Comments for Change In Cuba http://www.ssrc.org/changeincuba Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:05:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 Comment on Predicting Change: The Havana, Miami, and Washington Triangle by Clarence Darrow Jr http://www.ssrc.org/changeincuba/2008/03/11/predicting-change-the-havana-miami-and-washington-triangle/#comment-55 Clarence Darrow Jr Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:57:33 +0000 http://www.ssrc.org/changeincuba/2008/03/11/predicting-change-the-havana-miami-and-washington-triangle/#comment-55 The age old story here in Miami used to be "wait till Fidel dies". Well dictators seldom go quietly in the night. With his brother Raul driving the boat now people on the island are nervous but they can sleep at night knowing noting big is going to change. Only a few years ago the kids had to wait online for hours to get ice cream in Havana on a Sunday. Now it's not so bad. Everyone knows that. But the people get nervous just for the fact that they KNOW when Fidel is truly gone a new age is going to happen in Cuba. Hopefully the hard line Communists in Havana AND the hardline anti-Communists in Miami and Washington will all step aside and we can start this new beginning without them. Many of them are driven by hatred and we can do this better without any of that. What free trade going to bring to Cuba we can only guess at but hopefully it will mean more prosperity for everyone on the island while at the same time retaining the good values from the recent past. Low crime. High education. Peace and family. The age old story here in Miami used to be “wait till Fidel dies”. Well dictators seldom go quietly in the night. With his brother Raul driving the boat now people on the island are nervous but they can sleep at night knowing noting big is going to change. Only a few years ago the kids had to wait online for hours to get ice cream in Havana on a Sunday. Now it’s not so bad. Everyone knows that.

But the people get nervous just for the fact that they KNOW when Fidel is truly gone a new age is going to happen in Cuba. Hopefully the hard line Communists in Havana AND the hardline anti-Communists in Miami and Washington will all step aside and we can start this new beginning without them. Many of them are driven by hatred and we can do this better without any of that.

What free trade going to bring to Cuba we can only guess at but hopefully it will mean more prosperity for everyone on the island while at the same time retaining the good values from the recent past. Low crime. High education. Peace and family.

]]> Comment on Raúl’s Turn at the Helm by Miguel Centeno http://www.ssrc.org/changeincuba/2008/02/29/raul%e2%80%99s-turn-at-the-helm/#comment-5 Miguel Centeno Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:20:20 +0000 http://www.ssrc.org/changeincuba/2008/02/29/raul%e2%80%99s-turn-at-the-helm/#comment-5 Yep. I was wrong. But I think Raul has surprised quite a few people. Miguel Centeno Yep. I was wrong. But I think Raul has surprised quite a few people.

Miguel Centeno

]]> Comment on Raúl’s Turn at the Helm by Walter Lippmann http://www.ssrc.org/changeincuba/2008/02/29/raul%e2%80%99s-turn-at-the-helm/#comment-4 Walter Lippmann Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:51:54 +0000 http://www.ssrc.org/changeincuba/2008/02/29/raul%e2%80%99s-turn-at-the-helm/#comment-4 It's remarkable how short a span many people's memories have. We always have Andres Oppenheimer's 1992 book, CASTRO'S FINAL HOUR, for example. Then we have Miguel Angel Centeno, who wrote, "The only certainty at this juncture is that Fidel's departure will signal the end of the regime. It is difficult to imagine that large parts of the population would not use the occasion to demonstrate their discontent." Source: "Cuba's Search for Aternatives," in Migue Angel Centeno and Mauricio Font, eds. Toward a New Cuba: Legacies of a Revolution, London: Lynne Reiner Publishers, 1997, p. 16. Walter Lippmann Los Angeles, California It’s remarkable how short a span many people’s memories have. We always have Andres Oppenheimer’s 1992 book, CASTRO’S FINAL HOUR, for example.

Then we have Miguel Angel Centeno, who wrote,

“The only certainty at this juncture is that Fidel’s departure will signal
the end of the regime. It is difficult to imagine that large parts of the
population would not use the occasion to demonstrate their discontent.”

Source: “Cuba’s Search for Aternatives,” in Migue Angel Centeno and
Mauricio Font, eds. Toward a New Cuba: Legacies of a Revolution, London:
Lynne Reiner Publishers, 1997, p. 16.

Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California

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