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There are still Jews (or their descendants) fighting to recover (and recovering) goods stolen from them under the German Nazi regime. In many cases, these were rich Jews, which is why they were robbed. NOBODY has ANY problem with this, or if they do, they wouldn't dare say so.

Cubans, of course, are subject to a totally different standard, even though in many cases, we're talking about ordinary people who were not rich. They just happened to own a house, or a small business, or something along those lines, and in order to be able to leave Castro's hellhole, they HAD to turn over all their possessions to the government. In other words, institutionalized extortion.

I know of a case where a woman, who was NOT a rich person, HAD to turn over her wedding ring at the Havana airport before she and her family were allowed to board a plane to leave the country. This was not some fabulous jewel or anything, but the bastards took it from her despite her pleading and crying because they simply COULD.

Stealing is stealing and extortion is extortion. Period. There is NO excuse or justification for it. Period.

I wonder if Barry and Michelle O-bam-a stayed in any of these houses?

I don't believe there are many folks out there who want to kick individuals onto the streets after they were "given" looted property by the regime. It's a tough not to swallow but the exile community doesn't want to spark an even BIGGER housing crisis than the island already has. It's not in our interest as a common people.

Businesses are different however. I can tell you that my family - for one - has all their ducks in a row regarding the business that they had built from the ground up - starting out as a poor family and building from nothing.

All the paper work is there. The original will drawn out by my great-grandfather and now grandmother, naming the business property. The cataloguing of all the material and acreage that was stolen. It is registered with the State Dept. as well as the ISO certification board. A new Board of Directors already exists for the corporate entity and they intend to fully exercise their right to run the family business that they have always been so proud of - which Castro has destroyed by treating his workers like absolute trash. Whether Fidel and Co. like it or not, the family will once again run the business which they built and Fidel stole in order to line his own corrupt pockets. There is no negotiation on that point, no bargaining, no question. There would be consequences if it didn't.

I once went to a talk on Cuba and this non-Cuban woman [an American] got into a heated discussion with me about this very same issue. She was this fanatical Castro groupie and she started screaming loudly and making those same odious worn-out accusations. The ironic thing about this woman is that she wasn't your typical looking leftist. She was very polished looking and dressed in expensive designer clothing with fine jewelry [not immitations]. I remember thinking what an S.O.B. She is clearly well-to-do and enjoying her capitalist life here with all of her status symbols, while attacking Cuban exiles.

Ray:

Given that situation - had I been there - I'm not sure that I would have been able to hold back from walking up to her, ripping the chain hanging on her neck and stating "reforma agraria" before walking out with it. Talk the talk - be prepared to walk the walk.

So who owns all those CAsas ? FIDO

CubaWatch,

I didn't think of doing that. That would have been a classic! Someone who did do something similar to that was the late Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas. He was at a dinner reception at a university and he was talking to a German professor who started telling him how much he admired fidel castro. Upon hearing this Reinaldo instantly snatched the plate full of food that the professor was stuffing himself with and threw it against the wall. He then told him, [to paraphrase]: "well since you love castro so much, you might as well not eat, because in Cuba you wouldn't be able to stuff you face like you are doing now!"

Ray,

The first time I met Carlos Eire, he was delivering a talk in Hartford. There was a regime chivato type in the audience who began to praise Fidel and criticize vehemently, the exiles (as is their usual game). Eire, the erudite Yale prof., finally couldn't take it. He stood up and yelled this guy into sitting down. It was unbelievable - especially when the packed crowd erupted in applause. I was so damn proud of the guy.

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