It appears some of the most persistent opponents of Cuban autonomy ignore

[Judi Lynn]

for ideological reasons, the extensive assortment of inducements offered Cuban people wanting to move to the US, to make it worth the trouble so they can be used for propaganda purposes. They are offered benefits they are accustomed to receiving in their home country, to spare them the trouble of trying to hustle hard to find ways to make enough money to stay here.

The Cuban Adjustment Act has been actively available to Cuban would-be emigrants since the 1960's.

Immigration reform and the Cuban Adjustment Act
By Keith Bolender Last updated Aug 13, 2014

. . .

Cubans who make it to the USA are not only welcomed, but accepted with open arms full of economic and political benefits. Regardless of their age, condition or reason for leaving the island. This is made possible under the decades old Cuban Adjustment Act, implemented in 1966 as part of America’s political weaponry against the revolution. The Act was designed to encourage Cubans to leave the island, providing incentives such as permanent residence status after one year. Cubans simply have to show up at any American border, no questions asked, and they are allowed entry after a cursory examination. Immediately they can apply for social assistance programs, claim various financial benefits and be provided with considerations such as free English lessons.

The Act encourages Cubans to claim political refugee status, with the person only having to assert some ill-treatment at the hands of the revolutionary government to ensure there would be no complications upon entry. It helped establish the exile community to set up its base in Miami and become the voice of anti-revolution and the energy behind keeping the American embargo against Cuba unchanged. Critics of the Act state it encourages Cubans to leave the island on flimsy rafts, risking life in order to gain benefits no other immigrant can. Consistently the American government has used the Act to score political points, pointing to the arrivals as proof as how desperate the Cubans are to get out of the country – without mentioning the Act or the immediate advantages it provides them. Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989 and the continuing struggles of the Cuban economy, even the U.S. side admits the Act now has little to do with politics, and simply as a way for Cubans to escape their economic difficulties. The same reason most Central America immigrants cite.

In reality, Cuba provides far more social programs and personal security, despite the economic special period they’ve suffered during the past 25 years, than do most Central American countries. But it is the Cuban immigrant who obtains all the benefits, while others are demonized and sent back.

Both Cruz and Rubio have spoken publicly for the need of maintaining the Act, with the only hesitation coming from Rubio who expressed minor concerns that the recently arriving Cubans were undermining the justification for the Act by traveling back and forth to the island for family vacations and business trips, making it hard to maintain the claim they were exiles fleeing an oppressive regime.

More:
https://progresoweekly.us/immigration-reform-cuban-adjustment-act/

[GatoGordo]

1. Or, the Castroists could just have honest and open elections?

EOM

[Judi Lynn]

2. It would benefit you to find out more about their elections. n/t

[GatoGordo]

3. I'll wager they are as free and open as the last ones in Venezuela?

?

[MRubio]

5. What could be more free and open than Maduro......

.......hand-picking his opponents in an election? Please try to keep up.

[EX500rider]

4. You could benefit also:

The Cuban political system is normally described as undemocratic by human rights groups and academics and is usually classified as a dictatorship, one-party state or an authoritarian or totalitarian state.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Cuba#Democracy