[Tom Lennox 70]

There is nothing the Cubans can do to mess up the SOuth and Florida that the New Yorkers especially the Long Islanders, and the Philadelphians haven't done.

Here around DC I'm not sure if I hate the Yankees more than the illegals....I probably do.

[~peaches~]

[quote=Terrapin2212;1161146]There is nothing the Cubans can do to mess up the SOuth and Florida that the New Yorkers especially the Long Islanders,

QUOTE]

?????So, whats your beef with "the Long Islanders"?????

[sunrico90]

[quote=~peaches~;1161510]

Originally Posted by Terrapin2212

There is nothing the Cubans can do to mess up the SOuth and Florida that the New Yorkers especially the Long Islanders,

QUOTE]

?????So, whats your beef with "the Long Islanders"?????

Lets keep it to Castro before we get a padlock in the thread...

[sunrico90]

Maybe less Cubans relocating to south FLorida: The vast majority of Cubans sneaking off the island now enter the United States through Mexico after U.S. relatives pay thousands of dollars to organized crime networks that scoop them off Cuba's westernmost tip in souped-up speedboats.

The Mexico route is more dangerous than a direct, 90-mile voyage from Cuba to Florida, but there is less chance the U.S. Coast Guard will intervene. Nearly 90 percent of all undocumented Cubans who make it to America now come overland rather than reaching U.S. shores by boat, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

From the Mexican coast, Cubans then travel up to the U.S. border, where unlike other undocumented migrants, they are welcomed in under U.S. law.

Some 9,296 Cubans arrived in the United States from Mexico between Oct. 1 and July 22, more than double the 4,589 who crossed or were picked up by the Coast Guard in the Florida Straits during the same period.

The money usually comes from relatives in the U.S. who pay smugglers up to $10,000 per person to get loved ones off the island. As the recent arrests suggest, most gangs employ U.S. residents of Cuban origin operating in Cancun and other locales along Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

[macguy]

Originally Posted by sunrico90

Maybe less Cubans relocating to south FLorida: The vast majority of Cubans sneaking off the island now enter the United States through Mexico after U.S. relatives pay thousands of dollars to organized crime networks that scoop them off Cuba's westernmost tip in souped-up speedboats.

The Mexico route is more dangerous than a direct, 90-mile voyage from Cuba to Florida, but there is less chance the U.S. Coast Guard will intervene. Nearly 90 percent of all undocumented Cubans who make it to America now come overland rather than reaching U.S. shores by boat, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

From the Mexican coast, Cubans then travel up to the U.S. border, where unlike other undocumented migrants, they are welcomed in under U.S. law.

Some 9,296 Cubans arrived in the United States from Mexico between Oct. 1 and July 22, more than double the 4,589 who crossed or were picked up by the Coast Guard in the Florida Straits during the same period.

The money usually comes from relatives in the U.S. who pay smugglers up to $10,000 per person to get loved ones off the island. As the recent arrests suggest, most gangs employ U.S. residents of Cuban origin operating in Cancun and other locales along Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

My guess is there are a lot more then people think coming into Florida. Florida has 1200 miles of coast line much of it no where near resort areas like Miami. I'm not a smuggler but if I was I think I could get people in under the radar and it would not be landing on Miami beach.

[tallrick]

It looks like the rumors are spreading again that he is dead. This should be interesting.

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by jbravo

Immigration will be from Miami to Cuba.

I always expected this, too, but people with good jobs in the US are not going to run back to Cuba right away...the self-employed, maybe. But, with normal relations again, travel should increase. I mean, how cheap will it be to hop on a plane or boat to visit relatives in either place considering the close proximity?

Pre-Castro, wasn't Cuba doing great tourism-wise? No reason to think that it can't thrive again with that industry. That's where I think Cuba has it all over Mexico. Returning Cubans will know how to make their home country economically sound in a capitalist environment. I see nothing but opportunity for Cuba if Castro (and his ilk) are gone.

[Cougar31]

if Castro Dies...ScareFace Will Be Back

[macguy]

Originally Posted by LauraC

I always expected this, too, but people with good jobs in the US are not going to run back to Cuba right away...the self-employed, maybe. But, with normal relations again, travel should increase. I mean, how cheap will it be to hop on a plane or boat to visit relatives in either place considering the close proximity?

Pre-Castro, wasn't Cuba doing great tourism-wise? No reason to think that it can't thrive again with that industry. That's where I think Cuba has it all over Mexico. Returning Cubans will know how to make their home country economically sound in a capitalist environment. I see nothing but opportunity for Cuba if Castro (and his ilk) are gone.

You are assuming there will be a democratic government over night. I honestly think once Castro dies it will be a story for a few days and quickly become yesterdays news. Very little change at all will take place. If anything it may become a little easier for Cubans to leave and a lot more will come here but that will probably be about it for decades. Reminds me of Y2K. People love to attach importance to certain future events. Then they come and go and thats that, nothing happens. Remember the bridge collapse a few weeks ago, yesterdays news, no one cares anymore other then those directly involved. On to the next thing.

[bale002]

Originally Posted by LauraC

Pre-Castro, wasn't Cuba doing great tourism-wise? No reason to think that it can't thrive again with that industry.

That's right. Maybe too great for the interests of some people.

Originally Posted by LauraC

That's where I think Cuba has it all over Mexico.

Maybe, but for sure that's where Cuba has it all over Florida: an open Cuba, after a transition period, would certainly make a visible dent in Florida's tourism/retirement industry, now teetering after the credit/real estate bubble rendering Florida overpriced for the quality it can offer, and that's one of the reasons the US, Castro's best ally, has so lovingly helped to prop up him up all these years and keep Cuba closed to US citizens.

By the way, a noticeable number of US citizens is retiring in countries like Mexico and Costa Rica and, at the pace US policymakers are pricing out a huge chunk of the middle class, the trend should continue in the coming decades, another source of competition to Florida.

I don't see much changing in the Cuba policy in the foreseeable future, whether Castro dies tomorrow or not, and he may live another 10-20 years.

Though I hope I'm wrong, it would be great to be able to travel to and sojourn in Cuba, by-passing Florida with no regrets, as a normal person, maybe a few years after a "transition".