Posted by Mark Silva at 7:15 am CDT
Like thousands of others, Mel Martinez fled to the United States from Cuba after Fidel Castro seized power and instituted a Communist regime on the nearby island nation. Martinez came across at 15, and alone, as part of a "Peter Pan'' airlift of children out of Cuba. He was raised by foster families until his family reunited here when he was 19. He grew up to become mayor of Orlando's Orange County.
Martinez also became the first Cuban-American elected to the U.S. Senate, in 2004. And, like the Bush administration which had made him its highest ranking Cuban-American official -- Martinez served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development -- the senator is calling on the Cuban people today to embrace a democratic future as the 79-year-old Castro's own future is cast into doubt by his illness. Yet, also like the Bush administration, Martinez is cautioning against any new boatlift of Cuban refugees in the event of chaos on the island, and says the military stands ready to avert any such exodus.
It's ironic, in retrospect, that President Bush made his only public address in Miami this week at the U.S. Coast Guard station at the Port of Miami. This was before the U.S. had learned of Castro's illness.
Cuban activists such as Joe Garcia, executive vice president of the New Democrat Network, say Bush chose the wrong setting for that speech. The Coast Guard station is the place where all too many Cubans have been repatriated, Garcia notes, after failed attempts to reach the U.S. in a bizarre policy that has enabled Cuban refugees with "dry feet,'' those who reach land, to stay in the U.S., and required people with "wet feet,'' those caught on the high sea, to return home. Elian Gonzalez, a Cuban boy rescued at sea in 2000, became the poster child of conflicting U.S. policy, when the Clinton administration forcibly removed him from his relatives' home in Miami and returned him to Cuba -- setting in motion a course of events that helped lead to Bush's election with the overwhelming support of Cuban-Americans in Miami.
It is leaders such as Martinez who successfully have pressed for continuation of a U.S. embargo against trade with Cuba that has been a fixture of U.S. policy for four decades, over the objections of Midwestern farm states eager for new trade. Martinez also stands ready to oppose any new mass migration of Cubans such as the one that brought him to the U.S.
"It seems now that we are in a moment of uncertainty,'' Martinez said in Washington on Tuesday. "The Cuban government is trying to transfer power… My hope is that there will be an opportunity for voices of freedom to be heard within Cuba, that this would begin a moment of transformation and transition to a better life.''
A presidential Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba that Bush impaneled, and which Martinez co-chaired, recently recommended an $80 million budget to assist non-governmental organizations and others working toward democracy in Cuba.
But in the meantime, both Martinez and the White House say that military forces stand ready to avert any mass immigration of Cubans in the event of chaos on the island.
"It'll be a tremendous loss of life, plus a disorderly thing at this moment in history that the United States just cannot tolerate,'' Martinez said. "I've been briefed by the people in charge of those just as recently as two weeks ago, and I am confident that they have the resources available to be able to conduct interdictions in the high seas.''
For the rest of the story, this article appears in this morning's Tribune:
U.S. restates aim: Democratic Cuba
But expectations low for end to autocracy
By Mark Silva
Washington Bureau
Published August 2, 2006
WASHINGTON -- With aging Cuban President Fidel Castro recuperating, the U.S. State Department and White House are promoting a hope that the island nation could make a transition to democracy--and promising to peacefully support any such move.
Nonetheless, Bush administration officials say they expect nothing but a transition of power from Castro to his equally dictatorial brother Raul in the event that the Cuban leader of 47 years does not recover.
The difference between the administration's public proclamations and actual expectations reflects the pressure that Cuban-American politics place on the White House, with Bush and every Republican president since the 1960s counting on the fervent support of the Cuban-born exile community in South Florida.
It's also a measure of the influence that several Cuban-Americans have gained with seats in Congress. They have embraced a non-negotiable demand that this or any administration commit itself to the cause of a free Cuba, including enforcement of a decades-old U.S. trade embargo against Castro's Communist regime.
The State Department and White House are promoting the hope of a free Cuba at a time when Castro, 79, might be sidelined for at least several weeks.
"We believe that the Cuban people aspire and thirst for democracy, and that given the choice they would choose a democratic government," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Tuesday, the day after Castro's surgery was announced.
