PROFILE // POLITICAL ACTIVIST

VICTORINO NOVAL:

Human Rights

For All People

One Man’s Passion and Fight To Reunite the United States and Cuba

By SUZANNE TAKOWSKY

We live in a world bathed in cultural diversity, and can forget that our neighbors —many from other countries who although have acclimated themselves to our western way of life—have a history of their own. While governments fight governments, it’s the people who suffer. One man, Victorino Noval, a Beverly Hills resident is passionate not to let this happen. With the passing of his father Victorino Noval Sr., earlier this year, he is in memory of his father bringing awareness to the plight of Cuban people desperate to reunite with America—and Americans wanting to reconnect with Cuba, but who are prohibited from going there. Where his late father ended his quest, Noval has taken over by lobbying Washington to end the Cuban embargo. The Victorino Noval Foundation hired Alex Lightman to write what has emerged as a detailed 340 page revelation entitled, We Need Cuba; 78 Reasons To End The US Embargo of Cuba. This powerful and straightforward book is headed straight to Congress, the Senate and the United Nations. Some astonishing keypoints are:

>> Cuba’s recent massive oil finds (20 billion barrels) could easily equal US oil reserves. The U.S can either jump on this bonanza—or watch in frustration as other major countries lock up oil drilling and services contracts that are expected to total over $1.5 Trillion ($75 a barrel at today’s prices) and all are located just off our own shores!Additionally, American offshore equipment and crews are experienced in both drilling and spill cleaning, and it is in U.S. interest for American technology and labor to be used, rather than crews shipped in from around the world because the U.S. can’t participate.

>> More than 200,000 U.S. jobs can come from lifting the embargo on Cuba. This is substantial especially, in the wake of the slow U.S. Economy.

>> Cuba has more than 38,000 healthcare professionals as goodwill ambassadors in approximately 88 nations. The U.S. can participate in these valuable relationships if Cuba is their partner, rather than seen as their adversary. Lightman states in the book, “There is no end to the number of people who have been or are paid by the U.S. Government to write articles and Letters-to-the-Editor that say... ‘stay the course on Cuba’. Let's recap what ‘course’ we are talking about and begin with the fact that the Cuban embargo violates the first, fifth, and fourteenth amendments of the United States Constitution.” The volumes of research that Lightman has amassed is endless. As the first to write such an extensive book on why it is in U.S. interests to end its embargo on Cuba, he has made countless calls to political leaders, members of Congress, corporate entities and citizens from both the United States and Cuba to document his findings.

The goal: Noval says they are lobbying to end an embargo that has taken away the freedom of the American people to go to Cuba, and taken away the dreams of the Cuban people to establish much needed relations with America. By lobbying Washington and through the book, the push is for equal rights, economic trade, medical options and natural resource opportunities that will enhance the lives of Cubans and Americans, and contribute greatly to the overwhelming economic needs of both countries.

While governments fight governments it is the people who really suffer.

Gobierno Interno de Liberacion Anticomunista GILA

(the Internal Government of Anti-Communist Liberation)

VICTORINO NOVAL SR.

