What does this mean? re: Cuba

[soup]

Coast Guard, Customs ready for possible alert
By JAY WEAVER
[e-mail]

The U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are on standby until they receive official word to go on alert for their Cuba Plans.

''It's a little too early,'' said Zachary Mann, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, one of the federal agencies that is responsible for the region's airports and seaports.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman said the agency is also on standby ``until something happens.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15168651.htm

What do they expect to happen?
A little too early for what?
What are their 'Cuba Plans'?

I'm not quite sure what to make of this news blip. Is it something? nothing?

[bryant69]

1. Perhaps they believe that there might be a large refugee flight

And they want to be ready for that?

Or perhaps they are worried that 3 days after dying Castro will return to life, his beard bristling with necromatic energy, and he will march againt the united states, as prophecied in the Castronomicon.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[soup]

3. Ah, ok. Thanks. Makes some sense now.

I really need a new brain. :crazy: (or more coffee)

[sharp_stick]

2. I think they're looking for another wave of boat people

Some people think that the second ol' Fidel kicks the bucket the people in Cuba are going to climb on anything that sort of floats and head on over. Either because they think the Cubans wont be watching as closely or they expect Fidel's little brother to crack down Stalin style in an effort to exert control.

[soup]

4. thanks, simskl.

For some reason, that eluded me.

I'm so glad we have these 'internets' - and people like you who are kind enough to answer the dumb questions people like me send through the 'tubes'.

[Breeze54]

5. They warned against flotillas TO the island....

News of Castro's surgery greeted with cheers in Miami

By Ruth Morris, Ihosvani Rodriguez and Robert Nolin

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Posted on Mon, Jul. 31, 2006

http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/nation/15167846.htm

Snip-->

Ana Wilbanks, 48, of Miami, came to Calle Ocho to "celebrate the death of Satan."

"This is a man I hate," she said. "The Cubans are going to go crazy."

Spanish-language Radio Mambi interrupted programming to transmit the speech,
read by Fidel Castro's secretary, in which he announced Castro was temporarily
stepping down.
Calls began jamming the phone lines from as far away as Anchorage, Alaska.
Host Marta Flores tried to rein in some over-excited callers.

"Thank God there's some good news on television and on the radio," one caller
said of the news about Castro.
"There's so much bad news out there these days."

Some of the most vocal leaders in South Florida's Cuban exile community spent
Monday night cautioning South Florida Cubans against getting too excited about
the news of Castro's possible demise. They warned against flotillas to the
island and disorderly demonstrations locally.

Jose Basulto, president of Brothers to the Rescue, said it's possible that
the announcement about Fidel's sickness from the Cuban government could be
a stall tactic if Fidel has already died.

"What they need now is time to organize," Basulto said.
"What he's (Fidel) exercising now is the succession of power."

Emergency services were on alert.
The Coast Guard said it had not launched any operations to monitor the water
between Florida and Cuba, with a spokesman saying that the Guard is monitoring
the news closely but has not put any plans in motion yet.

"We know something serious is happening in Cuba," said Joe Garcia,
former chief of the Cuban American National Foundation.
After he fell two years ago and shattered a kneecap, Castro didn't so much as
agree to a local anesthetic during an operation to help him mend, Garcia said.

---

© 2006 South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

I would guess that there are Cuban-American citizens that
are thinking of going the 20 miles to rescue family!
They're :party: in Miami today!! :woohoo:

[robcon]

6. I think we can assume Raul Castro will start mass arrests

and show trials, as he needs to enforce the regime that was handed to him by his brother.

Any movement, speech, petition (Varela Project) for democracy in Cuba will be handled ruthlessly, IMO.

[Breeze54]

9. uh -oh....bush has "plans in place for Cuba" ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5987147,00.html

U.S. Closely Watching Situation in Cuba
27 minutes ago...

Tuesday August 1, 2006 2:16 PM

Snip-->
On Monday, before Castro's illness was announced,
President Bush was in Miami and spoke of the island's future.

"If Fidel Castro were to move on because of natural causes,
we've got a plan in place to help the people of Cuba understand
there's a better way than the system in which they've been living under,"
he told WAQI-AM Radio Mambi, a Spanish-language radio station.
"No one knows when Fidel Castro will move on.
In my judgment, that's the work of the Almighty."

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla.,
a member of the House International Relations Committee who has long opposed Castro,
said even a temporary relinquishment of power by the dictator is
"a great day for the Cuban people and for their brothers and sisters in exile."

:hide:

[flordehinojos]

7. as if they don't have enough to keep them glorifying themselves with the

iraq occupation, the bush administration may try to occupy cuba following fidel castro's death, which they seem to be expecting to happen soon. i wonder if they are sticking pins in a vodoo doll.

[oc2002]

8. ...propaganda from Maimi that Castro is dead.

..and they want to be prepared for the nut cases in Maimi that want to bring 'Freedom' to Cuba.

[robcon]

10. People who want to bring freedom to Cuba are not nutcases

They, like myself, believe democracy is better than dictatorship. Elections in which opponents are allowed is preferable to having Castro (Fidel or Raul) run unopposed.