Washington bans US author from travelling to Cuba
Campaign News | Thursday, 12 January 2006
William Blum cannot attend book fair
Havana, Jan 11 (AIN): US writer William Blum will not be able to attend the presentation of his book "Killing Hope" at the 15th International Book Fair in Cuba because "the same US government that I speak of [in the book] is preventing me from attending."
"Killing Hope", translated into Spanish and published by Editorial Oriente, is a detailed account of the involvement of the Pentagon, the US State Department and the CIA in diverse parts of the world spanning from the end of the Second World War until the mid-1990s.
In a letter to the head of Editorial Oriente, Aida Bahr, the renowned historian and political observer wrote, "I am very pleased that my book is being published in Cuba." He also expressed his regrets at not being able to participate in the Cuban launching of his book at the International
Book Fair in Havana due to the Bush administration's tightening of travel restrictions on US intellectuals and artists wishing to travel to Cuba.
Blum describes "Killing Hope" as a book that gathers several cases of US intervention aimed at "overthrowing governments that dare to defy Washington's imperialist designs to impose capitalism worldwide."
At last year's Book Fair, where Blum's book "Rogue State" was presented, the US author did not even bother to request permission to travel to Cuba. "I am not going to humiliate myself by asking for a permission that they will either deny or give me six months down the road."
William Blum intimately knows what goes on behind the scenes in politics in his country. Up until 1967, he worked in the State Department; a job he left in protest of the Vietnam War. Shortly afterwards he founded The Washington Free Press, one of the foremost alternative press publications in the US capital.
http://www.ain.cubaweb.cu/idioma/ingles/2006/ene11us-cuba.htm
