[Marxism] 10/03/04 - CounterPunch - Banning Cuban Academics and Writers

["Cuba-L Direct \(nv\)" <nvaldes@xxxxxxx>]

10/03/04 - CounterPunch - Banning Cuban Academics and Writers

Habana Night vs. Latin American Scholars in Vegas
By NELSON P. VALDES

When it comes to Cuba matters US policy defies reason.

A month ago, Siegfried and Roy presented Havana Night Club at The Stardust 
Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The dance/entertainment company Havana 
Night managed to get visas to work in Las Vegas. Fifty three performers plus 
the support personnel from Cuba stayed in that city and had room and board as 
well as pay for their excellent show. Apparently the Bush administration 
thought that was ok.

Now 61 Cuban scholars and writers have been denied the right to participate in 
the Latin American Studies Association convention in Las Vegas. It should be 
noted that the Cuban scholars were to give papers and lectures and engage in 
intellectual exchanges with their colleagues. At LASA no one was getting paid. 
The Cuban scholars represented numerous disciplines and perspectives.

It is clear that the Geroge W Bush administration considers the exchange of 
ideas a threat while skimpily dressed men and women from Cuba can go and 
entertain Americans in Las Vegas casinos. Perhaps the anti-Castro fanatics in 
Miami and DC believe that, in some unstated fashion, Havana Night was 
contributing to "regime change" and the "democratization" of Cuban society, 
while those Cuban scholars were not.

Just a few weeks ago, former members of the Cuban American National Foundation 
lobbied to have the visas issued for the Havana Night performers. But they 
certainly did not do the same for the LASA conventioneers.

We have heard from the US Treasury Department and the White House that the 
Havana Night crowd were "independents", while the scholars were government 
employees. Yet, Havana Night is a joint enterprise between a German corporation 
and the Cuban Ministry of Culture, and so in that sense are just as much (or as 
little) "employed by the Cuban government" as the many talented performers the 
State Department has recently accepted. Or as the professors and researchers 
who were just denied. It should be pointed out that the LASA scholars were 
invited for the academic work they have done in the past.

Granted, singing and dancing is more in line with what Cubans, traditionally, 
are supposed to rather than think. That, after all, is the dreamed "Cuba de 
ayer."

Perhaps next time Cuban scholars wishing to enter the United States should 
dress up for the ocassion and show the officials in DC that they can dance and 
show some flesh. Chanting "Babalú" might even help. In the so-called "Battle of 
Ideas" the United States government prefers not to engage. 

Nelson Valdes is a professor of sociology specializing in Latin America at the 
University of New Mexico. He can be reached at: nvaldes@xxxxxxx

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