Anthony L. Hall is a descendant of the Turks & Caicos Islands, international lawyer and political consultant - headquartered in Washington DC - who publishes his own Internet Weblog at www.theipinionsjournal.com offering commentaries on current events from a Caribbean perspective

After all, their celebration not only betrayed their naiveté about the implications of this transfer but also indicated how much wasted emotion and misspent resources they have vested in this man’s eventual death.

Of course, most of us in the Americas are acutely aware that Exhibit A for the patent double standards in U.S. foreign policy is not America’s relationship with Palestine; it's America’s relationship with Cuba. Moreover, all fair-minded and progressive thinking Americans lament that – for almost 45 years – U.S. foreign policy throughout this region has paid undue deference to a cabal of Cuban exiles in Miami whose political sensibilities are guided by nothing more than their visceral, vindictive and, ultimately, self-defeating hatred of Fidel Castro.

Although, to hear them fulminate against Castro, one might think these Cuban immigrants have greater regard for the founding principle of the United States – “that all men are created equal…” – than native-born Americans. But I know too many Haitian immigrants living in their midst to think so. Indeed, it constitutes an ironic racial symmetry that “white” Cubans in Miami discriminate against black Haitians, just as their grandparents back in Cuba discriminated against black Cubans before fleeing Castro’s “socialist” revolution.

Let me hasten to clarify, however, that I am not in the least bit enamored of Fidel Castro. After all, I am mindful that the people who have suffered most under his dictatorship are fellow blacks who – like black Americans too poor to escape Hurricane Katrina - did not have the means to flee the revolution. And my assertion in this regard is informed, inter alia, by the testimonials of black athletes whose escape in recent years was orchestrated, invariably, by white Cuban agents hoping to make a fast buck by selling them to professional sport teams in the U.S.

Indeed, it is a damning indictment of not only Castro’s leadership but also the political sense of anyone who glorifies him that the vast majority of black Cubans live in more squalid conditions today – 47 years into his socialist revolution – than they did under the Apartheid-style dictatorship of the man Castro overthrew, Fulgencio Batista.

“When you say there’s racial discrimination in Cuba, you’re told there’s not. Yes, there is! When you go looking for work...they’re looking to see whether you’re black or white…Ever since television reached Cuba 40 years ago, the image projected has been overwhelmingly white.” [Alden White, a 59-year-old black unemployable actor]

However, it is precisely because poor blacks in Cuba have suffered most from America’s 44-year embargo against Cuba that I condemn Miami Cubans for using their considerable political power and influence to keep it in place. And, if anyone doubts my characterization of these Cuban exiles as a bunch of hopelessly misguided zealots, consider the following:

They are celebrating, prematurely, the demise of Fidel Castro; even though Fidel will be succeeded by his brother Raul who – all reports indicate - will be a more ruthless, even if less vain, dictator . In fact, I predict that the pragmatic Raul Castro will emulate his new Chinese patrons by pursuing liberal economic polices whilst imposing even stricter political and military control. And I fully expect him to solicit foreign direct investments from friendly nations like China and Venezuela (although Canada and EU countries seem eager to oblige) to improve Cuba’s economic welfare whilst continuing to groom Fidel’s hand-picked protégés to lead the next generation of the revolution.

Meanwhile, it's a testament to the conceit and arrogance of Miami Cubans that they firmly believe that - once the Castro brothers die off - they will be able to return to Cuba to inherit the political power and social privileges abdicated by their ancestors decades ago. And this, of course, without any regard for the young Cubans who have been toiling at home, waiting for their opportunity to govern their country.

But who knows, given Castro’s longevity, chances are that a well-indoctrinated Elian Gonzalez will be Cuban dictator before Miami Cubans are disabused of their antic pining for their paradise lost....

NOTE: See my January 24, 2006 article in “Op-Ed” archives to read why – given his abysmal failures in the Middle East – I argued sometime ago that President George W. Bush should seal his legacy by lifting the embargo against Cuba.

UPDATE:  The Trinidad and Tobago Chief Justice Affair

I take no great pride in having the Trinidad and Tobago Court of Appeals vindicate my commentary, published here a week ago today, in which I asserted, inter alia,  that the country’s Chief Justice, Satnarine Sharma, had no legal basis for resisting judicial review of allegations that he perverted the course of justice by attempting to influence the outcome of the trial of former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday.

Nor do I derive any great satisfaction from the fact that those who condemned me as an uninformed bigot for criticising CJ Sharma will now be forced to eat their words.

After all, I merely asserted that he should have recused himself from official duties and applied for a judicial review - as any reasonable and judicious judge would have done – as soon as the attorney general filed charges against him.  And, that had he done so, Trinidad and Tobago would have been spared months in the throes of national crisis and as the object of international embarrassment.

(Incidentally, I appreciate The Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) reinforcing my assessment of this affair in its exhaustive commentary published here on Wednesday.)

Alas, as things stand – with CJ Sharma now looking to the Privy Council to sanction his judicial impudence and ignorance – I am constrained to deduce that he may lack not only the ethics but also the legal competence to ever return to the bench….