"The one thing this president has talked about from the very beginning is his hope for the Cuban people finally to enjoy the fruits of freedom and democracy," said White House spokesman Tony Snow. "We stand ready to help. . . . And we will be ready and eager to provide humanitarian, economic and other aid to the people of Cuba."
Brother most likely successor
Yet Snow acknowledged that what U.S. and Cuban experts see as the most likely immediate transition of power leads only to Raul, commander of the Cuban army and security forces and master of the regime's politically punitive prisons.
"For the dictator, Fidel Castro, to hand off power to his brother . . . is not a change," Snow said. "There are no [U.S.] plans to reach out. . . . The fact that you have an autocrat handing power off to his brother does not mark an end to autocracy."
Privately, administration insiders caution against any predictions of demise for Castro, who will turn 80 on Aug. 13.
If Bush is stirring hopes of a democratic transition, he owes his own election in part to the strong support of Cuban-American voters in Florida's disputed election of 2000. He won more than 80 percent of Miami's Cuban-American vote in state that handed him the White House by a mere 537-vote margin.
And he made the obligatory pledge to Cuban freedom on Monday as he visited Miami and had breakfast at Versailles, an institution in Miami's Little Havana.
"If Fidel Castro were to move on because of natural causes, we've got a plan in place to help the people of Cuba understand there's a better way," Bush said on Miami's Spanish-language Radio Mambi, WAQI-AM. "No one knows when Fidel Castro will move on."
Since the botched Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, when the U.S. failed to support an American-trained force of Cuban exiles who were attempting to oust Castro, a generation of Cuban-born voters has given overwhelming support to Republican presidents, peaking at more than 80 percent backing for Ronald Reagan in the 1980s and for Bush's first election in 2000.
Democrats make inroads
Yet a second generation of Cuban-Americans with no direct connection to the island has shown more willingness to support Democrats. President Bill Clinton won close to 40 percent of Florida's Cuban-American vote in 1996. Then-Vice President Al Gore fared poorly in 2000, when the Clinton-Gore administration forcibly removed a young Cuban refugee, Elian Gonzalez, from a relative's home in Miami and returned him to Cuba.
And Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) gained ground among Florida's second-generation Cuban-Americans in the 2004 election, said Joe Garcia, executive vice president of the New Democrat Network and ex-director of the Cuban American National Foundation.
The exile community also has elected members to Congress--the brothers Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.). And Florida has elected Republican Sen. Mel Martinez, who arrived in the U.S. as a child in the 1960s with the Catholic Charities' "Peter Pan" airlift of children.
But the White House plays by a rule book still written by the Cuban caucus.
"Ten or 20 years ago, you had to make the decisions without any real Cuban power in the room," Garcia said. "Today there are actual power players, three Congress people, a senator, people in the administration. I don't think they can act in a vacuum, but likewise they aren't in any big hurry to get any reaction going, because what they fear most is instability. Right now the last thing they want is for anything to break open."
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mdsilva@tribune.com
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Comments
Hey wingnuts,call your congressman and tell them that wall is going to include Florida.The cubans will have to wait their turn like everybody else.
Hold on,Sean Hannity just called,cubans like to vote for wingnuts,"let the flotilla begin".
Posted by: john scanlon | August 2, 2006 8:33 AM
Once again, Mr. Silva conceals from his readers the fact that the "Cuban activist" he quotes, Joe Garcia, is actually a prominent Democrat. Mr. Silva tries to pass off partisan Democrat criticism of the Bush administration as criticism from nonpartisan "experts" or "activists". For more on the partisan affiliations of Garcia's "New Democrat Network", see the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Democrat_Network.
Posted by: Bruce | August 2, 2006 8:35 AM
PS.Maybe we could have Katherine Harris and Ann Coulter stand naked in Key West waiting for the cubans.This would surely divert them to Venezuela,there they would be treated better by Hugo than the wingnuts here!!!!
Posted by: john scanlon | August 2, 2006 9:00 AM
I've had about enough of Bruce challenging the authority of sources quoted. Joe Garcia clearly was identified in this posting and in the story that accompanies it as exec vp of the New Democrat Network. That pretty clearly identifies him as a partisan. The story also notes Garcia's history as executive director of the Cuban-American National Foundation, which has been very much aligned with Republican presidents as well as others, such as Sen. Joe Lieberman, who have shown some understanding of the Cuban exile dilemma. Garcia, in sum, is someone who has lived and knows the Cuban-American experience in South Florida and is as authoritative a voice on the politics of the region as any that exist. You can surf all the websites you want for the slant you are seeking, but I know the man.
