From January 1, 1959 Till Today
Vivian Mannerud (above, left) is one of the Miami area's leading businesswomen. She owns Airlines Brokers Company located in the posh Miami suburb of Coral Gables. Last week her business was bombed and she told the Miami Herald it reminded her of "pictures of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima." Recently, she expanded beyond Miami and began flying hundreds of passengers, mostly Cuban-Americans, from South Florida to Cuba from airports in Fort Lauderdale and Tampa. The Archdiocese of Miami hired her airlines to transport 300 people from South Florida to Cuba during the papal visit to the island in late March. While Ms. Mannerud was providing a great service for the majority of Cuban-Americans in South Florida, the radical minority in the exile community still resort to any means, such as bombs, to discourage Cuban tourism, which is the island's prime means of income. The Miami Herald reported that the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms immediately determined that the bombing of Ms. Mannerud's business was "deliberate" and that, alas, "one of the FBI agents interviewing Mannerud was a member of a South Florida counter-terrorism force." A counter-terrorism force in South Florida? Amazing! Beyond belief! Incredible! Stunning! Incomprehensible! Unbelievable....!
When she read about the Feds interest in the Mannerud bombing in Miami's suburb, Edna Buchanan (above) was probably astonished and did a double-take. Back in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s Edna Buchanan wrote hundreds of award-winning articles for the Associated Press about the endless string of bombings in the Miami area, bombings that appeared not to interest the Feds because, many believed, the well-known culprits were the radical, anti-Castro Cuban exiles.
Edna Buchanan, for example, wrote the above article about the car-bombing of Emilio Milian in Miami in 1976.
Emilio Milian was 45-years-old and among the majority Cuban-Americans in Miami in 1975. That is to say, he was a decent, hard-working family man. As the News Director of Radio Station WQBA, Emilio became the most influential newscaster in Miami. He was shamed by the constant acts of terrorism committed by the most radical Cuban exiles, and he voiced that opinion over the airways. On May 1, 1976, Emilio left the radio station at 7:30 P. M. When he turned the ignition in his car, the bomb exploded.
Jim DeFede was the top columnist at the Miami Herald...till he wrote a column entitled "Terror is Terror Whether It's in Miami or..." In that column DeFede excoriated Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balart brothers Lincoln and Mario, all members of the U. S. Congress from Miami, for their incredible support of Miami's most infamous terrorists, including Luis Posada Carriles. Needless to say, DeFede's days as the top columnist at the Miami Herald soon came to an end.
Dr. Robert Ingram (above) is one of the most decent, most intelligent (Ph.D, former President of the National Conference of Black Mayors, etc.), and most famous people ever to serve on the Miami-Dade County School Board. In 2005 Dr. Ingram voted with the 6-3 majority to ban the 34 copies of an innocent little book entitled Vamos a Cuba (A Visit to Cuba) that were in Miami-Dade County libraries.
The little book (above) and 24 other unchallenged children's books about other countries from a respected publisher were meant to introduce American children ages 7 to 9 to children in foreign countries. It was non-political but apparently radical Cuban exiles objected to the cover photo because it depicted smiling Cuban children on the island, a sight that every tourist who visits the island is apt to see. Normally, of course, the banning of even extremely trashy books would find the ACLU, the U. S. government, etc., rushing forth to object. But this was Miami. No one rushed to Miami regarding Vamos a Cuba.
Just before he died in September of 2007, Dr. Ingram released a very heart-wrenching statement explaining how ashamed he was to have voted to ban the little children's book about Cuba. But he said, had he not voted to ban the book, he feared that either he or members of his family would have been car-bombed. Of course, considering that Dr. Ingram's painfully remorseful statement came from Miami, it received little attention in the equally intimidated U. S. media.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balart brothers (above) have something very much in common with the other most powerful Cuban-Amerian politicians from Miami-Washington, such as Jorge Mas Canosa and Rafael Diaz-Balart: (1) They were all anointed by the Bush political dynasty; and (2) they are always among the most radical fringe, never the majority moderate one. Ros-Lehtinen has been in the U. S. Congress since 1989 (when Jeb Bush was her Campaign Manager) and now she is the chair-person of the Foreign Relations Committee.
Rafael Diaz-Balart, shown above in Cuba in 1958 wearing the pistol and flanked by the notorious Masferrer brothers, became a reported billionaire in Miami after being a key minister in the Batista dictatorship. Rolando Masferrer, on the left above, was Batista's most infamous terrorist-enforcer. Both Rafael and Rolando in 1959 established paramilitary units in South Florida. Rolando died in a car bomb at his Miami home in 1976 when, it is believed, his bid to become head of the Cuban government-in-exile was ended by a rival faction.
Jorge Mas Canosa was among the 7,000 or so hand-picked Cuban exiles in 1959 who were either sent to the University of Miami for special instruction or to Fort Benning in Georgia where the Army School of the Americas was secretly training soldiers from U. S. - friendly dictatorships so those soldiers could be sent back to those countries to defend the dictatorships. The "2D. LT." above indicates Canosa's rank earned at Fort Benning and "Brigade 2506" was the Cuban-exile unit trained to attack Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.
