[Marxism] Ana Menendez/MH: Is American dream too small to go around?

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(When the Cuban exiles talk about the "freedom" they want to bring
to Cuba, here's a good example of what they mean. The surprise in
this story is that it's gone so far that the Cuban has actually
been CHARGED here. Under the Cuban Adjustment Act, Cubans entering
the United States are free to remain, once they get in, unlike all
other immigrants. The special rights, special privileges and the
many special advantages which Cubans get encourage some to develop
a sense of impunity, that they can, literally, get away with any
act of whatever kind, as this guy clearly thought that he could.
Well, the very first modern airplane hijacker came from Cuba in 
1959, Pedro Diaz Lanz, still living happily ever after in Miami.)
================================================================

MIAMI HERALD
IN MY OPINION
Is American dream too small to go around?
Posted on Sun, Nov. 04, 2007

By ANA MENENDEZ
amenendez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/columnists/ana_menendez/story/295134.html 

The workers who gathered every day near The Home Depot in South
Miami-Dade irritated a lot of people, but few seemed to take their
presence so personally as did Jorge Ramos.

He took photos, met with police and called out the immigration
enforcers. The men kept coming, looking for work.

On Nov. 9, 2006, Ramos was driving down Southwest 106th Avenue in his
blue Dodge Ram when he saw a group of men resting under a tree.

Some of the details are now in dispute. But everyone agrees that
after a confrontation with one of the men, Ramos got out of his truck
and beat Carlos Cruz Gallego with a piece of re-bar.

Ramos sat in court last week, charged with aggravated battery.

Cruz Gallego, after testifying Thursday against Ramos, was picked up
by immigration and now sits in the Krome Detention Center.

Ramos told the jury Friday that he had acted in self-defense when
Cruz Gallego slammed the truck door on his hand. ''I took a defensive
position,'' Ramos said several times.

The previous day, Cruz Gallego had testified that Ramos' attack was
unprovoked. Witnesses called by the prosecution agreed. Santiago
Rojas said, ``[Ramos] starts kicking this guy for no reason.''

SYMPATHETIC VICTIM

The role of sympathetic victim does not come easily to Cruz Gallego,
who has several felony convictions -- one of them for cocaine
possession -- and was in the country without a proper visa. On the
witness stand Thursday, he was inarticulate and seemed confused. He
sat hunched over in a T-shirt, his small frame nearly obscured behind
the court reporter. Ramos, in contrast, expressed himself well and
smiled often. He wore a dress shirt and a sports jacket. His family
sat in the front row, a respectable collection of supporters.

His attorney, Michael Band, spent the first half hour of his direct
examination going over Ramos' personal biography: born in Havana,
attended Miami High, married with two kids.

It was as if Band were daring the jury to believe that decent people
from good families were incapable of cruelty.

Ramos' guilt or innocence is up to the jury to determine after the
trial resumes Monday. The larger issues that inform the case are
likely to remain unresolved.

''This is not about immigration issues,'' Band said in his opening
statement. Of course it is.

Ramos, from Cuba, and Cruz Gallego, from Colombia, are contemporaries
in almost every way: Both are in their 50s, both struggled in
construction jobs, both found their way to Homestead after Hurricane
Andrew. Yet they met in violence, not friendship.

At the heart of their enmity lies the fear that fuels so much of the
immigration hysteria: The sense that there simply isn't enough
opportunity to go around.

Ramos and Cruz Gallego both struggled toward what optimists call the
American Dream and discovered that their visions were mutually
exclusive.

While Cruz Gallego waited on the avenue for odd construction jobs,
Ramos and four partners had $6 million on the line in ventures that
included a condo project. The day laborers, Ramos complained, scared
away potential buyers.

`IN HOCK'

''We're all in hock above our ears,'' Ramos testified. ``If I fail in
this project, five families fail.''

Ramos may yet be punished for what Cruz Gallego said he did. But he
long ago won the larger battle.

In court Friday, Band asked Ramos if he went looking for a fight.

''No, sir,'' Ramos said and smiled his broad, white smile. ``I was
headed to the Keys.''


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