cubaninsider: Cuban Influence on Latin America

Or...How Can An Island Be So Influential?
{Tuesday, March 4th, 2014}

Thursday -- February 27, 2014 -- Enrique Krause {left} wrote a major editorial in the New York Times entitled "Venezuela's Angry Students." Mr. Krause is anti-Castro and anti-Cuban but he quite fairly and accurately explained how the 87-year-old Fidel Castro and his Cuban Revolution direly influences topical events across Latin America -- such as the ongoing demonstrations and protests designed to overthrow the democratically elected government of President Nicolas Maduro, a Castro disciple. Mr. Krause believes, correctly, that well-organized protests of "angry" students represent a dire threat to President Maduro. He wrote: "The students have the support of many of their parents and teachers, and of at least the nearly half of the population that voted against Mr. Maduro in the 2013 election." There are, indeed, many problems for Venezuela, which has off-the-chart inflation and crime rates. But Mr. Krause also opined that Maduro's government might survive because of: "The enduring prestige of the Cuban Revolution." He added: "In fact, Cuba continues to be the nerve center of progressive ideology in Latin America. As a testiment to its weight, almost every Latin American president attended the summit late last month in Havana of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, at which Fidel Castro was hailed as the 'political and moral guide.'" Mr. Krause also understands that Dilma Rousseff, the democratically elected President of Latin America's superpower Brazil, is also a Fidel Castro disciple. Krause wrote: "Hence Brazil's support for stability in Cuba but also for safeguarding ties between Havana and Caracas (Venezuela supplies Cuba with oil). Thus we have the odd situation of President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, who was tortured as a student by the Brazilian military, defending, or at least tolerating, the armed repression of students in Venezuela." Armed repression? That, of course, is an unfair characterization of what's happening in Venezuela because there are two sides, not just one, fueling the conflict, which is most of all a clash between the minority rich and the majority poor. But Mr. Krause was at least fair to conclude that "the enduring prestige of the Cuban Revolution" is and will continue to be a dominant influence across the width and breadth of Latin America. Also Mr. Krause accurately pointed out that Latin America's most important President, Brazil's Dilma Rousseff, evolved from being "tortured as a student by the Brazilian military." If he had expounded on that fact, Mr. Krause would have explained that the Brazilian military thugs who tortured the young Dilma Rousseff were supported by a foreign power, the U. S., and today many Latin Americans -- including Brazilians, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Bolivians, etc., remember such things even if it is politically correct for others not to.

Mr. Krause mentioned Dilma Rousseff "who was tortured as a student by the Brazilian military." The photo on the right shows Dilma as a student sitting peacefully by a stream just before she became a street protester and guerrilla fighter against her country's foreign-backed military dictatorship. To equate Dilma the protester-guerrilla fighter with "Venezuela's Angry Students" is not a fair comparison. Dilma rebelled against a foreign-backed dictatorship; the Venezuelan students are rebelling against a democratically elected government and many, perhaps enough, Venezuelans believe that "the angry students" are being supported and encouraged by elements in Miami and Washington. That belief alone gives President Maduro a fighting chance to survive in Venezuela, which is a sovereign nation.

As a student in Brazil, Dilma Rousseff became Prisoner #3023 and then, for the next three years, she was unmercifully tortured in a military prison by U.S.-backed dictators. From that background, she today is the democratically elected President of Brazil, Latin America's superpower. As a student, she was inspired by the Cuban Revolution whose leader, Fidel Castro, survived two years in a military prison for rebelling against a U.S.-backed dictatorship. Today the American people do not comprehend the Rousseff-Fidel or the Maduro-Fidel nexus and thus Americans do not comprehend today's Latin America. Therefore, on February 27th, 2014 a major editorial in the New York Times concluded that topical events in Latin America, such as the Venezuelan protests, are primarily influenced by "the enduring prestige of the Cuban Revolution." If you know an everyday American that understands that fact as expertly espoused by Enrique Krause, let me know.

President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil understands that the 87-year-old Fidel Castro will not see many more Cuban sunrises. She also understands that, after he has seen his last sunset, his legacy will continue to influence Latin America for decades to come. Yes, few Americans understand "the enduring prestige of the Cuban Revolution." But Dilma Rousseff, a very brave and smart lady, understands that it has something to do with opposing foreign-backed, brutal, thieving dictatorships.

