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Cuban response to terrorist attacks was of profound shock
Editor:
Aware that I was in Cuba on Sept. 11, two well-educated professionals after my return separately asked me whether celebration there followed the attacks. Troubled by the question, I explained that the Cuban response I observed was profound shock at the magnitude of the disaster, followed by expressions of compassion for all victims. Condemnation of terrorism was explicit.
Ironically, the government of Cuba offered medical supplies to the rescue operations, a gesture I assume not fully reported here. Many of us on the Global Exchange Reality Tour had brought medical supplies as donations, which Cuba itself chronically needs because of the U.S. embargo.
Clearly, lack of information, as well as misinformation, shape American attitudes toward this small country of approximately 12 million people. Among many of its achievements, in the two largest cities, Santiago and La Havana, I witnessed neither homelessness nor begging, certainly a model for our country to emulate.
Jack W. Fleming
Berkeley
