CUBA: Cuban-American’s React to Fidel’s Resignation

[Mika]

CUBA: Cuban-American’s React to Fidel’s Resignation
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41278

TAMPA, Feb 20 (IPS) - Cuban President Fidel Castro’s decision to resign his political office was met with a wide range of emotions and feelings in Florida, home to the largest Cuban population outside Cuban.

Now that Castro has stepped down a debate has also begun over whether younger generations of Cuban-Americans -- strongly Republican since the ill-fated 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion -- will be more open to Democratic advances.

"It would be dangerous for the Republicans to take the Cuban-American vote for granted," said Damien Fermandez, of Florida International University’s Cuban Research Institute in Miami.

"Americans -- and Floridians especially -- continue to stand in solidarity with the Cuban people as they remain under the oppression of the Castro regime," said Republican Florida Governor Charlie Crist, in the state capital of Tallahassee. "Regrettably, this dictatorship continues through the succession of power to Raul Castro, and as Floridians, we must continue to call for free and democratic elections in Cuba, freedom for all political prisoners, and respect for all human rights as detailed in the Geneva Convention."

Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio -- a Miami-born Republican -- used harsher language about the matter. "This is a complete joke, guys. He’s not the President of Cuba. When was he elected?" Rubio rhetorically asked reporters in Tallahassee.

"People are talking about it while sitting in sandwich shops here and drinking their coffee, but I don’t know if there’s going to be a big change or not," confessed Patrick Manteiga, Managing Editor of the Ybor City-based newspaper ‘La Gaceta’, which is the only tri-lingual (English, Italian, and Spanish) newspaper published in the U.S. Ybor City is the Cuban-American district of Tampa.

Manteiga believes that out of three main candidates in contention for the American Presidency -- Senators Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain -- "Obama probably offers the most chance for a opening up of the process . In some speeches, he’s said that he would favour sending someone down there to begin a dialogue. Whether or not that works, or even happens, is another story."

"Historically Tampa’s relationship with Havana is a strong one. If you go to Cuba, and read history books published there in Cuba, you will see that Tampa is often mentioned," explained Manteiga. "Tampa’s Cuban-American community has had a much more moderate stance on Fidel Castro than those in Miami."

On this last-mentioned point, Albert Fox Jr., Executive Director of the Alliance for Responsible Cuban Policy Foundation, agreed: "This is about making money. There’s a whole bunch of Cuban businessmen in Miami, some of whom are very wealthy, who are just waiting for some sort of explosive event to take place in Cuba so they can go back there, open up their businesses, and make lots of money."

Fox has been to Cuba 65 times in the past eight years on humanitarian and fact-finding missions. "We must engage the Cuban people about how the situation actually is there, not on how different people wish it to be. Our organisation wouldn’t dream of telling the people in Cuban what to do; any change that they want, they’re going to have to work out for themselves."

Like Manteiga, Fox also believes that Obama would be the most likely, of the three major Presidential candidates, to try to create a political dialogue between the American and Cuban governments and possibly even successfully encourage the U.S. Congress to dissolve the American embargo against Cuba which has been in existence since 1963.

"Obama has said that he would lift the travel ban . He, out of the three, it seems to me would be the most likely President to take the lead, to forcefully address the American people on this issue," Fox told IPS. "I understand that John McCain has said that, if elected President, that he would keep a tight rein on Cuba. That could really back-lash against him in the November election."

Katrin Hansing, Associate Director of Florida International University’s Cuban Research Institute, thinks that Fidel Castro’s resignation "will be just one more ingredient in Cuban-American’s minds when they go to vote in November." "This announcement will definitely figure into their decision- making process," she told IPS. "Obama seems to be taking the radical stance that change is on the way in Cuba, but that doesn’t mean that every Cuban- American is going to vote for him. We’re dealing with a very complicated group of people here."

Hansing thinks that a more interesting topic "is to try to discover whether or not these young Cuban exiles here , who aren’t as fervent in their opposition to Fidel Castro as their elders, will go out and register, and then go out and vote."

"Most Cuban Americans down here still seem to be for Hillary, but that could very well change in the coming weeks, as we have more and more primaries," Hansing said.

She also acknowledged the fact that Cuban-American exiles in Miami are distinctive: "Cuban-Americans in Los Angeles or New Jersey or any other state are fewer in number and so they go through the long process of becoming a minority in those places. Here Cubans are the dominant political voice."

"I’m from South Africa and I’ve seen how the handing over of power by a loved and respected leader in his elderly years -- In that case, Nelson Mandela -- to a younger person created even more popularity for Mandela among South Africans," Hansing said. "To a certain extent -- and with some differences -- you’re now seeing the same thing with Fidel Castro. He is still worshipped and loved by many people in Cuba and his resignation and willingness to give up power may make him even more loved by Cubans there."

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[Billy Burnett]

1. Good to read an article that includes interviews of moderate Cuban-Americans.

Thanks for posting it.