The latest part of the nuttiness: loyalty tests. A small clip from my buddy Ann Louise Bardach's LAT op-ed:
Hundreds of Cuban artists and scholars — many of them critics of Castro — have been barred from visiting the U.S. on the grounds of "national security" since the Bush administration instituted a litmus test demanded by Miami hard-liners.
The test: No high-profile Cuban artist gets a visa unless he or she is willing to publicly denounce Castro or, better yet, defect.
If you don't play Miami hardball politics, you don't get to come here.
I'd have trouble believing if it weren't for what I know about Claudia Marquez and family.
Marquez was an independent journalist in Cuba repeatedly harrassed by the state security. Her husband, Osvaldo Alfonso was also a dissident; he was jailed for a year-and-a-half after Castro's March 2003 crackdown. Both applied to the U.S. for asylum. Both had airtight cases. But the U.S. only accepted one: Claudia. Except for jail-time, here's the only substantive difference between Claudia's case and her husband's: During a show-trial, he "confessed" to "counter-revolutionary" crimes.
Apparently admitting to non-existent crimes while under duress means you're not a real asylum seeker.
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