sentimentalist belladonna: Cuba and its Kabuki dance relationship with Miami : BoomerCaf? ...

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If you want to find a baby boomer who lives an active lifestyle, look no farther than Ed Rabel, who worked for many years as a correspondent, along with BoomerCaf? publisher and co-founder David Henderson, as a correspondent for CBS News. Ed continues to travel the world, and write about it, and gave us this excerpt from his book Ed Rabel Reports: Lies, Wars and Other Misadventures.

Ed Rabel in Havana beside a statue of writer Ernest Hemingway at?Cojimar, Cuba.?Cojimar is the tiny fishing village wherein Hemingway got his idea to write, ?The Old Man and The Sea.?

The truth is Cubans on both sides of the Straits of Florida are engaged in a Kabuki dance. Cuban exiles in Florida and Cuban Communists in Havana have beenlocked in a symbiotic relationship for a very long time. Entire livelihoods based on Fidel-bashing thrive in Miami, where virulent anti-Castro radio transmissions bore totears anybody who is not among the rabidly faithful. If one does not agree with the exile party line, he is liable to be bashed himself.

In Havana, the party could not be happier. As long as the Marxist despots have a reason to verbally attack the U.S., they will fare well. The party instills fear in the populace by warning that the Cuban-Americans want to return and take their homes and their dignity away from them. The exiles and Washington are the bogeyman, always ready to pounce. Washington could put an end to the foolishness in a nano-second by simply restoring normal relations with Havana. After all, we have normal diplomatic and trade relations with Communist China. We have normal diplomatic and trade relations with Communist Vietnam, where 55 thousand Americans died in the Vietnam War.

A treasured possession in Havana ? a 1950s era Chevrolet. Many American products have been embargoed by the U.S. for a half a century.

As much sense as it makes to normalize, Washington is not about to do it. Any administration, Democrat or Republican, that tried would be instantly branded as ?unfriendly? by South Florida?s huge exile community, one million strong. ?So what?? you ask. Well the ?so what? is contained in their ability to deny to either party the U.S. Presidency. Florida has 27 electoral votes. Without those votes, presidential aspirants can kiss their aspirations goodbye. Cuban-Americans take pride in beingable to
manipulate the vote for president any way they want to. Just ask Al Gore. So what if the rest of us are held hostage by their petulance?

It is high time for the Cuban-Americans to get over it. The way to get back to Cuba is to make nice. That?ll be the day.