Cuba: The things communists do for money

Some of the men who tried to overthrow Castro in 1961 got their passports back
Young and old from 46 countries across the world, the Cuban emigres were crammed into a small Havana conference hall.

They were warmly welcomed by Cuba's Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque.

He gave particularly special thanks to those delegates who had come from the United States.

President George W Bush has recently tightened restrictions on Cuban-Americans travelling to Cuba and the US government made it quite clear it would not be issuing licences to anyone who wished to attend this conference.

Many of those who came anyway are highly sympathetic to the current Cuban government. Most say that they only left Cuba for economic reasons.

They loudly applauded two announcements from the foreign minister. One was that customs procedures would be simplified for Cubans returning home; another was that Cuba will offer scholarships to Cuban universities to children of Cubans living abroad.

Cuban again

But perhaps the most symbolic act of reconciliation was when seven men who took part in the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion - a failed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro - were reinstated as Cuban citizens.

All renounced their hostility to the Cuban government long ago.

Cuba is currently reaching out to moderate Cubans abroad.

What is a "moderate Cuban"? The BBC does not say. I wonder if those Cubans who fled to the U.S. on rafts and car-boats did so for "economic reasons"?