}

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Dance on the grave?

A report in the Orlando (Florida) Sentinel (via Joe.My.God) says that the city of Miami is planning an official celebration at the Orange Bowl sports stadium when Fidel Castro dies. Fortunately, not everyone thinks holding a death celebration is a good idea:

Ramon Saul Sanchez, leader of the Miami-based Democracy Movement organization, worries about how a party to celebrate a man's death would be perceived by people outside the Cuban exile community.

Sanchez goes on to point out that the communist regime will still be in power. That would seem to make the celebrations not just somewhat ghoulish, but also premature.


The now increasingly elderly Cuban exiles who fled Castro’s takeover of
Cuba have always looked toward one day returning to the island nation to reclaim their property. Personally, I have to wonder about the enthusiasm for that among their American-born children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, particularly given the fact their lost property isn’t sitting there waiting for them.

In any case, while I can understand these people being privately glad when the dictator dies, it seems at best unseemly to celebrate it with a big city-sponsored party in a sports stadium.

2 comments:

Kalv1n said...

It seems completely inappropriate to me. Castro is a man of ideas. I wouldn't dance on James Dobson's grave either. Why? Because they are individuals, and not movements. I think we ought to be asking more sincere questions about our own democracy, and actually learn to understand other societies better rather than simply a celebration that touts our own.

Arthur Schenck said...

I couldn't agree more!