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Jeff Jacoby's three part series on Cuba- "A walk in Havana" - "Keeping hope, conscience alive in Cuba" - "The US embargo and Cuba's future"--[Excerpt] And make no mistake: Doing business with Cuba means doing business with Castro. There is no private property in Cuba, no private enterprise, no private employers. Foreign investors must deal with the government. They cannot hire Cuban workers directly; a government agency chooses their workers for them. The investors pay Castro - in hard currency - for each worker; Castro in turn pays the workers a fraction of that amount - in all-but-worthless pesos. So long as Cuba's dictator maintains his stranglehold on every aspect of Cuban life, ending the embargo would be counterproductive. It would do nothing to end the far more restrictive embargo that Castro imposes on the Cuban nation. It would give him the propaganda victory and the US dollars he craves, but it would do little to bring liberty or hope to ordinary Cuban citizens. Every president since JFK has extended the Cuban embargo; to lift it in exchange for nothing - no free elections, no civil liberties - would be a betrayal of the very people we want to help. ''Tiende tu mano a Cuba,'' says Paya when I ask what he thinks of American policy, ''pero primero pide que le desaten las manos a los cubanos.'' Extend your hands to Cuba - but first unshackle ours.[End Excerpt]

Fidel Castro - Cuba

"New evidence suggests that INS chief Doris Meissner knew that Elian's father was acting under duress. And that she tried to suppress it."

We all knew 1) Elian's father was acting under duress; 2) meissner, clinton, and reno knew it, too, and also knew what was at stake for Eliancito (loss of freedom), but coldly acted to hand him over anyway. I cannot understand such cold actions. I cannot dwell long in thought on them, either.

My sorrow for Elian remains...and for us all at what we have all lost. I wish more people would realize that, but there is only so much that we can do. May God bless our efforts as we do what we can, but especially as we look after our primary responsibilities -- for me, my precious family and relationship with God.