In the film, "JFK: A President Betrayed," Peter Kornbluh, an analyst at the National Security Archive, discusses Daniel's meeting with Castro. It was set in motion during a meeting in the Oval Office on November 5, 1963. [Link starts at .25: http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB103/clip.mp3 ] During the meeting, William Attwood, a Senior State Department employee who talks by phone to the President in the Oval Office, details a way to get a message to Fidel Castro stating that the President of the United States is open to discussions to end the rancorous and potentially lethal relationship between the U.S. and Cuban governments. Mr. Attwood served as the go-between, first introducing Daniel to Bradlee.
Daniel arrived in Cuba on November 19, 1963, with a dual purpose, to conduct his interviews and to pass on the President's message. Two days later he was with Mr. Castro when they were handed the news that Kennedy was dead. "This is the end of your mission of peace. Everything is changed," said the Cuban Premier.
It was. In the almost 51 years that have passed since that meeting, the United States still does not trade with Cuba and U.S. citizens are still banned from visiting Cuba for all save cultural and humanitarian reasons.
More importantly, however, is the political upheaval this has caused in the United States. The Cuban people receive special immigration treatment under the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966. The Act allows special access to U.S. citizenship by Cuban citizens coming to our shores. In 1995 the Act was revised providing a, "wet foot, dry foot policy."
This revised policy states that if a Cuban is caught at sea, he goes back to Cuba. If he makes it to shore, he can stay in the United States. No other citizen, of any other country in the world, receives this special treatment. And, when you hold up the Cuban Adjustment Act against the backdrop of our current immigration policy...or, should I say, lack of immigration policy...this Act is reprehensible.
In my opinion the only reason this law still stands today is because the Cuban community has, for the most part, supported the Republican Party and it's right-wing agenda. Senators Marco Rubio (Rubio helped move the measure in the Senate, but has since backed away after push back from Republican Tea Party members) and Ted Cruz, along with Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, are Cuban-Americans who continue to thwart immigration reform for all in this country. This hypocrisy is ridiculous and screams for change. In my opinion, these three legislators should be ashamed of themselves. What makes Cubans such special "Latinos?"
For those of us who think the United States would be a better place if we opened our doors to all immigrants, bringing more and more talent and skills to our shores, treating one group differently is comparable to a reestablishment of the "Jim Crow laws" of yesteryear. Like people of different colors and genders, should not all immigrants be equal in the eyes of the law?
The film allows me to think if Kennedy had not been murdered on November 22, 1963, Americans would be sunning themselves on the beaches of Cuba everyday, while Cubans would be able to freely visit their neighbors to the north. Perhaps we would also have a more even-handed approach to immigration.
It was. In the almost 51 years that have passed since that meeting, the United States still does not trade with Cuba and U.S. citizens are still banned from visiting Cuba for all save cultural and humanitarian reasons.
More importantly, however, is the political upheaval this has caused in the United States. The Cuban people receive special immigration treatment under the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966. The Act allows special access to U.S. citizenship by Cuban citizens coming to our shores. In 1995 the Act was revised providing a, "wet foot, dry foot policy."
This revised policy states that if a Cuban is caught at sea, he goes back to Cuba. If he makes it to shore, he can stay in the United States. No other citizen, of any other country in the world, receives this special treatment. And, when you hold up the Cuban Adjustment Act against the backdrop of our current immigration policy...or, should I say, lack of immigration policy...this Act is reprehensible.
For those of us who think the United States would be a better place if we opened our doors to all immigrants, bringing more and more talent and skills to our shores, treating one group differently is comparable to a reestablishment of the "Jim Crow laws" of yesteryear. Like people of different colors and genders, should not all immigrants be equal in the eyes of the law?
The film allows me to think if Kennedy had not been murdered on November 22, 1963, Americans would be sunning themselves on the beaches of Cuba everyday, while Cubans would be able to freely visit their neighbors to the north. Perhaps we would also have a more even-handed approach to immigration.
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