New Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Jackson Browne, writing in the New York Times today (registration required), bemoans the Bush administration’s reversal of a Clinton policy that loosened restrictions for Cuban artists to visit the U.S. According to Browne the Bush administration is the “oppressor” and “it is we Americans who are becoming isolated” because of the policy.
Browne downplays the fact that Fidel Castro profits from the money Cuban artists earn in the U.S. and elsewhere outside of Cuba.
Browne should take a look at the Cubans in Major League Baseball in order to see the real truth. Why did they risk their lives to sneak off in a boat if the benevolent Castro so willfully allows his subjects to keep their money? Why don’t these ballplayers just apply for visas to freely come and go to the U.S.?
