As envisioned by Miami's long-enduring Cuban-exile community, it was always supposed to happen with a bang. The forever-hoped-for end of the Castro brothers' chokehold on Cuba would be momentous, defining. It would portend the brightest of futures for the island.
Instead, the end came last week with a cruel whimper--Cuban leader Raúl Castro, the highest ranking, still-standing original 1959 Cuban revolutionary, passed the torch to a designated successor. The ceremony was mostly political theatrics signaling no significant changes; no halt to human-rights abuses.
The 86-year-old Castro has now moved out of the spotlight. But no way has he exited the stage. He'll simply be the new president's puppeteer.
So the empty transition should still feel significant on a personal level for the nearly 1 million Cubans--or their descendants--who were forced into exile by the brothers' regime.
The original Castros now are more a part of Cuba's past than its future. The new leader, an electronic engineer who just turned 58, has offered no hope for meaningful reform. In his first speech as president, he said that, "The revolution continues and will continue to live." That only suggests dragging a moribund past into the future.
Editorial on 04/24/2018