Cuba Confidential: Love and Vengeance in Miami and Havana

My Dad was a balsero, who eventually made it to Phila. where I was born, he went back to fight against Castro and we have never seen or heard from him again!I never got an opportunity to talk with him about all the politics involved in this Castro-Cuba thing but this answered so many questions. YOu're reading history but its not dull or stilted at all. Thank you Ms Bardach for a great book and although I know you lost many contacts, for writing this way. I applaud you, for your honesty and courage!!!

Yes, the Cubans have suffered under Castro. I agree and understand their pain. So? The Cuban American millionaires and terrorists (Bosch for example) in Bardach's book suffered and then triumphed by bringing their ideas, ideology, and conniving ways to the US under the guise of seeking freedom--Freedom to do what? Toss bombs and acid at other exiled Cubans exercising Constitutional rights? Become another demagogue like Jorge Mas Canosa, rip off the Americans, create an ethic Cuban ghetto that excludes other Latinos, spit on concert goers trying to see Cuban musicians, bribe and other wise nefariously influence Florida politics? All this and heaven too. Well, you detractors of the book have called it disgusting and other things but the truth hurts doesn't it? I have spent time in Cuba as a US diplomat (1987-89)in the US Interests Section and know many of the people mentioned by Bardach. Her descriptions are right on the money, e.g. Elizardo Sanchez, a real hero in the Cuban human rights movement. That the Miami right wingers are against the Varela Plan is truth not fiction, and as for checking sources and reliability nothing in Havana or Miami is what it appears to be so what's the use trying to verify what's not on the record? Her book names names, dates, countries, files, memos, etc enough to satsfy me and the general reader. Of course, if you have an Anti-Castro agenda this book will infuriate you, and obviously has by the looks of some of the reviews. All I have to do is put the screwed up, angry, menacing looks we saw on TV in Miami during the Elian debacle and fit those faces to the irate reviewers. And so it goes. Perhaps one should just read Samuel Huntington's latest screed on Hispanics (Foreign Policy Magazine, March 2004) to know the Cubans want to turn South Florida into their own Banana Republic. Lord have mercy, and will the last American leaving Miami please bring the flag. Thanks Ms. Bardach for exposing this ugly under belly on both sides of the drink. Watch out for the bombers.

Bardach's honesty about American foreign policy regarding Cuba and the power that the corrupt Miami Mafia have on Florida, and after the last presidential election, national, politics has not won her many friends in the Miami Cuban population. Elian was used and manipulated by Marisleysis and her father, two people who shouldn't be entrusted with the life of a roach, much less a little boy. But the Miami Mafia was willing to sacrifice him to these two pathological personalities in order to score one against Castro. Then there is Orlando Bosch, a convicted terrorist who was paroled into the United States by Bush the First against the orders of his acting assistant attorney general. In the Banana Republic regimes of Little Havana and the White House, it doesn't matter how many innocent civilians you kill nor how many children's lives you throw away as long as you do it in the name of fighting communism. The book is particularly critical reading now that Luis Posada Carriles has been caught and decisions are being made about what to do with him. The interviews with him show the truly corrupt nature of the man. He brags about how many fake passports he has and that he can enter the United States whenever he wants to. This book is even more topical now than when it was first written.

Wow! She's got guts. As an earlier reviewer noted, to understand the negative reviews of this book, you have to read the book. I read it in 2 days, although some of the sections on the Cuban exile community are just so disheartening/sad/frusturating that I had to skim over them. The U.S. public has been fed one version of Cuba by a lazy media and pandering politicians. But more and more people are becoming more and more interested-visiting Cuba and educating themselves....Bardach's book is an excellent contribution!

Bardach does an excellent job of showing the reader the roots of the 43-year old standoff between Miami and Havanna. This book is compelling and interesting, especially in the first few chapters. It shows a view of Miami without the bias... portrays the truth of Castro's Cuba and Miami exiles. I highly recommend everyone to read this book.