Sharkman, I can imagine. I get to south Florida from time to time. Cooking is a hobby and I love to cook Cuban food. In fact I have Lechan Asado, the national dish of Cuba, in my slow cooker as I write this. The problem is I hate fucking communists for obvious reasons. The story also became quite personal. One of my good friends defected from Cuba as a boy during the 60's. He shared his story with me recently. I was encouraged to share it here by another member. So I will do so and this is the end of it...and then the Bill De Blasios of the board can take their shots.
I have a good friend that escaped at Cuba at 14 with his sister, mom and dad in the 1960s. They lost everything. Their grandfather was jailed for disagreeing with the Castro regime. His parents died fairly poor. He is an outstanding professional and doing very well with a PhD. His story touched my heart. We have it pretty good in this country and if you don't believe it go ask the Cuban immigrants that escaped that hell hole.
It was an interesting story. In Cuba my friend's Grandfather, a university professor, was jailed and his family wondered who would be next. People were being lined up against the wall and shot for subversive activities. His mother tried to get them out and wrote everywhere. She finally found a distant relative that worked for a newspaper in Mexico City. They were running out of time. The day he turned 14, the family could not leave because he would be of military age till age 35. There was mandatory service from 14 to 35 years of age in some sort of ready reserve. The plan was to leave Cuba for Mexico City and then apply for asylum in the USA. They got the approval to leave Cuba for Mexico. The day that happened the Castro government kicked them out of their own apartment and it was boarded up with many of their things still inside. They were forced to pay their apartment off before leaving draining them of their wealth. They had to board with relatives waiting for the paper work to immigrate to Mexico. They were treated terribly.
Once they landed in Mexico the Mexican immigration said "you will not have to cut sugarcane anymore" and treated them very rude and cold with suspicion. My friend told me that no one is allowed to immigrate to Mexico permanently. You can only stay there 6 months. Also, the Mexican Government and Cuba have never severed diplomatic relations even at the height of the Cuban missile crisis. Anyway, they applied for asylum in the United States. It was granted and he remembered landing in Miami and being greeted by US customs with a smile and welcome to United States. He said it was a great day. You could feel and see the difference. They boarded with Cubano-Americans in Miami and he struggled to learn English. His parents worked remedial jobs to put him and his sister through school.
He said at the time of the revolution the standard of living was getting better for everyone. They just started to get mortgages in Cuba which is unheard of in Latin America till this day. Castro took over and did what communists do. Castro is a jungle version of Stalin.
My friend said he does no care to return to Cuba. There is nothing there for him to return to.