U.S man arrested as US Congress takes its foot off the accelerator concerning lifting travel restrictions
The flurry of news emanating from the U.S between June and October concerning the possible lifting of travel restrictions seems to have died down. Many consider this is because Cuba is refusing to reciprocate or make any democratic concessions whatsoever. Others are suggesting that Raul Castro sees the arrival of millions of US citizens to the Cuban shores as a massive risk to national security and the Cuban government’s idealisms and thus, any opportunity to fester anxiety between the two historical foes is immediately promoted from the Cuban side. The opportunity arose mid December for the Cuban government to scuttle any thoughts the U.S congress may have had that it is time to relax the ban when the authorities arrested a U.S citizen apparently handing out cell phones and laptops in Cuba. For those who have visited Cuba the first thing that springs to mind is
“How did this person get so many phones and laptops into Cuba?”
This question must be asked because even taking just one laptop to Cuba as personal property usually means registering it at customs and filling out a myriad of paperwork then getting a document placed in ones passport (and on the immigration computer) obliging that the Laptop of that exact serial number be presented when one leaves the island. In fact, failure to bring the laptop upon departure means refused exit…
So, maybe there is more to this than meets the eye. What is blatantly obvious is that this gentleman could not have been working alone and if he was handing out multiple laptops and mobile phones then a series of people must have imported these somehow held them in storage then given them to the arrested individual? This then means that the actions were intentionally covert. It would probably mean that this was a whole operation requiring several individuals over a long period of time that brought the Laptops and Cell phones into Cuba prior to distribution.
Most people skim over this type of news with the minds firmly placed in the US or another democratic country where traveling with 1, 2 or 10 laptops is not an issue.
What is less publicized is the fact that this gentleman being held in custody is being held to establish who his Cuban coconspirators were who will now, undoubtedly, be under arrest and in some Cuban prison for simply helping this man and long after his release is organized the Cuban nationals will be held indefinitely on “anti-revolutionary” charges. This is the saddest part of these U.S attempts to democratize Cuba, the people who get left behind and simply forgotten in Cuban cells.
