For my first post, I want to take a moment to discuss Cuba, and, perhaps more to the point, Fidel Castro.
Fidel Castro has been out of commission since he was operated on in late July, early August, 2006. He ceded power to Raul Castro, temporarily, expecting to regain power “shortly.” His postponed anniversary celebration occurred, without him, this month. He is, for all intents and purposes, out of the limelight, seemingly more permanently than his press agency would have originally had us believe.
This is hardly a surprise. Since the health of the Cuban leader is deemed a state secret, crucial to national security, very little news about Mr. Castro leaks out.
My question is this: “Why does it matter?”
That may be considered a crude and crass question to ask within this community that is so intimately tied to the island nation 90 miles south of Key West; but I will ask again: “Why does it matter?” The short answer is, of course, that it doesn’t matter to those of us here. It might or might not matter to the community that has stayed behind (voluntarily or not) on the island.
The longer, more complex, answer is that the death of Mr. Castro brings hope and uncertainty to a people who continue to feel his oppression here in these United States. Hope that they can finally be reunited with long-lost relatives, and uncertainty as to what happens next. But still… why should the pending death of one man be the sole lynch pin to unleash these hopes and fears? It shouldn’t.
I know people will argue with me when I say that if you love your country, you don’t flee it and then complain about it remotely, and expect the country to change. Change will not happen in that fashion – at least not while the leader is alive.
