Jul 31, 2006 11:22 pm US/Eastern
Miami Erupts On News Of Castro Illness
by Jawan Strader
MIAMI (CBS4 News) ―
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Cuban-Americans Celebrate In Little Havana On News Of Castro's Illness
The streets of Little Havana, Hialeah, and other heavily Cuban parts of South Florida erupted moments after hearing the news Monday night, that Fidel Castro is stepping down, at least temporarily, from power in Cuba.
Cubans in the exile community waited Monday night to hear news about Fidel Castro's health after officials on the island announced he had temporarily relinquished presidential power to his brother Raul due to intestinal illness.
"This is a clear reminder that the end of the Castro regime is approaching, and that the only solution is free elections and the rule of law," said U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Miami late Monday night.
The Cuban leader said he had suffered intestinal bleeding, apparently due to stress from recent public appearances in Argentina and Cuba, according to the letter read live on television by his secretary, Carlos Valenciaga.
Cubans in Miami have long waited for the day that Castro would relinquish his control of the island.
In Little Havana, people took to the streets, banging pots, waving Cuban flags from cars, and dancing in joy. Cries of "Viva Cuba" rang down Calle Ocho, the virtual epicenter of Cuban exile.
Outside the famed Cuban restaurant Versailles in Little Havana, a crowd gathered late Monday night. People on the side of the street waved Cuban flags, cheered, danced and hugged as drivers honked their horns.
But Joanna Gonzalez, spokeswoman for Raices de Esperanza or Roots of Hope, an umbrella organization for Cuban-American university students and young professionals, cautioned that the transfer of power to Raul Castro symbolized only a continuation of the current regime.
"We long for the day when power transfers in Cuba are the results of a free, democratic process and reflect the wishes of the Cuban people, not the preordained wishes of a dictator" she said. "Although this transfer of power is being characterized as temporary, the oppression under which the Cuban people live is enduring and continues."
U.S. Coast Guard Spokesman Dana Warr said officials were being briefed on the situation but no aircraft, boats or people had been called up.
Some Cuban leaders said they were surprised that the announcement of his illness was done in such a public manner.
"It's very early to give an opinion," said Janisset Rivero, executive director of the Cuban Democratic Directorate, which supports dissidents on the island.
"We will be watching what they are saying in and outside of the island," she said. "To often it is very different."
Castro said that extreme stress "had provoked in me a sharp intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding that obligated me to undergo a complicated surgical procedure."
Castro also requested the celebration of his 80th birthday on Aug. 13 be postponed until Dec. 2, the 50th anniversary of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces.
Raul Castro, who turned 75 in June and who has been taking on a more public profile in recent weeks.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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