OAS Protest 40

Although this is early on in the protest and not many protesters were there yet, this was the most heated exchanges between the Cubans, Haitians and Anti-Bush protesters in general. Some of what transpires is difficult to understand because of language difficulties of the protesters, so I will try and give you a run down as best I can. I will tell you to the best of my knowledge what each group is there for.


Haitians: Want the same treatment Cubans get when they come to the United States. There is a policy called Wet Foot/Dry Foot for Cubans that states if a Cuban trying to come to the United States makes it to US shore they will not be sent back to Cuba, if they are however caught out at sea by the Coast Guard they may be sent back. When Haitians are caught at sea or on US soil they are almost always sent back to Haiti. The Haitians clam many are killed on return. The Haitians were also pointing out that US Cubans are getting special treatment from the Bush administration and use the Luis Posada case as an example. Luis Posada was a terrorist that blew up a passenger aircraft killing everyone on board and also set off bombs in hotels in Cuba. He has been in exile in the US for some time now and is not being extradited back to Cuba or Venezuela for this crime. The Haitians are also mad at the Bush administration for sponsoring the violent overthrow and forced exile of Haiti’s President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Hundreds of Haitians have died as a result of this made-in-the-USA coup. In cities that fell “Gonaives and Cap Haitien”, gunmen have reportedly carried out a house-to-house manhunt for government supporters, executing those who failed to escape. The Haitians claim things are only getting worse in Haiti now and want President Jean-Bertrand Aristide back in office.

Cubans: I believe they were just protesting anyone that would speak out against the Bush administration. The US Cubans in Miami as a lobbying group are very powerful in Washington. In my opinion the Bush administration is throwing them little bits of what they want, but what they ultimately want is for Fidel Castro to be thrown out of office. Some of you may not know this but President John F. Kennedy signed a treaty stating that the US would never invade Cuba in return for the Soviet Union to pull their nukes out of Cuba. Before this a failed US lead invasion of Cuba called “The Bay of Pigs” happened. Many Cubans were trained here in the US and sent to Cuba to fight and over throw Fidel Castro. Cubans claim the Kennedy administration did not back the invasion with proper military support and it subsequently failed. Because President John F. Kennedy was a democrat most US Cubans never vote democrat and almost always support Republican candidates.

Other Anti-Bush Protesters: This group is made up of people from many walks of life that are unhappy with many of the Bush administration’s policies. The grievances range from Environmental to Anti-War beliefs. I am going to group the other political groups in this one as well because of their beliefs on the above mentioned.

If you would like to see video from this event please go HERE