It's funny, I think, the variety of responses to Fidel Castros resignation. Cuban Americans are muted and wish that it was an obituary and not just a letter of resignation.

My dad is from Jamaica and Fidel is a hero there. The leader of a small country that has thumbed his nose at America for near 50 years. The country has survived and flourished whether you agree with his politics or not. His story is romantic.

Some people can't wait to dance on Fidel's grave.

Some people will miss him dearly.

I'm sure I may get some heat for this. It's just an observation.

Also, out of curiosity, once Fidel is gone and if embargos are dropped , would Cuban Americans go back to Cuba?

If they do, will the people who were left behind in Cuba welcome them? Or would Cuban-Americans be shut out of possible economic opportunites in Cuba? Would Cuban Americans go back and claim family wealth re-distributed through Fidel's programs? Would Cubans who stayed block them or think of them as no longer Cuban?

I'm not trying to be snarky. I'm honestly interested.

I am very interested in some of those questions as well.

My understanding is that since the revolution, there have been three types of Cuban immigrants/exiles in the United States which have a basic general chronology:

The first part are those who were part of the pre-revolutionary power structure and hopped on their yachts towards Maimi in the very beginning of the revolution;

the second group are those who, though originally were in favor of the revolution, became disillusioned over time;

and the third group are those who have come purely for economic reasons just as we see immigrants coming from nations all over the world because they can make some more money. The only difference is that because they are Cuban, as long as they can get set foot on our soil, they cannot be deported (Getting picked up by our coast guard in the ocean doesn't count - those people get sent back).

Unfortunately, because the first group was the first to come to the United States and they had a fair amount of wealth and influence, they were the ones to set up the Cuban-American/Cuban Exile power structures (Cuban American National Foundation CANF) which are arguably as repressive as the current cuban government. These are the people who claim to be the Cuban Government in Exhile.

Frankly, its doubtful as to whether they would be much better than Castro. I don't think the Cuban people would be very happy about it either. It would be kinda like returning Russia to the Tsars after the Soviet Union collapsed....

That is kind of my thinking too. If Cuban-Americans attempt to go back and hold any sway politically that they'll be shut down by the people who stayed.

Out of curiosity, once a Cuban comes to America and can not be turned away, are they automatically American citizens? Do we recognize dual citizenship in regards to Cubans? Also, are Cubans not able to leave Cuba? I mean can they visit Paris or Holland if they felt like it? Are they able to save money for something like that? Do they get to study abroad?

When the Baltics fell to the USSR there was a great refugee exodus. Many came to settle in the USA. And as refugees they created communities which had the core idea of returning to Latvia if and when it became free again.

I participated in one of those communities. Not only did we have a church, but we also had a preK-11 supplementary school where we learned the Latvian Language, History, Grammar, Geography and Literature. We had a summer camp in the Catskills, outside of Seattle, in Milwaukee, New Jersey and Toronto. And we had lots of cultural events and activities. Yet those of us who were the "most latvian" of the participants - the ones with the best language, grasp of history etc. were not the ones that returned with the fall of the USSR. Instead it was our 2nd and 3rd tier classmates that either went to set up businesses and new lives, or who extended their American businesses to include Latvia.

And the first post soviet president of Latvia was Vaira Vike-Freiberga a woman who though born in Riga, spent most of her life in Toronto. In fact it has taken some 15 years since the fall of the USSR for a Latvian President to emerge from those who spent their whole time in Latvia.

In part I suspect this is because the westerners that returned to Baltics, took with them not just more wealth, but better education (for example my father is currently on a Fulbright helping work out the admiralty laws for the Latvian courts after having spent 40 years as an admiralty atty for the DoJ). With their relative wealth, they could/can afford to take the time to participate in politics where many of the indegenous Latvians were too busy rebuilding their lives.

I suspect the same will be true of Cuba.

The question I would like to hear asked is " What did you like about Batista?.

History in America is allways stunted. No mention of Batista or background on why Cuba had a revolution. No questions on why many Cubans who fled Cuba preferred a dictator.

If I get the gist of your posts correctly, being summarily executed by a commie like Fidel, is somehow better than being executed by a dictator. Come on folks, where did you go to school? Socialists, communist, and collectivists can only stay in power by force. In order to be successful you must be willing to kill lots and lots of your citizens who rightly disagree with you. Examples are of course Fidel, PolPot, Stalin, and Hitler.

When I read post like these I really wonder what the future of our own free country will be.

jg

You missed a wave, when Castro emptied his prisons and asylums and allowed them to emigrate in the 70s. I'm sure some were incarcerated for political reasons, but many others were simply criminals or mentally unstable. A stroke of genius on his part.

Replace Socialists with Coservatives and communists with Authoritarians and you might have a point