In many of the neighborhoods around Cuba you see bamboo bird cages with usually a single bird inside.  Cubans love mockingbirds, canaries, bluebirds and a small black bird about the size of a sparrow- I don’t know the name of it.  They take the birds in their cages for walks on Sunday mornings, proudly holding the cages by their side.  Birds are left with a bird sitter so they can socialize during the day, be fed and watered while their owner is at work.  But it is usually a rather ordinary bird in an ordinary cage that looks like all the other cages.  Obviously, there is a metaphor here.  Cubans, live in a cage politically speaking.  They have safety, food, water, education and at the lowest level, health care, etc.  They are encouraged to sing and watched over so no harm comes to them.  But they can’t fly.  They can’t leave the cage.  Some birds, if kept in a cage long enough don’t want to leave, even if you prop the door open.  Some will fly away briefly but come back when they are hungry.  But no bird ever chose to leave his home in the sky to live in a cage, abandoning freedom and hope of ever flying again.