Cuban exile joy over Castro illness gives way to questions

MIAMI (AP) -- Joyous celebration in Little Havana over news that an ailing Fidel Castro was temporarily ceding power gave way Tuesday to rampant speculation among Cuban exiles: Is he already dead? What will happen in Cuba after he's gone? Is this just a trick?

"Basically, we are seeing what the Cuban government is saying but we don't know if that is true," said Ninoska Perez of Cuban Liberty Council, an anti-Castro exile group. "I think they are just gaining time. For all we know, Castro may already be dead or critically ill."

Talk radio stations fanned the flames among an 800,000-strong Cuban-American community in Miami-Dade County and government leaders set up a hot line to keep rumors from getting out of control. But one thing was certain: In a city where Castro's presence has loomed for more than a generation, a chain of events that exiles have been dreaming about for years was finally starting to play out. Most Cuban-Americans view Castro as a ruthless dictator who forced them, their parents or grandparents from their home after his communist revolution succeeded in 1959.

"It's our homeland, our golden land, where one day we want to be able to come and go as we please, and live like we once did," said Luis Calles, a math teacher who came to the U.S in 1994.

Castro issued another statement Tuesday night saying his condition was "stable" and that he felt "perfectly fine." The statement, read on Cuba's state-run television, did not provide any details about his intestinal illness.

Cuban-Americans in Miami said the statement sounded like government propaganda.

"They know we are celebrating over here. They are just saying that. They are covering up the truth because they can't take an uproar of people within the island," said Cari Gonzalez, 26, whose parents came from Cuba in 1980.

Mirta Sotolongo, 54, said the statement was essentially meaningless.

"He's not going to return to power. I consider that he's dead and if he's not dead today, he will be dead tomorrow and if not, his days are still numbered," she said.

News that Castro had temporarily ceded power to his brother, Raul, because of his illness led a pot-banging, cigar-smoking, flag-waving crowd to take to the streets of Little Havana's famed Calle Ocho thoroughfare Monday night.

The crowds were smaller Tuesday but no less fervent, with about 75 people gathered midday outside the Versailles Cuban restaurant waving Cuban flags and honking horns. Nearby vendors were selling small U.S. and Cuban flags to passing motorists for $7 apiece.

"The long-awaited day of a Cuba without Castro may be approaching," said U.S. Sen Mel Martinez, R-Fla., who was born in Cuba and came to the U.S. in 1962. "Our hope and purpose should now be for a true moment of change, not a transfer from one dictator to another."

Cuban-Americans elsewhere also celebrated. In Tampa's heavily Cuban-American Ybor City, Gladys Sequeira-Garcia, event coordinator at the historic Cuban Club, said her family had been "in an uproar" since the news broke. They fled Cuba in 1960.

"My hope for Cuba would be for it to grow as the power it used to be," she said. "I want my parents to see Cuba back to the way it was when they left -- the beautiful beaches, the growing economy and the happy people."

Carlos Barberia, 70, a former band conductor who was born in Cuba and now lives in Union City, N.J., said he has never returned since leaving the island in 1960.

"I want to go back to Cuba. I love my country," he said.

The festive atmosphere was tempered by the understanding among many Cuban-Americans that Raul Castro harbors the same views as his brother and has been in firm control of the island's military. Playing dominos and drinking Cuban coffee at a Miami park, 78-year-old Jorge Alonso said he expected true change to take 20 years or more.

"The change has to come from within Cuba. It's not going to come from the United States," Alonso said. "There will be bloodshed in Cuba because there is a lot of hate there. It's been 47 years of suffering."

Authorities reported no problems or arrests Tuesday related to the celebrations. Miami-Dade County's Emergency Operations Center increased its monitoring of the situation and activated a rumor control line that received more than 500 calls by midmorning, most inquiring about Castro's health or street congestion and closures.

U.S. and Florida officials have long had plans in place to avert any mass exodus from Cuba in case the Havana government suddenly opened its borders. There is also concern that Cuban exiles might attempt to migrate in the opposite direction across the Florida Straits to return to their homeland or pick up family members.

"It's a plan to not allow for mass migration into the country at a time where the net result of that is that it creates tremendous hardship and risk for people that can lose their lives," said Gov. Jeb Bush in Tallahassee.

The Coast Guard and other Homeland Security Department agencies were on standby but reported no significant increase in activity Tuesday in the Florida Straits. A Coast Guard spokesman, Petty Officer Dana Warr, said no contingency plans had been activated and there had been no shifts of personnel or assets to South Florida.

"We will take appropriate action when and if necessary," said Zachary Mann, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Miami.

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., said these issues will be discussed Wednesday at a previously scheduled White House meeting on bringing democracy to Cuba.

"I think it's too early to tell what the impact will be," she said.

Ros-Lehtinen appeared at a Miami news conference with U.S. Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Mario Diaz-Balart, both Cuban-American Republicans whose aunt, Mirta, was married to Fidel Castro until their 1955 divorce. Their father, Rafael, was a leading politician in Cuba before Castro seized power.

Lincoln Diaz-Balart said he has spoken with pro-democracy leaders in Cuba who want to begin "a campaign of civil disobedience" to spur change.

"The time has come for the commencement of a different stage, the stage of civil resistance," he said.

Air charter companies that handle travel to Cuba said they did not notice an increase in passenger requests.

"Everything for us is status quo, business as usual," said Maria Aral, vice president and chief executive officer of ABC Charters.

Experts and political figures differed Tuesday on what Raul Castro's leadership might mean for Cuba in the long term. But most said immediate radical change was unlikely and predicted that Cuban-Americans will not rush to return there.

"It doesn't mean that everyone's going to be home next month, moving back into their old houses and so forth," said Wayne Smith, former chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana. "It may bring a more complicated situation then they already have. With Castro, you knew where you stood."

Gov. Bush, the president's brother, said he did not favor lifting the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba if Fidel Castro dies. That should only occur, he said, when Cuba starts permitting dissent, religious freedoms, organized labor unions and the like.

"Those are the basic rules of freedom and once that occurs, I think it would be more appropriate for the embargo to be lifted," Bush said.

Frank Calzon, executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba, said it will be difficult for Raul to maintain his grip on power, which could lead to a chaotic and bloody struggle for control.

"I would caution that rather than celebrate, we should consider how we can be of help to the people of the island, how we can do what we can to prevent bloodshed," Calzon said.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)