Cuban Progress Never Enough in Miami by Jim Ryerson

by Jim Ryerson
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.youtube.com/user/tmanjdrjr
(jim [at] travelingman [dot] net)
Cuba Connections
February 6, 2011

Image by marcel601 via Flickr

The New York Times has an excellent article on free enterprise taking hold in Cuba http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/04/world/americas/04cuba.html?ref=americas

You can make your own observations about the article, and I commented on it. (Comment # 22) But I was most interested in the letters  from the general public. As the comments suggest, for many in the exile community there can never be progress in Cuba no matter what actually happens on the island. The economy is opening, most political prisoners have been released, and as the article suggests the Cuban people see these moves as positive.  But for those sitting on their patios in Miami, it is not enough. They want the Cuba of 50 years ago, when their rich relatives partied with the corrupt Batista dictatorship and kept the Cuban people in uneducated semi-starvation. Now from that same poolside vantage point, they want the Cubans to take to the streets and begin an Egyptian style revolution.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/29/2041535/the-mideast-is-on-fire-but-will.html

What they forget is that the Cuban revolution already took place, and they lost and fled to Florida. Unfortunately, because of their political power in this country, they have kept the rest of Americans from seeing what a beautiful, safe, and friendly place Cuba is, as witnessed by tourists from around the world.

Jim Ryerson is a documentary film producer specializing on Cuba, which he’s visited more than 30 times. He formerly worked as a television news reporter in Los Angeles, and has won numerous national and international awards for his work His documentary on the U.S. embargo, Looking for Cuba has been on the film festival circuit, and he has 3 other documentary projects regarding Cuban music, art and culture. You can read his blog and see clips from their films at http://www.cubaconnections.org.

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