From: nyt%nyxfer%igc.apc.org@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu (NY Transfer News)
Subject: State Dept. denies visa to mayor of Havana /ww
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: The NY Transfer News Service
Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 20:03:17 GMT

Subj: STATE DEPT. DENIES VISA TO MAYOR OF HAVANA
U.S. State Dept. denies visa to mayor of Havana, Cuba;

Blocks invitation from Detroit City Council

By Cheryl LaBash  Detroit

A three-day visit to Detroit in early September by the mayor of
Havana, Cuba--Pedro Chavez--was abruptly canceled after the U.S.
State Department, citing a presidential proclamation, denied a
visa request. A week earlier the State Department denied visas to
three Cuban union leaders, blocking a six-week nationwide tour
organized by elected U.S. labor union officials and activists.

Both cases continue the 32-year history of U.S. aggression
against the Cuban people, their government and chosen social
system. The State Department's actions also deny U.S. residents'
right to free association.

Detroit City Council President Maryann Mahaffey and Detroit City
Councilperson Clyde Cleveland had invited the Havana mayor to
visit Detroit. Both Mahaffey and Cleveland visited Havana last
December at the invitation of Mayor Chavez.

Despite the denial, the planned events--a welcome by Detroit City
Council, a reception and public meetings in Detroit and Ann
Arbor--went on as scheduled. The first secretary of the Cuban
Interest Section in Washington, D.C., spoke in place of the
banned Mayor Chavez.

Mahaffey said: "The invitation was extended to Mayor Chavez by
elected officials of Detroit to promote educational and cultural
ties between two important cities of our two countries. That the
president of the U.S. can arbitrarily prevent an elected official
of this country from hosting a welcome for an elected official of
Cuba underscores the need for normalization of relations between
our two countries."

"It's time for the last of the Cold-War barriers to come down,"
said Cleveland. "People-to-people exchanges between Cuba and the
U.S. and a commitment to mutual non-interference in the affairs
of our respective countries can only be of benefit to everyone in
this hemisphere."

Participants in the first two Labor Seminars in Cuba would
certainly agree that people-to-people exchanges are positiv. But
when those participants invited three Cuban union leaders to come
to the U.S. for a six-week national tour to 14 cities, both times
the visas were blocked.

The State Department tried to justify the denial by stating that
an AFL-CIO request for visas had not been answered by the Cuban
government. Labor activists find it very strange indeed that the
U.S. government is so concerned now about the rights of union
officials.

Isn't the State Department an arm of the same government that
smashed the air traffic controllers' union, PATCO, in 1981,
upholds the use of scab strikebreakers, refuses to enact even
unpaid family leave or any form of national health care? Perhaps
this concern surfaces only when a union can be used as a
spearhead against workers in Cuba and advance the 32-year
blockade of that small island, the military occupation of
Guantanamo naval base and the constant threat of U.S. invasion
like the Bay of Pigs debacle in 1961.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Cuba Labor Exchange noted: "The U.S.
government is not denying visas to Cuban unionists out of concern
for the rights of the AFL-CIO or the rights of workers in Cuba.
The U.S. government is denying visas not only to Cuban union
leaders, but to elected Cuban officials like the Mayor Chavez of
Havana.

"Visas were denied to Cuban sports figures, artists and religious
leaders who were invited to attend the Peace for Cuba rallies in
New York and San Francisco. This is part of the vicious blockade
imposed on Cuba by the United States that has denied food and
medicine and pressured other countries not to trade with Cuba.
The State Department is trying to use this phony concern to
confuse and derail the growing support for honest and respectful
exchange between workers in the U.S. and workers in Cuba based on
recognizing the sovereignty of the Cuban people."

Resolutions supporting visas for the three Cuban union leaders
were passed by many local unions and several California central
labor councils. Peace for Cuba resolutions were submitted to the
AFSCME and Service Employees conventions this year.

The U.S.-Cuba Labor Exchange is sponsoring the third labor
seminar this November. Although the deadline is nearing, space is
still available. Unionists can call or fax (313) 836-3752 to get
an application or more information.

(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted
if source is cited. For more info contact Workers World,46 W. 21
St., New York, NY 10010; "workers@mcimail.com".)


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