Why Are Cubans So Special? By Ann Louise Bardach

[Mika]

Why Are Cubans So Special?

{snippet}

... there are more compelling reasons to end the Cuban Privilege. One of them is fairness. Are Cubans seeking a better way of life really more deserving than, say, refugees fleeing death squads or drug cartels?

Another is its enabling of a veritable crime syndicate: According to a recent series in The Sun Sentinel, a small cadre of Cubans specializing in Medicare and insurance fraud have bilked American taxpayers and businesses out of more than $2 billion since 1994. Even when caught and prosecuted (many, if not most, flee back to Cuba before capture), they cannot be deported, because Cuba refuses to accept them.

It is not at all clear if these two relics of immigration policy will be scotched; the State Department has said they are not on the table. Much depends on the Hispanics in Congress, whose colleagues expect them to take the lead. But the three serving in the Senate happen to be, yup, Cuban-American: Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Robert Menendez.

None have especially strong bona fides among most Latinos. Indeed, being second-generation white Cuban exiles puts them at odds with the overwhelming majority of Latinos in the United States, who are of mixed race or indigenous descent.

Full article here --> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/30/opinion/why-are-cubans-so-special.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Great to read Ann Louise Bardach's comments. She did such a great job on her interview with Posada

Carriles when she was a journalist at the New York Times. Her series got her instant international recognition.

I didn't know, or pick it up from the Sun-Sentinel series that Cuba refuses to accept the Medicare scammers. That is hilarious.

You may remember the Sun-Sentinel reporters attempted to imply that Cuba benefits from these criminals, almost inferring they work for Cuba.

Glad to see a little clarification here. It makes a difference!

I'm currently reading Bardach's Without Fidel: A Death Foretold in Miami, Havana and Washington.

Thanks for your great excerpt.

[Mika]

2. Cubans can't be officially deported from the US to Cuba.

There's no formal diplomatic relations between the two countries, therefore, no extradition agreement. (Cuba has returned American hijackers, but, under the aegis of international aviation treaties.)


You may remember this ...

Cubans End Siege At La. Prison Release Final 26 Hostages
http://articles.philly.com/1987-11-30/news/26173144_1_inmates-prison-yard-medium-security-prison

[Xipe Totec]

3. There's always Guantánamo. nt

[Judi Lynn]

4. Who could forget? Crazy! From what I've seen the original wave "exiles" never got over their rage

at seeing so many Cuban people they would never associate with in Cuba descend on the US when they got their chance to get outta jail free.

Amazing days.

It's easy to see the plush life they had set up for themselves in S. Florida, and the prosperous images they had established for themselves here seemed diminished when boatloads of "riff-raff" disembarked.

They still bitched about them years later on U.S. message boards. Funny.

[flamingdem]

5. I want to read that too!

Bardach is a cynic but she knows plenty. If you can ever see her speak I recommend attending, she's hilarious.