His Fight For Human Rights and His Place in CIA and Anti-Communist History

I interviewed Victorino Noval at his beautiful home in Beverly Hills. Joining us was Lightman. Noval spoke with great emotion and passion about the tremendous hardships, struggle and bravery of his father. The importance of what he had to say can never be forgotten as the path that Victorino Noval Sr. followed will forever be etched in Cuban and American history. Noval Sr. was born and raised in Spain. He was just barely 18-years-old, when the country he loved was ravaged with destruction brought on by the Spanish Civil War. In desperation he fled to Cuba, as did thousands of Spaniards hoping to leave behind the poverty that plagued their homeland. That is why today millions of Spaniards now live there. Noval Sr. had an uncle already living in Cuba who owned several supermarkets and funeral homes, and he started working with him as soon as he arrived. But as time passed it became very clear to everyone that Communism would prevail. Hoping to save their assets and keep all the businesses they had worked so hard to get—from going under the thumb of Nationalism, the Noval family became strong advocates against Communism. Enters the CIA, and soon the life of Victorino Noval Sr., his destiny, and the future of his family would change forever. The CIA went courting Spaniards and Cubans who were against Communism. They hoped to gather an inside group of operatives to stop the Communist regime from taking over Cuba. Funded by the CIA, the group was known as Gobierno Interno de Liberacion Anticomunista GILA (the Internal Government of Anti-Communist Liberation), and was formed in 1960. Noval Sr., and others joined GILA to help. Members were considered armed and dangerous, and were recruited to penetrate communist ties in Cuba and eliminate communist influence.

Gobierno Interno de Liberacion Anticomunista GILA

(the Internal Government of Anti-Communist Liberation)

Noval Sr. and others went undercover to keep communism at bay, including smuggling weapons into Cuba to use in the anti-communist effort. With time it became apparent that not all the GILA members were anti-communists. Reality surfaced that pro- Castro supporters had infiltrated the group, and GILA members feared for their lives, and that of their families. Certain that their identities would be discovered, they felt it was only time before they were arrested and killed for their anti-communist efforts. According to Noval— straight from his father’s mouth to his ears—one day a GILA group that included Noval Sr., was driving through the streets of Havana. It was apparent they were being followed. So in true Hollywood movie action form they began to speed through the streets and a high-speed chase ensued. The driver headed to the Uruguay embassy and within moments rammed the truck through the embassy gates to reach protection, knowing the CIA would pick them up. Shortly after, the CIA supplied GILA members with passport IDs and the men were sent to Merida, Mexico, then on to Miami for political asylum. Unfortunately, when Noval Sr. left Cuba, it was not a happy occasion. He had to escape without prior notice and was forced to leave his wife and children behind. He would not see them again until 1966 when a program from the CIA offered GILA family members the opportunity to leave Cuba and live in the United States. Noval Sr., and his wife Lourdes, daughter Tania and son who bares his name Victorino —reunited in Los Angeles, California where Noval Sr. was living. He had moved from Miami to L.A. believing that he would have a better chance at finding work. With his family safely by his side, Victorino Noval Sr. began his quest to become successful and provide those he loved with everything his hard work and determination could offer. Reflecting back to those days, Noval says the first job his father had in L.A. was working as a janitor at the Hilton Hotel, in Downtown. From there he started his own company and subcontracted out work from another company to install doors throughout the Sierra Towers building on Doheny Drive, just above the Sunset Strip. After seeing that construction was a way for him to make money, Noval Sr.’s interest in real estate grew and he found his passion in construction. He went on to become a multi-millionaire building shopping centers and other commercial properties. When Victorino Noval Sr. died this year, in his late seventies he had accomplished all of his dreams except one: in his later years he had been on a quest and was lobbying every means possible to bring an end to the embargo with Cuba. He wanted to reunite the two countries he loved. His dying wish was that through the Foundation—the peace and prosperity for both countries that he wanted so badly—would continue. That wish is now set to unfold through his son’s unwavering efforts.

“The embargo has led to 18 straight years of embarrassing defeat in the United Nations. The last vote the U.S. had—187 nations agreed with Cuba that the U.S. was violating international law and UN charter,” states Lightman. “Only two nations disagreed, the puny colony Palua, with a population of 20,000 (less than in Beverly Hills) and Israel, which ironically trades with Cuba. The embargo violates U.S. law—which is international law, as well as it violates the UN Charter, Geneva Convention, the WTO, World Bank and pretty much every treaty that includes mutual respect for sovereignty and non-interference. Not only that, but the embargo seeks to apply U.S. law to foreign companies now headquartered in foreign countries. This has led to U.S. allies (and non-allies) passing laws specifically forbidding compliance with U.S. laws as relating to Cuba. The sad reality is that the embargo is now costing Americans over 200,000 jobs, at a time when the federal government gave Los Angeles County alone $111 million. Only 55 jobs were saved or created, which translates into the government spending about $2 million per job.”

