The United States vs. Cuba: A Fact Based Photo-Essay
Sarah A Smith
Information Studies 208: Development
of Cultural Information Sources Using Digital Multimedia
Professor Howard Besser
| |
|
The Elian Gonzalez controversy that began Novermber 25, 1999 with his arrival in the United States and ended with his return to Cuba on June 28, 2000, heightened tensions between the two nations. A person who had no opinion on whether Elian should be returned to Cuba was hard to find. What were people angry about or afraid of?
| This photo-essay is an attempt to achieve some degree of reconciliation between the conflicting arguments. It takes a look inside Cuba to explore the rationale behind both the United States' sanctions against Cuba and for Cuba's system of government. |  |
One of the main points cited by the United States for its criticism of Cuba, aside from it being communist, is its violation of human rights. Specifically: political and other extrajudicial killing; torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; arbitrary arrest, detention, or exile; denial of fair public trial; and arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence (Cuba Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1997).
Police presence, which directly correlates with the human rights violations, pervades urban Cuban society. Reminders of the revolution that put Fidel Castro in power, and the network of people that maintain the regime, are everywhere.