Eva Golinger is a very interesting lawyer-author-journalist with strong ties to both the United States and Venezuela. She graduated from prestigious Sarah Lawrence College in 1994 and then breezed through Law School at City University of New York. Today she is a well respected and, actually, a very brilliant author, journalist, and speaker. After law school she lived for five years in Merida, Venezuela to gain fluency in Spanish and to reconnect with her Venezuelan roots. And, yes, she has very strong opinions on what is happening now in Latin America, especially her beloved Venezuela. Americans need to consider her viewpoints.

Americans, however, are not supposed to hear or to read Eva Golinger's acknowledged expertise related to her lifelong obsessions with Latin America and Venezuela. You see, Eva is a strong supporter of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and, moreover, she...uh...admires his mentor Fidel Castro. As an orator and as a writer, she is absolutely prolific in expressing her views. She admired Hugo Chavez's 14-year reign as Venezuelan President because he "at least showed respect for the poor and not just the rich elite." She also admires current Venezuelan President Maduro because "at least he shows respect for the poor and not just the rich elite." And her admiration for Fidel Castro relates to her perception of Cuba's revolutionary icon as "the brave leader who fought for the poor against the brutality and thievery of foreign-backed thugs." As a journalist and writer, she has worked for both Chavez and Maduro. She has written and spoken in depth about how first Chavez and now Maduro "transformed" Venezuela from a nation that was a "playpen for the foreign and domestic very rich 1% at the expense of the more decent and deserving very poor indigenous 99%." Thus, in a long essay this week Eva wrote: "The demonstrations taking place over the past few days in Venezuela are attempts to undermine and destroy that transformation in order to return power to the hands of the elite who ruled previously for more than 40 years." Throughout her latest essay, Eva repeatedly referenced the struggle between the greedy "1% rich" and the "deserving 99% poor." In other words, Eva understands Latin America!

Eva Golinger says that the anti-government protests in Venezuela are being fueled by three extremely rich and extremely ambitious politicians who are "extremely" supported by "the Miami-based and Bush-fueled Cuban-exile Mafia that briefly mounted a coup that overthrew the democratically elected Chavez government in 2002." She believes the Maduro government is facing the same threat. Eva wrote: "Led by hard-line neo-conservatives -- Leopoldo Lopez, Henrique Capriles, and Maria Corina Machado -- who come from three of the wealthiest families in Venezuela, the 1% of the 1% -- the protesters seek not to re-vindicate their basic fundamental rights, or gain access to free health care or education, all of which are guaranteed by the state. But rather they are attempting to spiral the country into a state of ungovernability that would justify an international intervention leading to regime change." Eva firmly believes that the two-term Jeb Bush governorship of Florida and the two-term George W. Bush presidential administrations fueled the attempted coup against Chavez in 2002 and "that same Bush connection to the Miami Cubans is attempting a coup against Maduro." Even Latin American experts who disagree with Eva Golinger admit that she has used her lawyer and journalistic skills to secure a plethora of U. S. documents under the Freedom of Information Act that support her claims related to the Bush dynasty's connections to the Chavez coup in 2002 and to what she considers the attempted coup now against Maduro. Eva wrote: "The U. S. support of Batista and the ongoing Bush support of Miami's Batistianos relate to today's problems throughout Latin America but especially in nations like Venezuela and Brazil that support Cuba. It is up to Venezuelans, Brazilians and enough Latin Americans to resist that treatable cancer." Eva Golinger, the diligent researcher, says that in March of 2002, when President George W. Bush put anti-Castro zealot Otto Reich in charge of Latin American affairs, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was advised to expect a U.S.-backed coup, which indeed happened in April of 2002. But Eva was not alone in that judgment as most Western investigative reports solidly agree with her. Immediately after the coup, for example, two top British newspapers -- the London Observer and the Guardian -- both screamed the headline: "Venezuela Coup Linked to Bush Team." A few days later the New York Times headlined this fact: "Documents Show CIA Knew of A Coup Plot in Venezuela." Eva Golinger says that since the 1980s "the George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Jeb Bush dynasty has kept Cuban-born anti-Castro zealots like Otto Reich in charge of America's Latin American policy that always starts with trying to re-capture Cuba. If they win, the simple fact is...everyone else loses."

Otto Reich was born in Havana, Cuba on October 16, 1945. His extremists views against Fidel Castro were readily recognized and empowered by Vice President George H. W. Bush in the early 1980s. They were greatly expanded during George H. W. Bush's one-term presidency and George W. Bush's two-terms as President. From January of 2002 till November of 2002 President George W. Bush had Otto Reich as his "Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs," making Reich America's most powerful person when it came to Latin America...and Cuba. Because of his extremism, there was no way Reich could have received Senate approval for such an important position so President Bush evaded that little problem with a brief "recess appointment" of Reich that didn't need Senate approval.

