Castro's untimely exit could expedite the process of U.S.-Cuban relations
Christina Kiser
Issue date: 2/26/08 Section: Opinion
When I was about eight, I started watching I Love Lucy on Nick at Nite. I immediately became an ardent and devoted fan of the genius red-headed comedienne and her bandleader husband, Ricky, otherwise known as Desi Arnaz, Lucille Ball's real-life partner. Like Ricky, Desi was originally from Cuba, having fled to Miami during the Batista revolution of 1933. However, we still heard a lot about the country on the show. Anyway, after one segment, in which Ricky sang exuberantly, "I'm on my way to Cuuuuuuba, that's where I'm gooooing!", I asked my mom why nobody went to Cuba on vacation anymore if it was so great there.
"Because," said my mother, "Cuba is a Communist country, and we aren't friends with them." I think I must have accepted the answer -- how interested could I have been at age eight? But after last week, when Fidel Castro announced that he is stepping down as president after nearly 50 years, I realized that I couldn't accept an easy answer about Cuba any longer.
Cuba is so close -- 90 miles from that boundary marker in Key West, Florida -- and yet what do we really know about it? When we hear or read "Bay of Pigs" or Cuban missile crisis, we probably think of American history class in high school, black and white pictures of JFK on the porch at the White House pacing back and forth and kids hiding under their desks at school during a nuclear attack drill (I've always wondered what good people thought the desks would do if there ever were a nuclear attack) We maintain a long-standing trade embargo against Cuba, and Fidel remains persona non grata in America's book.
But what do we really know about Cuba the country? How much can we believe of what we see and read, knowing that nearly everything that comes out of Cuba is censored by its state-run media, and that American media is often biased because of the two countries' history? Was Fidel a dictator or a savior?
Given the vast numbers of Cubans who have immigrated here since 1959 -- nearly 3,000 last year alone, many on makeshift rafts -- I don't think everyone there believes that Castro was or is the greatest thing since sliced bread. On the other hand, I'm not a poor farmer who sees his government and his policies as the best thing that could have happened to the country.
"Because," said my mother, "Cuba is a Communist country, and we aren't friends with them." I think I must have accepted the answer -- how interested could I have been at age eight? But after last week, when Fidel Castro announced that he is stepping down as president after nearly 50 years, I realized that I couldn't accept an easy answer about Cuba any longer.
Cuba is so close -- 90 miles from that boundary marker in Key West, Florida -- and yet what do we really know about it? When we hear or read "Bay of Pigs" or Cuban missile crisis, we probably think of American history class in high school, black and white pictures of JFK on the porch at the White House pacing back and forth and kids hiding under their desks at school during a nuclear attack drill (I've always wondered what good people thought the desks would do if there ever were a nuclear attack) We maintain a long-standing trade embargo against Cuba, and Fidel remains persona non grata in America's book.
But what do we really know about Cuba the country? How much can we believe of what we see and read, knowing that nearly everything that comes out of Cuba is censored by its state-run media, and that American media is often biased because of the two countries' history? Was Fidel a dictator or a savior?
Given the vast numbers of Cubans who have immigrated here since 1959 -- nearly 3,000 last year alone, many on makeshift rafts -- I don't think everyone there believes that Castro was or is the greatest thing since sliced bread. On the other hand, I'm not a poor farmer who sees his government and his policies as the best thing that could have happened to the country.
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