Posted by: Mark Silva | August 2, 2006 9:24 AM
Bruce,
Concealment?
Thanks for your usual incisiveness. Without your input, I would have assumed the head of the New DEMOCRAT Network is a REPUBLICAN.
How about a background check of the other source in the article, Mel Martinez? Oh, we get it -- he's a Republican.
Posted by: Kenny Bunkport | August 2, 2006 9:26 AM
But Mark...He's republican....He couldn't possibly be wrong!!!!!!!
Posted by: bill r. | August 2, 2006 9:26 AM
Leave it to Scanlon to praise Hugo Chavez. Keep drinking that whiskey, buddy. I hope you live under his regime someday.
New Democrat Network doesn't necessarily mean democratic party to me, for one. Isn't the enitre Cuban exile community devoted to the goal of a democracy in Cuba no matter if they're republican or democrat? This could have been a use of democrat with a small d. Heck, some people in this country who call themselves democrats openly espouse socialism.
Bruce was right to correct Silva just like he was right to correct The Swamp about the incorrect AP story that ignored the engineering difference between breach and overtopping a few months back. AP ran a correction the next day.
As for the other moon bats lining up to criticize Bruce, Mel Martinez is a US Senator. I feel like his credentials are well-established by the voters that elected him.
Posted by: Bill | August 2, 2006 11:43 AM
Mr. Garcia was identified in the story as exec VP of the "New Democrat Network", an organization I suspect not one Tribune reader in a thousand has ever heard of, let alone knows is a Democrat Party adjunct. I merely added the identification of what the Network's partisan afiliation is--an identification the journalist should have mentioned, but did not.
It is perhaps revealing that Mr. Silva chooses, as his Cuban-American spokesman, an active Democrat, when the Cuban-American community is (by Mr. Silva's admission) overwhelmingly Republican. It would be like quoting Republican Alan Keyes as a representative of the overwhelmingly Democrat African-American community.
And if Mr. Silva reads what I posted, I'm not "challenging the source". I didn't say one thing pro or con about Mr. Garcia's expertise, nor would I ever do so. What I'm criticizing is the failure of a political journalist, not for the first time, to quote sources but not give his readers the partisan affiliation of that source. Want an end to criticism? Here's a radical suggestion: when quoting sources in your political columns, identify active, partisan Democrats as, well, Democrats.
Posted by: Bruce | August 2, 2006 12:11 PM
Well, if it is ever going to happen, this would be the time for the US to normalize relations with Cuba.
I've never understood why we have better relationships with countries where we've had wars, spilled blood and are willing to overlook that history while we continue to stick it to Cuba just because Fidel has outlasted us all.
I know...we're supposed to be waiting for reparations to be paid to all the companies that were nationalized but let's remember that the companies themselves were (in many cases) there at an artifically low cost because of bribes paid to the past administration there.
Besides, that money is gone now so let's all move on...
It's been kind of stupid for us to devote all these resources to beat a dead horse.
Posted by: Joe Redd | August 2, 2006 12:43 PM
Billy boy,you must have been a hell of a dancer in your day,always dancing around the truth.The southern voters that put your wacko party in office would at least have health ins.and cheaper gas under Hugo.He has not mis-lead his country into war and the Latin countries that loved Clinton now hate the US.Could it have something to do with a little regime change they tried to pull off on Hugo?What is it about the neo-nuts,every time they're in power they have to screw around w/Latin America.Iran contra?
This admin.could care less about Cuba,they have no oil like Hugo.
Billy boy,I'm proud to live in one of the most Democratic states in the country.As you know,the wise people of Illinois voted against frat boy in record #'s.To put it bluntly,he got his ass kicked here.I,m sure that a good wing nut like you would feel much more @ home in Alabama.
The folks down there would always agree w/you.
PS,if you move there,would you try and get some of those people jobs,I'm tired of sending my federal tax dollars to the red **** states.
Now,I think I might have a nip of that Irish whiskey.Spell check please.
