More Cuban migrants

There is an upsurge of Cuban migrants making their way to the United States. The reasons given in the article--that economic conditions are not improving, that there is police crackdown--seem insufficient on their own. After all, these are constants in Cuba so don't explain change.

When you add expectations, however, it may make more sense. For years and years economic conditions didn't improve much. But then Raul Castro started telling Cubans that the state was rethinking the economic model, that markets would gradually be introduced into the economy. Those reforms, however, have been slow and the results not nearly what people believed. When you're told things will change, and shown examples of reform that would actually faciliate change (rather than just talk) then you get fed up more quickly. Add economic recovery in the United States to the mix, and you get migrants.