Biggest exodus from Cuba since Castro

Bet you can afford a beachfront home in Cuba these days!

 

Recently ran into a young man from Cuba who has been here 30 days with his wife and five month old child, staying with his brother who is a US citizen.

He laughed how most Americans have no idea what life is like in Cuba and other countries. He said he had witnessed fist fights over pieces of chicken - not a whole chicken, just a piece. Shortages of bread and milk caused him to flee. Can’t blame him.

 

Ironically, they flee to a country which may be their chief source of suffering.

 

Popeyes or KFC?

 

Flipside: Miami getting redder and redder. It’s going to be more Republican than Starke someday.

 

Question: Should immigrants from Cuba be treated differently than immigrants from Venezuela given that both are fleeing from authoritarian Marxist states with dysfunctional economies? Maybe I'm wrong but I suspect that you believe that Cubans should be welcomed and given legal status upon arrival while Venezuelans trying to enter the US at the Southern border shouldn't even be allowed entry. Again, I may be wrong but I also suspect that you had no problem with Ron DeSantis stunt of transporting Venezuelan migrants seeking political asylum from Texas to Martha's Vineyard with Florida's taxpayers picking up the bill.

 

Venezuelans of this generation actively decided to vote for the socialism they are enjoying now. Cubans did not. Totally different.

 

Why? I did not vote for Trump, but I was stuck with him and his bizarre policies since I was in the Electoral College Minority. You seriously trying to tell us that 100% of Venezuelans voted for their Socialist leaders?

 

Hugo Chavez was elected in 1998 and again in 2000 after which he put the fix in essentially ensuring that he would never be defeated in a popular election. So what you're saying is that a government originally elected as the result of a free and fair election retains its legitimacy even after it effectively abolishes constitutional norms and that the voters responsible for the original election as well as their children should have no right to asylum in the US even though the government suppresses political dissent and done away with democratic institutions? Just as a point of information although it wasn't an election the revolution of 1959 which brought Castro to power had support of the majority of the Cuban people. Once Castro established his communist government that support faded and we welcomed refugees from Cuba essentially unconditionally for around 50 years and even now we treat Cubans differently depending on how the end up in the US. Apparently, we have started to treat Cubans crossing the Southern border the same way we treat other immigrants who enter the country that way while still automatically providing asylum to Cubans who flee the country by boat and manage to make it to the US.

 

The ultimate goal is to have us doing the same here, but when we're fighting over pieces of chicken, we'll be told to jump for joy because we're not one of those countries where they fight over necks and gizzards.

 

of whom?

 

No need to guess. I was born in Latin America (neither Cuba nor Venezuela) and I don’t decry anyone trying to improve their lives - God knows I would.

The fault lies in our government sending mixed messages (come, don’t come, stay and work, but stay in the shadows). Neither party cares to fix it, both having had complete control and having done nothing.

I’m helping this person as I can, not because he’s Cuban but because he’s human and I know how it is to be in a different country with a different language. Not all Republicans are living heart donors

 

Ok. If you want to emigrate you can do so easily by simply applying with countries where you meet the requirements.

Any venezuelan citizens who meet our requirements and go through the process should be welcomed as any other citizen.

It's unfortunate that the majority of Venezuelan citizens voted the country to shit but we are in the business of managing our own country, not world police and savior, right? Or is that only our duty when you agree with the reason?

 

Although they're similarly situated based on their actual situations in order to receive asylum the burden is on Venezuelans to establish a well founded fear of persecution. Although not as true as it was in the past most Cubans are still considered victims of persecution by definition. Apparently, you believe that voting for government that has become an authoritarian state and denies its citizens basic human rights not to mention leading the country to economic failure should deprive the citizens of that country including those who weren't even born or were children at the time of the election the right to asylum unless they can prove that they're individually targeted by said government.

 

Yes not everyone who is subject to a government they disagree with needs asylum. It sucks for them but life isn't fair and we aren't able to make it fair no matter how many virtue points it scores us to act like we can.

I don't really agree with many things in the current us government. Should the country of my choice offer me asylum because of this? I would imagine you don't agree.

 

Sadly, this is the typical American response. Yes, the poorest of the poor, who make up the vast majority of those attempting to emigrate can just "apply with countries where they meet the requirements", and then just pop onto the private jet and zip over there, right? Frankly, if those people were not desperately poor and totally disenfranchised, they would not be looking to emigrate in the first place. Same with Cuba. Same with Mexico and Guatemala and Haiti and everywhere else.

Why are you so afraid of allowing people seeking a better life to enter our country and contribute to our society??

 

That’s nothing. I get into fights with my cat over my chicken dinners all the time. He’s a sneaky fast bastard…

 

Sounds like your cat has a lot in common with the growing middle school boy at my house. Kid eats of the floor if you let him.

"Dad, are you gonna finish that?"
"Um, son... I havent even started!"

My wife and daughters have to defend their plates with butter knives.

 

Let's ignore for the moment that going to the Mexico-Texas border and petitioning for asylum in the U.S. is part of the legal and official immigration process. In broad terms, please describe "the process" to apply to citizenship in the U.S.

I think that should be a requirement of anyone using that statement as a blanket denouncement of those seeking entry to our country.