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Posted on Wed, Feb. 19, 2003 in The Miami Herald.
In 44 years of strong-arm rule, the totalitarian despot Fidel Castro has
ruined Cuba and oppressed its people. By equal measure, The Herald has denounced
his communist dictatorship and pressed for a peaceful transition to democracy on
the island. Today Castro represents a blot in Cuba's past. Yet the dissidents he
persecutes embody Cuba's future, which is ever hopeful.
South Florida's Cuban-American community clearly sees that the most
important push for a democratic transition will come from Cubans now living on
the island. A new crop of Cuban-American leaders espouse the politics of
reconciliation and negotiation, and the majority of the community agrees.
Reflected in recent polls, these attitudes pave the way for constructive exile
efforts to hasten the end of Castro's rule as well as help build new democratic
institutions afterward.
A recent survey by the Cuba Study Group, itself part of the new wave of
exile leadership, offers a glimpse of the aspirations of Cuban émigrés
in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Asked whether ''exile leaders in Miami'' or
''dissidents in Cuba'' were more important in this transition, more than
three-quarters said dissidents were more crucial. Moreover, 78 percent preferred
a ''gradual and peaceful'' transition to democracy in Cuba versus an ''abrupt
and violent'' one; and 61 percent embraced the concept of ''forgiveness and
reconciliation'' as an important basis for the transition.
Certainly this isn't the picture of the rabid, revenge-seeking community
that the Castro regime likes to paint. Nonetheless, the regime uses that
discredited propaganda to instill fear of change in Cubans on the island. All
the more reason for South Florida Cubans to reach out to island counterparts,
dispel the lies and build confidence in a democratic future.
Dissidents in Cuba, too, would get a boost if the world saw the true picture
of South Florida's Cubans: This community and U.S. policy aren't the cause of
Cuba's ills. Castro's dictatorship is, and that is what needs to change. Cuban
exiles would do well to practice their own diplomacy and spread that message,
particularly among European and Canadian policymakers who long have had
relations with the Cuban regime.
True, a poll by The Herald showed that the latest arrivals from Cuba most
favor loosening U.S. travel restrictions and dialogue with Cuban officials.
That's only natural. Recent arrivals maintain close ties and relatives in Cuba.
Their thinking and firsthand experience of the police state have influenced
earlier arrivals.
South Florida's Cuban-American community isn't monolithic. It never was.
Even in the 1970s when exile extremists bombed those who disagreed with them,
other courageous exiles spoke out against violence. Extremists who prefer a
pro-violent overthrow of Castro haven't disappeared but are a minority today.
Today far more exiles speak out constructively. For many, U.S. democracy has
been an incubator for freedom of expression and the rule of law. There is
healthy diversity and discussion of views. New leaders have emerged to challenge
the old guard. The exile politics of aggression have been supplanted, and this
bodes well for Cuban dissidents and Cuba's future. | 
