Off to college, but in Miami
HAVANA – Fifteen young Cubans from the island are creating a sensation in Miami’s Spanish-language media. And it’s not surprising.
Funded by the Cuban American National Foundation, the youngsters will study for six months at Miami Dade College. The objective has been well defined by their sponsors: to prepare themselves to take advantage of the fresh breezes blowing through Cuba. To study and learn with tenacity, so nobody and nothing can catch them by surprise. How nice.
Two judges in Cuba determined who the lucky ones would be: the well-known master at hunger strikes Guillermo “Coco” Fariñas (who complained on TV that a succulent steak gave him a stomach ache, poor fellow) and the no-less-relevant Bertha Soler, spokeswoman for the Ladies in White, who put into practice the adage that “she who distributes the goodies gets to keep the best” and put her daughter on the list of recipients. Well done, I come first, why not?
The young people will be given an accelerated course in English, which we find excellent because — the way the world’s going — speaking several languages, even sign language, is an indispensable way to get ahead.
Later they’ll take courses in psychology, sociology and something like business management before returning home to their restless Cuba, having sworn that none of them will remain in Florida.
Despite certain secrecy to enable the media to do their thing with the youngsters, some news and opinion programs have put them before the cameras so they may express themselves. The kids have behaved with moderation when dealing with people of the ultra-right, who are incapable of acknowledging that if the youngsters are there it’s by the will and consent of the Cuban authorities, not by pressure from a scattered opposition that has no power of convocation.
Speaking of that, we in Havana are still waiting for the effects of that tremendous summons to a national strike that oppositionist Antúnez made in Miami.
To the Cuban government, this is another example of fortitude at a decisive moment for the course of the socialist revolution. What would the folks in Miami say if Cuba offered a six-month scholarship to young Miamians selected by the Cuban Communist Party or the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution or the Federation of Cuban Women?
And some people still talk about cosmetic changes. Things here are moving, and it’s not because of the quakes that recently shook the island.
[For related article read: Spoiling what could have been a fantastic project]
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