News Articles

CUBAN AMERICAN NATIONAL FOUNDATION RESPONDS TO CASTRO REGIME’S FALSE RUMORS

In yet another effort to pressure President Obama’s Administration to free the five Cuban spies who were accomplices to the shoot down of the Brothers to the Rescue planes in February of 1996, the Castro regime finds itself pushing a disinformation campaign about a possible negotiation in which Cardinal Jaime Ortega of Cuba’s Catholic Church could be the mediator.

The Cuban American National Foundation would like to thank the Catholic Church and the Spanish Government for negotiating the release of 52 political prisoners in Cuba. The agreement comes after months of talks between Roman Catholic leaders and the Castro regime.

The Cuban American National Foundation mourns the passing of our dear friend Senator Paula Hawkins.  Throughout her dynamic career, Senator Hawkins was a champion of many issues from children’s rights to healthcare, and as an organization dedicated to fighting for the freedom of the Cuban people, we were fortunate to have Senator Hawkins as an ally in our particular struggle. 

The Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) today welcomed actions by the Obama Administration to expand family travel, remittances and gift parcels to Cuba.   Among the amendments to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR) are unlimited family travel and remittances, an expansion of the definition of relative to include non-nuclear family members, a lifting of the weight limit on personal baggage incident to family travel to Cuba and an increase in the per diem travel rate to equal that of the State Department’s.

Despite press reports stating that Cuba has been unconditionally readmitted into the Organization of American States, the Cuban American National Foundation has confirmed with the U. S. Department of State that the United States has insisted that language be included in the final approved resolution at today’s OAS meeting in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, explicitly stating that any return to the hemispheric organization by Cuba must be in full compliance with the practices, principles, and purposes of the OAS, defined as those embodied in the institution’s Charter and the fundamental instruments of the organization, such as the Inter-American Democratic Charter, promoting democracy and human rights.

The member nations of the OAS showed flexibility and openness today, and as a result we reached a consensus that focuses on the future instead of the past: Cuba can come back into the OAS in the future if the OAS decides that its participation meets the purposes and principles of the organization, including democracy and human rights. Many member countries originally sought to lift the 1962 suspension and allow Cuba to return immediately, without conditions.

The third annual Global Day of Support for the "Con la Misma Moneda" Campaign took place on May 26^th, 2009, with a demonstrations held in 25 cities of 20 countries to support this effort headed by the Cuban chapter of the Federation of Latin American Rural Women (FLAMUR).

The Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) sees the Obama Administration’s move to resume migration talks with the Cuban regime as an opportunity to resolve issues of United States national interest. The possibility of resuming such talks was announced late Friday afternoon.

During the last three decades, the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) has remained on the forefront of efforts for the restoration of liberty, democracy, and human rights in Cuba. CANF has been instrumental in the creation of Radio and Television Marti; the passing of the Torricelli Bill and the Helms-Burton Act; the reunification, through its Cuban Exodus Relief Fund, of more than ten thousand Cuban families forcibly separated by the Castro regime; and the condemnation of the Castro government in many international forums for its continued violation of the human rights of Cuba’s people.

(Reuters) - The number of Cuban Americans visiting Cuba is up 20 percent so far this year and will likely keep rising as Washington eases travel restrictions, the Cuban tour operator for U.S. traffic said on Wednesday. Antonio Diaz Medina, vice president of Havanatur, said arrivals picked up after the U.S. Congress in March eased a Bush administration measure that restricted Cuban American visits to once every three years. "The flights from the United States carried about 85,000 last year and so far this year arrivals have been about 40,000," Diaz said in an interview. Diaz said an additional increase in visitors was expected during the summer after President Barack Obama signed an executive order last month lifting all restrictions on Cuban Americans visiting relatives. Diaz spoke as Cuba's annual tourism convention unfolded at the colonial-era Morro Cabanas fortress overlooking Havana Bay, where talk among officials and tour operators centered on whether the gathering would be the last without a large American presence.

AS I AND THE MEMBERS OF THE ASSAULT BRIGADE 2506 commemorate the 48th Anniversary of our Bay of Pigs invasion, I find my feelings to be a mixture of sadness and pride. Sadness, because after all this time, the Cuban people continue to suffer under a military dictatorship that, with the exception of the United States, is not only accepted but actively assisted by many countries of the Free World. Yet, at the same time, the pride that I feel comes from remembering the courage and love for their homeland that the members of the Cuban exile Assault Brigade 2506 showed on the battlefield on April 17, 1961...

Letter to the Summit of the Americas, April 17-19, 2009 in Trinidad & Tobago
By the Ladies in White ( Damas de Blanco), Cuba
TO: Presidents, Prime Ministers or Representatives of the Nations of the Americas

The Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) praised the Obama Administration today in a press conference held immediately after the White House announced changes to existing Cuba regulations.   During today’s press briefing, the White House announced a series of measures that included the lifting of all restrictions on travel and remittances by Cuban Americans to the island.    In addition, it lifted restrictions placed on humanitarian gift parcels, going beyond reverting to 2004 regulations and allowing for any U.S. citizen to send humanitarian aid to individual Cubans.

The White House announced that it is abandoning longstanding restrictions on family travel, remittances and gifts to Cuba, and is also taking steps to open up telecommunications with the island, a significant shift in policy that fulfills a promise President Obama made during his election campaign. Following is a fact sheet provided by the White House:

Since the end of the Cold War our policy toward Cuba has remained static, reactive and focused on responding to developments following the demise of Fidel Castro. That policy, in our opinion, does not advance or promote the best interests of the United States or of the Cuban people; it relegates the U.S.’s role to that of passive observer rather than active supporter of the process of democratization for one of our closest hemispheric neighbors.

Late yesterday, and in accordance to measures passed in the omnibus spending bill, the Department of Treasury modified regulations pertaining to family travel to Cuba. The new measures overturn the Bush Administrations 2004 policy which restricted visits by nuclear family members to Cuba to once only every three years, measures which the Cuban American National Foundation has firmly opposed since their implementation.

After weeks of persistent calls for a revision of U.S. policy towards Cuba and just weeks before the Summit of the America's is to take place, the Cuban regime under Raul Castro has moved to deflate any hope of change by purging three of its highest profile civilian Cabinet Ministers, Carlos Lage, Jose Luis Rodriguez, and Felipe Perez Roque.   In light of these changes, the Cuban American National Foundation considers of importance to point out the following:

  La Habana, February 29, 2009. Dozens of human Rights activists participated in sit-ins at restaurants in 4 of Cuba's provinces launching the third phase of the "Con la Misma Moneda" (With the Same Currency) campaign.   The unprecedented sit-ins took place in Pinar del Rio, Havana, Matanzas, and Santiago de Cuba.

  Today the General Accounting Office (GAO) released a report regarding the performance of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB) which oversees the operations of both Radio and Television Marti. The report cites a series of problems with management, oversight, and programming content and provides a body of recommendations to address those concerns.  

  The Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) today congratulates President Barack Obama on his swearing in as our nation's 44^th President.   President Obama's historic election comes at a time when our nation faces many challenges both at home and abroad.    One of those challenges will be how to promote the development of democracy in nations like Cuba that continue to suffer under dictatorial rule.