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Vocal Cuban doctor at risk
in Bolivia
Posted on Mon, Jan. 01,
2007 in The Miami Herald.
Dr. Amaury Samartino has already suffered
enough persecution in Cuba. Yet Bolivia
now wants to deport him. But sending him
back to his abusers in Cuba or even to the
U.S. Naval base at Guantánamo Bay
aren't acceptable options. U.S. authorities,
who helped to settle him in Bolivia six
years ago, should offer Dr. Samartino a
humanitarian parole to the United States.
Laws here would protect his right to free
speech and his beliefs.
The real offense
Dr. Samartino was arrested and detained
recently in Santa Cruz. Hooded and handcuffed,
he was driven to the capital, La Paz. Bolivian
authorities claim that he had violated a
law that bans immigrants from getting involved
in the country's politics. A presidential
spokesman said that Dr. Samartino was in
the country ``illegally, appearing on the
communications media on various occasions
to denigrate President Fidel Castro.''
Dr. Samartino's real offense was to publicly
criticize Havana's regime, particularly
for its interference with the Morales government.
He also has admitted to helping several
of the Cuban doctors sent to work in Bolivia
to defect.
''The only thing I have done here is to
talk about Cuba's reality,'' he told El
Nuevo Herald reporter Wilfedo Cancio.
Dr. Samartino's Bolivian supporters, moreover,
note that the government hasn't expelled
other immigrants who are directly involved
in politics, including a Peruvian who is
a close advisor to Bolivian President Evo
Morales. Some see Cuba's hand in the Bolivian
action against Dr. Samartino. Even Bolivia's
human-rights monitor, Public Defender Walter
Albarracín, strongly recommended
against deporting Dr. Samartino.
Last week, Cuba said it wouldn't take him
back, and a Bolivian court ruled that he
be deported to the U.S. military base in
Guantánamo, Cuba, from where he came.
He had been picked up at sea in 1999 and
taken to that base. Only Cubans found to
have a credible fear of persecution at home
are then placed in third countries.
A thorn in the regime
Unfortunately, the U.S. authorities who
facilitated his settlement in Bolivia in
2000 had no way of knowing that Cuba would
come to exert so much influence there after
Mr. Morales' election in December last year.
Certainly Dr. Samartino has been a thorn
in the Cuban regime's side in Bolivia. Cuba's
ambassador in La Paz hasn't bothered to
hide his animosity, calling him a ``delinquent.''
The U.S. State Department could try to
find another country to take Dr. Samartino.
But one congressional source says that no
country has been willing to accept Cubans
from Guantánamo in at least a year.
Dr. Samartino has gone through the paces
at Guantánamo. He shouldn't be returned
for an indefinite stay, nor be bounced to
other Latin American countries.
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