Still, Gutiérrez-Menoyo has demonstrated that he has no use for that industry or for U.S. government help. ''I'm independent,'' he said. ''I'm not manipulated by the (U.S.) Interests Section.'' We'll soon see if he's manipulated by Castro.
His decision to stay in Cuba couldn't come at a more difficult time for the Bush administration. Its Cuba policy is in disarray -- or, more accurately, it isn't configured to deal with current realities. Even Gov. Jeb Bush has said so publicly. ''It's just not right,'' the governor told The Herald, referring to sending Cuban refugees back to negotiated prison sentences.
The White House was worried enough to dispatch presidential advisor Otto Reich to Miami to get disgruntled Cuban exiles back on the GOP reservation.
It will take more than calming words from Reich, who managed to put his foot in his mouth. He trotted out a cockamamie theory about the Castro regime's sending out balseros to force the Coast Guard to return them, to roil Cuban Americans.***