Congresswoman Kathy Castor returned a day early from her Cuban trip to be with her dad, Judge Don Castor, who was in failing health and passed away on Tuesday. As a result, vicarious irony underscored her Havana visit.
“My dad has been a world traveler,” noted Castor. “Probably a hundred countries or more. But he’d never been to Cuba. He was thrilled that I was able to go.”
After three whirlwind days on the island, Castor’s “biggest takeaway”–bigger than “warm, friendly” people, “eye-opening” poverty and obvious maintenance issues with once-elegant edifices–was “a communist country that is beginning to move toward a market economy.”
And while Castor’s Cuban sortie hardly lacks for political subplots, her prime motivator was her home town, she emphasized.
“First and foremost, I went for our community,” she said. “It seems I talk with Cuban-American families every day. In the supermarket, in the beauty shop. It’s about travel and about visas. And I do it for the long-term economic potential that includes small businesses and the port and airport. No, it’s not earth-shattering, but it matters.”