As the Bush dynasty's "Point Man" for Latin America and Cuba, no knowledgeable source was surprised that the coup against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez occurred during Reich's few months in charge of America's "Western Hemisphere Affairs." After all, the anti-Castro zealots in the U. S. believed that Chavez was the only thing keeping Castro's revolutionary government in Cuba alive. Eliminate Chavez and we get Cuba back. Reich's myriad anti-Castro power-strokes had included his strong participation in such things as the Bacardi Rum trademark dispute, the Helms-Burton Act that hurts everyone except the Cuban-exile elite, etc. The Bush dynasty once had Reich the U. S. Ambassador to Venezuela. Reich had well-known contacts with a very rich Venezuelan named Pedro Carmona. The 2002 coup that captured, imprisoned, and apparently intended to kill Chavez only lasted for 47 hours before firebrand Lina Ron put on her baseball hat and led massive street protests "to restore my President!" But during those 47 hours just before Lina Ron scared Washington, the U. S. government was made to look like a Banana Republic when it quickly "recognized" Reich's friend Pedro Carmona as the "legitimate new President of Venezuela." WOW!!

When Otto Reich was the Bush dynasty's Latin American "Point Man," his immediate boss was the Bush dynasty's National Security Adviser and later Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She and her boss, President Bush, were quick to defend Mr. Reich even as less biased sources were unveiling the true and now historic facts about the 2002 coup that has greatly weakened and shamed America's influence in Latin America to this day. It is understandable that the meek and weak U. S. media gives officials like Ms. Rice free celebrity passes for even anti-democratic tactics but it is even more of a problem when the American citizens, by and large, are not concerned enough about their democracy to even offer opinions, or in the digital age to simply Google pertinent data regarding such things as the 2002 Venezuelan coup, which seems to be playing out again in 2014. In other words, not knowing who "Otto Reich" is means you have no idea about Cuba, Venezuela or the Cuban Revolution. And also...you should surely know the names "Pedro Carmona" and "Lina Ron."

That's the ultra-rich Pedro Carmona on the left declaring himself President of Venezuela after the coup that had the democratically elected President, Hugo Chavez, naked and tied to a chair in a military cell. After this declaration by Carmona, President Bush's administration hastily announced its official recognition of Carmona as the legitimate President of Venezuela while everyone wondered if Chavez had already been assassinated. Carmona was born on July 6, 1941 in Barquisimeto and his ties to Reich and Bush were well known. As it turned out, his Presidency lasted just a few hours -- from late night April 12-2002 till early morning April 13-2002.

A feisty Venezuelan woman named Lina Ron slapped on her baseball hat, grabbed a bullhorn, mounted the back of a pick-up truck and drove around Caracas bellowing: "All poor people of Venezuela follow me! I have a message for Miami and Washington. You either restore my President to power within 24 hours or I will lead a scorched-earth policy from Caracas to Miami to Washington!" The media quickly carried Lina's words to Miami and Washington, with video showing her pick-up truck surrounded by a sea of chanting Venezuelans. Carmona hastily fled to a sanctuary in Colombia. The soldiers, apparently waiting for word about when to kill Chavez, were told to free him. The coup had lasted 47 hours but its aftermath still resonates around Latin America although, till this day, Americans are not supposed to comprehend its lingering effects throughout the region and the world.

Lina Ron, after she had scared Carmona and his backers in Miami and Washington, then got to kiss her restored President, Hugo Chavez. At a news conference later that day {April 13-2002}, Chavez was asked: "How can a lady wearing a baseball hat alter history in a matter of a few hours?" Chavez replied: "By scaring the hell out of those criminal cowards in Miami and Washington." Then he laughed and famously said, "Truth be known, Lina Ron sometimes scares the hell out of me! When I see her coming, I throw up my hands and shout, 'Lina, I just signed a bill to help every poor person in Venezuela! I SWEAR I DID.'"

Lina Ron made Latin American history by pointing directly at the coup perpetrators {as registered on video tape} and loudly proclaiming "a scorched earth policy from Caracas to Miami to Washington if my President is not restored to office within 24 hours." Incredibly, her President was restored to office within her allotted time. {Lina Ron died unexpectedly and a bit mysteriously at age 51 on March 5, 2011. She is remembered as a heroine}.

