January 12, 2021
Honorable President-Elect Joseph R. Biden
1401 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20230
Dear President-Elect Biden:
As progressive and moderate Cuban Americans, we feel strongly that we must write you now—despite the many challenges you face–to request that you move as quickly as possible on your commitment to reverse the cruel measures taken by the previous administration against our community and our families in Cuba. As you know, there is a near ban on remittances to our families, severe limitations on travel to all but the Havana airport, and a near complete closure of our embassy on the island, which practically eliminates the issuance of emigration or travel visas for family reunification. Our community and our families in Cuba are hurting because of these and many other measures, too many to detail here, and which are especially inexplicable in the middle of a worldwide COVID-19 catastrophe.
In a more fundamental way, we also urge that your administration move rapidly to re-establish the policies of engagement with the island that you and President Obama initiated in 2014. That policy, with the more than twenty now largely frozen bilateral agreements resulting from it, were beneficial to both our countries, were strongly welcomed by Cubans on both sides of the Florida straits, and opened the way to more cooperation.
Moreover, as you know, the media have widely reported that some 55% of our compatriots in Southern Florida voted against you, and that the Democratic party had not paid sufficient attention to the everyday needs of Latinos, including Cuban Americans, while the Republicans did. With your victory, however, you now have time to reverse this pattern before the 2022 and 2024 elections, starting with the 40-45% of us who did vote for you, and the many more who yearn for domestic policies that support working people—as most Cuban Americans are—as well as a realistic policy of engagement with the island.
We are keenly aware of the many serious challenges you face, including the urgent needs to control Covid-19, strengthen our economy, and revitalize our alliances around the world, with the resulting demands on your time and the time of your team. Yet we feel strongly that this is an important issue to address soon, for its implications for our families, for our country, for the region, and, just as important, for the political future in Southern Florida.
In closing, we want to remember President’s Obama historic speech on March 22, 2016, in Havana, when he said that “what the United States was doing was not working…the embargo was only hurting the Cuban people instead of helping them.” That is even more true today, when the COVID-19 crisis is severely punishing Cuba and us alike.
Please feel free to contact us if we can be of any help in this endeavor.
Respectfully yours,
Manuel R. Gómez, DrPH, MS, Occupational and Environmental Health Consultant, Washington, DC, mrgomez48@gmail.com
Mariana Gastón , Educational Consultant, Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility, Trainer/ Staff Developer, New York City, marianagaston33@gmail.com
Álvaro Fernandez, Journalist, Editor and Director, Progreso Semanal, Miami, FL, alfernandez1522@gmail.com
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Apolinar Lorenzo Alzaga, M.SW, Puerto Rico
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Joe Arriola, Miami, FL
Silvia Arrom, MA, Professor Emerita, Brandeis University, MA
Jose L. Arroyo Miami, FL
Beatriz Bustamante, Miami, FL
Raul Alzaga, Businessman, Puerto Rico
Tahimi Arboleya, Journalist/editor, Miami, FL
Annie Betancourt, Attorney, Miami, FL
Ramon Bueno, Massachusetts, Attorney
Marta Bustillo Hernandez, Puerto Rico, Professor, University Puerto Rico
Maria Caceres, Businesswoman, Miami, FL,
Lorenzo Cañizares, Miami, FL
Tomas Carmelo, Miami Beach, FL
Maria Campos-Pons, Professor, Vanderbilt University, TN
Amaury Cruz, Miami Beach, FL
Emilio Cueto, Attorney, DC
Sylvia Correa, Attorney, DC
Angel Domingues, retired Union organizer, FL
Miguel Estrada, Washington State, Tailandia
Álvaro Fernández, Editor, Journalist, Miami, FL
Delvis Fernandez Levy, PhD, Cuban American Alliance, CA
Albert A. Fox, Tampa, FL
Elena Freyre, Miami, FL
Ricardo Fraga, Puerto Rico
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Mayra García Miami, FL
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Gustavo Gómez , Engineer, MN
Manuel Gómez, DrPH, MS, DC
Ernesto Gómez, Miami, FL
Jose Gonzalez, Hialeah, FL
Jose Luis Gonzales, FL
Lucía M. Gonzalez, Miami, Fl
Ricardo Gonzalez Businessman, Miami, FL
Guillermo Grenier, PhD, Professor, Miami, FL
Alberto Nelson Jones, FL
Ana Joa Zayas,
Dinorah de Jesús Rodriguez, Miami, FL
Carlos Lazo, Teacher, OR
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Lillian Manzor, PhD, Associate Professor, Miami, FL
Felix Masud-Piloto, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, IL
Maria Marqués
Concha Mendoza MD, NYC
Daniel Merida, CT
Judith Merida, CT
Dr. Solomon Mikowsky , Professor, Musician, CT
Arturo O’Farrill, Professor, Musician, CA
Jose R. Oro, CT
Ricardo Otheguy, PhD, CUNY, NYC
Aidil Oscariz, Inmigration Attorney, Miami, FL
Linel Paz, Miami, FL
Jose A. Pelaez, Puerto Rico
Magaly Peña, CT
Camila Piñeiro Harnecker, DC
Mary L. Porfido, CT
Julio Ruiz, MD, Miami, FL
Carmen Rumbaut
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Together vs the Blockade against Cuba 