First if all, there was no trace whatsoever of people feeling like "the world coming to an end." On the contrary, they said the people were very friendly, and somewhat upbeat due to the re-opening of diplomatic relations and the hope for an end to the commercial embargo. If there is one thing Republicans hate more than "kommanists," it's passing up a chance to make money. The loosening of regulations permitting some small private enterprise was also appreciated. If there was some apprehension about an invasion sponsored by exiles/descendants thereof, it was kept a secret. Although few people in the countryside speak English or German, one of my daughters' friends was along, and her fluent Italian was enough to communicate.
When I was there, it was as an invited guest of the government, and so I did not have the freedom to move around that my daughters did. Also, it was during the days of Soviet domination, and dominate they did. Castro obviously appreciated the financial boost, but the Russians strutted around like they owned the place, which, in their eyes, they did. In one instance, I even had to interpret back and forth in a situation where some Soviets were yelling at some poor Cuban saleswoman who spoke no Russian and had no idea what they wanted. They spoke no Spanish (I speak both), and they felt it was the Cubans' responsibility to be fluent in Russian. Some of the government people were, of course, but the common people weren't.
I also think the notion that Bill Clinton would have invaded Cuba had an election yielded anything but a rightist government is straight out of Putin's Book of Fairy Tales. Cheney might have (Bush would have had to ask his brother where the country was on the map), and who knows what the hell Trump might do, although his idea of a successful invasion is more likely to be a Trump Tower in Varadero rather than bombing the place to bits.
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