April 11, 2003

On April 4, LAWG joined other organizations in signing a letter to the chief of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, DC, to “express our profound concern at the arrest of more than 70 Cuban citizens in recent days, and to urge their immediate release.” The signers of the letter are Washington-based policy analysts who support and actively work for changes in US policy towards Cuba that would ease the embargo.

The letter said: “We are Americans who promote changes in U.S. policy toward Cuba because we believe that greater contact between our societies will both help resolve current issues and prepare the way for improved relations in the future. We will continue that work based on our view that it serves the interests of both our peoples.

“In the course of our work many of us have met many of the Cubans who have been arrested for advocating ideas that do not coincide with those of your government. We fail to understand how these ideas can constitute a threat to Cuba’s security. To the contrary, we can only believe that a strong competition of ideas will help Cubans to chart their future.

“We know that Cuba has expressed serious grievances regarding the conduct of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana. We believe these grievances should be resolved between the governments, using the channels of communication and the tools available to them.

“We therefore add our voices to the many others who call for the freedom of all those Cubans who have recently been imprisoned for their political activism.”

The Latin America Working Group has also, in an April 7 letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell, reiterated the concerns we expressed to the Cuban Interests Section. In addition, we communicated to Secretary Powell our urging that “the Department of State and the Bush Administration . . . take immediate measures to reduce these tensions” through diplomatic means.