MAILBAG:

Regarding the Daily Pilot’s article on a UCI library exhibit (“Art exhibit aims to improve America, Cuba’s relations,” Nov. 9), efforts to improve friendship between nations are always welcome, and the Langson Library has a right to hold an exhibit on any subject it wants.

Sadly, this right is not respected in Cuba, where libraries are being raided by the secret police, thousands of library books are being burned by court order, and where Cuban library workers are enduring life prison sentences imposed after unfair one-day trials.

Since 1998, hundreds of libraries have been opened by Cuban citizens in a pioneering effort to challenge Cuba’s harsh system of censorship, and human rights groups such as Amnesty International have documented and condemned the ongoing campaign of persecution being waged against these brave people.

Even owning a computer and surfing the Internet are crimes in Cuba, except for a small number of citizens considered trustworthy by the government.

It is to be hoped the Langson Library exhibit will deal fairly and frankly with these grim realities, which should not be ignored or denied.

Sadly, pyres of burning library books are not a suitable foundation for building bridges of friendship between peoples or nations.

Complete details on book burning and library repression in Cuba can be found on the website of the Friends of Cuban Libraries, a human rights group of which I am co-chair.

Once again, our organization supports and defends the right of the UCI library to hold an exhibit on any subject, and we hope the same rights will be enjoyed by Cuba’s independent librarians, who are being persecuted for defending the freedoms we take for granted.

ROBERT KENT

Co-chair, The Friends of Cuban Libraries

Council deserves credit for helping residents

I invite all residents of Newport Beach and Corona del Mar — owners and renters — to stand and applaud the members of our City Council.

Appreciate the fact that our council members are taking measures that will help abate disgusting behavior from over-indulged drinkers (“Newport Brewery sues City,” Nov. 14)

Ed Selich, Nancy Gardner, Leslie Daigle, Keith Curry and Mike Henn all recognize that restaurants must address how the behavior of their drinking clientele impinges on the lives of surrounding residents.

Mayor Steve Rosansky recognizes how illegal group homes impinge on the lives of those who live around them.

Each of these council members is acting under the vision statement of the General Plan adopted by the citizens of Newport Beach in 2006.

“The successful balancing of the needs of residents, businesses and visitors has been accomplished with the recognition that Newport Beach is primarily a residential community.”

The City Council deserves your gratitude for putting the quality of residential life first, no matter where you live. Let them know.

LILA CRESPIN

Newport Beach

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