Luis Posada Carriles, well into his 80s now as a heralded and well protected citizen of Miami, bragged in a New York Times interview conducted by Ann Louise Bardach that the U. S. government trained him at Fort Benning as a world-class bomb expert. In the same interview Carriles admitted bombing Cuban hotels for the purpose of hurting the island's tourism.
The photo above shows Luis Posada Carriles the day he graduated as a 2nd Lt. from the bomb school at Fort Benning, after which he became a member of Brigade 2506, the CIA-directed band of Cuban Americans who attacked Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. After that fiasco, Carriles worked for the CIA. Historians as well as declassified U. S. documents tie Carriles to the Oct. 6-1976 bombing of Cubana Flight 455, which occurred when George H. W. Bush was CIA Director.
George H. W. Bush, shown above handing the pen to Ileana Ros-Lehtinen with Jorge Mas Canosa standing just to her left, was President Reagan's Vice President when he anointed Canosa as the leader of the Cuban exiles. From then till his death in 1997 Canosa became a Miami billionaire and the unchallenged leader of the Cuban exiles. Another Bush protege, Congresswoman Ros Lehtinen, now holds that distinction and, like Canosa before her, is unchallenged.
So, the long-standing Bush-designated Canosa rule -- which accounted for such things as the anti-Cuban Helms-Burton and Torricelli bills -- was succeeded by the current Bush-designated Ros-Lehtinen domination of all things Cuban in the U. S. government AND her rule will be succeeded by the Bush-designated Marco Rubio reign. No kidding!
Jeb Bush has already gotten his young hand-picked Marco Rubio in the U. S. Senate from Miami and last week Jeb strongly advised Mitt Romney to select Rubio as his Republican running mate (VP) in the current presidential race, something that is also being wildly championed by Fox News and the Tea Party. Win or lose with Romney-Rubio this year, Jeb's plan in 2016 is crystal clear: Bush-Rubio winning against a non-incumbent Democrat with Vice President Rubio waiting till 2020 or 2024 to take over the Oval Office.
Senator Rubio's claim to fame to date is his anointment by the Bush dynasty and the fact that he is a Cuban-American from Miami. His other positives, of course, include Florida's pivotal 29 electoral votes and the vast financial and political powers of both the Bush dynasty and the Cuban-American elite. His many debits include a credit card problem a few years ago and the fact that his bio that featured the majestic and obligatory claim that his parents fled the Castro tyranny in Cuba to embrace freedom in Miami....TILL the Washington Post pointed out that, uh, Rubio's parents fled the BATISTA tyranny in Cuba, NOT THE CASTRO TYRANNY. But, hey! In American politics now, money trumps everything and the Rubio forces have tons of money, more than enough to overcome any youthful indiscretions.
As a lifelong pro-democracy conservative Republican, I fiercely object to the U. S. supporting foreign dictators, like Batista, or a reconstituted foreign dictatorship on U. S. soil, like the Batistianos. I am also not fond of monarchies such as the Bush political monarchy, which represents something the Founding Fathers tried their best to prevent via a stellar series of checks and balances, all of which have now been thwarted by a unique democracy that is totally dominated by unchecked money. After he and Rubio leave the White House, Jeb's plan is for his lawyer-son George Prescott Bush to take over. Even before Jeb & Marco reign, the Bush clan has already produced two Congressmen too many (Prescott and his son George H. W.); one Vice President too many; two Presidents too many; and two two-term governors (in Texas and Florida) too many.
So, the long-ago (1959) Cuban Revolution says a lot more about the superpower United States than it says about that little island itself. What it says is...the U. S. should cease supporting foreign dictatorships. Beyond that, if such a foreign dictatorship is overthrown by a popular revolution, the U. S. should not allow that ousted dictatorship to reconstitute itself on U. S. soil. Exacerbating that cancerous problem, the Bush dynasty has been allowed to hand-pick only the most radical and self-serving (especially for the Bush clan) Cuban-Americans to dictate Cuban policy to the majority of Cuban exiles, the majority of Americans, and the majority of people all around the world. Cuban-Americans, if left alone to choose their own leaders, would undoubtedly make superb choices because they are overall a most decent and capable group. And in a democracy, that is the way it should be.
Meanwhile, back to Vivian Mannerud, shown above outside her bombed-out business. She is the latest to fall victim to a terrorist bomb in the U. S. bomb capital of Miami, yet another terrorist act obviously designed to hurt Cuba's tourism industry. It's been a fact of life since 1959, and that's a Long Long Time. But gosh! Did the Miami Herald actually say that the FBI agent who interviewed Ms. Mannerud really expressed concern? If so, I'm sure Edna Buchanan, Jim DeFede, and a lot of other great journalists would be shocked.
Heck! The next thing you know, the CIA will be embarrassed that the new (2012) edition of The Guinness Book of World Records has now officially recognized that Fidel Castro easily holds the world record for surviving the most assassination attempts -- a whopping 638! But, hey, it's politically incorrect to make fun of the CIA and it's a bit unhealthy to admit you "admire" the fact that Fidel Castro is nearing his 86th birthday. Ask.......
Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen
The little guy above is my favorite bird photo this week. He is a flamecrest. (El pequeno de arriba es mi foto favorita de aves de esta semana. El es un flamecrest).
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