Victorino Sr. with his grandson Peter Victorino Sr. (far right) with his wife Lourdes (far left)

and son Victorino (center)

Victorino Sr. with his son Victorino and wife Lourdes Victorino Sr. with his daughter Tania

Oil and gas, medical, travel, gen-tech and other

opportunities in Cuba are about to explode—as many of its internal and external controls on travel and trade are finally starting to unravel.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

The Cuban Embargo Takes Flight And Why It Continues Almost 50 Years Later

Other than Canada and Mexico, Cuba represents the United States’ closest foreign neighbor located 90 miles off the coast of Key West, Florida. The population of Cuba sits at around 11 million people. A 1899 treaty made Cuba an independent republic under U.S. protection, and the 1901 Platt Amendment allowed the U.S. Government to intervene in Cuba’s affairs, which Cuba terminated in 1934. A group of army officers headed by army sergeant Fulgencio Batista overthrew President Gerardo Machado, and Batista took over as Cuba’s president in 1940. In 1956, Fidel Castro launched his revolution; the U.S. followed by ending its military aid, but by 1959 Castro had taken control with a Soviet-style communist rule. The U.S. ended all relations with Cuba during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis when Russia attempted to install medium range missiles on the island. The short lived event brought then President John. F. Kennedy face to face with Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev in a standoff that ended when the missiles were dismantled. But the embargo did not end even though in 1977, the U.S. re-established limited diplomatic ties with Cuba. In 1990, Russia stopped aid to Cuba as Communism collapsed in eastern Europe. The Cuban economy took a beating and its people suffered greatly, but the embargocontinued. And in 1996, instead of loosening restraints, the U.S. tightened limits with the Helms-Burton Act, followed by another embargo act by President Bush, in 2004 that restricted visits to Cuba, allowing American relatives to return only once every three years, instead of every year as they had previously been allowed to do. Tighter economic restraints also followed on the amount of U.S. cash that could be spent in Cuba—only $50 a day was allowed. Cuba quickly banned U.S. dollars that until then had been legal currency for more than a decade. In 2006, Castro turned temporary leadership over to his brother Raúl after revealing that he had cancer. Then in 2008, Fidel Castro officially ended his 49-year reign of power.

Now with Raúl Castro heading the country some new economic, social and cultural rights have been installed: fair wages, social security, education and civil freedom for the people of Cuba. In 2009, the U.S. Congress voted to repeal its restrictions for all Cuban Americans who want to visit Cuba. And changes were also made to the amount of U.S. dollars that could be sent into the country. Although President Obama has shown a willingness to re-establish ties with Cuba, so far not much has been accomplished.

With Raúl Castro firmly in power, some interesting events have begun to unfold that might prove his commitment to making positive changes to improve Cuban relations with the United States. This year Raúl announced that he would release the 52 political prisoners— most all of them are political activists and journalists who have been held in Cuban prisons since 2003. To date, not all have been released.

“There is no end to the number of people who have been paid and are paid by the U.S. government to write creepy articles and Letters-to-the- Editor to—stay the course on Cuba.” says Lightman. “What Course?”

