reeves.

The Treasury Department has demanded that Reeves turn over to the government names and other information about participants in a field study trip to Cuba, sponsored by the school. Top figures in the college administration have threatened to fire Reeves if he does not comply. Reeves has maintained that the demand for information constitutes discriminatory enforcement of the law and is a violation of his constitutional rights.

The RCC Caribbean Focus Program regularly holds accredited courses on Caribbean topics, including field study trips. These have included visits to Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. In 1995, the program offered the first course on Cuba, followed by a study tour of the country in May of this year.

Seventeen participants applied for licenses with the U.S. Treasury Department for the trip. Six were granted licenses and one was a journalist. The remaining ten -part- time students who included teachers, health care professionals, social workers, and church representatives - re-applied under a provision of the government regulations allowing research by community organizations with an established interest in Cuba. Trip organizers were told by Treasury department officials prior to the tour that the application was under consideration and licenses may be granted retroactively.

The Caribbean Focus Program at RCC has also hosted the Faculty-Student Cuban Youth Lectures Committee. Reeves is on the board of that group. The committee sponsored three successful speaking tours for Cuban youth leaders on U.S. campuses from 1992 to 1995. The Lectures Committee is currently coordinating invitations from professors on a number of campuses for two young Cubans to visit the United States next year. Rolando González Patrício from the Center for the Studies of José Martí and Dania Murgado García of the Federation of University Students are invited to speak at U.S. universities in the spring of 1997.

On May 23 Reeves received a letter from the Treasury Department demanding that he provide details about the trip, including "the name and current address of all individuals who participated in the Field Study." The letter pointed out that "criminal penalties for violation of [federal] regulations range up to 10 years in prison, and $1 million in corporate and $250,000 in individual fines... and civil penalties of $50,000."

The RCC administration insisted Reeves comply or face possible dismissal. An August 22 letter from the administration stated, "You may be assured that the College will not tolerate flagrant disregard for requests for honest and direct communication."

John Reinstein, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts is representing Reeves. The RCC-based defense committee recently organized meetings at several Boston area campuses to defend the right to travel to Cuba, publicize Reeve's case and win wider support. On November 20, over 100 people attended such a public meeting at Roxbury Community College.

Sponsors of the meeting included David Rockefeller, Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University; Latin American Studies Program, Tufts University; American Friends Service Committee, New England Region; July 26 Coalition in Boston; Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Association; and National Lawyers Guild, Massachusetts chapter.

Wayne Smith, former head of the U.S. interests section in Cuba between 1979 and 1982, and now a visiting professor of Latin American Studies at Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C., was the featured speaker. Smith condemned the increased government harassment of opponents of Washington's policy toward Cuba. He said the embargo-tightening Helms-Burton law, enacted by the Clinton administration in March, "carries the irrationality [of the government] to a new level." Joining him on the platform was Reinstein of the ACLU.

Four students from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, who participated in a study tour to Cuba addressed the meeting with slides and spoke about their experiences. They explained that upon returning from Cuba it took 18 students four hours to get through customs, which they described as "harassment" and "demeaning." Two students from the RCC tour to Cuba also spoke. Erin Murphy, a Tufts University student who went on the RCC trip, stated, "It is essential the we see Cuba for ourselves and make our own decisions, make up our own minds."

Other meetings protesting U.S. travel restrictions were held at Harvard and Tufts Universities on November 20 and 21, involving over 200 students and faculty.

The Reeves case has received widespread media coverage after the protest meetings. The Boston Globe, the main daily here, carried a front-page article November 21, headlined, "Professor resists U.S. demand to name those on Cuba trip." The opening of the story stated, "A defiant Roxbury Community College Professor is resisting demands by the U.S. government and college officials to hand over names and addresses of students who took a trip to Cuba that has come under scrutiny by the U.S. Treasury Department."

Reeves explained that as a result of an Associated Press article that has been picked up by newspapers around the country, he has received calls for information and support from New York; Cleveland, Ohio; Nashville, Tennessee; Florida; and other states. The BBC International Service interviewed Reeves live from a hook up with London. He has also been interviewed by the "Chronicle of Higher Education" and the "Larry Pines Show" from New York.

Reeves said the RCC administration had received over 100 calls and messages in support of his case and over 500 signatures have been turned into the Treasury Department on protest petitions. Since its August threat to fire Reeves, the RCC administration has not taken any further steps against him.

Valerie Johnson is a member of the United Transportation Union in Boston.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home