Crucial Days for Cuba

Anti-Cuban Forces Align In Venezuela
{Tuesday, March 18th, 2014}

     The AFP/Juan Barreto photo above shows Venezuelan opposition activists marching toward the Cuban embassy in Caracas Sunday, March 16th. The protesters, at least for a day, shifted their venom to focus on Cuba, a major supporter and benefactor of President Nicolas Maduro's now shaky Venezuelan government.

     On national television President Maduro has told the Venezuelan people that Cuban-exile extremists in the U. S. are behind an attempted coup against him just as they "for a few hours" successfully executed a coup against the late President Chavez in 2002. He also used a television address to invite the U. S. to discuss the issues with his government. The protests began in student enclaves on February 12th and now have killed at least 28 people and injured about 300. Maduro is solidly backed by the Venezuelan military and it would take an extremely bloody coup to overthrow him. He considers Sunday's anti-Cuban protests to be proof that Cuban-exile extremists in the U. S. are "funding and encouraging this stuff in hopes of getting a reaction that would get the U. S. to attack us or the CIA to assassinate me, a bus driver who has African bloodlines like President Obama." Maduro, however, was narrowly elected a year ago over a U.S.-educated opposition leader and Venezuela is suffering mightily from excessive crime, high inflation, and shortages of food, diapers, and other necessities. The bulk of Maduro's support lies with the military and the poorest Venezuelans. He is also bolstered by the fact some of the key opposition leaders are now ashamed of the prolonged, ongoing violence.  

   
      Josefina Vidal is Cuba's Minister of North America Affairs and as such she has a primary responsibility for assessing threats to Revolutionary Cuba from anywhere in the region. Vidal, who has worked as a Cuban diplomat in Washington, is a key reason the revolutionary government has, against all odds, survived for 55 years and counting. This week Vidal's assessment of America's Cuban exile-dictated Cuban policy focuses on the violent demonstrations that have stricken Venezuela, a key Cuban ally, since February -- resulting in 28 deaths and at least 300 injuries.

     Josefina Vidal is a student of both American and Cuban history. After a 2002 speech at the Kennedy Library in Boston, she received by far the longest and loudest standing ovation at a session that was hosted by Caroline Kennedy and featured a roster of some of America's best historians, such as Arthur Schlesinger Jr. So, what's happening in Venezuela is not surprising to Ms. Vidal and, perhaps, her assessment is most pertinent of all considering that she is a Cuban firewall against invasion. Because Cuba is a two-pronged {not one-sided} equation, topical compendiums of what Josefina Vidal is thinking are worthwhile but generally foreign to Americans.

   "The three main opposition leaders fueling the violence in Venezuela," according to Ms. Vidal, "are all closely associated with the Cuban-exile extremists in the U. S. Congress and the operatives related to the Bush political dynasty in America. All that is well known. We understand their frustrations, through two generations now, over not being able to re-capture Cuba for use once again, as in the 1950s, as a piggy-bank and playpen. The Cuban exile leaders and Bush people also realize that, after all these decades, the worldwide UN vote each October sharply condemns, in unanimity, America's Cuban policy. Further, America's influence in the Caribbean and Latin America is amazingly small considering it is the strongest and richest nation in the world...and its Cuban policy is one reason for its lack of overwhelming regional influence, I think. And further, recent national polls in America show more and more majority opinions oppose the U. S. Cuban policy. And further still, the two top pollsters in Florida, as reported by even the Miami Herald, reveal that Cuban Americans in South Florida, even more strongly than the national average, oppose America's Cuban policy."

