Tourism Apartheid and Complicit Foreigners

In today's Huffington Post, Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez discovers that Castro's tourism apartheid persists and that it doesn't bother foreign visitors one bit:

We arrived at the dock half an hour early. The sun-burnt tourists began to board the boat. [My husband] and I reached the spectacular corner from where we took photos of that bay as big as an ocean. The dream lasted barely five minutes. When the captain heard us talking he asked if we were Cubans. He shortly informed us that we had to go ashore, "boat rides are prohibited for nationals at every marina in the country." Rage, anger, the shame of carrying a blue passport makes us guilty -- in advance -- in the eyes of the law of our own nation. A feeling of deception on comparing the official discourse of a supposed opening with the reality of exclusion and stigma. We wanted to cause a scene and cling to the railing, to compel them to remove us by force, but what would it have served? My husband dusted off his French and told the group of Europeans what was happening. They looked surprised, whispered among themselves. None of them disembarked -- in solidarity with the excluded -- from that coastal tour of our island; none of them found it intolerable to enjoy something that is forbidden to us, its natives.

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BY: EDUARDO E. RODRIGUEZ CANDELARIO


It's a complete outrage that the common Cuban nationals can not enjoy the benefits of a joyful trip through the bays of Cuba. Only the Castro brothers, their famillies and high ranking close associates are permitted such privaleges.

Is obvious that the island is the private property of only a few and not a nation of the people and by the people.


The regime has to go...

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Es una infamia que los ciudadanos cubanos comunes no pueden disfrutar de los beneficios de un viaje alegre a través de las bahías de Cuba. Sólo los hermanos Castro, su familiares y colaboradores más cercanos de alto rango se les permite privilegios tales.

Es obvio que la isla es propiedad privada de unos pocos y no una nación del pueblo y por el pueblo.


El régimen tiene que irse yá ...