Losing Castro will redefine Cubans' issues

IN MY OPINION
Losing Castro will redefine Cubans' issues
Posted on Wed, Jan. 23, 2008
By ANA MENENDEZ
amenendez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

For almost half a century, Miami's most powerful politician has lived
200 miles south. Ambitious candidates came and went. Fidel Castro
remained, influencing everything from the most obscure local posts to
this country's international policy.

His slow fade may yet transform Cuba, but his decline is already being
felt in South Florida where hating him was the easiest way to shore up a
sense of purpose.

Fidel and his enemies thrived in a weird symbiotic relationship. The
balance of power and loathing made Castro an international hero to the
left and his enemies a singular force in Washington.

But no relationship lasts forever. The problem with defining yourself in
opposition is that once the opposition is gone, there's a blank space
where identity should be.

That's part of the problem now facing the Díaz-Balart brothers and, to a
smaller extent, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. The three rose to power on strong
anti-Castro rhetoric -- and they backed it up with policies that made
them a formidable force in Washington.

The power trip culminated in the disastrous 2004 rules that further
restricted family travel to Cuba. Lincoln Díaz-Balart was one of the
most fervent advocates of the unpopular policy, and it may prove to be
his undoing.

FACING A CHALLENGE

After 16 years, Lincoln faces a serious challenge to the seat he
sometimes seems to consider his birthright. Raul Martinez, the
contentious but popular former Hialeah mayor, announced Tuesday that he
was running on the Democratic ticket to represent the 21st Congressional
District: ``I will have the courage to ask why we are building
hospitals, schools and bridges in Iraq and not here at home.''

Corruption charges have dogged Martinez since the late 1980s, when
prosecutors probed his dealings with developers.

The federal probes resulted in a conviction, appeal, reversal and two
mistrials. In the end, the case was dropped and Martinez never went to
prison. By Tuesday afternoon, the Republican Party was already putting
its own spin on Raul's adventures.

Florida GOP chief Jim Greer assailed the Democrats for recruiting
Martinez, ``the same Raul Martinez who was convicted on charges of
corruption and never acquitted by any jury.''

It was a fact-twisting low blow. But at least Greer's attack offered a
change from the usual Castro-centric arguments. Díaz-Balart, alas,
couldn't help himself, seeing in Martinez's bid a vast left-wing
conspiracy to lift the Cuban embargo.

The suggestion is laughable. Díaz-Balart knows it's his own party's
lawmakers who have been most successful in eroding the embargo so their
states can sell grain to Cuba.

A CHANGING MIAMI

Martinez may not win. But Miami is changing. The 21st District has lost
4,558 Republicans since 2006. The Cuban Americans Díaz-Balart represents
hold working-class values. They hate Fidel, but Fidel is dying. And when
he's gone, they will still have to deal with affordable housing,
healthcare and social security.

Once a Democrat, Díaz-Balart retains many of the party's values. But
they've crusted over with rhetoric that he wears like a bad suit. When
Fidel's gone, Díaz-Balart will be left shackled to a party whose
anti-immigrant, anti-science and anti-social programs fringe opposes
almost everything the traditional exile voter believes.

After Fidel? Maybe not the deluge that followed Martinez's announcement
Tuesday. But perhaps the first real and open debate Cubans have had
about the things that really matter to them.

In this country.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/columnists/ana_menendez/story/389766.html


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