    In regards to Venezuela, Josefina Vidal said: "The Cuban exiles in the U. S. Congress are quite aware that Cuba has good to excellent relations with every nation in the region except the United States and, with that new poll in Florida, I'm sure they feel the need to tighten their grasp on control of the U. S. policy regarding Cuba. After a half century, they probably realize Cuba will not be re-captured as soon as next week. Thus, they attack our friends when they see an opening -- such as their bills recently to sanction/punish Argentina and President Cristina Fernandez. The U. S. should not assail Cristina because she is Cuba's friend and a few Cuban exiles don't like that. They see this week that Michelle Bachelet, one of Cuba's best friends, has been overwhelmingly re-elected President of Chile. They see that President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil is doing all she can to help Cuba. So, it is no surprise to me that the usual suspects -- the Bush-related Cubans from Miami and Union City entrenched in the U. S. Congress -- jump at an opening to overthrow President Maduro in 2014 similar to their short-lived coup against President Chavez in 2002. However, as in 2002, I believe the region tired of U. S. dominance in decades past when America saddled us with the Mafia, Batista, Pinochet, Trujillo, Samoso, Videla and all the other so-called U.S.-friendly thieves and fiends. And to allow two generations of Batistiano and Mafiosi exiles to rule America's Cuban policy is not exactly what I would call a feather in America's democratic hat. Of course, being the world's economic and military superpower, they can ignore regional and world opinion. That doesn't make it right. And fanning the flames of violence in Venezuela is not right. For two generations now, the Batistianos and the Mafiosi have denigrated American democracy."

   And lastly, in echoing a sentiment she expressed in that Kennedy Library speech in 2002, Ms. Vidal said, "We are merely an island trying to maintain our sovereignty when our nearest neighbor, the strongest nation in world history, threatens it on a daily basis at the behest of a handful of the last foreigners who ruled us. We did not extricate ourselves from them, nor have we shocked the world by keeping them at bay for so long, by being stupid or cowardly. In my capacity I spend much of my time, maybe most of it, anticipating what the most visceral Cuban exiles in Miami and Union City will concoct to provoke us into a reaction that, they hope, will have the full weight of the CIA, the U. S. treasury, and the U. S. military thrown at us. That's what, I believe, history confirms what such things as the Brothers flying over Havana and dropping leaflets was all about, that's probably what the bombing of Cubana Flight 455 was all about. And that, I believe, is what the Cuban exile support of the Chavez coup was all about. So, yes, that's what the Maduro coup is all about. Naturally, all along the way, my hope has been, and remains, that the American people will understand that there are two sides to the Cuban story...and two sides to the Venezuelan story that is now unfolding."

      As the violence in Venezuela roars through a second month, the New York Times used the photo above {by Leo Ramirez/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images} to illustrate its report from Caracas heading into last weekend. It shows an anti-government protester after her arrest being taken away by Venezuela's national police. The NY Times article said the protests "began in February with student demonstrations against the country's high rate of violent crime." Whatever the reasons, Sunday, March 16th was an especially crucial day. It revealed to many Latin Americans that the influence of a few Cuban-American zealots in the U. S. Congress can have dire ramifications against any of Cuba's vulnerable friends in the region. Like sharks reacting to blood in the ocean, the Menendez/Ros-Lehtinen/Rubio/Diaz-Balart anti-Castro coalition in the U. S. Congress in the past two weeks has marshaled the incomparable might of the United States against what they perceive as vulnerable Cuban-friendly governments, particularly Venezuela but also Argentina...or so Presidents Maduro and Fernandez believe. Presumably, Presidents such as Bachelet in Chile and Rousseff in Brazil are safe...for now. At the moment, Latin American political blood is being shed only in Venezuela and the majority of the U. S. Congress should, perhaps, try to stop it, not increase it. However, don't hold your breath! For over a half century now, the U. S. Congress has not reacted to such anti-democracy catastrophes as...the Bay of Pigs, the bombing of Cubana Flight 455, the 2002 coup in Venezuela, etc. Thus, whatever happens in Venezuela will be permitted...to happen.

