In high school, I knew a Coronet player was a first generation Latvian emigre. His parents fled Latvia when the USSR occupied the country.
He had a significant personal interest in the independence of the Baltic states, engaging in protests at the Russian consulate, on significant dates.
For all that, he was had a decent sense of perspective.
We had differences (I incorrectly viewed the occupation of the Baltics as an immutable fact on the ground), but we discussed the issue in a reasoned manner.
Cuba has been ruled by Castro for more time than the Baltics were by the USSR when I was in high school, but it seems that a significant portion of the Cuban American population is STILL unable to engage in a civil or reasoned discussion of this.
I believe that this is an artifact of Spanish governance.
While America is steeped in the tradition of a monarch limited in their powers by the Magna Carta, the Spanish Monarchy was essentially unlimited in its power.
When the British kings ignored Parliament, they were told "This isn't Spain", meaning that there were limits on their power.
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Not only was the power of the Spanish Monarchs absolute, it was literally considered the will of God that they rule.
By extension, those people who were given authority, or for that matter property, by the kings were literally there by the will of God.
As the Spain lost its colonies, even when what we would nominally call Democracy was established, those people who had property and power in those new nations considered their power and possessions to be a manifestation of the will of God.
It's why you see the hostility to Castro, by Cuban emigres. By dispossessing these people, Castro has not only acted against them and their families, he has revolted against God himself.
The Peons are so because it is God's will.
FWIW, I believe that this also explains a significant portion of the animosity against Hugo Chavez among the Venezuelan elite.
