Miami-Cuba ferry service sounds dreamy, but at what moral price?

Fabiola Santiago: Miami-Cuba ferry service sounds dreamy, but at what
moral price?

More accessibility for Americans, but another carrot for bad-behaving Cuba
For Miamians, maritime use of PortMiami site a respite from overdevelopment
For ordinary Cubans, nada but ration cards, repression, immigration
BY FABIOLA SANTIAGO
fsantiago@miamiherald.com

Isn't the idea lovely — a dream come true?

Pack a weekend bag, head to PortMiami, hop on a ferry and sail across
the Florida Straits to, say, the Hemingway Marina in Havana. Spend the
weekend strolling the colonial streets, the quaint ones with homes
restored in pastels and out of sight from the decay in which the most
humble of habaneros live crammed into precarious tenements. Dine not on
ration-card fare, but on the nouvelle cuisine prepared in paladares that
aim for the chic look of New York. Sleep in the Hotel Ambos Mundos like
Papa, a little frumpy but historic, the perfect abode to avoid reality.

Pause now for the sound effect of fingernails on a blackboard — and wake up.

The hat you're wearing on the Fantasy Ferry may have a vintage flair,
but it's not the 1950s, dear ones.

The news flash that Mayor Carlos Gimenez wants to turn a coveted plot of
land at PortMiami into a bustling terminal for ferries — and that some
of the carriers may offer affordable travel and shipping between Miami
and Cuba — is a good-news/bad-news idea.

On the positive side, this means that Gimenez's administration is
dropping a controversial plan to develop more hotels and office space on
this site, which was also the first choice for David Beckham's soccer
stadium. Dodging those two traffic-producers in a clogged-up area and
parting with the 2011 master plan that called for more overdevelopment
in this plot of land is enough reason to celebrate.

Easier and more affordable access to Cuba, on its face, is also progress
in the pursuit of ever-elusive change by way of engagement. So it's not
surprising that a Republican mayor in a non-partisan post facing
re-election might have a more relaxed attitude toward Cuba travel.
Plenty of high-profile Miami Republicans support President Barack
Obama's rapprochement policy.

One wealthy and well-connected Miami businessman tells me of sailing to
Cuba on his yacht to help a friend fulfill his late father's wishes and
take his ashes back to Havana. They took a chance — and just showed up
at the Hemingway Marina with their American passports.

"We were welcomed and offered services," he said. "We were surprised
that it wasn't a big deal."

Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Key West are already poised to provide ferry
service.

So why shouldn't the Miami masses have access to Cuba via the services
of well-priced ferries when there are commercial flights, too?

I can only think of one good reason: More patronage of a still
repressive and totalitarian regime that shows no signs of slowing
beatings, arrests, and imprisonment of dissenters. Or of changing
antiquated control measures like the detested ration cards — just
reissued — for food purchases.

If we're at the stage of frivolously sailing across waters where others
lose their lives fleeing, shouldn't our desires, our damned nostalgia at
least properly feed ordinary Cubans?

Forging ahead — no matter what — is starting to look more and more like
the 1950s, when Cuba's dictator was America's dictator — our man in
Havana, a political love affair.

In that light, the vintage hat for the Fantasy Ferry fits perfectly.

Fabiola Santiago: fsantiago@miamiherald.com, @fabiolasantiago

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what moral price? | Miami Herald -
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