..........Castro said that if what authorities did to crowds of peaceful demonstrators in Seattle had happened in his country there would have been all sorts of accusations of human rights abuses and probably an immediate invasion of UN forces on his shores. Only the United States can carry out this sort of Gestapo activity without reprisal. He's right.
..........Meanwhile, Cubans are marching in front of the U.S. "special interests section" headquarters in Havana with demands that a five year old boy rescued by two fishermen in the waters off Hollywood, Florida be returned to his natural father in Cuba. So far, there has been no violence or thought of sending the Seattle police to Havana to spray demonstrators with teargas, pepper gas, rubber bullets, or drag them away to jail in order to protect our interests in Cuba.
..........Seems that the boy's mother and step-father paid a Cuban smuggler $1,000 each to travel 90 miles (as the crow flies) across the mighty Gulf Stream in a 19 foot boat powered by a 50hp outboard engine along with 11 other people. 14 people is enough to seriously overload this little boat that must have wallowed all the way from Cuba and lucky to have made it so close to America's shores before sinking. All drowned except the boy and two others. Bodies were recovered as far north as St. Lucie inlet.
..........The Gulf Stream is an ocean current, much like a large river, that averages two and one-half knots (a little less than 3 mph) in a northerly direction as you cross it. At the center, it's about three and one-half knots, and only about one knot close to shore. Every hour that you are trying to cross it, you will be carried two and one-half nautical miles north and must correct your heading to account for this. With a relatively small outboard engine and the weight of 14 people on board, this little vessel would be lucky to make 10mph headway which, against the Gulf Stream, would make a 90 mile crossing into a 110 mile trip. And this is without encountering much in the way of moderate to large seas. A foolish trip by any seaman's standards.
..........This totally irresponsible act on the part of the boy's mother is ignored by everyone as the U.S. State Department, Immigration, the State of Florida, and the boy's relatives in Miami argue over whether he should remain in the States with his new toys or be returned to his natural father in Cardenas, Cuba. It has become an international incident.
..........Personally, I think the kid should go back to Cuba if for no other reason than to get a good education. Cuba has a 98 percent literacy rate while ours hovers around 70 percent. And the Cuban schools have managed to stick to basics while ignoring classes on death and suicide or other life issues taught by our progressive model schools like Columbine High.