Wild Wake Seen on Castro’s Demise

Nobody knows when--or if--Fidel Castro will fall. But his demise, whether it occurs today or 20 years from now, is sure to set off one of the world’s largest impromptu street parties in a city where about 60% of the residents are Cuban.

Others predict an ever greater impact: the virtual shutdown of parts of South Florida.

In a 1990 report, the Governor’s Commission on a Free Cuba, made up of government agencies, businesses, academic leaders and Cuban exiles, suggested: “A peaceful political change in Cuba would be the signal for widespread celebrations among Cuban-American communities in Florida.” That is widely viewed as an understatement.

Some schools would shut, widespread absenteeism would close businesses throughout South Florida and traffic in Little Havana might come to a standstill as people pour into the streets, according to most estimates. The Orange Bowl would be opened for demonstrations, but even Miami Mayor Xavier L. Suarez says the jubilation could not be contained there.

Officials expect that Cuban-Americans from other parts of the U.S. would flock to Miami. Political change on the island would also trigger “rapid, potentially chaotic, large-scale movements of people seeking to travel both to and from Cuba,” according to the commission report.