Gustavo Hernandez, left, and Andras Babero rejoice after discussing the health of Cuban leader Fidel Castro on Tuesday at the Spirit of Cuba restaurant in Las Vegas. Photo by Isaac Brekken/Review-Journal Click image for enlargement.

Aleyda Hernandez was so excited to hear that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro may be seriously ill that she'll give a free mojito drink to any customer who comes into her Spirit of Cuba restaurant before Friday and asks, "Is he dead yet?"

"It's sad to say you are happy that someone is sick," said Hernandez, who came with her family to the United States from Cuba as a political refugee decades ago. "But Castro is like Saddam Hussein. Everybody was happy when he got caught. The day he (Castro) dies is going to be our next holiday."

More than 12,000 Cubans live in Nevada, according to 2004 Census estimates. Most of them live in the Las Vegas Valley, and Hernandez's sentiments, in milder forms, were echoed by other local Cubans who hope Castro's reported illness may be a harbinger of changes to come to the communist country.

"I'm very excited," said Latin Chamber of Commerce President Otto Merida, who came to the United States as a teenage Cuban refugee in 1961. "I have always dreamed that I would be able to return to Cuba one of these days, drive from the airport to my old house in Havana and be able to remember how to get there."

Merida promised his parents, who are now deceased, that he would not return to Cuba until Castro left power. He hopes that day will come soon.

"I think we need to be prepared for the end of Castro," he said. "The end is coming."

But Liliam Lujan Hickey, a former member of the Nevada State Board of Education for whom a local elementary school is named, worries about what the future holds for Cuba after Castro.

"I think it will be a step toward freedom of the Cubans," said Lujan Hickey, who also came to the United States from Cuba as a refugee. "But there could be a civil war."

That is especially worrisome for Lujan Hickey because her 77-year-old brother lives in Cuba.

"My concern now is for my country and my brother," she said.

Lujan Hickey also was upset by television images of fellow Cubans in Miami celebrating Castro's illness.

"I was sad to see that, because no matter what, those people (in Cuba) are going to suffer," she said.

Merida and Hernandez said it's too early to start celebrating. Castro could very well recover.

"It's a little premature," Merida said. "But people are excited because they see a light at the end of the tunnel."

"We'll drink mojitos anyway," Hernandez said of the Cuban mint cocktail.

Andras Babero, 49, went to Spirit of Cuba, on Sahara Avenue at Decatur Boulevard, on Tuesday and asked, "Is he dead yet?"

Gustavo Hernandez, Aleyda Hernandez's 44-year-old brother, served Babero a mojito on the house.

"That's going to be my bumper sticker -- 'Is he dead yet?'" said Babero, whose parents came from Cuba, but he has never been to the island.

Babero said he was listening to the British Broadcasting Corp. on Tuesday morning when he heard the news that Castro had transferred power to his brother. A staunch opponent of Castro, Babero said he is now considering visiting Cuba.

"I wouldn't go when he (Castro) is alive, but guess what? I'm going if he dies!" he said.

Even if Castro's brother, Raul Castro, takes control of the island, it wouldn't be long before "freedom comes to Cuba," Merida said.

"Raul doesn't have the charisma Fidel has," he said. "I don't know if he'll be able to maintain power. The question is, what's going to happen after Fidel?"

Hernandez said she will never return to Cuba, no matter who is in charge.

"It's not the same place I left," she said. "The destruction that the Castro regime did has brought Cuba a lot of suffering. It needs many years to get back the way it was."

Lujan Hickey hopes to someday visit her brother in Cuba. She also hopes her birth country enjoys a peaceful transition.

"My hope is that they have democracy without war," she said.

Review-Journal writer David Kihara contributed to this report.