This great post by Luis M. Garcia, the Child of the Revolution, reminded me of a conversation I had yesterday. Next time you talk to a castro apologist, tell them to imagine the best president that they have ever known in their lifetime. And then ask them how they’d feel if that president was in power for 49 years. I think most people would say that 49 years, or 40, or 30, or 25, or 20 is too long even if he’s extremely popular. Then ask the fidelista what it might be like to live under the worst president they’ve ever known (no doubt they will say George W. Bush) for 49 years.
Now consider that during the term of George W. Bush, one of the most maligned presidents in history, one of the definitive issues of the day is immigration reform. People are trying to get into our country in unprecedented numbers. Perhaps they aren’t coming precisely to be governed by President Bush, but it’s certainly not deterring them. Even if they hate Bush, they know with absolute certainty that he’ll be out of power in 13 months.
And then look at Cuba, where more than 10% of the population has fled the rule of the “benevolent dictator”. The world is speculating that he will “step down” and “not cling” to power based on a hint dropped in a note that nobody can prove was written by him. If it weren’t so sad it would be funny.
5 thoughts on “On “clinging to power””
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Chispa, my name is Henry, not Enrique. Perhaps you should re-read what I wrote because you got that wrong too.
I know all about the immigrant experience. I’ve done countless research studies on Hispanic immigrants. I never said that whoever is sitting in the oval office factors into their decision. I said it certainly does not deter them.
Do you dispute the fact that nobody is fleeing other countries to go live in Cuba, unless they are wanted by the authorities?
The only way this bastard won’t cling to power is if that is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE and he simply CANNOT do so, regardless of his wishes.
The MSM is too contemptible for words.
Not cling to power?? What has he done the last 49 years if it isn’t CLING to power?
In fact, the American voters decided that even 16 years of the most popular president ever was too much, and amended the Constitution so that it would never happen again.
I work in Hispanic advertising. In particular I work in a field of advertising called “Account Planning”. Essentially my job is to be sort of an anthropologist within the ad agency. My job requires me to conduct what we call “qualitative” research (Focus groups, one on one interviews, ethnographic studies, etc.) and quantitative research (Surveys). Since I do this at an agency that focuses on Hispanic consumers (and usually the ones that are most unacculturated) I am paid to have an intimate knowledge of them. Part of that involves the immigrant experience. Yes, it’s true that Hispanics aren’t the only immigrants, but you’d have to be blind not to see that the overwhelming number of current immigrants to the U.S. are from Latin America.
You oversimplify the reasons people leave their countries. Certainly economics is part of it, but corruption (which is political but has economic ramifications) is part of it too.
And we have had waves of people that have fled for ideological reasons as well. Not just Cubans but Russians, Vietnamese, Polish, etc.
It seems that you completely dismissed the point of the post to nit pick something which was incidental to it.
In case you missed it, the point was that no matter how “good” a leader is, it’s probably not a good idea to leave him/her in power for more than a decade or so.
Also my point about the the occupant of the white house not being a deterrent to immigrants makes sense whether you want to accept it or not. In Cuba the economy is shambles because of castro the “good” leader. Our “bad” leader has mess up the economy so bad that people from every country in the world want to come live here.
In pre-castro Cuba, the net immigration from Cuba to the US was negative. More Americans went to live in Cuba than Cubans came to live here. Today of course there would be nary a person left in Cuba if the doors were opened on both sides of the straights of Florida. Whether it’s economics or the lack of political liberties, the culprit is the same: fidel castro.
I’ll leave you with one last anecdote. A friend of mine who came from Cuba in the 90s told me that Cuba is the only country in the world where they’ll throw a party for you and congratulate you when you have an opportunity to go to Haiti.