July 24, 2007 | By Nathaniel Ward

Witness to a daring escape

Though the Soviet Union may be long gone, followers of its mad ideology remain in power around the world. Cuba remains firmly in the grip of Communist dictators, as Raul Castro seems to be assuming power from his ailing brother Fidel. And each year, thousands of Cubans flee their oppressive homeland and try to escape to the United States.

Heritage Vice President Rebecca Hagelin recently had a firsthand encounter with one group of Cuban refugees. “Shortly after 27 Cuban refugees set foot on a Florida beach in the wee hours of Saturday, July 14,” she writes, “Providence saw fit that I was among the first Americans to welcome them.”

Read Hagelin’s more detailed account of the refugees’ escape from Cuba.

Those who had braved Castro’s wrath and a 90-mile ocean crossing were welcomed on their arrival, as Hagelin relates:

When the Cubans made landfall, they asked islanders to call the authorities. As the Cubans waited to be boated to the mainland for processing, word of their arrival spread quickly through the island. Locals eagerly gave food, water, clothes and a warm welcome to the foreign strangers. The spirit of Americans, it seems, naturally reaches out to those who seek liberty. How horrible that the official policy of our nation does not.

A policy implemented by the Clinton administration seeks to bar Cuban refugees from reaching freedom in the United States by having the Coast Guard intercept and send home any refugees caught offshore. “The U.S. ‘wet foot, dry foot’ policy grants asylum only to those Cubans who actually set foot on our shore, rather than to all who make it to open or U.S. waters,” she writes. This policy “pervert[s] America’s long-standing policy of providing protection to escapees of communism.”

It’s certainly understandable that Cubans would want to flee such a government:

Despite what Michael Moore and revisionists tell you, Cubans suffer daily at the hands of their evil government. According to the U.S. State Department's report on human rights practices in 2006, thousands of Cubans serve sentences in dungy prisons absent any criminal activity; beatings of prisoners is inflicted with impunity; government-recruited mobs terrorize political opponents; there is no free speech or free press, no right of peaceful assembly and association; there are frequent and arbitrary arrests of human rights advocates. The list goes on and on.

“My prayers are with my new friends and their families,” she concludes, “and especially for those who remain captive.”

Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.