Cuba looms as a problem for the U.S.

Re “Castro Steps Aside -- for Now,” Aug. 1

It almost feels like piling on. Another problem looms, for which I predict the White House is uniquely unprepared. Let’s say Cuban President Fidel Castro dies soon. What will happen? My guess is the Cuban community of South Florida will mount an aggression against Cuba, tacitly backed by the neocons. A second Bay of Pigs betrayal would be a political fiasco for the White House.

And I imagine that the White House assumes Cuba would welcome the invaders in much the same manner as they were to be welcomed in Baghdad. But I think the people of Cuba love their leader, problems not withstanding. They love the fact that their future will be decided by themselves, not by Washington. And they will fight for the privilege.

I fear that we, the United States, will find ourselves involved to some degree in a civil war, with us backing the wrong side. And we will be fighting the Cuban military, which has been preparing for this invasion for 47 years.

Is this paranoia? I hope so. But my level of confidence in our civilian leadership is already at a new low, and I fear for worse to come.

FORREST MURRAY

Santa Monica

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Re “Some Cuban Exiles Give Up the Wait,” Aug. 2

What do people in the Middle East and Cubans in Miami have in common? The two groups are crazed by generation-transcending hate. Dancing in the streets of Miami celebrating the rumor that Castro is dead. Hate that transcends generations is the face of evil acting on emotions. The consequences of hate are not bound, they affect us all on Main Street America.

Most citizens are unaware of the influence these groups have on Congress. In the case of the estimated 800,000 Cuban immigrants in Miami who hate Castro, their representation in Washington has sustained an embargo that is opposed by U.N. resolution but carried out for freedom, keeps Cubans in Cuba in perpetual malnutrition, widens our trade imbalance and impedes our economy in terms of jobs. Imagine less than 1% of our population pushing around the other 99%. Yes, today it just doesn’t feel good to be Cuban American.

HENRY G. DELFORN

Carpinteria