Guest View: Fidel was not about politics or economics. He tore families apart.

As the son of a Cuban immigrant and a former Latino media publisher, I've been asked my opinion countless times regarding Cuba and Castro. As of Friday, there is one less variable.

For more than half a century, every question regarding Cuba in some way included the singular personality of Fidel Castro.

Since the announcement of his death, most Cubans living on this side of the 90-mile stretch between Florida and Cuba are as gleeful as friends and family at an Irish wake (more so for his death than his life).

For Cubans on the other end of that 90-mile distance, most are as solemn as Sunday churchgoers who realize it is inappropriate to laugh or make fun during this official time of mourning (more so because the secret police will be extra vigilant in watching over them.)

But Cubans are rarely the ones inquiring about Cuba. It's those outside of the Cuban community who are perplexed about the half-century feud that keeps Cubans emotionally divided far wider than the 90 miles of ocean that separates them.

Like most Cubans who have been posed the “Cuban Question,” I usually hesitate for a moment to determine whether the inquiry is focused on politics, economics or just plain curiosity as to when they'll be able to legally buy a bottle or box of Cuba's forbidden fruits (cigars and rum.)

But what most inquiries do not focus on are the separated families: entire generations of relatives who have been disconnected for decades by politics and economics.

That situation is the genesis for most of the passionate statements evoked from a primal place.

Because, for most U.S.-based Cubans, Fidel did not represent politics or economics. He was the man who tore their families apart.

And now, after half a century, the Cuban Question no longer includes Castro. Yes, it is a new day in some ways, but the same in others. Ninety miles still separate Cuban families; the Communist Party still runs the government; and you still can't buy a bottle of Cuban rum at the supermarket.

But one fact has changed for many Cubans: the man responsible for ripping their families apart is dead.

And there is now greater hope that someday soon they will be reunited with their loved ones and toast with, and for, a true Cuba Libre!

• Jerry Campagna, former publisher of Reflejos, is president of the MOST Inc., a leadership and organizational development firm. He can be reached at jcampagna@themostinc.com. He lives in Bartlett.