Posted on 01/21/2007 9:57:56 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
......Several public opinion polls and surveys of Cuban-Americans conducted recently in South Florida and North Jersey show that a declining percentage of the diaspora still dreams of reclaiming houses. This is especially true among the younger generation, whose members never lived in Cuba.
Still, some exiles did sneak out deeds and have fished them out of strongboxes since Fidel became sick. While some undoubtedly will try to reclaim former residences, most want factories, mills and other commercial properties.
“Cubans are not going to fight over the last few crumbling homes,” said Nicolas J. Gutiérrez Jr., a 42-year-old Cuban-American lawyer in Miami who represents many business claimants and for himself seeks the return of two sugar mills, 15 cattle ranches, a food distribution center and more. “Out of the hundreds of people I represent and the thousands I talk to I’ve never met anyone who says he’s going to go back there and kick people out. On a base level, that would be immoral.”
Even so, the fear held by people like Marielena and Francisco matters, having been planted by the regime and nurtured by a controlled press that issues regular warnings about ignoble gusanos ...
This dense cloud of uncertainty has been hanging over Cuba since the summer, when Mr. Castro, who is 80, ceded power to his brother, Raúl, who is 75. For most Cubans, the fear of the future has little to do with who eventually replaces “El Commandante.” Rather, most are consumed by the contradiction between longing for change and fearing that change will come.
All but the most strident military families and pampered government officials hate the current economic system. They have had it with ration books and wartime restrictions — ....But they also can’t imagine life without such subsidized guarantees. .....
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I'm sure American gaming and hotel intersts would love to swarm in again. Restore Cuba's grand, fading architecture ... keep those restored old American cars and add casinos and hotels.
Jobs for everyone.
There's an assumption that Castro's death will end tyranny in Cuba, but that remains to be seen. I can't believe he's the only fascist on the island.
No, we have many fascists here in the U.S. that would like to take his place. I saw a book at B&N titled something like "Has Castro Been Good for Cuba?". Talk about brain dead. The liberal mindset is beyond understanding.
Unless they have another revolution, I dont see anything changing. Just another ne dictator will step in. Probably with military support from Ortega and Chavez if its needed.
I agree. The author of this article captured the Cuban people well. What everyone must realize is that the majority of Cuban people have never known anything but communism. Fear of the unknown is a highly motivating factor for keeping the staus quo.
"And capitalism itself seems brutal and forbiddingly unequal, a system they can glimpse only when it rubs shoulders with shabby Castro-style Communism in hotels they cannot enter and restaurants that let them in only if they are on the arm of a foreigner."
Capitalism seems 'bad,' only because as this line implicitly admits, it's not capitalism at all. It's oligarchic kleptocracy with a Communist veneer. How many dollars have been stolen from Cuba and her citizens in the name of 'Communism?' The mind reels at the supposition.
Well, the trains supposedly ran on time in Fascist Italy, so maybe Mussolini was good for that country.
I dont know who would tell them. They dont pay any attention to the US and they seem to be pretty much be running the roost in South America.
Hopefully they vote for a Democracy and throw out the Commies. but I am not sure it can happen without a revolution .
Wasn't Raul the one who was in charge of the special police who murdered a lot of Cubans? My history is fuzzy about him, but I agree, he's not a nice guy.
I hope the Cuban exiles aren't relying on the lefties who fetishize the Palestinians who want to get their land back.
the Cuban Exiles will have to decide if they are now American or if they are Cuban.
The cannot be both nor can they participate in democratic processes of both states.
"...ration books and wartime restrictions — one tasteless roll a day, and every month eight eggs, a few pounds of chicken and a half-pound of something called “ground-up texturized soy” among other basics. But they also can’t imagine life without such subsidized guarantees... So engulfed have they been in the daily struggle to survive that many Cubans told me they wanted just to forget about the transition now taking place. THE REGIME SEEMED WILLING TO ASSIST THEM. Visiting relatives in La Lisa, a poverty-stricken area outside Havana with a forest of six-story Soviet-style housing blocks, I saw what looked like a water tanker in a public square one Saturday night. Crowds thronged, and I could tell that it wasn’t water that flowed from the tap. It was cheap beer. A bucket and a few centavos could make the weekend pass more quickly."
Sounds like what CALIFORNIA is hurdling towards...
This promises to be a bonanza for lawyers as the Old Guard returns to La Isla Verde to reclaim their land expropriated by El Commandante.
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