It's midnight, local time, and I'm watching on TV an enormous public demonstration on the streets of Miami as Cuban exiles celebrate the news that Fidel Castro has turned over power to his brother Raul due to his surgery for gastro-intestinal bleeding. No other news has been released, but Fidel is and old man, and so is his brother. Perhaps it is the beginning of the end for Cuba's long national nightmare.

The crowds in their cars, waving flags and sounding their horns, remind me of similar demonstrations I watched in Tampa when I was 11 after news came that the dictator Batista had fled Havana and that the rebels were pouring into the capital on captured tanks. I hope it turns out better this time.

Viva Cuba Libre.