July 14, 2005

They must have meant it as a joke. Otherwise, how can you explain the White House's "generous" offer to hurricane-ravaged Cuba of $50,000 worth of disaster relief? But it wasn't funny at all.

That is, after Hurricane Dennis killed 16 people and caused $1.4 billion in property damage in the Caribbean nation with a population of 11 million, the President of the richest country in the world "generously" offered to donate - listen to this - $50,000, not enough money even for the down payment on a so-so Brooklyn condo.

Funny, these people are not. Although it would certainly be laughable if, as has been reported, the administration's sensibilities were offended by Fidel Castro's rejection of the U.S. "help" on Cuban national TV.

"Cuba declined the offer and it is said that Washington 'felt hurt' by the Cuban rejection of such a ridiculous offer," Max Lesnick, a Cuban-American Miami radio journalist, commented on Tuesday. "You can arrive at your own conclusions."

For the people of Cuba, the impact of Dennis was no joke: 16 dead, 150,000 homes and buildings damaged or destroyed, and more than $1.4 billion in material destruction and climbing. Cuba needs serious help.

And were it not for the absurdly cruel restrictions imposed by President Bush last year, thousands of Cuban-Americans, desperate to help their families and friends in need on the island, would already be doing so.

Which is why Rep. José E. Serrano (D-Bronx) introduced a congressional resolution on Tuesday asking the President to "temporarily suspend restrictions on remittances, gift parcels, and family travel to Cuba to allow Cuban-Americans to assist their relatives in Cuba in the aftermath of Hurricane Dennis."

Current restrictions limit family visits to the island to once every three years. Also, Cuban-Americans can only send $300 in remittances per quarter to "immediate" family members - no aunts, uncles or cousins. Even shipments of food, clothing and medical supplies are severely restricted.

Which means that even in this time of overwhelming need, it is a crime for Cuban-Americans to help their own families in Cuba. A really sick joke.

The desire to help friends and family is so powerful that Cuban-American individuals and groups of different political positions are united in asking for the lifting of the restrictions.

One of those organizations is the militantly anti-Castro Christian Democratic Party of Cuba, based in Miami.

"The national secretariat of the party, in an emergency session held on July 11, decided to adopt this policy [to ask for a suspension of sanctions]" read a press release signed by its president, Marcelino Miyares, a veteran of the Bay of Pigs.

Serrano, in his resolution, asks the President to "put politics aside and temporarily relax the Cuba restriction that are preventing Cuban-Americans from helping their families on the island."

Let's not forget that this matter, urgent as it is, comes up only because the U.S policy towards Cuba is not only inhumane but conterproductive.

A whole new, rational approach to relations between the two countries is urgently needed, based on dialogue, open travel and increased trade.

In the meantime, allowing Cuban-Americans to exercise their right to solidarity is no laughing matter and demands the administration's immediate attention.

No one should doubt that once restrictions are lifted, Cuban-Americans, worried as they are about their loved ones on the island, will take care of them.

And the President will be able to save the $50,000 he so "generously" offered to the hurricane-ravaged people of Cuba.