February 20, 2008

 

 

Exiles show little jubilation

 

By JOHN LANTIGUA, ROCHELLE E.B. GILKEN and HECTOR FLORIN

 

MIAMI — Angel DeFana spent 20 years of his life as a political prisoner in Fidel Castro's Cuban gulag.

So when Castro, 81, announced publicly Tuesday that he would not again seek the presidency of Cuba due to failing health, a person like DeFana might have been expected to rejoice at the news.
Far from it.

"I don't feel any different today than I did last week," said DeFana, 69.

He was speaking at the Little Havana headquarters of a group of former Cuban political prisoners, in a cramped office probably not much bigger than the Cuban cell he once occupied.

"No, this isn't an emotional moment for me," he said. "This is simply a succession. He is handing power to his brother. When there is real change in Cuba, when all the 300 or so political prisoners in Cuba are freed and there are real elections, then I will get excited."

In West Palm Beach, another Cuban exile who said he spent two decades locked up for alleged political crimes, Ramon Vidal Fuentes, 81, also took the announcement with a grain of salt. He was discussing the news with other octogenarians outside the Publix on Southern Boulevard.

"As long as Fidel lives, there won't be change," Vidal Fuentes said of his former jailer.

Apart from a bit of revelry in a small section of Little Havana - horn-honking and flag-waving - most Cuban-Americans took the news stoically. It demonstrated that the once highly emotional and excitable Cuban community - the sometimes violent exile community of the Elian Gonzalez era and earlier decades - has seemingly evolved.

Many said only Castro's death and/or true political change in Cuba would compel them to take to the streets.

"I think the Cuban-American community has become much more realistic, more sophisticated about possible regime change in Cuba," said Susan Purcell, director of the Center for Hemispheric Policy at the University of Miami.

"They know as long as Fidel is hanging around," major changes won't come, she said.

Castro's announcement came just five days before the first meeting of the new Cuban National Assembly, elected in January. On Sunday, that body will pick the governing Council of State, including a president.

Castro, 81, speaking to the state-run newspaper Granma, announced that he would not seek or accept the presidency because of his health. Castro had temporarily stepped down on July 31, 2006, citing a serious intestinal ailment, and ceded power to his brother Raul, 76, the defense minister.

His announcement Tuesday apparently makes that resignation permanent and opens the way for Raul to be named president.

Cuban-Americans gathering for coffee and breakfast at the Havana Restaurant in West Palm Beach weren't happy about that prospect.

Wearing a hat with a Cuban flag stuck in it, truck driver Fidel Hernandez said he hates what his country has become. He said he even hates his own name, preferring to go by Mike, because he doesn't like sharing a name with Castro.

"Raul is more criminal than his brother," Hernandez said. "Whatever they do, it's not going to be good."

Miami-based Sylvia Iriondo, founder and leader of the anti-Castro exile organization Mothers Against Repression, agreed.

Iriondo was a survivor of the 1996 incident when Cuban government fighter jets shot down two Brothers to the Rescue planes over the Florida Straits, killing four exile pilots. She was in the one plane that escaped.

"So far, the press seems more excited about this than the exile community," she said. "The Cubans know this doesn't mean the regime is going to change."

At the landmark Versailles restaurant in Little Havana, Iriondo's comment certainly seemed true. At various points in the day, more journalists were in evidence than Cuban exile revelers.

About a dozen Cuban leaders gathered Tuesday night at Ernesto Priede's home in West Palm Beach. Although the meeting was scheduled before Castro's announcement, much of the discussion among exiles centered on its impact.

Some believe Castro is dead. Others say he will continue to run the island through his brother and a half-dozen other revolutionaries.

Amy López, 54, who left Cuba when she was 4, said the news did not surprise her.

"Communists always work that way," she said. "They have this all carefully thought out. I just hope there isn't any bloodshed in my country."

While most exile leaders were playing down the Castro resignation, Ramon Saul Sanchez, founder of the Democracia Movement, saw a possible opening in Cuba. Sanchez has led numerous flotillas to the edge of Cuban territorial waters and was once rammed by Cuban patrol boats when he entered those waters.

"With Fidel Castro withdrawing, this could be a step toward reform," he said. "More people may be more inclined to express themselves, and I don't just mean opponents of the government, but people within the regime.

"If that happens, Raul Castro may recognize the real need for change," Sanchez said cautiously.

Raul Rio, a former newspaper publisher who left Cuba in 1962 and now lives in West Palm Beach, allowed himself to go a bit further. In fact, he allowed himself to dream. He said Castro's resignation might be a turn in the road and that Cuba could be driven down that road to democracy.

"Maybe Raul will be the one to drive it there," he said. "But that's a little wishful thinking from me."