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Hablando de Castro Dave Francis I had an appointment today with the Consul from Cuba. The appointment had been set for a week, and I had a chance to ask some readers of Que Pasa in St. Louis what kind of questions they would like me to ask. I thought, ‘Them being Hispanic, they might have some insights and curiosities that would escape me, Gringo Dave.” I got a small response, but it was interesting. Veeerrrrrrryyyy interesting, as Colonel Klink used to squintily reply to Col. Robert Hogan. To say these questions were slanted would be like saying Bob Hope told jokes. There were some good, insightful questions, but for the most part, the idea I got was that the people writing wanted to fight this guy by proxy, and I was the proxy. An Example: There are many Cuban citizens in American prisons. Will the Cuban prisoners continue to stay in legal limbo? (This is referring to the many Cubans who came to America, claimed asylum, but are being held in US prisons even though they have never committed a crime in the US.) Another: How can the Cuban government continue to justify the oppression of an entire nation for the sake of a ‘revolution’ that has achieved nothing more than being a Batista of a different stripe. While I admire the anti-communists who have fought to liberate Cuba, it seems that the first question would be better put to a judge in some US Circuit court somewhere, and the second isn’t really a question at all. These were two of the dozen or so I got. When I sat down with the consul, the Honorable Rodolfo Humpierre, we looked at the questions, and then we talked for an hour or so. We covered a lot of things. The history of Cuba, its revolution. Its successes, its failures. (Not many by his count. More when I counted.) All in all, we had a nice time. Sr. Humpierre is a very nice, cordial, educated man, who is very proud of his country, and jealous to protect her reputation. I don’t think we would expect anything less of any consul of any government. The thing that struck me the most was his knowledge of the problems between the USA and Cuba. He is, after all, the Cuban Consul here in Russia. I think his familiarity with the Cuban-American problems is a bright example of how important these problems are to the average Cuban citizen. He is familiar with them because Cuban families have suffered, and are still suffering because of the US boycott of Cuba. I think most of us in the USA are unaware of the effect our policies can have on a country. Not so much the elite, but the average working family. Sr. Humpierre has never been to the USA, but he has some very definite ideas about it. He has some definite ideas about how we think, how we vote, and how we will react to the much-anticipated death of Fidel Castro. He doesn’t profess to see any sudden changes coming in US/Cuba relations when Castro leaves this earth. He thinks that things will go along like they are now until Cuba substantially changes its structure of government, opens up its elections, institutes market reforms, and other things the US would like to see Cuba do. Until those reforms happen, he sees the US as being a hostile super-power 90 miles off its countries peaceful coast. He thinks the US congress will continue to be cool to improving relations because of the system of government that exists in Cuba. He doesn’t think Castro is much of an issue. I think he is wrong. I think Castro is the only issue. Fidel’s’ Franco-esque intransigence is what’s bottlenecking the path to normalized relations right now. Castro goes, the US appetite for embargo goes. Its gonna be good cigars and cheap rum all over again. I suggested to him that the political pressure within the US is brought to bear by the Cuban Americans, mainly in southern Florida, and that a lot of their passion was tied to Castro. I opined that if we, the USA, can deal with China, Vietnam, and other regimes with whom we disagree about their system of politic, we should, and will be able to do that with Cuba. The chock in the wheel, I said, is Castro. To the average American, Castro is a bad guy ‘cuz we have been told he is a bad guy since we were kids. He is a bad guy to the Diaspora of Cubans living in Dade County for another reason. That reason is more personal, more painful. It has to do with broken bodies, disjointed lives, and destroyed families. The thing is though; those personal animosities are dying daily. Like Castro, they are aging too. Now, it is the kids and grandkids of those former prisoners of Castro’s jails. It is the second and third generation of Cubans who are populating south Florida. For them, they can still get worked up about Castro, but when Fidel finally finishes that last cigar, the political will that motivates them will go up in smoke. There will be a few, but most Cuban Americans will be more than willing to see their cousins and other extended family members on a more regular basis. They will find it pleasing to think of going to Cuba and enjoy the beaches, the cabrito, y platanos fritos. Beans and rice in Cuba will have a lot more appeal than maintaining a policy of embargo that only really affects them and theirs. If the embargo EVER made any sense, its benefits are now far outstripped by its horrible hypocrisy. If we can deal with China, if we can buy from Pakistan, if we can open trade with Vietnam, then I think it is obvious that Cuba should be let back in. The only thing stopping it now is American pride. We don’t want CASTRO to win. OK, fine. Lets continue the hypocrisy until he dies, but then lets get on with it. Lets dance, let’s drink, and let’s party! Lets embrace the Cuban peoples, and let them rule themselves. If they are too unhappy with their government, they know how to deal with it. Ask Batista. None of this is to say I am a big fan of Fidel. I think the world would have been far better served had he signed with the Yankees as a young man, and pitched in the majors. I think that Cuba would have been better off, and apparently he had a pretty good arm as a kid. The consul tried to straighten me out about Fidel, and about Cuba. Apparently, things are not as bad there as we think. I have traveled a lot, and I have seen a lot of beggar kids. The consul from Cuba told me that in Cuba, there are no beggars. None. The kids all go to school, and there are no beggars in the streets anywhere. I mentioned pictures I have seen of prostitutes working the hotels, and he admitted that “Yes, unfortunately there are some young ladies who will take up this line of work. They want to earn money to buy clothes, and other things.” I ventured the idea that begging would be preferable to some, surely. Logically then, if there are hookers, there must be beggars. He insisted that no, Cuba has no beggars. I have seen beggars in wealthy countries. I have seen beggars in socialist countries. I have seen beggars everywhere. I just couldn’t believe that Cuba had somehow gotten rid of its beggars. After all, Cuba is a country with an economy that is not exactly going gangbusters. I told the consul that I didn’t believe him, but he seemed sure of himself, and invited me to Cuba to see for myself. (This lack of beggars, among other things.) I would love to take him up on it. Really, we Americans are woefully ignorant of Cuba, and that is too bad. I mentioned this odd lack of beggars to my wife who told me, “In Russia, during communism, begging was forbidden. If you begged, you would be put into prison if caught. Also, being unemployed was forbidden. If you didn’t work, you went to prison.” Even with that though, there were still some beggars here in Russia. I don’t want to believe the consul that there are no beggars. I really don’t. After all, to stop all of the beggars, what must the Cuban government have done with them? DJF |