[Marxism] IMPORTANT: Poll: Cuba's just one of many issues (MH)

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It's very good news that Ocean Press will soon republish Jesus Arboleya's
THE CUBAN-AMERICAN COUNTER-REVOLUTION in a new, expanded, updated edition.

Confusion about the nature, views and behavior of this very important part
of the life of the United States has been widespread for many years and is
a factor which can cause considerable political disorientation. Given also
the role which Cuban-Americans, particularly those who consider themselves
to be "exiles", play in the Bush administration and the U.S. Congress, it
is very important to have a clear understanding of who these people are
and what they do and don't think. I don't claim to have such knowledge 
personally, no one can, but this latest survey confirms the viewpoint of
Jesus Arboleya in a striking manner. He explained in the first edition of
the book that those who'd left in the very earliest years of the Cuban
Revolution were the most reactionary and most right-wing segment here. 

Those who've left the island since 1980, probably the majority by now, 
not to speak of their children, and even, their grand-children, don't
have that same instinctive instinctive, knee-jerk hatred for the Cuban
Revolution or Fidel Castro that their predecessors did. Not that they
are pro-Cuba, though of course a number are, and not that they cannot
be manipulated from time to time, as many were during the struggle over
Elian Gonzalez. But the bottom line is that the demographic changes in
the Cuban-American community are slowly beginning to have their longer-
term political impact as the Cuban-Americans over time more and more 
blend into the life, culture, values and attitudes which predominate 
in the United States.

It's easy to confuse the Cuban-Americans with those who've spoken on
their behalf in the media: the Diaz-Balarts and Ros-Lehtinens, etc.
But even there, we've seen small changes in recent years, such as in
2005 when Senator Mel Martinez, the highest-ranking Cuban-American
elected official in the United States - a U.S. Senator elected from
Florida, called on the Bush administration to accept Fidel Castro's
offer to send 1500 doctors to provide medical care in the aftermath
of Hurricane Katrina. Martinez remains a staunch reactionary and an
intransigent opponent of the Cuban revolution, but his having made a
public declaration to that effect was a sign of changing times. He
didn't have to worry that Washington would ACCEPT the Cuban offer,
but his statement had a symptomatic significance, in my opinion.


Walter Lippmann, CubaNews
http://www.walterlippmann.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews
===================================================

Posted on Fri, Mar. 10, 2006
CUBAN COMMUNITY
Poll: Cuba's just one of many issues
A new poll reveals a diversity of issues important to Cuban Americans,
challenging the conventional wisdom. Cuba, while still important, is not the
top issue for exiles.
BY OSCAR CORRAL
ocorral@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The war in Iraq and terrorism are more important issues to Cuban Americans
in Miami-Dade than Cuba and Fidel Castro, according to a new poll released
Thursday that skews to Cuban Americans 60 and older and paints a more
nuanced picture of the exile community.

The findings challenge conventional wisdom that the most important issue to
older Cuban exiles is bringing democratic change to communist-ruled Cuba.

Asked what the most important political issue is for them personally, 33
percent of respondents said the war in Iraq and terrorism, 26 percent said
Cuba and Castro, and 11 percent said the economy. The poll did not give
respondents a choice of answers. Rather, they offered their own for that
particular question.

The researchers conclude that national security issues will be more
important for Cubans and Cuban-American voters in 2008 than U.S.-Cuba
policy.

''I think what we are looking at is a much more complicated view of this
community than we've seen in the past,'' said Jessica Lavariega Monforti, a
political science professor at the University of Texas, Pan American.

``You have to engage this community on issues other than Cuba.''

The poll questioned 600 Cuban exiles and U.S.-born Cuban Americans in
Miami-Dade County Feb. 6-19, and has a sampling margin of error of plus or
minus 3 percentage points. The telephone survey, conducted during daytime
hours, skewed toward older people, with 47 percent of registered voters
questioned 60 or older.

Veteran Miami pollster Sergio Bendixen said that a typical sample of Miami's
Cuban and Cuban-American community should have no more than 34 percent of
respondents 60 and over. That would make it consistent with the U.S. Census,
he said.

The survey was conducted by Lavariega Monforti and Lisa García Bedolla of
the University of California at Irvine. Both are Cuban Americans but grew up
outside Miami. They presented their results Thursday morning at an event
organized by Florida International University's Metropolitan Center. García
Bedolla and Lavariega Monforti focused their poll results on the registered
voters interviewed, which accounted for 87 percent of the sample.

TRAFFIC AND TAXES

On the local front, transportation ranked as the top concern for Cuban
Americans interviewed. One in five said traffic congestion and public
transit were the most important issue, followed by taxes, crime and
political corruption.

The researchers also indicated that Catholic Cubans ''seem politically
distinct'' because only 49 percent identified as ideologically conservative.
About three in four of the poll's respondents said they are Roman Catholic.

FIU Professor Damian Fernandez, head of the Cuban Research Institute, said
''the social justice doctrine of the Catholic Church in Cuba'' might explain
why Cuban Catholics are less conservative than some might expect.

Columbia University Professor Rudy de la Garza warned not to underestimate
the Cuba/Castro issue when it comes to Cuban-American voters.

''If you come out wrong on Castro, can you make it as a Cuban-American
candidate in Miami? No,'' de la Garza said. ``He is a necessary, but not a
sufficient, condition for political life in Miami.''

Lavariega Monforti conducted the poll as part of a larger study she is
pursuing on Miami's exile community. The poll also asked a series of
questions about ethnic relations between Cubans and other groups.

RACE RELATIONS

A large majority of Cubans interviewed described local relations between
white Cubans and African-Americans, non-Hispanic whites, other Hispanics and
black Cubans as good or excellent.

They are also optimistic about their future. Forty-five percent of
respondents felt their family's economic situation will be better three
years from now and 36 percent said they expected it would remain ``about the
same.''

García Bedolla said the poll shows an interesting nuance on Cuban Americans
in Miami.

''This is not a one-hit wonder community,'' she said. ``I think people need
to have concrete facts and not just make assumptions.''


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