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Showing posts with label Cuban-Americans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cuban-Americans. Show all posts

Sunday, November 27, 2016

'Cuba si! Castro no!' But now, it's "Cuba si, Fidel Castro no more!" Observations on a day that so many people in South Florida thought might never come in their lifetimes





I grew-up in South Florida in the 1970's hearing people say one thing more than anything else that ever made an impression on ever-observant me.
It was a phrase that many people said with conviction, borne of bitter and heartbreaking personal experience -of having their or their family's life torn upside-down.
Or ruined.

But for others, like many Democrats and liberal politicians or news reporters I came to personally know in 1970's and 1980's Miami while involved with Dade County and national Democratic Party officials and campaigns at a very high ;level, it was said it out of cautious political expediency. The unspoken reason was clear - they knew they MUST at all times be sensitive to the concerns of so many people concentrated in one area who felt this particular pain and sentiment so deeply in their heart and their head, lest those pols become eviscerated come election-time.
That phrase, of course, was 'Cuba si! Castro no!' 

 But now, today, it's "Cuba si, Castro no more!"

 But this morning's news about the death of the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro came far too late for so many childhood friends of mine's parents and grandparents, too late for so many of my own former teachers, coaches, teammates, employers, barbers, auto mechanics, and neighbors in North Miami Beach I knew, admired and was influenced by in ways large and small.

 People who desperately hoped, no prayed, that a day like today would someday come while they were still alive and could, perhaps, get at least one last chance to return to visit or live in the land of their birth, with some measure of happiness and satisfaction. 
But to no avail.
The Communist tyrant Fidel Castro and his bureaucracy of fear and destruction always lived to fight and rule for another day, another year.

 Another year of not being able to walk the streets, sidewalks, neighborhoods, beaches or open spaces of their youth, ones that they could still so clearly see in their heads when they closed their eyes, but which, increasingly, may've only existed as memories, never to be seen again in person.

 And today was a fateful day that my own father never saw before he died almost five years ago this Christmas, who worked for so long with so many wonderful Cuban-born men and women I came to know, trust and respect over the years since my family first moved to Miami in August of 1968.
People who, while brave on the outside, always deeply felt a hole in their soul that people not in their unique situation could never hope to fully understand or explain away.
As so many told me in their own words, how can it be a "phantom pain" when you know that Cuba is still there, so close by?

 Yes, it's that geographic proximity that burned, that element that made even recounting happy memories back in Cuba soon turn into tears.
How many hundreds and hundreds of times have I witnessed that?
Too, too many.... 































: Fidel Castro is dead https://t.co/dK2h8YLgX3">https://t.co/dK2h8YLgX3</p>— Lizette Alvarez (@LizetteNYT) https://twitter.com/LizetteNYT/status/802717605446504449">November 27, 2016

https://t.co/vRmOLOq8qv">pic.twitter.com/vRmOLOq8qv</a>— James Taranto (@jamestaranto) https://twitter.com/jamestaranto/status/802696943558426624">November 27, 2016


https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cubans?src=hash">#Cubans react to death of Fidel Castro in streets of Little Havana. https://twitter.com/hashtag/FidelCastro?src=hash">#FidelCastro https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cuba?src=hash">#Cuba</a> https://twitter.com/hashtag/Miami?src=hash">#Miami https://t.co/ma7CcxKgH3">https://t.co/ma7CcxKgH3</p>— MaryAnn Martinez (@maryannreports) https://twitter.com/maryannreports/status/802520357794181120">November 26, 2016


https://t.co/n5XRSH9QOj">pic.twitter.com/n5XRSH9QOj</a>— Kyra Gurney (@KyraGurney) https://twitter.com/KyraGurney/status/802556887132729345">November 26, 2016






</p>— Jennine Capó Crucet (@crucet) https://twitter.com/crucet/status/802639249250091008">November 26, 2016



SVT (Sveriges Television) Sweden

De firar Castros bortgång

Carina Bergfeldt, USA-korrespondent på plats i Little Havana, Miami, Florida
Publicerad:26 november 2016 12.00
Uppdaterad:26 november 2016 12.27
http://www.svt.se/nyheter/utrikes/de-firar-castros-bortgang






kl 18 och kl 19.30. https://t.co/w5mcZkUj8w">pic.twitter.com/w5mcZkUj8w</a>— Carina Bergfeldt (@carinabergfeldt) https://twitter.com/carinabergfeldt/status/802542046816780288">November 26, 2016

: New admin + the world must seize this opportunity 2 redouble their commitment 2 the people of https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cuba?src=hash">#Cuba</a> https://t.co/Ydw9N02oyI">https://t.co/Ydw9N02oyI</p>— Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (@RosLehtinen) https://twitter.com/RosLehtinen/status/802657042594865154">November 26, 2016




used MIG-29 combat pilots to kill unarmed civilians https://twitter.com/hashtag/Brotherstotherescue?src=hash">#Brotherstotherescue back in 1996. https://twitter.com/hashtag/cuba?src=hash">#cuba</a>— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) https://twitter.com/marcorubio/status/802547948043108352">November 26, 2016


https://t.co/Tm0JoCcT3P">pic.twitter.com/Tm0JoCcT3P</a>— Casey Michel (@cjcmichel) https://twitter.com/cjcmichel/status/802525988076650496">November 26, 2016


