Americans Are Too Timid to Complain
Friday, December 5th, 2014
Friday, December 5th, 2014
Meet Yasmany Tomas. He's a young Cuban who turned 24-years-old on November 14, 2014. Recently he signed a guaranteed $68.5 million dollar contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks, which had a record of 64-98 last season, the worst of America's 30 Major League teams, all of whom are very rich because of massive television contracts, corporate sponsorships, and huge tax breaks. The Deamondbacks can thus easily afford guaranteeing Yasmany Tomas $68.5 million. If he turns out to be a good Major Leaguer, he'll earn much more than that.
But Yasmany Tomas is merely the latest in a long and continuing line of Cuban baseball players anxious to defect from the island for a very logical reason: Huge, guaranteed contracts that await them in the U. S., especially after a multitude of Cuban players such as Jose Abreu, Yasiel Puig, and many others have become instant superstars in the American Major Leagues. But these baseball signings, like the wholesale recruitment of Cuban doctors serving in foreign nations, reflects how Cubans are treated differently than any other people because of very special U. S. laws that pertain only to Cubans, laws enacted at the behest of a few powerful Cuban exiles and their easily procured sycophants. If Tomas was a non-Cuban his very first baseball contract in the U. S. would not have been for $68.5 million. An American or any player from any other country with comparable talent would have commanded about $3 million in a similar contract. Why? Well, a U. S. player with similar talent would have had to undergo a draft and only the team that drafted him could sign him. But being Cuban, Tomas' agents could negotiate with all 30 major league teams that would be required to bid against each other if they wanted to sign Tomas. Competitive bidding naturally and acutely drives up the money. Therefore, you have the difference between, say, $3 million and, say, $68.5 million. Of course, because of the Cuban exile-fueled Wet Foot/Dry Foot law, Cubans are the only immigrants in the world who are home free in the U. S. merely by touching U. S. soil. Americans are supposed to accept or certainly not question such U. S. laws and policies that pertain only to Cubans although it has been ingrained within us the proposition that the masses of people should not be punished to sate the whims of a few. Such special U. S. laws related only to Cubans produce vast sums of money to many Cubans as well as their lawyers, agents, traffickers, etc. Also, such special Cuban laws punish Cuba, stoking the massive revenge motives against Revolutionary Cuba, which ousted the Batista-Mafia dictatorship. The vast cottage industry in the U. S. that facilitates the defection of Cuban baseball players, Cuban ballet performers, Cuban doctors, etc., to the U. S. has two prime motivations: {1} Money; and {2} Revenge. Those ware the two prime motivations that created the Torricelli Bill and the Helms-Burton Act as cornerstones of America's Cuban policy, a policy that the rest of the world, and millions of democracy-loving Americans, verily deplore. Additionally, pusillanimous U. S. taxpayers pay for such U. S. policies that recruits/traffics Cuban doctors serving in foreign countries to defect to the U. S., not for altruistic purposes but simply to make money for traffickers or to exact revenge and punishment on Cuba.
The United States embargo against Cuba dates back to 1960, the year after the Cuban Revolution overturned the U.S.-and-Mafia-backed Batista dictatorship in Cuba. Many of the leaders in the Batista dictatorship, of course, quickly found safe havens on U. S. soil, especially South Florida and Union City from whence many of them had ventured to Batista's Cuba in the first place. In 1962 -- after many failed assassination attempts against Fidel Castro and the failed Bay of Pigs attack against Cuba -- the United States officially codified the embargo against Cuba. De-classified U. S. documents from 1962 reveal that the purpose of the embargo was to starve and deprive Cubans on the island for the purpose of inspiring them to rise up against Castro and the revolutionary government. Then in the 1980s the Reagan-Bush presidency anointed one of the most visceral anti-Castro exiles, the Fort Benning-trained Jorge Mas Canosa, the leader of the Cuban exiles. Canosa, riding the coattails of the emerging Bush dynasty, soon emerged as one of the richest and most powerful citizens of Miami. As minutely explained in notable books by Ann Louise Bardach and Julia E. Sweig, Canosa was advised to study the Jewish AIPAC lobby and then create a similar one related to Cuba. Canosa took that advice and created CANF, the Cuban American National Foundation. To many observers of the U. S. democracy, AIPAC and CANF essentially created a 3-headed U. S. government -- American, Israeli, and Cuban. {Note: Julia E. Sweig in her brilliant book "CUBA: What Everyone Needs To Know" best explains how that 3-headed U. S. government became a reality}. In any case, Canosa and CANF in the 1980s and 1990s were able to greatly strengthen the U. S. embargo against Cuba via the Torricelli Bill and the Helms-Burton Act. As great investigative journalists-authors -- Bardach, Sweig, Peter Kornbluh, James Bamford, etc. -- have minutely documented, getting the support of right-wingers in the U. S. Congress -- such as Robert Torricelli, Jesse Helms, and Dan Burton -- to support their Cuban laws was incredibly easy. Also, the CANF quickly amassed huge amounts of money to assist its lobbying interests and, as Americans have learned, telling members of Congress you will support their Bridges to Nowhere if they support your Cuban policy was also, shall we say, incredibly easy.
