1,000 WI Voters Tell Bush: End the Travel Ban to Cuba,
while local GOP candidates split;
Federal Government Agrees to Drop all Charges against
Milwaukee's "Methodist 3"
(11/1/04)
As both John Kerry and George W. Bush attempted to woo Wisconsin voters within a few
block of each other in Milwaukee on the eve of the election, some 1,000 voters from the
state in signed petitions to President Bush pledged to vote and also to "seriously consider
your actions to further restrict our freedom to travel, and your directives to take U.S.
resources and staff away from tracking terrorists and instead have them track and harass
peaceful U.S. tourists exercising their right to travel to Cuba."
Meanwhile three of the four major party candidates for the two Milwaukee area congressional
seats said it was time to end the travel restrictions; and federal officials in Washington also
agreed after nearly six years to dismiss all charges against three Milwaukee church people
who visited their sister church in Cuba. They were among about two dozen people being
prosecuted in a special court in Washington for traveling to Cuba, according to Atty. Arthur
Heitzer of Milwaukee.
"The campaign to end the travel restrictions has always been a non-partisan effort," Atty.
Heitzer stated, on behalf of the Wisconsin Coalition to Normalize Relations with Cuba. He
praised 19 Republican senators who last year joined with most Democrats in a strong
Senate vote and consistent majorities in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives to
end the travel ban. "However, the Bush administration then did the opposite, putting on trial
Milwaukee churchpeople for traveling to Cuba on a clear religious mission, and recently
making most visits by Cuban Americans to their relatives in Cuba illegal. We previously
submitted over 500 signatures on petitions to both of our senators, who are now very
supportive, but they said we needed to try to influence the President," Heitzer added. On
Friday President Bush, campaigning in Florida, pledged to bring about regime change in
Cuba, if given four more years. Sen. Kerry has favored restoring "principled travel" to Cuba,
and has consistently voted to end U.S. travel restrictions.
Last week the GOP congressional candidates for Wisconsin's 4th & 5th Districts split on
this issue. At an Oct 28th Fourth Street Forum broadcast on Milwaukee Public Television,
Republican hopeful Gerald Boyle joined the Democratic nominee for the 4th District, Gwen
Moore and the Democratic challenger in the 5th C.D., Brian Kennedy, in calling for an end
to travel ban and U.S. trade sanctions, which were described as failed policies which
prevented interaction between the peoples of the U.S. and Cuba, as well as hurting Cuban
families. The 5th C.D. incumbent, James Sensenbrenner, opposed lifting the ban, saying
that proceeds from US travel would only help the Castro regime.
Heitzer said "It is the Bush administration which still seems out of touch with the majority
of both the country and congress on this issue," noting the lack of interest in even receiving
the petitions. He said he called three local offices of the GOP or Bush re-election, hoping
they could facilitate getting the petitions to President Bush in conjunction with his visit here.
"I was referred to the main Bush campaign office on Mayfair Road, but when the campaign
representative, who refused to give his name, heard that the topic was about travel to Cuba,
he said they would not accept them and they should instead be faxed to the White House."
Heitzer then went to the Bush rally on Monday in a further attempt to deliver them, getting
within 20 feet of the President, who was shaking some hands during his entrance into the
rally in downtown Milwaukee, "but I guess close only counts in horseshoes," Heitzer added.
He said the many pages of petitions would be faxed to the White House on election day.
"I hope they take them."
ALL CHARGES TO BE DROPPED AGAINST THE METHODIST 3
Meanwhile, Heitzer announced that the Treasury Department has ordered an end to nearly
six years of threats and legal prosecution of Milwaukee's so-called Methodist 3, without
requiring any fines or other penalty from them. They were among six members of
Milwaukee's oldest Methodist Church, Central United Methodist, who visited their sister
church in Havana to help celebrate its 100th anniversary, who were charged earlier this
year with spending between $40 and $70 apiece, resulting in government demands for
penalties totally $22.500. "Whether based on political or legal grounds, or both," Heitzer
added, "we are glad that the government recently ordered their cases to be settled and
dismissed, based only on the condition that the Methodist 3 drop their counterclaims
against the government." Their counterclaims alleged interference with their religion and
also racial profiling, in that most of the white members of the delegation were never
prosecuted while both African-Americans have been, with no explanation ever coming from
the government to explain this discrepancy. Heitzer said that information on their case, as
well as the petitions, were being circulated widely during the election campaign in
Wisconsin, and that negotiating final language for the dismissals had been taking place
during the last several weeks.