Among the many injustices Cubans endure today are restrictions on travel that prevent them from reuniting with family members abroad. These restrictions have torn young children away from their parents, destroyed marriages and kept exiles from visiting and caring for their aging or dying parents in Cuba. Cubans may expect such state control over their lives coming from a government that has systematically deprived them of the most basic freedoms for years.
But, unfortunately, it's not just Cuba imposing the travel restrictions; it's also the United States.
Fourteen months ago, the Bush administration established strict limits on family-related travel to Cuba with the aim of depriving the Cuban government of the millions of dollars of revenue generated by these trips.
Under these new rules, individuals are allowed to visit relatives in Cuba only once every three years -- and only if these relatives fit the administration's narrow definition of ''family.'' This definition excludes aunts, uncles, cousins and other next-of-kin who often are core members of a typical Cuban family.
It's hard to think of a policy that so blatantly contradicts the values that the Bush administration espouses. ''Freedom'' was the central theme of President Bush's second inaugural address. Freedom is what the United States is fighting for in Iraq, Bush has repeatedly told U.S. forces. According to U.S. officials, it is what the embargo is supposed to be promoting in Cuba. Yet in the name of promoting freedom in Cuba, the administration has severely undermined the freedom of movement of hundreds of thousands of Cuban Americans.
Few could appreciate this irony more than U.S. Army Sgt. Carlos Lazo. After serving as a combat medic in the battle of Fallujah, he was told he couldn't visit his two teenage sons in Havana during a two-week furlough last year. He returned to the frontlines not knowing if he would ever see them again.
''I did my duty in Iraq, even when it meant I could lose my life,'' he said. "But I think I also need to do my duty as a father.''
''Family values'' has been another guiding theme for Bush. Yet, like Lazo, many Cuban Americans have found themselves unable to fulfill basic familial obligations as a result of the travel policy. Marisela Romero, a Cuban-born American, was forced to end her frequent trips to care for her ailing father, a widower with advanced Alzheimer's disease and no immediate relatives left in Cuba. She was unable to help or comfort him as he succumbed to depression, stopped eating and eventually died.
The U.S. economic embargo of Cuba has been in place for more than four decades. Cuba is no more democratic now than it was 40 years ago. If anything, the embargo has consolidated Fidel Castro's hold on power. Because it is indiscriminate, rather than targeted, the embargo has enabled the Cuban government to shift blame to the United States for the Cuban people's suffering. Because it is bitterly opposed by most nations, it has enabled the Cuban government to divide the international community, easing international pressure on the Castro's government rather than increasing it.
Cuban Americans would like to see greater freedom in Cuba. But the imposition of state controls on their travel will not bring that change. It only reminds them of the kind of policy they hoped to leave behind when they came to the United States.
''I came to this country in search of freedom,'' Romero said about America. ''And now I feel like someone is taking away this freedom that I came here for.'' She added, "How can such a beautiful country have a law like this?''
Daniel Wilkinson is counsel for the Americas division of Human Rights Watch and the author of the new report "Families Torn Apart: The High Cost of U.S. and Cuban Travel Restrictions.''
