A change is in the air above Key West & Havana

It's been a long time coming, but the thaw is here at last, and it's palpable. You can feel it in the tropical air over the Straits of Florida. Or you COULD feel it, NOW, if you stood at the "Southernmost Point" in Key West, as I did in 1998, 2000 and 2005. Back then, I felt that a trip to Havana would present me with nearly insurmountable diplomatic obstacles - the Gusano (Miami Cubano) presence in South Florida being mostly too reactionary, too persistent, and too influential in the worst way. The economic blockade remains in place of course - that won't change without cooperation from the US Congress, and as that demented body remains firmly in Republican hands, one has a hard time envisioning the Senate and House coming to its senses - doing the obviously right thing and opening up unrestricted trade with Cuba. But all the Ileana Ros-Lehtinens in the world, particularly in South Florida, couldn't stop Obama from doing this one, decent thing before he's out of office. I don't know if I would have "Liked Ike," but the embargo imposed against Cuba was one of Dwight D. Eisenhower's worst acts ever. Let us enter a new era of mutual cooperation in terms of trade and especially health care! (Don't forget Cuba has a lower infant mortality rate than the USA.) For the skeptics out there, among my fellow Americans reading this - Consider how Midwestern US farmers stand to benefit with the opening of this eager market so close to the American mainland. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/20/cuban-embassy-opens-washington-embargo-guantanamo