USA Today: Closer look at the man advising Trump on Cuba policy
The words Fidel Castro have been fighting ones for Maurico Claver-Carone, the man helping President-elect Donald Trump craft policy on Cuba.
As a boy when he played high school football in Orlando, Claver-Carone wore his love for the island country with at least one black sock emblazoned with the Cuban flag. And when he wasn’t on the field, Claver-Carone was already making himself an expert on Cuban history and politics, and forming strong opinions about the Castro regime.
“If you ever mentioned Castro, he would go berserk,” said Ferlan Bailey, Claver-Carone's longtime friend who graduated with him from Bishop Moore Catholic High School in 1993. “The word 'Castro' would just set him off. He’d be like, ‘Don’t even tell me you support Castro.’ He would talk about the people who were persecuted. He knew about the economy, he knew about everything.”
Bailey said Claver-Carone would never physically fight and preferred to dominate his opponents with wit.
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WNU Editor: When I went to Cuba a few years ago I went for two reasons .... a vacation and business. Vacation was just that .... a vacation ....but I also went there for my cousins to see if there was any opportunity to invest in real estate projects .... specifically building homes along the coastline (which .... with their white sandy beaches .... is incredibly beautiful). My vacation was OK .... but the business aspect could not pan out. Too many Cuban government restrictions, bureaucracy, taxes, etc .... to put it simply .... Cuba was not ready at that time to do this type of business. But the big factor (IMHO) that killed any possibility of doing anything is the possibility of future U.S. legal action on Cuban exile claims on properties that were seized by the Castro regime when they came to power. Maurico Claver-Carone is someone who is going to make this possible. He is now in the perfect position to push the legal aspects that can (and will) kill U.S. investment in Cuba because of these claims. The fact that he also has the ear of the President-elect tells me that this will also become standard U.S. policy when it comes to Cuba. Is this a right policy to purse on Cuba .... yes and no. For Cuba to progress they must shed their Castro legacy and they must come to terms with the huge Cuban exile community that now exists. Redress of past grievances and compensation will have to be on the table .... on top of the human rights issues that will need to be address. This will have to be a joint U.S. - Cuban effort .... and everyone will need to be patient and fair. But now is not the time .... the best time is when Raoul Castro is gone, and the new technocrats who are not married to Communist dogma move in to assume power. I give it 3 - 4 more years.
1 comment:
Editor,
It may be that Canadians get a foot in the door and a preferred crack at property investment in Cuba. I have had the pleasure of staying in a Casa Particular on may occasions and can say that owning a place cover-looking the Bay of Matanzas orthat area would be great.
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