St. Paul recorder., 1963-01-17

enced to three
months in prison
Everett LuOma and nine months
probation on Sept. 18th, 1862, for
illegal reentry" without a pass
port into the United States from
Cuba. His case is now on appeal.
William Worthy therefore becomes
a test of the us. application of
Article 13, of the United Nations
Universal Declaration Of Human
Rights; Everyone has the right to
leave any country, including his
own, and to return to his country" !"
Worthy, whose passport was
taken away following an unauth-
orized trip to Communist China
in 1857, spent IL weeks in Cuba
in the fall of 1861. On October 10,
1861, he flew to Miami from Hav-
ana, and was passed through GUS
toms after showing a copy of his
birth certificate. On April "a, 1862,
six and a half months later, he was
indicted under section 11S5 (b)
of the McCarran immigration Act,
and on August 9Th he was convict
ed after a five-hour trial.
Ever since January, 1861, when
the Eisenhower Administration
broke diplomatic relations with
Cuba, special State Department
permission has been required to go
there. But as the FBI Is well
aware, travel to Cuba by way of
Mexico, Canada, and Jamaica is so
common that Richard Starnes, col
umnist for the cons ervativ
Scripps Howard newspaper chain
stated: "(Worthy was) convicted
and sentenced to prison because of
what he wrote about Cuba, not
because Of any technical violation
of the law"
Worthy has been getting into
trouble of this kind on four con-
tinents for a number Of years. In
1855 he remained in the USSR for
five months on a two-month Sow
let visa. In 1856 Worthy entered
the Union Of South Africa without
visa and risked a Jail sentence
for his shortwave broadcasts fronS
Pretoria over the CHS network.
Later that year he spent Al days
in Communist China without us.
permission. His stories in the Afro
American, the New York Post, and
on CHS were the last reports out
of that country by an accredited
American correspondent. On his
return, the then Secretary Of State
John Foster Dulles first threat
ened him with fines and imprison-
ment under the 1917 Trading with
the Enemy Act, then offered to
renew his passport II he would
sign an oath promising not to re-
turn to China. Worthy refused to
take what he called a degrading,
humiliating. and repressive oath"
and his passport was revoked.
While that passport case was in
the courts, Worthy was awarded
some Of the highest honors in his
profession. In 1956-57 he held a
Nieman fellowship at Harvard, and
in 1859 he was given Ford Founda-
ton grants in African studies. He
also won Freedom of Information
Awards from the Boston Press
Club and the Capitol Press Club.
Passportless, Worthy took pas
sage last year on a ship bound for
Mexico, got off in Havana instead,
and sent back a series Of articles.
Although critical Of some aspects
Of the Castro regime, he was i'm
pressed by its achievements in edu-
cation and housing and by its cam
paign against racial discrimina-
ton. On his return, Dade County,
Florida, authorities detained him
for six hours, searched his luggage,
went through his papers and ques-
toned him closely. They saw no
grounds for arresting him, how
ever, and admitted him into the
country. Six and a half months
later he was indicted.