[A-List] Castro Policy Needs Revamp, Say Florida's Young Cuban-Americans

["Charles Brown" <charlesb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Castro Policy Needs Revamp, Say Florida's  Young Cuban-Americans 
By Janine Zacharia 
 

 (http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=photos&sid=a3Agddmk8X5k) 

April 29 (Bloomberg) -- As Joe Garcia digs into tamal en cazuela, a  
pork-cornmeal stew, at a restaurant in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood, he  rails 
against the almost five- decade U.S. trade embargo on Cuba and the  politicians 
who promote it.  
``We have a policy that is stuck in time and place, and we're not achieving  
any of our goals,'' says the 44-year-old Cuban-American Democrat who is trying 
 to unseat Republican Representative _Mario Diaz-Balart_ 
(http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Mario+Diaz-Balart&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wne 
ws&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:
d1) , 46,  a staunch embargo supporter.  
While _Fidel Castro_ 
(http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Fidel+Castro&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&fi 
lter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1)  and his  brother Raul age in 
Havana, so do many stalwarts in Miami's Cuban community who  have pressed successive 
U.S. administrations to starve Castro's regime. Now, as  Raul, Cuba's new 
president, allows people to own cell phones and signals he may  relax a ban on 
foreign travel, some younger Cuban-Americans are pushing to ease  America's 
policy toward the island nation.  
Garcia is banking that enough people share his frustration to help him beat  
the incumbent. So does Raul Martinez, 59, also a Cuban-American Democrat, who 
is  challenging Mario's brother, _Lincoln_ 
(http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Lincoln&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=U 
TF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) , 53, a U.S.  
representative for another Miami district. The Diaz-Balarts are from a  well-known 
anti-Castro family.  
Political observers are watching the contests, the first since Fidel, 81,  
yielded power to Raul, 76, for evidence of a change in political sentiment.  
Hard-Line Commitment  
Older Cubans who came to the U.S. in the early 1960s after the Castro  
revolution are mostly committed to a hard-line policy. Meanwhile, the number of  
younger Cuban-Americans who vote more on economic issues is growing.  
That may signal a shift away from a reliable Republican bloc in Florida,  
where, in the hotly contested 2000 election, overwhelming support for _George W. 
Bush_ 
(http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=George+W.+Bush&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfiel 
ds=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1)  by the  Cuban community helped him win the state 
and the presidency.  
In a focus group of 18-to-40-year-old Cuban-Americans before Florida's  
January primary, no one raised Cuba when asked their top 10 issues of  importance, 
says _Sergio Bendixen_ 
(http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Sergio+Bendixen&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF- 
8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) ,  president of Bendixen & 
Associates, the public-opinion research and  consulting firm that conducted the 
session. Asked if they care about the Cuba  issue, one respondent replied, ``Only 
for the sake of my grandmother.''  
Even some of the older ÃmigrÃs now are calling for new tactics.  
`Maintain Control'  
``Raul doesn't have the same ability to maintain control over the system as  
Fidel Castro had,'' says Francisco Hernandez, the 71-year-old head of the 
_Cuban American National Foundation_ (http://www.canf.org/) , an  advocacy group 
in Miami. ``Things are going to change. We should somehow help  those changes 
to take place.''  
Ending economic isolation is already on the agenda of Carlos Saladrigas, a  
59-year-old Cuban-American businessman who co-chairs the _Cuba Study Group_ 
(http://www.cubastudygroup.org/) . The Washington-based  organization aims to 
make small loans to entrepreneurs in Cuba.  
``We're the ideal and natural market for Cuban goods,'' he says. ``There's  
nothing more logical than that.''  
_Vicki Huddleston_ 
(http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Vicki+Huddleston&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&; 
filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) , the  former chief American 
diplomat in Havana, says the U.S. could have  ``considerably more influence inside 
Cuba if we could stimulate change there.''  One way, she says, is to permit 
American Internet companies to operate on the  island.  
In 2000 U.S. lawmakers eased the trade embargo and allowed the export of  
agricultural and medical goods to Cuba. Shipments rose to $447 million last  
year, from $341 million in 2006, according to U.S. trade data.  
Lift Restrictions  
Garcia says he doesn't advocate completely abandoning the embargo because too 
 many people still support it. Instead he emphasizes domestic concerns and 
wants  to lift restrictions Bush imposed in 2004 on travel to Cuba and sending 
money  there.  
Liudmila Ruiz, a 33-year-old receptionist at a local beauty salon, is the  
kind of voter Garcia seeks. She was studying medicine in Cuba when the U.S. visa 
 lottery enabled her to immigrate to Florida in 2000. She laments she can't  
afford to buy a house and doesn't have health insurance.  
``You care about Cuba,'' she says. ``But you care about stuff here more.''  
When Fidel handed over power to Raul, Bush said he wouldn't talk to a  
``tyrant.'' The State Department urged the Cuban government ``to begin a process  of 
peaceful, democratic change'' and then later dismissed Raul's efforts to  
loosen restrictions. ``The situation has not changed from today to 10 years ago,  
to 20 years ago,'' spokesman _Sean McCormack_ 
(http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Sean+McCormack&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_ 
no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1)  said  
April 18.  
Status Quo  
Many older Cuban-Americans -- and even some younger advocates who echo their  
grandparents' views -- hail such fortitude. Others see it as a sign that 
Bush,  worried a change might provoke a refugee crisis, prefers the status quo.  
Democratic presidential candidate _Barack Obama_ 
(http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Barack+Obama&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml 
_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1)  has 
said  it's time for a shift in policy and is open to talking with Raul. His 
rival, _Hillary Clinton_ 
(http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Hillary+Clinton&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&f 
ilter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) , and  Republican presidential 
nominee _John McCain_ 
(http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=John+McCain&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter= 
p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1)  have both  said they won't meet with 
him.  
Maritza Aldir, 23, who lives in Miami Beach and works as a sales coordinator  
at a television station, says the younger generation is ``tired'' of the  
conflict the embargo has caused in the Cuban-American community.  
She's active with _Raices de Esperanza_ (http://www.raicesdeesperanza.org/) , 
or  ``Roots of Hope,'' a group of 15-to-35-year-olds that doesn't take a 
stand on  U.S.-Cuba policy while trying to find ways to communicate with and 
support young  people there.  
``My friends here in Miami, what we really want is to just engage with the  
people of Cuba and just learn from each other,'' she says. 




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