Believe it or not, your choice, but the world has changed. It changed overnight when Fidel Castro entered the hospital for an operation and turned Cuba – one of the last remaining Communist countries – over to his brother Raúl Castro. Should Cuba remain a Communist country in the western hemisphere or not – should Fidel Castro not return to power – is a matter of conjecture now by the Bush government.

To watch the Cubans and their offspring who now reside in Miami, Florida, celebrate the sickness or death of Fidel Castro was strange. There is nobody we know whose illness could evoke that kind of celebratory response from any group of sane American people, even if America’s worst enemy, China, Russia or North Korea, faced a time when their leader was taken ill.

While a joyful celebration would not be expected from any segment of our political population, joy and wishing that our leader were dead is something that we would hardly expect. Perhaps this is what is meant when Christians and some of their celebrations enunciate: “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord.”

This reaction of joy over the possible death, even of a dictator, appears to us not only to be strange but sick – sick on the part of the Cuban Americans who left Cuba, escaped Cuba, came voluntarily or were forced out. It leaves us with major questions about those who were once 90 miles from home, when they lived in Cuba, and are now near majority status in one of the loveliest states of the American Union.

In our quick review of what we know to be true about Fidel Castro and what we knew to be true about Batista, the Cuban people were so much better off after Fidel Castro took over the country 50 years ago and started the reforms that helped the Cuban people to survive.

We do not know whether or not it is time for a political change in Cuba or who should be president if Castro does not return to power or what form of government would be best for the Cuban people. We are certain that there is as much wisdom in Cuba as there should be in the United States and that the Cuban people are perfectly capable of deciding whether their country should be part of a democracy or a part of whatever communist governments are left in the world. They don’t have to decide that yet. And if America is getting prepared to spend $80 to $120 million immediately on helping the Cuban people to decide what kind of government they should have, this democracy of ours is indeed in big trouble.