Local leaders share optimism for Cuba's future

Posted on Tue, Aug. 01, 2006

Local leaders share optimism for Cuba's future
Politicians have little faith in strength of regeime without Fidel
BY LESLEY CLARK
lclark@MiamiHerald.com

If Fidel Castro's surgery signals the end of his regime, it would be a
major boost to President Bush, who has maintained a hard line against
the communist government, tightening economic sanctions since he took
office.

And the news of Castro's surgery came hours after Bush -- on a two-day
trip to Miami -- visited the veritable heart of Miami's Little Havana.
Sipping a cup of Cuban coffee at Versailles, Bush gave a radio interview
to staunchly anti-Castro radio hosts, Radio Mambi's Armando Perez Roura
and Ninoska Perez Castellon.

''I believe strongly that all people should live in freedom,'' Bush
said, sitting across a dining room table from the two hosts. ``I believe
it's important for the Cuban people to live in freedom.''

The news traveled the political circuits rapidly.

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart was driving home late Monday when his phone began
buzzing with the news. Fidel Castro was ceding power to his younger brother.

The staunchly anti-Castro lawmaker -- one of three Miami Republicans in
Congress who have pushed for sanctions against the island nation as a
means of squeezing Castro -- remained cautiously optimistic late Monday
that the news out of Havana would soon lead to an end to any Castro regime.

''It's such a dictatorship built around one individual, I don't see it
lasting under Raul,'' Diaz-Balart said, referring to Fidel Castro's brother.

Though many familiar with the Cuban government said they remained
skeptical of any news from the Cuban government, he called the reports
``a reminder that the dictator and his dictatorship are on their last
legs.''

And quoting his late father, Rafael Díaz-Balart, he said he expects Raul
Castro would not be able to hold power. His father, Diaz-Balart said,
routinely said that once Castro dies, ``that regime disentegrates like a
sugar cube in a glass of water.

''I know that his days are numbered and so is the regime,'' Diaz-Balart
said.

His words were echoed by his brother, Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Miami,
who called the reports out of Havana ``a clear reminder that the end of
the Castro regime is approaching, and that the only solution for Cuba is
free elections and the rule of law.''

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a member of the House International Relations
committee, called events unfolding in Cuba ``a great day for the Cuban
people.

''I welcome this news because if Castro has relinquished power, even if
on a temporary basis, it is a great day for the Cuban people and for
their brothers and sisters in exile,'' she said in a statement.

She said Castro has brought ``ruin and misery to Cuba so if he is
incapacitated, even for a short period of time, it is a marvelous moment
for the millions of Cubans who live under his iron fisted rule and
oppressive state machinery.''

Miami Herald staff writer Pablo Bachelet contributed to this report.

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