The main stream press parrot Cuban government statistics on travel to the island, without independent sources for verification, while others talk up apparent reforms. Meanwhile, Cuban families continue to suffer and be divided on account of the communist dictatorship. One example, first reported back on August 14, has ended tragically.
Blanca Reyes had requested on July 22, 2013, permission to return to her homeland to visit her ailing 93-year-old father. However, on August 13, 2013, a Cuban consulate official denied her that opportunity. Two months later on October 13, 2013 Blanca tweeted:
My dad fractured his hip, they are going to operate, and Cuban government denies me entrance to see him. He is 93 years old.
In a later tweet she raised an important question:
Unable to enter your home, Cuba, can someone explain that? I address the people who still support the Cuban Government.
Two days later on October 15, 2013, Blanca tweeted the sad news that the father and daughter would never again to be reunited:
My father died today in Cuba did not see him for 9 years the Cuban government stopped me. UNTIL WHEN MY GOD?
Despite the regime’s propaganda offensive and media hype, the right to travel freely remains non-existent in Cuba. In this particular case, they denied a daughter the opportunity to say goodbye to her dad. Unfortunately, Blanca is not alone, given that every year the Cuban dictatorship denies between 70,000 and 300,000 Cubans from returning to their homeland under arbitrary criteria set by two men.
The Castro brothers decide who gets to travel in and out of Cuba, and that goes by what advances their interests. It is all up to the discretion of the dictatorship, which means that Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, like so many other articles in the declaration, is systematically violated in Cuba today.