    Maria Corina Machado, Venezuela's leading U.S.-backed right-wing congresswoman, called for the most massive anti-government protests to commence on a memorable day -- Sunday, March 16th. And her themes for the huge demonstrations were aimed directly at Cuba, perhaps to appease her Cuban-American allies. She claimed that Venezuela's "brutal repression orders come from Havana." Thus she said Sunday's mass protests were "against Cuban repression and for Venezuelan dignity." It is believed that the genesis for Corina Machado's anti-Cuban belligerence recently had its origin in the U. S. Congress where the usual contingent of the most virulent and revengeful Cuban-Americans -- Menendez, Rubio, Diaz-Balart, and Ros-Lehtinen -- backed bills demanding that the U. S., at the least, institute drastic sanctions against Venezuela and anything attached to Venezuela, an important Cuban ally. While Corina Machado and her Cuban-American backers in the United States Congress are fully capable of fanning the fires in Venezuela, it should be noted that they are also capable of creating and fomenting backlashes that might well rally the majority of Venezuelans to support Corina Machado's mortal enemy, the besieged democratically elected President Nicolas Maduro, the former bus driver and band member.

     While it is politically incorrect in the United States to say so, throughout Latin America Maria Corina Machado is considered to be closely allied with the Bush dynasty that has always been tightly allied, economically and politically, with the most radical Cuban exiles. That fact has greatly enhanced Corina Machado's power in Venezuela but it also represents a colossal warning to Venezuela's masses that she yearns for a return to the days when Venezuela was ruled by foreign-backed elites who happened to be Venezuela's richest families, such as the one that produced Congresswoman Maria Corina Machado herself. Furthermore, most Venezuelans and Latin Americans firmly believe that the coup that briefly overthrew the presidency of Hugo Chavez in 2002 was inevitable from the moment President George W. Bush named anti-Castro, Cuban-born zealot Otto Reich to a recess {without Senate approval} appointment to essentially dictate America's Latin American policy. Although the coup lasted a mere 72 hours, the U. S. quickly and embarrassingly recognized the new government and documents later proved it was a a new government supported by...Maria Corina Machado. Beyond doubt, Maria Corina Machado is the most important opposition leader in Venezuela and she holds a strong hand. However, as was quickly revealed during the 2002 coup, it remains to be seen if the majority of Venezuelans will capitulate to being ruled by a rich elite supported by the foreign coalition powered by the Bush dynasty and Cuban exiles.

The protests in Venezuela will provide clues.
Meanwhile..........

     Juan Orlando Hernandez has taken over as the new President of Honduras, which is very interesting from Cuba's and Venezuela's standpoints. After the 2009 coup that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, Cuba and Venezuela withdrew their ambassadors to Honduras. But the first thing President Hernandez did in March was to fully normalize diplomatic ties with Cuba and Venezuela. Hernandez, a lawyer and businessman, is only 45-years-old and he got his Masters degree in public education at the State University in New York. Also, he is the leader of the right-wing National Party of Honduras.

   
   54-year-old firebrand Xiomara Castro lost the Honduran election to Juan Orlando Hernandez by only 250,000 votes.

Since 1976 she has been married to Manuel Zelaya, the Honduran president ousted by the 2009 coup. Honduras is a troubled nation with the continued marginalization of indigenous communities. And Xiomara Castro will doubtlessly remain a political force.

      This photo is a reminder of just how fascinating, odorous, audacious, and unpredictable the volatile mix of love, war, and politics really is in the Caribbean and Latin America. On the left, that's Manuel Zelaya, the Honduran president ousted by a coup in 2009. On the right is his wife, the fiery Xiomara Castro. In a heated and contested election, she barely lost to new Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez. Considering the turmoil in Honduras, allow me to make a prediction: Xiomara is a future President of Honduras!

      This AFP/Adalberto Roque photo shows U. S. Congressman Jim McGovern in Cuba this week listening to Ada Rosa Alfonso, the head of the Ernest Hemingway Museum outside Havana. The U. S. and Cuba are engaged in a joint effort to preserve and digitize the Nobel Prize-winning author's personal effects.

This Getty Images photo shows Congressman McGovern admiring Hemingway's typewriter.

 ****************************