I have curiously followed the debate within the exiled community about traveling to Cuba as soon as you receive legal status in North America, after having received the status of potential political victim. This shows me two things: that Cubans have privileges and they take advantage of them, and that the world has changed since the time of the approval of the famous law.
I wasn’t thinking about the David Rivera* changes, however, that have their community divided with the project. I was thinking that the Cuban government just issued a conspiratorial wink with certain provisions which eliminate the “mules,” a reason that became increasingly common to come back to visit Cuba.
But this is an anecdote, told with that triviality that people already know me by. The politician will follow with his politics and we’ll be separated by 45 minutes of the most expensive airplanes there are. To travel or not to travel is a sentimental and ethical dilemma.
*Translator’s note: David Rivera is a U.S. Congressman from Florida who has proposed legislation that would revoke the residency status of any Cuban who has claimed political asylum in the U.S. and then travels back to Cuba. His bill has no co-sponsors.
Translated by: Michelle Eddy
July 13 2012
