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Imagine taking all you?ve ever worked for your home your music collection, all your clothes, photo albums, in essence your Life ? and being forced to fit it into two suitcases. Don?t bother packing your jewelry, because it will be confiscated. Whatever else doesn?t fit in your luggage, you cannot sell and must leave behind. Imagine having to work in a forced labor camp for over a year just to earn the right to lose it all and say goodbye to your country. Imagine a life like that, and you may begin to understand the cause for celebration in Miami when thousands of exiles and their relatives who personally experienced that dramatic loss learned of Fidel Castro?s transfer of power ? or as they see it, his dying days.

However, among the conspiracy theories running rampant in South Florida, it has yet to be determined whether Castro is dead or alive. But one thing is for sure, his younger brother Raul Castro?s ascension to power, even if temporary, is ?a continuing denial of the Cuban people?s rights to freely choose who will lead them,? one State Department spokesman commented. Though Raul has spoken of a more democratic society, at the age of 75, his leadership will be short-lived at best. This, of course, brings us to the question, When will the Cuban people ever be free?

Despite Castro?s carefully constructed façade as a socialist hero ? the many celebrities and advocates who laud his 47-year rule, and his unique health care system and educational reforms ? Fidel Castro remains a dictator to many. In terms of Cuba?s free Health care, consider the story of Hilda Molina, a top Cuban brain surgeon who was denied a visa at the Argentine Embassy in Havana. Wanting to visit her grandson in Buenos Aires. she was declared a commodity product belonging to the state, and therefore could never leave the country. She is but one of the revolution?s many indentured servants, so to speak. As for Cuba?s educational reforms, the inability to read anything restricted by the government, despite its highest literacy rate in Latin America, is a paradox of sorts. Upon viewing the documentary ?Waiting for Fidel,? where children are shown working 15 hours a week in factory-like classrooms manufacturing clothes, baseball gloves, and radios, the concept of a ?free education? suddenly seems a misnomer.

Yet it?s easy to see why so many who visit Havana, sip Mojitos while listening to the Buena Vista Social Cub and embrace the warmth of the Cuban people, will blithely overlook it?s totalitarian state. Tourists and foreigners will never endure the monthly rationing of food in hour-long lines; the unmistakable deprivation of property rights and the fear of speaking against the government (many don?t even mention Castro?s name aloud in public); or much less the ?comités? assigned to neighborhood blocks to whom people must report nearly every visitor and goings on in their own homes. These realities are rarely mentioned by tour guides.

As for equating Fidel?s death with Cuba?s long-awaited freedom, only time will tell. As to whether the United States will intervene militarily. Bush has stated ?the future of Cuba is in the hands of the Cubans.? Hopefully we can believe him this time. The United States doesn?t need another war, and Cubans don?t need another dictator.

By: Ignacio Gutierrez

Freelance writer based in New York City