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Great column. I have an Cuban employee, Joaquin Martinez, who has a very similar story. He is 57 years old and is able to remember Coca Cola and toy trains in Cuba before the revolution. After Castro, those things dissappeared. Joaquin was educated as an electrical engineer to work on the power grid and rail systems. His electrical skills are still evident as he is able to make repairs on complicated comsumer electronics in short order. He was a captain in the Cuban army and spent time in Angola and two forgettable years as a lumberjack in Siberia. It seems Castro exported human capital to other oppressive regimes as a source of income. Joaquin began to dissent as he realized what was best for the Cuban people was not Communism, and was in and out of prison through the 1990's. Finally, about 2-3 years ago the secret police took him from his house and told him he and his family could accept asylum in the US or go to jail for 12 years. He ended up in Atlanta working for me as a building engineer. His son graduated from a local high school last year and received a full scholarship to Southern Tech in Marietta, GA.

Joaquin loves the US and although he misses Cuba, the opportunity for him and his family to be free is one he is greatful for. He is one of the lucky ones who has made it over here successfully. It makes me wonder why the US doesn't make a concerted effort to grant asylum to all of the imprisoned intellectuals? It is an opportunity to have the intellectual base of a separate country and culture on loan until Castro and Communism are gone.