There are really far more than 7.  Only 7 went on this trip...

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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/columnists/myriam-
marquez/story/989534.html


MYRIAM MARQUEZ | COLUMNIST
Lawmakers' Cuba concerns are misplaced

BY MYRIAM MARQUEZ
mmarquez{at}MiamiHerald.com
In Havana, the seven Democrats visited the families of the prisoners and 
came away inspired. The members of Congress raised concerns about human 
rights, lengthy prison sentences and the suffering on both sides of the 
Florida Straits.

One vowed to write a letter to first lady Michelle Obama, pleading to 
her sensibilities as a mother, wife and lawyer. Another called on 
compassion. This is the time, the members of the Congressional Black 
Caucus proclaimed.

If only the group had met with even one prisoner of conscience or one of 
the wives, mothers, daughters or sisters of the 75 independent 
journalists, librarians and human-rights advocates imprisoned in Cuba's 
''Black Spring'' of 2003. They would have easily spotted the Ladies in 
White in Havana on Palm Sunday, walking in protest to raise awareness 
about their men's harsh sentences for daring to think outside the 
communist box of limitations. 

ON HUNGER STRIKE

Or the seven could have traveled three hours from Havana to see the 
hunger-striking dissidents led by Jorge Luis ''Antúnez'' Garcia in 
Placetas. Or they could have asked to see Oscar Elias Biscet, a doctor 
serving 25 years in prison for following the peaceful resistance of 
Martin Luther King Jr.

Or what of the mothers of three young men who were tried in a day and 
killed the next by firing squad in 2003 for trying to hijack a ferry 
from Havana Harbor? No passenger was hurt, but that didn't stop the 
Cuban government from sending a swift and terrifying message to the 
country's Afro-Cuban masses.

But no.

The black U.S. lawmakers' concerns weren't for the 300-plus Cuban 
prisoners of conscience listed by Amnesty International or the hundreds 
of dissidents working from their homes under the watch of a totalitarian 
regime. Or the lack of civil rights in a country with a majority black 
and mixed-race population ruled by an overwhelmingly white gerontocracy.

Their angst was for the ''Five Heroes,'' as Cuba's controlled media 
calls the Cuban government spies captured in Miami, including one 
sentenced for conspiracy to murder the four Brothers to the Rescue 
pilots killed by Cuban fighter planes in 1996.

Let's agree that basic human rights have to be upheld for enemies -- 
that's the very definition of justice.

Where's the justice in Cuba?

Certainly the Clueless Seven, led by Rep. Barbara Lee of California, 
didn't make a fuss about 50 years of the Castro brothers' rule, the 
human rights violations or the escalating and disproportionate number of 
black Cubans held behind bars. Indeed, Rep. Bobby Rush, a former Black 
Panther, could only show his empathy ''for the suffering of political 
prisoners,'' as he referred to the five spies.

Just once, I'd like to see a delegation of muckety-mucks see the real 
Cuba. Sure, talk with Tío Fidel, as three of the Clueless reportedly did 
during their trip that ended Tuesday. But also go see opposition 
members, feel their pain.

Rep. Kendrick Meek, who was traveling the Panhandle Tuesday in his U.S. 
Senate bid, offered this wise analysis of his Black Caucus colleagues' 
''fact-finding'' mission:

`THREAT TO SECURITY'

''Political prisoners jailed in Cuba are held for peacefully expressing 
their rights and freedoms, like Dr. Oscar Biscet and Antúnez,'' he said. 
``The Cuban spies held in the U.S. federal prisons were a threat to our 
national security. That's the difference between night and day.''

Had the Clueless Seven removed the blinders they would have known it. 

CMPQwk 1.42-21 9999 
Danny Ceppa wrote - May the Pope be gang raped and become pregnant....


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