Promises island nation will topple America's Cuban Adjustment Act
By I. J. Toby Westerman. WorldNetDaily.com. Saturday May 20 2000.
After declaring victory in the Elian Gonzalez case, Cuban President Fidel Castro has announced that his communist state will now turn its attention to toppling the Cuban Adjustment Act, the 34-year-old U.S. law that allows Cuban refugees immediate political asylum in the United States.
"Many believe that Cuba has worn itself out with all the daily meetings, marches and televised round table discussions on the plight of Elian," said Castro, "but the island is capable of waging a struggle twice as powerful and efficient as the one began last year demanding Elian's
return."
"The struggle will continue -- this time against Washington's Cuban Adjustment Act."
Castro's remarks were reported by Radio Habana Cuba, the official broadcasting service of the Cuban government.
Castro's comments regarding the Cuban Adjustment Act followed closely upon his boast that Elian's Miami relatives have lost their fight and that the young refugee will soon return to Cuba. Castro issued his statements at the closing session of the ninth annual Congress of the National
Association of Small Farmers.
The U.S. Congress can expect to be the target of increased Cuban propaganda activities since the case of Elian Gonzalez has given the Cuban dictator a new appreciation for the influence he has upon U.S. public opinion.
Castro was pleasantly surprised by the degree of cooperation the U.S. media provided him in the Elian Gonzalez case and its effect upon the U.S. populace.
"This is a lesson for us," Castro stated in an impromptu press conference in late April. U.S. public opinion "should be taken into account" in future struggles with the U.S. government.
In addition to a Cuba-friendly U.S. media, Castro can also count upon the cooperation and assistance of pro-Cuban "solidarity" groups within the United States. Such "solidarity" groups are present in some 120 nations around the world, according to the Cuban foreign ministry.
Castro's own media, however, have been on the defensive. Not everyone, it seems, is content in this tropical communist paradise -- the "freest nation on earth," in the words of the Cuban ruler. In an account carried by Radio Habana, the Cuban press reported on a May 2 meeting between
Polish government officials and Cuban dissidents in Havana. According to the Cuban press, the Polish delegation was accused of "systematically working to destabilize Cuba's government."
Officially, the Polish delegation was sent to Cuba to address means of increasing scientific and technological cooperation between Cuba and Poland. Members of the delegation, however, also met with Cuban dissidents of the Religious-Civic Training Center and discussed methods used by the
Solidarity movement in the 1980s against the communist government of Poland.
Cuban authorities were concerned that the same tactics used against the communist government in Poland would be applied to the struggle against Castro's regime.
The meeting with Cuban dissidents is alleged to have occurred at the home of the head of the Polish embassy in Havana.
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