Does it look like the U.S. embargo will end? For Victorino Noval Sr., and his son—they are leaving nothing to chance. They want to end what most Cubans and many Americans see as an endeavor that is hurting not helping either country socially, or economically. As the Victorino Noval Foundation’s book gets released, the documents and research will highlight points Noval says cannot be disputed—as they are backed by public record, government information and resources available for all to read. “There are numerous areas that could be helped immediately if the embargo was lifted,” statedLightman. “Right now Cuba sells its unique medicines to more than 60 countries for almost nothing—most are given away and still it receives more than $400 million from the sales. Cuba has approximately 40 drugs that do not exist in other countries. Tens of thousands of Americans die each year from diseases and illnesses that may well be cured or at least helped by Cuban medical research and the drugs they manufacture. So far, the FDA has approved only one drug from Cuba for study, and that took 10 years to gain approval. What does that imply? That the FDA expects the embargo to continue another 10 years? Billions of barrels of oil exist between Florida and Cuba—much closer than many U.S. owned wells in the Gulf of Mexico—close enough to pipe into the U.S.—but they are off-limits to U.S. companies to explore and drill. Does this make any sense when we have men and women risking their lives for oil 12,000 miles away? Cuba has plenty of oil to trade for currency. It is up to the U.S. to lift a useless embargo and get started doing business with a country that can provide what we need without us risking American lives to get it. Right now, Cuba imports 80% of its food. This could come from the U.S. if we didn't have restrictions. Why isn’t our government looking into every means to increase our economic options, especially with our failing economy? Cuba's foreign debt is $18 billion. Just the value alone of government owned medical drugs and real estate that is available in 99 year leases are greater than their debt. The value of Cuba's oil is around $75 a barrel or about $1.5 trillion—83 times as much oil revenue as the government’s entire debt.”

Victorino Noval with his sons: Hunter, Peter (Victor middle) Franco, Jake

Researching facts for this article I contacted three Congressman from California; Henry A. Waxman (a Democrat from California’s 30th Congressional District) he represents Santa Monica, Beverly Hills,

Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Malibu, Westlake Village, West Hollywood and Beverly-Fairfax, Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Beverlywood, Agoura, Topanga, West Hills, Chatsworth, Canoga Park and Westwood. I explained the article I was writing and requested a few minutes of Congressman Waxman’s time to answer questions raised by Lightman. But neither Waxman nor anyone from his office returned my call. Next on my list was Congressman Brad Sherman (Democrat from California’s 27th District) representing the San Fernando Valley. Again I explained what I was writing, and asked for a few minutes of the Congressman’s time. I received a reply from his office via email although I did not get to speak directly with Mr. Sherman. This was emailed to me: “I suspect that Americans would take advantage of the opportunity to visit Cuba were the travel ban lifted, but I am concerned that Cubans would not bring their tourist dollars to the United States. Our balance of payments worldwide is already a problem, so we should be concerned about exacerbating that situation.”— “Sherman has not made a decision on how he will vote on the legislation.”

Although I requested to talk with the Congressman to better understand his explanation sent to me via email, my request was unfortunately not given.

My last call was to Congressman Howard Berman (Democrat from California's 28th Congressional District) he represents the northern San Fernando Valley, communities of Pacoima, Arleta, Panorama City, Sylmar, North Hollywood and the southern border following Mulholland Drive, taking in Encino, Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, and the Hollywood Hills at the east end of the Santa Monica Mountains. Additionally, he serves as Vice Chair of the Judiciary Committee and is also on the Foreign Affairs and Judiciary Committees. At last I was able to speak with a real live Congressman! Mr. Berman spent at least 20 minutes on the phone with me and our talk together couldn’t have been timed better as the week following our interview (slated for September 29th,) Members of The Committee On Foreign Affairs were scheduled to meet and vote on a bill to relax trade with and travel to Cuba. The legislation, if passed would eliminate obstacles with regard to food sales, something a majority of U.S. farmers and human rights groups hopes will occur to help overcome their economic hurdles. The measure supporting this legislature passed the House Agriculture Committee in June, but needed a thumbs up from the Foreign Affairs Committee to send the bill to the House floor. Any “NOs” would throw it right back for a new debate to a new Congress on the way in this upcoming November. Unfortunately, the day the Bill was to be presented (September 29th) it was postponed for future debate in the House of Representatives. This is what Berman had to say.

