Atlanta - Cuban-Americans skeptical of outcome : Carter "useful tool" Castro "devil" ***Carter is political pawn, some say At the Coco Loco Cuban restaurant in Buckhead, Rey Regalado, 41, a paint contractor from Tucker who came from Cuba in 1991, chuckled as he reviewed the list of Carter's scheduled visits. The former president is being steered to places designed to show Cuba in the best light, Regalado said. "You see? Castro is so smart," he said. "Castro is controlling him. [Carter] is not going to see the real Cuba. I'm not against him going. He's just going to be manipulated." Regalado said he was "born in the revolution" and knew nothing else. He said life was fine in Cuba until the collapse of the Soviet Union, which had economically propped up the island. By 1991, the economy declined so much he decided to leave. The Soviet Union's collapse showed him communism "wouldn't work," he said. "I decided to get out before it was too late." Even Castro's harshest critics stress that he's smart, and, in the opinion of many Cuban-Americans, he doesn't do anything unless he stands to gain something. For this reason, they say, Carter needs to treat him with suspicion.
"He needs to understand that if the embargo is to be ended, there has to be changes in political prisoners, in human rights and in open and free elections, which is basically what the U.S. government has said from Day One," said Cuban-American Joaquin "Jack" Coello, 57, a lawyer. Rafael Andino, 37, a Lawrenceville biomedical engineer who came to the United States when he was 3 years old, is pessimistic. "I think Carter will try to press for certain freedoms, but I don't think he'll be successful. [Castro] can't allow basic freedoms because it compromises his position," he said. "We wish Carter well, but we're not hopeful."***