Word: potuombo
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Jose Alberto Potuombo is sitting in La Atarraya, the cafe he manages across the street from the great bay, attempting to hear Fidel Castro on his Korean- made boom box. But there are distractions. A crowd is forming on the seawall across the way. "Ven aqui! Ven, mira!" yell the little children, and people are indeed coming and looking. Now there is a crowd of 70, staring down into the water. They laugh, they cheer. Some drivers stop, others honk and yell, "Balseros! Balseros! A Miami! A Miami!" (Rafters! To Miami!) Potuombo scans the scene sourly. "Let the bastards...
...Miami, kingdom of dollars, citadel of wealth unimaginable, the exiles have a favorite T shirt: it portrays the Malecon after Castro's fall as an endless vista of shiny, neon-lighted fast-food joints. The crumbling, once graceful seafront is still a long way from that plastic vision. Potuombo gestures at the crowd in his cafe, who are placidly consuming not Whoppers or Big Macs but the tepid brown soda that is the sole item on his depleted menu. "These are the real Cubans," he proclaims. "These are the people who will defend the revolution despite the limitations...
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