Kathy Castor was in Cuba a fortnight ago. No, she didn’t make the media splash that Beyoncé and Jay-Z did. Her un-hyped visit merely mattered.
It mattered because this Cold War relic that is America’s dysfunctional relationship with Cuba cannot continue indefinitely. At some point, the octogenarian Castro brothers will be gone and the increasingly noticeable seeds of generational change–on both the island and in the sovereign state of South Florida–will finally flower. Enlightened self-interest ultimately will trump imperialist scapegoats, revolutionary vendettas and intimidated Yanqui politicians.
And no place is better positioned–historically, geographically, logistically and economically–to take advantage of a common-sense policy reset and inevitable rapprochement than this state, particularly this region and specifically this city. Tampa Bay is home to the third largest Cuban-American population (80,000) in the U.S. and has the sort of non-hostile, nostalgic Cuban history that Miami’s exile community can’t touch–or comprehend. It has the deep-water Port of Tampa, which once supplied pre-Castro Havana with more than half of its American imports, and thrice-weekly Cuba-bound, direct flights from Tampa International Airport.
And now, courtesy of U.S. Rep. Castor, D-Tampa, it has its own native-born member of Congress who has traveled to Cuba. For those keeping score, her visit was only the second time since the Cuban Revolution that a member of the Florida Congressional delegation had actually set foot on the island.
You know it matters when Washington politicians with Florida roots aren’t willing to underscore their state’s case for improved Cuban-U.S. relations by voicing it in Havana. So, it stands to reason that it now matters that a Washington politician with Tampa roots has done so. There’s, frankly, only so much Al Fox can do; only so much Ralph Fernández can undo. Timing is everything, and Castor, who will provide input on her visit to the president and the secretary of state, had to show the federal flag for Tampa Bay.
While acknowledging a level of repression and “civil rights challenges” in Cuba, Castor also points out that “Cuba is changing.” It’s significant, she says, that Cuba is “a communist country beginning to move toward a market economy.” She wants a reciprocal response from the U.S. As in “trying something new.” As in normalizing relations, which would mean unfettered travel for Americans and the end of the trade embargo that has been on the books for more than a half century.
She also makes it clear what her prime motivation was in going to Cuba.
“First and foremost, for our community,” says Castor. “It seems we talk with Cuban-American families every day. … It’s about travel and visas. And I do it for the long-term economic potential that includes small businesses, the port and the airport. It’s not earth-shattering, but it matters.”
An interesting perspective is that of Jim Davis, the former congressman from Tampa. He is, in fact, that other member of the Florida delegation to visit Cuba since 1959. He went in 2003, when Fidel Castro and George W. Bush were still in charge. Nothing meaningfully changed. The Tampa Democrat knows how frustratingly slow progress on such a sensitive geopolitical subject can be. But he also senses inevitability.
“It’s apparent there is change coming,” emphasizes Davis, now an attorney with Holland & Knight. “(U.S. Rep.) Joe García was elected to Congress (from South Florida), and he’s not a hard-liner. There’s also generational change. There are more people traveling back and forth. Yes, it’s still slow, but you can see it.”
He can also see Castor becoming an increasingly major player on the Cuba issue. “I think she’ll use her trip to tell the story of Cuba. She will get to play a significant part in the national debate,” he predicts. “I think you have to kind of think outside the box here. I think Kathy’s well positioned.
“Kathy is really the one now,” adds Davis. “And when she believes in something, she goes for it.”
Not that Castor doesn’t otherwise have her hands full in Congress–and within the Florida congressional delegation–but Cuba could be her legacy. The end of Castro, the era of Castor. Just re-arrange the letters.
Don Castor Remembered
Kathy Castor cut short by a day her scheduled four-day, fact-finding Cuban trip after being notified that her ailing, 81-year-old father had taken a turn for the worse. Donald F. Castor passed away three days after she returned.
I didn’t know Judge Don Castor during his 20-year tenure as a Hillsborough County judge, but I knew of his reputation: a penchant for creative sentences and a compassion for the less fortunate. He was the first executive director of the Bay Area Legal Services. That there is a Judge Don Castor Community Law Center speaks volumes.
I did, however, get to know Don Castor in retirement. Even as his health deteriorated and mobility all but halted, he was no less gracious and no less conversationally involved–from world travels to college basketball to hardball politics. He remained a frequent–and feisty–attendee at the Tiger Bay Club of Tampa luncheons. Native son Don Castor was a smart, compassionate gentleman. The Castor family–and the Tampa Bay community–lost a good one.