Word: cubans
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Also known as Tirofijo, or Sureshot, Marulanda, who was believed to be between 78 and 80 years old, was the most powerful and resilient guerrilla leader the world had never heard of. In contrast to the flamboyant lives of rebel colleagues like former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, Marulanda's was as thickly veiled as the Colombian jungle he occupied for half a century. But he built what was, at its apex a decade ago, one of the world's largest and fiercest insurrection forces. At the turn of the century, the Marxist-inspired FARC numbered some 20,000 fighters...
...robust applause at the town hall meeting he addressed. But outside those walls the response was more subdued. If McCain is vulnerable to the charge that his presidency would effectively be a Bush third term, he might want to explore Florida beyond the echo chamber of the older Cuban exile community. He's likely to find a growing number of younger, more moderate Cuban-Americans who no longer believe the 46-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba will topple the Castro regime and who yearn to hear candidates discuss matters besides Cuba, like the alarming lack of accessible health...
...Even moderate Cuban-Americans want to see the Castros gone and democracy returned to their ancestral island. But most resent President Bush's policy of letting them visit their relatives in Cuba only once every three years (although Bush announced on Wednesday that he'll allow Americans to send cell phones to Cubans now that Raul Castro has permitted his citizens to own them). And when recent surveys show that even a majority of Miami Cubans, of all people, favor relaxing the restrictions - in an FIU poll 55% backed unlimited travel to Cuba - it's probably time for U.S. politicians...
...That's especially true when you look at what's happening in the three major Miami congressional districts this year. For the past two decades the G.O.P.'s hold on those seats has been unassailable thanks to the hard-line Cuban-Americans occupying them. But this week the Cook Report, a Beltway guide to state and local elections, changed its "rating" on Florida's 21st congressional district from "solidly Republican" to "likely Republican" - a sign that Democratic challenger Raul Martinez is a genuine threat to eight-term Republican incumbent Lincoln Diaz-Balart. Martinez, in fact, has so far been able...
...Presidential candidates, of course, typically spout the same macho rhetoric on Cuba because they believe it's essential to winning Florida, which in turn is essential to winning the White House. But the state - especially the growth of its non-Cuban Latino community, which is often irritated by all the attention thrust on Cuba - has changed more than McCain and the G.O.P. seem to realize. The Democrats, of course, haven't been much more clued in themselves in recent years. But Obama has already signaled that when he gives his own speech in Miami, he's likely to challenge...