Other Americans need a special license from the Department of the Treasury to visit Cuba for any purpose -- even humanitarian missions. This situation is similar to that faced by Cubans, who cannot travel outside the island without permission from the Cuban government. Those who oppose the government rarely receive this permission. In this regard, both countries violate the rights of their citizens.

Make no mistake: The Cuban people are exhausted by the rule of one leader for 45 years. But the 44-year-old embargo has only benefited Castro, who uses it as a justification for his abuse of power.

I ask again, Who is listening to us? Castro won't listen; he continues to run our great nation as if it were his finca, a vast landholding to be administered at his will. His renegade relatives and enemies in Florida wish to take the finca back, but just for themselves. Between Castro on one side and activists in Miami on the other are the Cuban people, treated as if they were cattle. We are not entitled to an opinion; we only bear the right to be whipped.

Cuban society is changing, and it is we -- Cubans on the island -- who are forging the new civil society. We are thankful for the solidarity of others and do not wish to exclude Cubans of the diaspora who honor our human rights and our sovereignty. But outside help needs to come in forms that benefit our mission, not in ways that work against it.

I say these things knowing full well that I may be the next victim, and if so, that perhaps there won't be a campaign to save me because I dared to speak this truth.

But I am angered now more than ever. Is winning Florida in the presidential election worth so much that a small group of people who have no direct contact with Cuba's internal reality are allowed to determine the policies of the world's most powerful country? The irony of the situation is this: Extremism in Miami and extremism in the White House ultimately serve to fuel extremism in Havana. Fidel must be laughing.

Poor Cuba!

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