American Politicians React to Fidel Castro's Resignation

According to the Miami Herald, there has been little to no substantial reaction from Cuban exiles and immigrants of Little Havana (Miami) to the news that Fidel Castro, the dictator of the homeland they left behind, has finally stepped down as president of Cuba after 49 years of harsh dictatorial rule. The Herald reports a little car-horn blaring and flag-waving, some minor "modest" celebrations, but for the most part the area remains quiet after the news. U.S. Representative Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Miami) takes a realistic approach to the resignation: ''We have to realize that until he is dead, there is not going to be that much of a change.''

Mitch McConnell, Republican Senate Minority Leader (Kentucky), nearly echoes Diaz-Balart's analysis. Susan Davis, reporting for the Wall Street Journal, quotes McConnell: "Replacing one dictator with another, as appears to be the case, isn't the answer to the repression, brutality and fear produced by five decades of Castro."

But not everyone sees the resignation as necessarily an orchestrated transitional formality in a structure intent on maintaining the status quo. Republican Representative Jeff Flake (Arizona) has been actively pursuing an end to the trade embargo with Cuba in direct opposition to the majority of his party, Flake told Davis: "The U.S. embargo gave Fidel a tremendous advantage in terms of lengthening his tenure. Let's not give his successor the same advantage by keeping the embargo in place."

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has been open about his desire to normalize relations with Cuba since 2003. In a written statement reported by CNN, Obama stated that this was the end of a "dark era" for Cuba, that: "If the Cuban leadership begins opening Cuba to meaningful democratic change, the United States must be prepared to begin taking steps to normalize relations and to ease the embargo of the last five decades."