The
Washington Post. Letters to the editor. Douglas W. Schimmel. Saturday,
September 23, 2000; Page A22
The Sept. 2 news story about my release from prison in Cuba may have given
the mistaken impression that my imprisonment was related to money or information
given me by the Center for a Free Cuba.
Every cent provided for and spent on my trip was my own. And although I
requested it, Frank Calzon, the director of the center, did not give me the
names of dissidents to visit or of nongovernment drivers or translators to use.
I told him I had given books to an independent library in April and, hoping to
do so again, accepted eight nonpolitical books in Spanish including "Tom
Sawyer" and "Sinbad the Sailor."
Although I believe it was my videotaped interviews with such dissidents as
Elizardo Sanchez and Raul Rivero that caused me to be expelled and barred from
Cuba, I hope to some day return there to see their opinions and proposals openly
and legally expressed, reported and discussed by the Cuban people.
DOUGLAS W. SCHIMMEL
Chicago
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