Posted by: Mr.Scanlon | August 2, 2006 3:06 PM
Bruce,
Squirm.
Bill,
Shame on you. While you have knowledge of American foreign policy (albeit skewed), you consistently turn the Swamp into a cesspool with your vitriolic name-calling. Yesterday, fellow blogger John Scanlon admitted he's an uneducated Irish immigrant on Chicago's southside, after you caustically pointed out his spelling errors (what is it with you guys that you go after the messenger?) Today you accuse him of drinking whiskey. You don't support your case with that kind of racism and personal attack. Shame!
I would have let it go, but you guys seem to think that the loudest and last word are the most righteous.
Posted by: Kenny Bunkport | August 2, 2006 3:43 PM
Bruce,
The neo-con headquarters is calling you back to the main office,they want to provide you with updated talking points.Hurry up,and answer the phone!
Posted by: FOX LIES!! | August 2, 2006 3:54 PM
We can trade with Red China and red Vietnam, but not Cuba. That's insane.
Posted by: Sterling Tiger | August 2, 2006 3:57 PM
Identifying Sen. Bill Frist properly as Senator William Frist,(R-Tennessee),Senate Majority Leader, M.D,Shelter Feline Vivisectionist, Inside Stock Trader, Grand Wizard,Communicator and Expert on Comatose Floridians would apparently suit all readers here.
HAH!
It never will, so Sen. Frist (R-Tenn.) will have to do.
Posted by: johnf | August 2, 2006 4:02 PM
As a native of Florida, who's great-grandmother came from Cuba at the turn of the last century, I can tell you from personal experience that there is nothing more vile than to grow up hearing Cubans criticizing the US at EVERY turn. Because I'm blonde and green-eyed and look about as Hispanic as Paris Hilton, I have been privy to some of the vilest conversations between Cubans that you could ever imagine. These are what I call the "takeover" Cubans, the first ones to flee Cuba when they realized Castro was not going to allow them to continue to prosper off of the sweat of the peasants. The ones that took that greedy attitude and brought it here and found they had much in common with the Republicans. The ones that call all Democrats Communists. Their hatred for Democrats goes all the way back to the Bay of Pigs and JFK and was reinforced by the "raid" authorized by Janet Reno to get Elian Gonzalez. (NEVER did they consider while they protested outside of his uncle's home that we had NO RIGHT to keep that child from his biological father.)They're celebrating at the prospect that Castro might soon be dead but if they think that they will be welcomed back to Cuba with open arms, they're in for a RUDE awakening. The people of Cuba have been told for the last 46 years that they are ALL equal. A doctor is not better than a mechanic, they are equals. This is not something the "takeovers" want to hear, They are Republicans now and everybody knows that Republicans are better than everyone else. While immigration opponents are focusing on Mexicans (because they're most likely to become Democrats)and preserving English as our official language, it was the "takeovers" that first sued the State of Florida in order to have the government forms they were required to complete printed in Spanish.
Posted by: Debbie | August 2, 2006 4:13 PM
Let me start by saying, that in 2003 there was an election held in Cuba in wich Fidel, was re-elected. And his brother.
And in my personal opinion to US needs to keep its nose out of this and other world problems.
And if they do want to help why dont they help countries, that are in complete shambles.Hati for example. It is the poorest Country on the western hemisphear. Why not ty and situate a goverment for them. Or the Rebulic of Congo wich has had Civil war for about 100 years? Why do we always seem to find the need to fix somhing that is not broke?
Posted by: Ray Morales | August 2, 2006 4:40 PM
Kenny,thanks for your support.I've never experienced being swift boated like that.I'm very fragile right now,and feel like they will continue to abuse me.I went to my shrink and told him the story,he told me to tell the wingers about my portfolio and business I own.He said tell them you cheat on your taxes to,they'll like you then.He told me to tell them I received 24 exemptions from the draft and they may want you to head the party.Thanks for the support.spell check please.
Posted by: john scanlon | August 2, 2006 6:41 PM
john Scanlon shows up his stupidity:
"This would surely divert them to Venezuela,there they would be treated better by Hugo than the wingnuts here!!!!" - JOhn you first on a one-way ticket. My treat.
Marky, did Bruce hurt your feelings???
