Coral Gables, Florida
NOBODY KNOWS what will happen when Fidel Castro dies. But Caleb McCarry, the State Department’s designated “Cuba transition coordinator,” says the United States is currently “stepping up” efforts to encourage civil society on the island and “will continue to do so,” adding that federal and local officials have held joint exercises in Florida to prepare for the day El Comandante finally expires. “This is an opportunity for the Cuban people that can’t be lost.”

McCarry, speaking on July 10th at the University of Miami, implied that Washington would not shrink from democracy promotion for fear of a refugee crisis–a point President Bush recently emphasized. “One day, the good Lord will take Fidel Castro away,” Bush said at the Naval War College in late June. “Then, the question is, ‘What will be the approach of the U.S. government?'” There will be “an interesting debate,” he predicted. “Some will say, ‘All that matters is stability,’ which in my judgment would just simply reinforce the followers of the current regime. I think we ought to be pressing hard for democracy.”