Atlanta - Cuban-Americans skeptical of outcome : Carter "useful tool" Castro "devil" ***Carter is political pawn, some say At the Coco Loco Cuban restaurant in Buckhead, Rey Regalado, 41, a paint contractor from Tucker who came from Cuba in 1991, chuckled as he reviewed the list of Carter's scheduled visits. The former president is being steered to places designed to show Cuba in the best light, Regalado said. "You see? Castro is so smart," he said. "Castro is controlling him. [Carter] is not going to see the real Cuba. I'm not against him going. He's just going to be manipulated."
Regalado said he was "born in the revolution" and knew nothing else. He said life was fine in Cuba until the collapse of the Soviet Union, which had economically propped up the island. By 1991, the economy declined so much he decided to leave. The Soviet Union's collapse showed him communism "wouldn't work," he said. "I decided to get out before it was too late." Even Castro's harshest critics stress that he's smart, and, in the opinion of many Cuban-Americans, he doesn't do anything unless he stands to gain something. For this reason, they say, Carter needs to treat him with suspicion.
"He needs to understand that if the embargo is to be ended, there has to be changes in political prisoners, in human rights and in open and free elections, which is basically what the U.S. government has said from Day One," said Cuban-American Joaquin "Jack" Coello, 57, a lawyer. Rafael Andino, 37, a Lawrenceville biomedical engineer who came to the United States when he was 3 years old, is pessimistic. "I think Carter will try to press for certain freedoms, but I don't think he'll be successful. [Castro] can't allow basic freedoms because it compromises his position," he said. "We wish Carter well, but we're not hopeful."***
Texas farms see Cuba as market for their goods*** "We are not going to help Fidel Castro stay in power by opening up our markets to Cuba," said Cuban-born Otto Reich, whom Bush appointed as the State Department's top official for Latin American affairs over the objections of the U.S. Senate. A democratic transition in Cuba could be expedited, Reich said earlier this year, by "not throwing a lifeline to a failed, corrupt, dictatorial, murderous regime." Hillman, however, said he sees trade as a lifeline not for Castro but for struggling U.S. farmers and for starving Cubans, who wait in long lines for a rationed food supply with little variety.***
Al Neuharth: Why is China OK, but Cuba 'enemy'?
And with U.S. businessmen waiting in line for the U.S. government to open Cuba to U.S. business it won't be long.
"USEFUL IDIOTS!"
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The last time Cuba was in the news, all the big anchors and reporters went to Cuba to cover the story of, I think it was the Pope's trip to Cuba. Then, something happened, an unexpected news event, and the big story turned out to be something that happened here. What was it?
Oh yeah, he'll get a realistic picture of life in Cuba from that, NOT!!!!! Can you say "Theresinstadt"?
What garbage...
The opening paragraph is totally without merit, what follows is a figment of someones imagination...
I hope Peanut Carter has a good explanation as to why Castros sister and two of his children live in the United states.
Have you ever seen The National Security Archive and/or The Digital National Security Archive?
Here's a link to their Cuba Documentation Project.
They have declassified documents regarding The ULTRASENSITIVE Bay of Pigs, Kennedy and Castro: The Secret Quest for Accommodation, The Death of Che Guevara: Declassified, and Béisbol Diplomacy with Cuba.
quote:
The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962