On September 29 alone, six flights brought 950 Cubans, mostly males in their 30s and 40s. These "Cubans travel without caring about their belongings, which are loaded directly from the planes to the trucks of the mayor's offices," reported the journal El Universal on November 18. "The load is guarded by National Guard officers."
In this nation that once had a free press, the tightening grip of the Chavez dictatorship has forbidden the photographing of this airport influx of operatives from his friend Fidel Castro's Communist police state.
"The use of TV cameras as well as the presence of journalists from any mass media is prohibited," reported El Universal. "Nevertheless, a few photojournalists have managed to catch images from landings, defeating security controls."
Between September 26 and October 27, this journal reports from its sources that 11,530 Cubans arrived in Venezuela on 76 such flights. Chavez's seizure of one television station and threats against the rest of the press have reduced such critical news coverage of his regime.***
"The people were so nice and willing to give you everything you wanted, but you knew they didn't have it," she said.
She also developed a respect for Fidel Castro's speaking abilities during a four-hour speech he gave to Semester at Sea passengers and about 500 Cuban and exchange students in Havana.
"He is a funny man and was cracking jokes most of the time," she said of the Communist dictator. "He talked about everything under the sun except for the embargo."***