“I have been working on this effort for 24 years. Americans have the right to travel wherever they want, this is a fundamental right of citizenship in this country. Little by little every other country in the world that had travel restrictions on it—we have eliminated those restrictions. Take a country like Iran which is trying to get a nuclear weapon, supports terrorism; we don’t stop Americans from traveling there. During the Cold War, at the height of tension with the Soviet Union there were never conditions on Americans traveling there. Take a country like Sudan which is engaged in genocide, we have sanctions against them, but we do not stop Americans from traveling there. Cuba is the only country where these restrictions remain, and wehave to get rid of them. But there is definitely more support right now. First of all, we’ve had this travel ban in place for more than 45 years. It had one purpose: to try and bring down the Castros. If ever there was a foreign policy that has not worked— this is the one. Another thing we have to be aware of is that Americans themselves become ambassadors for the freedom and liberty we have here in America. When Americans travel to others countries they talk about our country and share with people all over the world the concept that there is another way. The United States is about promoting freedom and liberty—not about restricting its citizens by putting in place a travel ban. With travel to other countries we can develop better understandings between nations, knock down social barriers, initiate business and environmental improvements, and ban together against drug trafficking; all needed, but again—all secondary to the main objective against the embargo which is that it restricts Americans the right to travel where they want.”

Victorino Noval: continuing his father's fight to help

reunite the United States and Cuba for the good of

both countries and the people living in them.

Noval who does visit Cuba regularly and has a Cuban passport expressed his views on the Cuban way of life. “I’ve learned so much about Cuba, most never told to me as I was growing up. Every Cuban I’ve ever met loves American people. I have cousins in medical school and friends in the Navy there— they all love America and believe it is a great place to live. None understand why the embargo exists. There is a 97% literacy rate in Cuba; a fact I’m sure surprises most Americans not familiar with Cuban people. They are well read, and aware that most Americans do not want the embargo to continue. They know there are people in our government lobbying in Washington to end it. Many misconceptions about Cuba exist, one being about drugs. There are no drugs there—except that outsiders bring in. And amazingly, there are U.S. citizens in Cuba attending medical school because they could not afford to go here in the United States. They are welcome and not required to pay any tuition to attend. The only stipulation is that when they finish medical school they spend two years volunteering to care for poor people. Imagine, not being required to pay for medical school! Most mornings I eat breakfast in Beverly Hills, at Nate ‘n Al’s Deli. I am always approached at least two or three times before I even get to the front door by people begging on the street wanting money. As many times as I’ve been to Cuba not once has anyone ever asked me for a dollar.”

According to Lightman the embargo is all about making money, and that is why it continues.

“Millions of our taxpayers money goes into anti- Castro organizations. Money is given to politicians in the form of contributions that end up buying votes to continue the embargo. This is not the voice of the American people. Look at the countries that vote to continue the embargo; one being Israel,” states Lightman. “Most people are not aware that even though Israel votes in the UN to continue the U.S. embargo with Cuba—outside of the UN Israel does millions of dollars worth of business with Cuba. The jobs we are losing, especially in this economy could be filled easily if we stopped this no-win situation. When Communism hit Cuba people with money left, it was the poor people who had to stay. Many wealthy Cubans living in Florida are making millions off this embargo and push for the ban to stay. But the longer the embargo continues, the fewer supporters it has, and the more flawed the reasons become. It’s not simply that the embargo is a failure; it’s that the whole objective is so vague. No one is clear what the U.S. is trying to accomplish. Almost

50 years have passed with nothing to show for the effort. If the original reason was Fidel Castro—well he retired as head of state years ago and is now 84- years old. The United States trades hundreds of billions of dollars with Communist China—we’ve borrowed almost one trillion dollars from them. Why then focus on Cuba—a country that the U.S. should consider one of it allies, trade products and medicine with, purchase oil from and start to build a credible relationship with?” l

Visit: www.VictorinoNovalFoundation.com for

information or to offer feedback on its contents.