President Barack Obama is steaming ahead with his plan to normalize relations with Cuba after announcing Wednesday his plan for the United States and Cuba to open embassies in each other's capital. But hold on -- don't for a minute expect Florida Gov. Rick Scott to climb on board.
Scott has made it abundantly clear -- as he said in April -- "While the Castro regime continues to work against the freedom of the Cuban people, I will continue to stand in solidarity with the people of Cuba and their pro-democracy movement."
He has never flip-flopped on his insistence that the embargo should still be in place, that Cuba's vile human rights record is unacceptable, and that the island nation subscribes to terrorism.
But there's one problem with all that. A big one to Florida Cuban-Americans.
Every time Scott vilifies communist Cuba, he's taking sides against the Tampa Cubans and for the Miami Cubans. And he's rubbing salt in an old wound.
The ideological differences between the approach of Tampa and Miami to Havana have never been more apparent, between the Obama administration normalizing relations with the island nation and Rick Scott opposing the process at every opportunity.
The fact is, the two Cuban communities are deeply divided over the Mother Country. These two communities can't agree on a Cuban sandwich, let alone the acceptance of a new Cuba.
The New York Times' Miami bureau chief Lizette Alvarez wrote an explanatory piece in the Times' May 2 edition, "Going Way Back with Cubans, Tampa Leads Push Forward." It's as good a piece as I've read to explain the differences between the two Cuban-American population centers.
Writes Alvarez of the Ybor City/Tampa area, "While anti-Castro sentiment still runs deep here, it is a more mellow strain, tempered by years of assimilation. Many of the Cubans who came to Tampa did so to find jobs long before the Castro revolution; they routinely traveled back and forth to the island."
Of South Florida, she writes, "By contrast, Miami’s Cuban-Americans thronged to the city fleeing communism. They lost property, relatives and their homeland, which left an angry, bitter taste, one not easily dulled even by the decades."
The Tampa community is eager to lead the way in this Cuba reconnect. Its leaders have been looking forward to an end to the embargo for a long time. In fact, two years ago -- long before Obama made his intentions public -- the city sent a delegation of 38 business and political leaders to Havana to grease the path, to offer their services, get a look at the lay of the land, jump in on the ground floor of normal relations. What they see are economic opportunities that won't quit.
Miami Cubans, on the other hand, believe anyone who tries to cash in on Cuba is betraying other American ideals, like freedom, democracy, and human rights.
The bottom line is, the Tampa-versus-Miami war has been stewing for quite a while. Miami Cubans call Tampa Cubans avaricious and lacking any respect for human rights; Tampa Cubans call Miami Cubans a collection of immature hotheads.
Making the matter worse for Republican candidates and potential Republican candidates along the I-4 corridor, whether he means to or not, is Rick Scott.
"Agriculture is a vital part of our economy in Florida, and lifting the embargo on Cuba does irreparable harm to it," Scott said in a statement while Obama was touring the Everglades on Earth Day. "Importing agricultural products from Cuba could drive down demand for Florida products, open our crops up to invasive pests and species, and give the Castro regime leverage to continue the suppression of their people."
Scott said agriculture has a more than $100 billion impact on the state, and President Barack Obama "should be doing everything he can to support it.
"Sadly, he continues to stand side by side with the Castro regime," Scott said. "I will continue to oppose lifting the embargo, and fight for Florida families, farmers and our agriculture industry."
At the conclusion of her Times story, Alvarez quotes E.J. Salcines, a retired appellate judge and one of Tampa's most high-profile Cuban-American citizens, who backhandedly points to Miami Cubans' immaturity.
“You can’t ignore a fundamental difference -- that the Cubans in Tampa have gone through a much longer churning, maturing period than the Cubans in Miami,” he says. “Give the Miami Cubans another 50 years, and they might be sounding more like Tampeño Cubans, but they are not there yet.
The governor, however right you or I might think he is on Cuba, may not be making a lot of friends for Republicans around Tampa and Ybor City. We'll soon find out.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
