Dancing on Castro’s grave is not only unseemly; it’s also premature!

Reports that emergency surgery forced Fidel to transfer power to his brother Raul a few days ago had Miami Cubans dancing in the streets yesterday. Their reaction did not surprise me. But I was stupefied. After all, their celebration not only betrayed their naiveté about the implications of this transfer, but also indicated how much wasted emotion and misspent resources they have vested in this man’s eventual death.

Of course, most of us in the Americas are acutely aware that Exhibit A for the patent double standards in U.S. foreign policy is not America’s relationship with Palestine; it’s America’s relationship with Cuba. Moreover, all fair-minded and progressive thinking Americans lament that – for almost 45 years – U.S. foreign policy throughout this region has paid undue deference to a cabal of Cuban exiles in Miami whose political sensibilities are guided by nothing more than their visceral, vindictive and, ultimately, self-defeating hatred of Fidel Castro.

Although, to hear them fulminate against Castro, one might think these Cuban immigrants have greater regard for the founding principle of this country – “that all men are created equal…” – than native-born Americans. But I know too many Haitian immigrants living in their midst to think so. Indeed, it constitutes an ironic racial symmetry that “white” Cubans in Miami discriminate against black Haitians, just as their grandparents back in Cuba discriminated against black Cubans before fleeing Castro’s “socialist” revolution.

Let me hasten to clarify, however, that I am no Fidel (or Che) groupie. After all, I am all too mindful that the people who have suffered most under his dictatorship are black Cubans who – like black Americans too poor to escape Hurricane Katrina – did not have the means to flee the revolution. And my assertion in this regard is informed, inter alia, by the testimonials of black athletes whose escape in recent years was orchestrated, invariably, by white Cuban agents hoping to make a fast buck by selling them to professional sport teams in the U.S.

In fact, the vast majority of black Cubans live in more squalid conditions today – 47 years into his socialist revolution – than they did under the Apartheid-style dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, the man he overthrew. This is is a damning indictment not only of Castro’s leadership, but also of the political judgment of those who praise him unconditionally – most notably influential blacks throughout the Americas and the Caribbean..….

When you say there’s racial discrimination in Cuba, you’re told there’s not. Yes, there is! When you go looking for work…they’re looking to see whether you’re black or white…Ever since television reached Cuba 40 years ago, the image projected has been overwhelmingly white. [Alden White, a 59-year-old black unemployable actor]

However, it is precisely because black Cubans have suffered most from America’s 44-year embargo against Cuba that I condemn Miami Cubans for misusing their political influence to keep it in place.

Not to mention that they voice support for this embargo while shedding (crocodile) tears about Cubans having to depend on remittances of everything from hard cash to soft toilet paper. Alas, they are too self-righteous to appreciate the brazen, unconscionable contradiction inherent in their support.

More to the point, though, here is why I dismiss these Cuban exiles as a bunch of hopelessly misguided zealots:

Their dancing is premature not because Fidel might survive. It’s premature because all indications are that his brother Raul will be every bit as ruthless a dictator, even if less vain.

I predict the pragmatic Raul will emulate his new Chinese patrons by pursuing liberal economic policies under strict political and military control. And I fully expect him to solicit foreign direct investments from friendly nations like China and Venezuela (although Canada and EU countries seem eager to oblige) to improve Cuba’s economic welfare, whilst continuing to groom Fidel’s hand-picked protégés to lead the next generation of the revolution.

Mind you, only unbridled conceit and arrogance among Miami Cubans can explain their support for continuing the embargo … until kingdom come if necessary. Nothing betrays this quite like them presuming that — once the Castro brothers die off — they’ll be able to return to Cuba to inherit the political power and social privileges they or family members abdicated decades ago. And they presume this prerogative without any regard for the (mostly black) Cubans who have been toiling at home, waiting for their opportunity to govern their country.

Except that, at this rate, a well-indoctrinated Elian Gonzalez will be Cuban dictator before Miami Cubans are disabused of their antic pining for their paradise lost.

NOTE: Click here to read why – given his abysmal failures in the Middle East – I argued sometime ago that President George W. Bush should seal his legacy by lifting the embargo against Cuba.

Fidel Castro Cuba