This is a very powerful anti-Maduro Venezuelan named Maria Corina Machado. She is a rich, ambitious politician that Lina Ron didn't like because Lina and many other poor Venezuelans considered Machado a backer of the 2002 coup. Eva Golinger -- the aforementioned Venezuelan expert and insider -- believes Ms. Corina Machado will beat out two other wealthy U.S.-connected Venezuelan politicians, Leopoldo Lopez and Henrique Capriles, and become Venezuela's next President if President Maduro is overthrown.

This photo shows Maria Corina Machado with President George W. Bush. Eva Golinger believes Ms. Corina Machado has the edge over Lopez and Capriles because of her closer ties to both the Bush dynasty and Miami. It has been widely reported that when Pedro Carmona held up that paper proclaiming his brief...uh, very brief..."Presidency," he flashed the names of 395 wealthy Venezuelans who had signed a "Degree of Manifesto" supporting the coup that made Lina Ron and other democracy-lovers very mad. It has been widely reported that one of the 395 signers was Maria Corina Machado. If President Maduro is ousted in 2014, Maria Corina Machado and her Bush-connected supporters probably expect it to last a lot longer than 47 hours. After all, Lina Ron died three years ago and she was one of a kind. She believed the majority poor and not just the "richest of the rich" should have representation in a democracy. Eva Golinger says that the three prime pretenders to President Maduro's throne -- Machado, Capriles, and Lopez -- are among the "richest of the rich" in Venezuela backed by the "richest of the rich" in the United States. And Eva Golinger knows full well that Lina Ron is no longer around to react to a coup that would surely help the very rich and hurt the very poor.

Huber Matos died February 27th in Miami at age 95. Of the original primary leaders and commanders of Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution, Huber Matos was the only dissident. On March 31, 1958 the 39-year-old Matos flew a cargo plane loaded with five tons of badly needed ammunition and weapons to the Sierra Maestra battle zone to assist the Fidel Castro-Celia Sanchez guerrilla war against Dictator Batista. On August 8, 1958, while helping to win the war, Matos became a top rebel commander who won major victories leading up to the Jan. 1-1959 ouster of Batista. But within months after the triumph Matos scolded Fidel for not squashing "the Marxist leanings of Che and Raul." Believing Matos was turning against the revolution, Fidel sent his top Commander, Camilo Cienfuegos, to arrest Matos in Camaguey, Cuba.

This remarkable photo shows Camilo Cienfuegos arresting Huber Matos on October 21, 1959. That's Matos on the right staring at his former friend Camilo, who is staring back. This was a key moment in the history of Revolutionary Cuba. Huber was Fidel's favorite Commander; Camilo was Celia Sanchez's favorite Commander. Some in the rebel inner-circle were surprised Camilo was the one who arrested Matos because Fidel would not have sent Camilo to Camaguey without the approval of Celia, whom Fidel would not have disobeyed. After this arrest on Oct. 21-1959 Matos was sentenced to 20 years in prison for "treason." At the trial, onlookers shouted "Paredon" {"To the wall"} because in the early euphoric days of Revolutionary Cuba much of the populace demanded the harshest treatment for "enemies" of the revolution. Many historians believe Fidel alone spared Huber's life but he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He served every day of those 20 years, being released on Oct. 21-1979. Till he died at age 95 on Feb. 27-2014 Mr. Matos had divided his time between Miami and Costa Rica. At his request he will be buried in Costa Rica. He was born in Yara, Cuba in 1918 and was 8 years older than Fidel and he devoted his life to ousting Batista in 1952, one year before Fidel made the same life-or-death decision.

This photo shows three of the primary rebel commanders that defeated the Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba on January 1, 1959. That's Camilo Cienfuegos on the left, Fidel Castro in the center, and Huber Matos on the right {staring at Fidel}. Camilo died on October 28, 1959 at age 26 when his airplane crashed into the ocean during a storm, so Camilo died just one week after he had arrested Huber Matos. Mr. Matos died Thursday in Miami at age 95 as the only major rebel leader to seriously challenge Fidel. Fidel is 87 and still alive in Havana with memories of Camilo and Huber. Next to Celia Sanchez, Fidel has always considered Camilo to be the top rebel leader. Next to Fidel, Camilo was also the most popular Cuban on the island after the ouster of Batista. Had he not died at the tender age of 26, some believe Camilo's power in Revolutionary Cuba would have eventually equaled or surpassed Fidel's, but that's pure speculation.