</p>— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/status/802468735483310081">November 26, 2016


</p>— Doug Hanks (@doug_hanks) https://twitter.com/doug_hanks/status/802567527276642305">November 26, 2016






https://t.co/9gAebeawTn">https://t.co/9gAebeawTn</p>— SalenaZito (@SalenaZito) https://twitter.com/SalenaZito/status/802345096427503617">November 26, 2016

https://t.co/X38h2C4ZLu">https://t.co/X38h2C4ZLu</p>— George Bennett (@gbennettpost) https://twitter.com/gbennettpost/status/802498245037420545">November 26, 2016

. He looked old then, I'm surprised he lasted so long. Evil man, good riddance.— Richard Brookhiser (@RBrookhiser) https://twitter.com/RBrookhiser/status/802538215106351104">November 26, 2016


... https://twitter.com/JanHelin">@JanHelin&mdash; HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/status/802477270195720192">November 26, 2016




</p>— MariaElena Fernandez (@writerchica) https://twitter.com/writerchica/status/802402837321789440">November 26, 2016

https://twitter.com/hashtag/Welcome?src=hash">#Welcome, Carina! Head to https://twitter.com/VersaillesMiami">@VersaillesMiami, interview https://twitter.com/GlennaOn10">@GlennaOn10. Can explain it all in a way https://twitter.com/hashtag/Sweden?src=hash">#Sweden understands. :-)— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/status/802466372710232064">November 26, 2016





https://twitter.com/JanHelin">@JanHelin The scene in https://twitter.com/hashtag/Miami?src=hash">#Miami LIVE as it celebrates the death of the Cuban tyrant, https://twitter.com/hashtag/FidelCastro?src=hash">#FidelCastro: https://t.co/AeQhgmrQHi">https://t.co/AeQhgmrQHi</p>— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/status/802409924827475968">November 26, 2016
https://twitter.com/GlennaOn10">@GlennaOn10 https://twitter.com/WPLGLocal10">@WPLGLocal10 Or was it https://twitter.com/hashtag/Miami?src=hash">#Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado? Tired... not used to pulling all-niters any more! :-)— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/status/802459773048332288">November 26, 2016


is capturing outside https://twitter.com/VersaillesMiami">@VersaillesMiami live on https://twitter.com/WPLGLocal10">@WPLGLocal10 right now is truly compelling https://t.co/GDaFSqZXVn">https://t.co/GDaFSqZXVn</p>— Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) https://twitter.com/BillyCorben/status/802433125775212544">November 26, 2016


</p>— MariaElena Fernandez (@writerchica) https://twitter.com/writerchica/status/802391476185350144">November 26, 2016

People outside of https://twitter.com/hashtag/SoFL?src=hash">#SoFL</a> might think you are exaggerating via pots & pans theme. Nope! We know it's the truth!  :-)— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/status/802393190380736512">November 26, 2016


</p>— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/status/802460197952307201">November 26, 2016


</p>— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/status/802461624011542528">November 26, 2016
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Thursday, July 11, 2013

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen flashback to 1989 - WTVJ-TV video: Ros-Lehtinen wins Special Election to succeed late Rep. Claude Pepper and makes history


Wolfson Archive YouTube Channel video: On what was a Special Election night in August of 1989, WTVJ reporter Ileana Bravo reports on the historic occasion of Florida state Senator Ileana Ros-Lehtinen winning a bruising election for the then-Miami Beach based congressional seat of Claude Pepper, who had died on May 30th at the age of 88, the oldest menber of Congress. She became the first Cuban-American ever elected to Congress and first Hispanic woman elected to the U.S. House. Uploaded July 11, 2013. http://youtu.be/jeC0ZwuB4e0

Future Florida governor Jeb Bush is rather obvious in the news clip, but who else do you recognize? (Suggested title in my YouTube inbox was "Happy Birthday, Madame Congresswoman!" due to her upcoming birthday on July 15th.) 

The other irony of this night, apparent to folks like me who grew-up in South Florida -but then living and working in Washington, D.C., and who knew people on Pepper's staff on The Hill- was that for many campaign cycles in the 1970's, the Republican who ran against longtime incumbent and Democratic icon Pepper was a Cuban-American businessman named Evelio Estrella, who was perhaps most noteworthy for refusing to do any campaigning in English in what was then FL-14, to the great astonishment of nearly everyone who was not Cuban-American, including the local and national news media.

Okay, so that happens once, you think.
Maybe there are no good candidates available and you have to field someone, even if a sacrificial lamb.
But Estrella ran enthusiastically several times!
Now THAT was Miami in the '70's!

Ros-Lehtinen is the current Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, just as the late Dante Fascell was, who represented Miami in Congress and whose CD extended south down to Key West.

I saw much of him over the years after I first moved to Washington in 1988 and became a regular presence at the full committee hearings as well as the European Subcommittee ones in the Rayburn Building, becoming very friendly with several members and the professional staff.
(Sometimes I'd even have lunch back with some friends there in the TV room while they watched either CNN or soap operas.)

That lasted until the GOP takeover in 1994, at which point Lee Hamilton had already succeeded Facell as Chair after he retired and didn't seek re-election in November of 1993.

As I've mentioned previously here on the blog, at various points while I was at IU, Lee Hamilton had been my congressman in Bloomington.
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