Euphoria has slowly changed to cautious optimism after celebrations erupted in the Cuban community this week over news that ailing Cuban dictator Fidel Castro had ceded power to his brother Raúl.
The exiled Cuban community around the world and in Miami (the city with the largest concentrated Cuban community in the United States) can only speculate on Castro's condition based on limited information.
There have been widespread rumors that Castro's condition is fatal, including rumors that he is already dead and his brother Raúl is already planning his funeral. According to polls in Miami, 91% of the Cuban population there believes that Fidel is dead.
For Ezequiel Perez Martin, an exiled Cuban journalist living in Miami, the news means the time for change is coming, it is just a question of when.
"For the Cuban community, not only those in exile, but for all Cubans in the world, what is happening in Cuba is a beacon of hope, a feeling that light is beginning to shine again," said Martin. "There is already great anticipation and hope that this may be the beginning of the end. Raúl is not the same as Fidel."
However Raúl, who has been named acting president, had not yet appeared in public as of Thursday, raising even more suspicions about the true state of affairs.
Amidst the speculation and rumors, sentiments are boiling over and people are celebrating an end of a dictatorship that is not yet official. Some, like Martin, remember what has happened in the past and were exercising more caution in drawing any conclusions too early on.
"I know very well the evilness of the Cuban regime, the dark genius of Fidel…the political blackmail and so many other dark things that the regime has always contrived. One always has to doubt when pertaining to Cuba, and there is always a dose of distrust," said Martin. "This whole thing may (just be a trial shot), it may be that they are releasing a piece of news to see how the world will react, measuring the pulse of what people may do."
While Cuban community leaders in exile outside of Cuba have been calling for calm and caution, their warnings have gone largely unheeded by the public. Spontaneous public celebrations have been marked by parties, flags, parades, and revelers in the streets until the early hours of the morning.
The fervent desire among many Cubans to see change come to the island nation is rooted in their suffering endured under Castro's rule as communist leader.
Armando Valladares, author of "Against All Hope: A Memoir of Life in Castro's Gulag" (1986), spent 22 years incarcerated in one of Castro's prisons. "All the time I was in jail, I never gave up my freedom [by giving in to the communist ideology]. My freedom is not the space where you can walk around. There are lots of people in Cuba who have space to walk, and they are not free."
In the United States, federal and city government officials reacted cautiously to the news, preparing for a possible influx of refugees. Authorities in Miami went from Alert Level 1 to Level 2 in a bid to avoid a chaos if Castro is confirmed to be dead. Such news might cause a massive exodus of refugees from Cuba that could create a confrontation with the Coast Guard patrolling the waters in the Florida straight.
The Bush administration has given a clear warning to Havana that if a massive exodus were authorized by the Cuban government like those of 65', 80' and 94', they would interpret it as an act of war, and enact contingent plans to avert a massive exodus.
Gary Feureberg and Genevieve Long contributed to this article
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