Street Dogs
Politics and Animal Protection
A recent poll of southeast Florida residents tells us that
64 percent of them want normalization of US relations with Cuba. That's the part of the country having the
largest proportion of Cuban-Americans, having taken in Cubans who fled the
island for over fifty years. In today's
political world, where questions divide us close to a 50-50 split, 64 percent
is an overwhelming tide of public sentiment.
But that's not the most striking statistic from the
poll. Among responders all across the
USA, 73 percent want normalization. That
population, of course, has within it only a relatively small proportion of
Cubans. These two poll results tell us
some things we might and some we might not expect.
First, it's not surprising that a larger proportion of
respondents nationwide want an end to the embargo and to travel
restrictions. After all, the nationwide
group has much less involvement with Cuba and its people on either side of the
Florida Strait. Also many are too young
to remember the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 when we all had good reason to
fear a nuclear war over Soviet missiles being installed on Cuban territory.
That was enough to make anyone want to restrict contact with Cuba and its
communist government.
But time heals all wounds and anti Cuban sentiment has
subsided nationwide and even worldwide.
Now nearly 3/4 of us want the embargo stopped and normal relations
restored.
One explanation might be that the embargo hasn't really been
successful. It was intended to soften
and liberalize the Cuban government.
Several provisions were included to minimize the effects upon the man in
the street. For example there are
medical, humanitarian, educational, and religious exceptions. My feeling the embargo isn't successful comes
from how the lives of Cubans have changed.
Leaders have grown more entrenched as they aged, but the man in the street
has grown poorer, despite a few recent relaxations of control. Poverty, shortages, ramshackle housing, and
an unreliable supply of food beset the common man in Cuba. In short, the men we tried to affect were not
affected, while those against whom we had no grudge faced a deteriorating
quality of life. .
The real surprise of these two polls is the desire for
normalization evident among southeast Floridians where the number of Cuban
exiles is the greatest. These people,
who have the most reason to hate the Cuban regime don't want retaliation, they
want engagement. They want free commerce
and travel between the two neighboring countries.
In our politically divided and paralyzed country, most south
east Floridians want an end to the enmity, rivalry, and estrangement between
Cuba and the US by a margin of 64 percent to 36 percent! To me, these poll results are like a
mandate—an insistence on normal intercourse between neighbors.
When we began our work on behalf of Cuban animals, I felt we
should be completely apolitical, and I studiously avoided mentioning the snit
the two governments perpetuate. I
thought, how could any political commentary on my part further the cause of
animal protection"? Well, I was
wrong. After many trips to Cuba, I know
well the stress placed on Cuban families by the embargo. And, while I'm not convinced by the many
Cuban attempts to blame the embargo for any and every Cuban problem, neither am
I convinced of the value of the embargo touted by reactionaries in the US who
would perpetuate it forever.
Now, perhaps with a clear majority calling for normality,
could we be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel? I hope so.
I know in Cuba when privations affect a family, it is often
the family dog or cat who suffers first and suffers most—either through less
food or even in severe cases through banishment and abandonment. I have seen how tough economic times are
visited on man's best friends with heartbreaking results.
Yes, political belligerence in the form of the embargo is an
animal protection issue, and I want to line up with those who oppose the
embargo for that reason.
Les Inglis
