Fixation on fidel...Not Just For Mafiosos

Ana Menendez has another column in the Herald today about Cuba and Cuban-Americans.

My faithful readers already know what that means, so I won't spell it out in agonizing detail.

I will, however, point out some highlights from the column (emphasis mine):

Another world figure celebrates a birthday today, a coincidence that might have escaped my notice were it not for advanced warning from an astute reader, Republican U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

''Castro's 80th birthday is this upcoming Sunday, August 13th,'' announced an Aug. 8 press release that featured the congresswoman's thoughts on her favorite dictator:

'For far too long, the words `Cuba' and 'Fidel' have been interchangeable,'' said Ros-Lehtinen, too modest to point out her own tireless efforts to keep it that way.

"The time for change is long overdue. How much longer can one single man stand between the aspirations of an entire nation? How much longer must 11 million Cubans suffer under his tyrannical rule."

Upon reading this, I immediately grabbed the phone, woke up my weekend skeleton crew staff at 26th Parallel and told them to do a little research: How many times has Ana written columns which included the words "Cuba" and "Fidel".

The Lexis/Nexis search...OK OK it was me going back and skimming through Ana's columns the past 3 months...revealed an interesting fact: 8 out of her last 18 columns have included those two words. That's almost 50%.

Pot, meet Kettle.

Ana gives some hints here about her personal feelings once fidel dies:

It's been two weeks since Castro's stunning public bow.

The rest of the world waits patiently for news of the Cuban romantic, who may or may not be just resting.

But here in Miami, the barely suppressed horror is: ``What will we ever do without him?

For 47 years he's been the black sun everything revolves around, Miami's unofficial, all-powerful anti-deity.

He brought meaning to so many lives.

Without Fidel, who will we be?

Ana, WHERE will YOU be when fidel kicks the bucket?

Another fair question, perhaps, is: what will 26th Parallel write about when Ana runs out of ways to denigrate and put down ordinary Cuban-Americans whose heartfelt desire is to see a tyrant disappear and democracy and human rights restored to Cuba?

I guess I'll have to find other people to pick on!