2006年VOA标准英语-Stories of Cuban Exiles in Miami Vary, But Desi

By Lisa Ferdinando
Miami
10 August 2006

The personal stories in Miami's large Cuban community are as varied¹ as the individuals who tell them. Some fled the island decades ago at the start of Fidel Castro's rule, others are more recent arrivals, and some only know the island through the stories of their parents. But a consistent theme among all of them is the desire for democracy for Cuba.

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Roberto Jose, 24, front left, and Miguel Pineiro, 38, right, wave a Cuban flag in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood 
  
Those who fled Cuba under President Fidel Castro talk about the restrictions² and hardships of daily life, the oppression and lack of freedom, and how people are afraid to say or do anything that could be interpreted in the wrong way and reported to the authorities.

The exiles say they want the island to be free, and do not want Mr. Castro's brother and designated successor, Raul Castro, to assume leadership after Fidel.

Fidel Castro, speaks in Havana, September 9, 2002 (file photo)   
  
After an ailing³ Mr. Castro temporarily ceded⁴ power to Raul at the end of July, both the young and old in Miami's Cuban neighborhood of Little Havana rejoiced over what they hoped was the end of Fidel's rule.

Henry Perez was among them. He came to the United States as a student in 1959, the year Mr. Castro seized power from dictator Fulgencio Batista. He has never returned.

"At the beginning everybody was happy, everyone believed Castro was going to have a democracy, get rid of Batista, and all this stuff, but after I was here many years it turned out that he was 100 times worse than Batista. He was a dictator. He was a totalitarian dictator," said Perez.
 
 
Fidel Castro, left, and his brother Raul Castro in Havana, April 13, 2000 
  
He adds Raul as just as bad as Fidel.

Antonio Jorge, a professor of economics and international relations at Florida International University, says the Cuban government exercises what he calls an unrelenting oppression on the Cuban people. He says Raul is not a solution.

"An overwhelming majority of the Cuban exile community wish for Cuba to have a clean new start, meaning by that, the immediate⁵ re-establishment of politically democratic institutions and of a market-type of economy," he said.

But as Mr. Castro's rule stretched into decades, some exiles, including Dom Garcia who left in 1966 with his wife and two small children, say their life is now in the United States, although they continue to long for a liberated⁶ homeland.

"The dream for me [is] that Cuba would be a free country very soon, I hope," he said.

Ian Vasquez with the CATO institute in Washington says both the younger and older generation of Cuban Americans are committed to the goal of democracy on the island, but they may have different views on how to achieve it.

"Even now, the younger generation tends to be more open to ending the embargo⁷ and to normalizing commercial and travel relations with Cuba, much more so than the older generation that actually fled Cuba," he said.

Eighteen-year-old Raul Bussot, who was displaying his artwork during a recent festival in Little Havana, favors the easing of U.S. restrictions against the island. He left the island when he was four, and says it is now expensive and difficult to travel back.

"I'd like my homeland to be more accessible to me and to everyone who would like to go back," he said.

Jorge, with Florida International University, says the exiles do not have a specific person that they would like to see lead the island after Fidel. Right now, he says, they are just focused on the goal of a free and democratic Cuba.

1 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

2 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

3 ailing   

v.生病

参考例句：

• They discussed the problems ailing the steel industry. 他们讨论了困扰钢铁工业的问题。
• She looked after her ailing father. 她照顾有病的父亲。

4 ceded   

v.让给，割让，放弃( cede的过去式 )

参考例句：

• Cuba was ceded by Spain to the US in 1898. 古巴在1898年被西班牙割让给美国。
• A third of the territory was ceded to France. 领土的三分之一割让给了法国。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

6 liberated   

a.无拘束的，放纵的

参考例句：

• The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进，解放了那座城市。
• The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应，释放出氧气。

7 embargo   

n.禁运（令）；vt.对...实行禁运，禁止（通商）

参考例句：

• This country put an oil embargo on an enemy country.该国对敌国实行石油禁运。
• During the war,they laid an embargo on commerce with enemy countries.在战争期间，他们禁止与敌国通商。