“We are here to defend our right to travel, to help out our families,” Antonio Maceo Brigade leader Andrés Gómez told the crowd before the protest got under way. Along with the brigade, the José Martí Association and Alianza Martiana built the event. These groups oppose the 45-year-long U.S. economic war against the Cuban Revolution. The Yoruba Association, an Afro-Cuban religious group, was also a sponsor. An airplane flew overhead during the protest with a banner reading, “Bush: don’t divide the Cuban family.”

A counter-demonstration of seven people took place across the street.

Most people interviewed opposed the new restrictions, which went into effect June 30 after an announcement May 6 by U.S. president George Bush.

“I’m totally opposed to the measures,” said René Suarez, a 39-year-old truck driver who emigrated from Cuba 10 years ago. “They hurt Cubans who are here and in Cuba.” A few drivers who passed by honked their horns to show support.

Holding up a sign reading, “The family is sacred,” Roque García, 67, who has lived in the United States for 25 years said, “These measures are being taken by people who don’t have family in Cuba. Even if they don’t have family there they shouldn’t do this.” This was García’s first protest.

When someone offered García a Spanish-language leaflet of the Socialist Workers Party 2004 presidential campaign, another protester, Pedro González, 71, jumped in. “We can’t vote for that,” González said. “It would be giving a vote to Bush, like voting for the Green Party.” After listening to the argument by SWP campaign supporters that the socialist candidates not only call for the repeal of the latest measures but the normalization of relations with Cuba and for an end to Washington’s economic war, González added, “Kerry is going to help the poor. We’ve gotten Social Security with the Democrats.” The view of González, who was also taking part in his first demonstration, was typical among many demonstrators.

Several protesters came up to offer their opinions on the measures.

“I’m not in total disagreement with the measures the president has taken,” said Aurelio Caldez, one among a number of protesters who opposed only some of the restrictions.

Ernesto, Lao 51, a security guard who has lived here two years, said, “Most people I work with are against the measures. Fidel’s blockade isn’t our fault. The Cuban people shouldn’t suffer because of the measures.”

SWP campaign supporter Elvis Samson responded that Washington is the one that has imposed a “blockade” on Cuba. The U.S. government recently blocked the Jamaican hotel chain SuperClubs from doing business in Cuba by invoking the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, known as the Helms-Burton law, threatening to cancel the U.S. visas of company officials, he said.

Lao said he supported the Helms-Burton law, but not the latest measures. Former president William Clinton signed this bill into law in 1996, tightening Washington’s economic war on Cuba. The legislation mandates U.S. government sanctions against companies in third countries that do business in Cuba.

“All my family is in Cuba,” said Noraika Vargas, a nurse who has lived here three years and who participated in a June 19 car caravan to protest the Bush administration measures. “Everyone I know is against the measures.”

Silvia Mendoza, who has lived in Miami eight years and used to work at Miami International Airport, said, “I thought this was a democratic country, but now one person is denying me the right to visit my family in Cuba.” The last time Mendoza had visited the island was in January 2003. “They say they are going to put U.S. security agents in other countries to snitch on people who go by third country to avoid the rules on travel,” she added, “in Canada, Mexico, and Jamaica.”

“I’m going to travel to Cuba,” said another protester, who asked that his name not be used. “These laws are so absurd they make you violate them.”
 

Participants held a variety of views about Cuba.

“I am a Republican at heart,” said one protester. “I did not go to Cuba for 30 years. Then I went and I found peace. He [Bush] can’t tell me who is my family and who is not.”

Many joined the protest because they said they were outraged by George Bush’s latest propaganda attack against Cuba at a July 16 conference in Tampa, where the U.S. president accused the Cuban government of organizing “human trafficking,” especially of women and children involved in prostitution.

Manuel Mojarena and his wife Juana have been in the United States for two years. They heard about the demonstration on the radio and came to stand up against the lies that the U.S. government peddles about Cuba. “Cuba is a poor country, but they have everything.” Manuel Mojarena said. “Not everyone has a lot of food, but no one in Cuba dies of hunger. And they help others everywhere in the world. Education is better there. People follow what is happening all over the world.”

Across the street, about 100 counter-demonstrators held signs and chanted their support for the Bush administration’s policy against Cuba.

“This represents a split among Cuban Americans,” said Maura Barrios, assistant director of the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Department at the University of South Florida, herself a Cuban-American.

Although many protesters expressed support for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, Barrios said, “It’s not really around Democratic or Republican politics. It’s coming from the right to travel law. Bush is the one implementing the measures, with the support of the Cuban right-wing people. That’s what’s creating the split. That’s why Bush becomes the target.” Henry Mendoza, one of the organizers of the protest, promised participants that there would be continuing actions until the new sanctions are reversed.
 
 
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