U.S. denies visa to Cuban minister for black history visit

[Judi Lynn]

Sunday, February 8, 2004 Weather: CLEAR, 37°

U.S. denies visa to Cuban minister for black history visit

The Associated Press


A Baptist minister from Cuba who was expected to speak in Mobile in connection with Black History Month said he was denied a travel visa Friday by the U.S. State Department.

The Rev. Raul Suarez, pastor of Ebeneezer Baptist Church in Havana, has canceled his planned visit. Suarez has received visas to visit the United States several times over the past decade, most recently in 1999, he said.

Suarez was invited to Alabama by the Society Mobile-La Habana, a Mobile-based sister cities group. The visit, set between Feb. 14-20, was to have included speeches to local civic groups and sermons at area churches.

Suarez, who serves as director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center in Havana, also was scheduled to walk a portion of the Selma-to-Montgomery National Historic Trail and to tour Montgomery sites of significance in the civil rights movement.

Society Mobile members said they received a telephone call from a State Department official Friday informing them that Suarez's visa application, submitted on Nov. 10, had been denied.
(snip/...)

http://www.timesdaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040208/APN/402080690

[beanball]

1. Black History Month

Yo Bro Powell check into this.(Oreo Powell too busy doing the massa's work).

[mn9driver]

2. Well, gollleee, everbody knows ther's no blacks in Cuba

Ther's only Cuban commies ther. He must be comin' in wantin' to spy or something. Probly Al Qaeda.

Oh, wait, it was Brazil. That's right, our Preznit said he figgered ther was no blacks in Brazil!:dunce:

[Mika]

3. Incredible hypocrisy

If Cubans who defy the American held stereotypes of Cubans (like pastors of Baptist Churches and other religious leadership from Cuba and globally successful musicians, etc) apply for a legal visa, they are denied. Barely a peep from DUers.

If Cubans who attempt to illegally enter the US who have failed a legal US immigration application (and who recklessly endanger small children on leaky car/truck rafts) and are caught at sea, then they have this admin pushing for their entry into the USA. With plenty of DUers support.


ex: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=350908

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=346436

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=31230&mesg_id=31230