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Seth Godfrey recalls FBI visit during testimony Thursday night.
U.S.-Cuba diplomacy was the topic of discussion at City Hall, as alders advanced a measure calling on the president “to build a new cooperative relationship” with the Caribbean nation.
The occasion was a hearing Thursday night held by the New Haven Board of Alders Health and Human Services Committee.
The three alders present — committee Chair Darryl Brackeen, Fair Haven’s Sarah Miller and Downtown’s Alex Guzhnay — heard testimony on a nonbinding resolution to end the U.S. blockade against Cuba and reverse President Trump’s reversal of President Obama’s policy of increasing ties between the two nations.
(Read the full text of the resolution below.)
Then without debate, they voted unanimously to discharge the resolution to the full Board of Alders, expediting the process so it can receive a final vote at the July 5 meeting.
“After being approached by the Peace coalition, we wanted to discharge this petition so that the full board of Alders would be able to debate this motion in early July, and only after a month instead of two months, which would have happened if we didn’t discharge it tonight,” Brackeen told the Independent afterwards.
Seth Godfrey, a staffer at the New Haven Free Public Library, was one of three community members who shared testimony in support of the resolution.
Text of the resolution.
Hailing President Obama’s decision to lift the embargo against Cuba, Godfrey argued that New Haven should add its name to the growing list of cities – including Hartford, Chicago, and Pittsburgh – that have passed resolutions urging the federal government to normalize relations with Cuba.
Godfrey argued the resolution could directly benefit New Haven, including the possibility of finding a sister city in Cuba that could lead to an exchange program between New Haven and Cuban students.
He recalled the time in 2003 when the FBI paid a visit to the library to investigate allegations of “consorting with a terrorist organization” following an invitation to a Cuban diplomat to give a talk.
“I remember telling the feds that ‘I understand that you have to support the policy of the Bush administration, but it’s truly unfortunate, because he’s a really mediocre guy from such a great university in our town,’ ” Godfrey stated.
Sean Busley, another New Havener who supported the resolution, said he has traveled to Cuba in the past. He said that he believes the United States has only maintained a blockade of Cuba because it “doesn’t like it when smaller countries do what they think is best for them.”
HHS Chair Darryl Brackeen listens to Sean Busley (foreground) testify.
Millie Grenough testifies in support of the resolution.
The New Haven Peace Coalition (NHPC) submitted the resolution to the alders. NHPC Acting Chair Joelle Fishman was not able to attend the meeting; her testimony read by NHPC Chair Emeritus Millie Grenough.
“As a United Nations Peace Messenger City, we thought it most appropriate for New Haven to join in this effort and also adopt a resolution which is before you today,” Fishman wrote. “The benefits of an end to the embargo would be mutual. As a city heavily invested in medicine, New Haven would gain from humanitarian exchanges about the most up-to-date treatments and medicines under development. Cuba is also pioneering in local sustainable food production, another of many areas which our city could benefit from.”
Grenough argued that actions by local municipalities can help build up support for the lifting of the blockade over time at the federal level.
No one testified in opposition to the resolution.