- Chip Weiner
- From left to right – John Grandoff, Ralph Fernandez, Rob Lorei, Bill Hauf (standing), Annie Betancourt, Reverend Russell L. Meyer, Bishop Raymond Johnson
It's no secret that Ralph Fernandez is the man local reporters in Tampa reach out to when they want to get reaction from an old-school anti-Castro Cuban hardliner. That happened earlier this month when, against his wishes, Tampa Congresswoman Kathy Castor traveled to Cuba, where she then became the leading Florida official to call for an end to the 50-year-plus economic embargo.
Fernandez was not pleased. He told CL that the Congresswoman was naive, and had made herself the "poster woman" for the present establishment in Cuba.
So it certainly turned heads this afternoon when Fernandez said that he now supports relaxing the ban on Americans traveling to the Communist island nation.
He made this announcement during a lunchtime discussion about Cuba's inclusion on the State Department list of terrorist states.
"The First Amendment is on the side of ending the Travel Act," Fernandez said. "It would bring a massive influx of dollars to the Cubans." But, he added, "it won't bring about change," adding that between 1977 and 1982 there was no U.S. ban on travel to the island, and it didn't result in any change with the Cuban government.
This article appears in Apr 25 – May 1, 2013.