Posted by: Terry | August 2, 2006 7:26 PM
Terry,I think you and I should take some refresher courses in spelling and grammar.
I'll take that ticket to Venezuela,as long as you take the one for Iraq.Are you just another wing nut couch warrior?
Posted by: john scanlon | August 2, 2006 8:06 PM
Okay, Kenny, I apologize to the Irish. You're right, I was wrong to insult them with the whiskey comments. I'll try to get Notre Dame to stop using them as a mascot. That's racist, after all.
In all seriousness, though, if I've offended you I apologize. I don't seek to name call habitually but I'll admit I've fallen into it occasionally when I feel I've been attacked. I'll try to watch that, but I'm hardly a lonely little misbehaver in that regard on this blog. Several posters from your side use name-calling as a replacement for reasoned argument.
My only question for you, Scanlon, is if Venezuela is so great why haven't you moved yet? I'm serious, if you think what Hugo Chavez is doing is so much better than life here in the US under a president you so vitriolically hate than put your money where your mouth is. I know you obviously like the clout-heavy political system that's ruined the reputation of the state of Illinois, but I really didn't think you'd go that far.
To answer your question, if I were to move to a red state it'd be Georgia. Atlanta's a great city and my company has an office there. But I'd much rather stay here and fight the good fight. I like being in the belly of the beast. We've very nearly turned Wisconsin. The collar counties and downstate are still as red as a radio flyer. All we need to do is get more votes from the city. As soon as Daley gets indicted I suspect we'll see all the little rats scattering off the ship here in Illinois just like what happened with Ryan (if he still calls himself a republican I'm ashamed to call myself one).
Besides, republican presidents are hardly alone in interfering in Latin America. What about the role Jimmy Carter played in the Sandinista takeover of Nicaragua? That seems like interference to me. Pretty much every U.S. president has had some influence over Latin America since the Roosevelt Corollary.
But we all know these things really aren't worth arguing over. After all, we're not going to convince each other of the merits of our deeply-held views.
I'd much rather discuss Debbie's post. Wow. Where to begin with this one. This person was born in Florida and it seems like she's lived in the US her entire life, but somehow sympathizes with the brutal communist dictatorship that is Castro's Cuba. I don't care if you're a republican or a democrat, I think we as AMERICANS can agree that communism is a failed political philosophy that's created misery and fear wherever it's been tried. There's a reason that only five countries left in this world are communist. Ray Morales also seems to think that the "elections" that send Castro back to power every four years are in some way democratic and not motivated by fear of retribution. Ahh, that's funny.
But back to Debbie. I guess she's right that the people of Cuba are all equal. Equally starved and oppressed. I'd like to see Debbie try to live on the rations that the average Cuban (not party members and Castro confidants) live on every day. It's about the same amount American feeds to a pet cat in a day.
I'll gladly go on the record as saying a doctor is more important to a society than an auto mechanic. A doctor saves human lives for his life's work. A mechanic serves a noble purpose, extending the life of your car, but to compare that to the value of a human life shows a serious lack of perspective. I'm glad doctors get paid what they do. The schooling required for the profession is rigorous and difficult (my cousin's a neurosurgeon) and auto mechanics is taught in most vocational schools. It's a necessary service, but not even in the sphere of necessity of a ready and competent medical profession.
I'll take your wager, Debbie. When Castro the vicious dictator does indeed die the power vacuum that ensues will cause instability across the entire island nation. Once the oppressed have hope of a way out they will not settle for the starvation and idle time they have lived under for the last 46 years. If you really think those people want that way of life I'd suggest you look more closely at the Cuban dissident movement or at least read some of the dramas written by Vaclav Havel. Walking through a life with no free choice is no life at all.
I'll leave you with the words of P.J. O'Rourke "in China you can't get good Chinese food and in Cuba, Cuban cigars are rationed. That's pretty much all you need to know about communism."
Posted by: Bil | August 3, 2006 12:25 AM
Bill,
Are you smoking crack?
Those are the best famous last words for the republican party that I have ever heard.Keep up the good work my friend.
Posted by: John E. | August 3, 2006 1:09 PM
Bill,
Are you smoking crack?
Those are the best famous last words for the republican party that I have ever heard.Keep up the good work my friend.
Posted by: John E. | August 3, 2006 1:10 PM