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Stark Reality Facing Cubans
South
Florida Sun-Sentinel
Editorial Board, Posted November 17 2004.
There's an axiom that the 1959 Cuban Revolution,
which closed casinos and booted the mob
off the island, sparked the development
of Las Vegas. The Vegas Strip certainly
stands to benefit from the bittersweet mass
defection of 44 performers in a Cuban musical
and dance ensemble.
It's Cuba that loses in a defection, as
usual.
The Havana Night Club, an 8-year-old musical
troupe, is a symbol of Cuban culture. Before
arriving in the United States, it had performed
and received acclaim from audiences in 16
countries from Europe to Asia.
Like baseball players who sneak into the
United States for a shot in Major League
Baseball, the Cuban performers must have
figured they'd find a home and a future
on the Vegas Strip, much as others have
found more productive lives in other places.
It's as simple as ABC -- anywhere but Cuba.
That's the stark reality facing too many
Cubans, whether they are doctors, engineers,
sports stars or performers.
It shouldn't be that way, and it wouldn't
be if the political and reform stalemate
in Cuba were broken. If Cuba permitted more
artistic freedom, or if the Cuban government
more freely allowed its citizens to make
a living for themselves, that country's
people wouldn't feel a pressing need to
leave.
In fact, the Havana Night Club performers
almost didn't make it to the United States
in the first place. The National Union of
Cuban Artists discouraged them from even
applying for visas. The U.S. government
initially rejected their request to perform
here. The Cuban government also put hurdles
in their way.
People from all over the world come to
perform in America, and then go home without
incident. That's largely because, to varying
degrees, most other countries recognize
individual rights and freedoms.
Performers and athletes may not earn back
home what they pocket touring the United
States, but if home is not as stifling a
place as Cuba, then the pressure to defect
isn't nearly as great.
That obviously hasn't been the case in
Cuba for 45 years.
Travel and visa restrictions imposed by
the U.S. government, including the misguided
rules promulgated by the Bush administration
this past summer, don't make things any
easier.
What happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las
Vegas, or so says a tourism campaign. For
the Havana Night Club, it was, "Get
to Vegas, stay in Vegas."
Copyright
© 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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