Miami School Libraries Ban Children’s Book About Cuba

By A�da Bardales -- Críticas, 6/15/2006

A controversial children’s book, Vamos a Cuba (A Visit to Cuba), will be removed from Miami-Dade County school libraries after the School Board voted to ban it on June 14th. The decision came after the father of a student filed a complaint saying that the book contained deceptive information and portrayed an idealistic picture of Cuba. The book is part of a 24-book series that features different countries and cultures around the world. Even though the rest of the titles had not received any complains, the Board voted to ban the entire series, including the English-language edition of Cuba.

“It portrays a life in Cuba that does not exist and omits a lot of facts,” said Juan Amador, the parent that brought up the complaint, according to the New York Times. “Such a book should not be accessible to our children.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said it would file a lawsuit to challenge the decision. “This unfortunate decision is a throwback to a Miami of several decades ago, when the battle about freedom in Cuba was waged too frequently about First Amendment rights in Miami,” Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida told the paper.

The school district owns 49 copies of the book in Spanish and English.