A Cuban-born anti-communist activist doesn't think anyone should be fooled by the Castro regime's recent announcement about lifting travel restrictions for people on the island.
After months of speculation, the Cuban government now says it will eliminate a half-century-old restriction that requires citizens to get an exit visa to leave the country. The decree, which takes effect January 14, means islanders will only have to show their passport and a visa from the country to which they are traveling.
U.S. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida), who was born in Cuba, refers to the measure as "so-called reforms" that are "nothing more than Raul Castro's desperate attempts to fool the world into thinking that Cuba is changing."
Humberto Fontova, who fled Cuba in 1961 and has written two books on the regime, says this means there will be more travel opportunities to the U.S. for Cubans hand-picked by the regime.
"These Cubans are determined by the Castro regime so that they will come to the U.S. [and] immediately qualify for U.S. refugee benefits. They then start sending this money back to Cuba in the form of remittances," he explains.
Fontova finds it amusing that the Cuban government is restricting the travel of people it deems essential to the regime, such as scientists and doctors.
"In Costa Rica recently, some so-called Cuban doctors flunked almost en masse the accreditation to become a doctor in Costa Rica," he reports.
So he agrees with Ros-Lehtinen that Cuba will only be free when the Castro family and its lackeys are no longer on the scene.