Why Charge Raul Castro?

     Picking up where we left off, in 1996 an organization called "Brothers to the Rescue" was searching for Cuban refugees who needed rescue at sea. Three Americans and one Cuban American in two Cessnas were doing something extra. From international airspace they released fliers with anti-government messages, somehow destined to come ashore at Havanna. 

     They may not have known about Cuban intelligence in Miami and Tampa, and among some members of our Congress. Raul Castro was informed, sent two fighter jets to down the Americans, and so he is accused of murder. Who started the process? Donald Trump, in 2016. 

     Raul, 94, is no longer president but still involved. A number of people at the head of government are named Castro or are Castro women who married others. The Cuban people suffer. Yet, many Americans think communism is the way to go.  

     Six decades of communism has taken its toll, leaving many Cubans impoverished and angry. In 2022 and 2023, Cuba lost 18 percent of its population...to Venezuela, Russia, (communist) China, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia. Some, like doctors, volunteered for programs and never returned. Cuba closed its borders for two years. 

     About 15 years ago, we and a few others transferred from our church in Wesley Chapel Florida to a dying church on the county lines of Hernando and Pasco counties. Years later, Wesley Chapel sent us a Cuban immigrant, who knew some English, and his wife, to be our new pastor. In Cuba he had to borrow clothes to attend church. Now, he pastors two English and two Spanish services every Sunday.

Sunday: more Cuban life