Letters from the Issue of March 6, 2008

Mariela Jewett

Hialeah

Let's Go to Havana ... No

It's not automatic, bucko: I read Calvin Godfrey's piece "Vamos a Cuba!" (February 21) with great delight. I enjoyed learning about how much trouble he went through to try to get to Cuba, in the process thumbing his nose at the U.S. government and right-wing Cuban exiles violating his constitutional rights.

Of course, as a working journalist, Godfrey is authorized under a general license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control to go to Cuba anytime he pleases for journalistic activities.

That detail, of course, would have killed the entire premise of his piece, so I can see why he omitted it.

Other than the fact that it was based on a complete fabrication, the story was great!

Henry Gomez

Miami

Exile lunacy? Speak for yourself, you outlander!: I thought "Vamos a Cuba" was excellent.

And speaking of the Miami/Havana axis, some of these great points are also detailed in the book Up Dog Street and Left on Shadows, a political satire on Miami, exile lunacy, the Elián affair, what it means to be an American, and if, in fact, assimilation is tantamount to capitulation. In the end, freedom is what it's all about.

Tony Gonzalez

Springhill, Florida