The Helms-Burton Act was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on March 12, 1996. Notice above President Clinton's right shoulder are two visceral anti-Castro Cuban-Americans -- Robert Menendez of Union City and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Miami. Mr. Menendez is now entrenched in the U. S. Senate and the Chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee. Ms. Ros-Lentinen has been entrenched in the U. S. Congress since 1989 and she recently served as Chair of the House's Foreign Relations Committee. Cuba is still a foreign country and thus the Menendez and Ros-Lehtinen Chairs took on magnanimous proportions. Democratic Presidents like Bill Clinton are shamed by the anti-democratic tenets of the Helms-Burton Act, especially the fact that the Act severely punishes other sovereign nations, including America's best friends, if they have the temerity to interact economically or otherwise with Cuba. So, why did President Clinton sign the Helms-Burton Act? Americans concerned with their democracy should do some Goggling and get their answers from unbiased experts such as Ann Louise Bardach, Julia E. Sweig, Peter Kornbluh, Wayne S. Smith, etc. President Clinton in 1995, like democratic Presidents before and after him, wanted to ease the punitive U. S. sanctions against Cuba. Aware of that, well-known anti-Castro zealots in Miami began more flagrantly than ever to taunt Cuba via their Brothers to the Rescue program, apparently for the purpose of soliciting a reaction from Cuba that they could use to exacerbate the punishment of Cuba by the U. S. government. Miami airplanes repeatedly invaded Cuban airspace, even dropping anti-Castro leaflets over Havana. The Miami news media was used to further taunt Cuba. Cuba begged the U. S. and the UN to stop the overflights. To no avail. The U. S. has a UN veto. Cuba then said it would, like any other sovereign nation, be forced to do something on its own. In the Miami media, the taunts increased, saying Cuba had neither the means nor the courage to do anything about the intrusions. On February 24, 1996, two Brothers to the Rescue planes were shot down by two Cuban jets, killing four people aboard the planes although the lead plane, piloted by lifelong anti-Castro zealot Jose Basulto, turned back safely to Miami. That episode, and its one-sided portrayal in the U. S. media, usurped President Clinton's plans to ease the sanctions against Cuba, inducing him to sign the Helms Burton Act that greatly, to this day, increased the U. S. government's punishment of Cuba as well as sharply punishing other countries that might wish to have certain relations with Cuba. Americans are not supposed to Google such drastically significant aspects of the U. S. democracy as the infamous Helms-Burton Act or the Brothers shoot-downs. But all other nations around the world are not so ignorant or intimidated. Thus, each October in the United Nations a vote is taken that shows the world, via a 182-to-2 vote, strongly opposes the U. S. embargo of Cuba, especially the provisions added by the Helms-Burton Law. In all the world, only Israel votes in the United Nations to support the U. S. policy regarding Cuba and the world is aware that Israel depends mightily on billions of dollars each year on U. S. economic and military aid, not to mention Israel's dependency on the U. S. veto power in the UN Security Council that, at times, severely admonishes Israel. I am a strong supporter of Israel but an even stronger supporter of the U. S. democracy, which I think has taken enough hits since the 1950s from a Cuban policy that the rest of the world disagrees with and which many Americans are too proselytized or too intimidated to challenge.
Most democracy lovers -- including, I believe, Executive Director Sarah Stephens at the Washington-based Center for Democracy in the Americas -- are not pleased that Americans, most of them, are not concerned enough about their democracy to even weigh in on anti-democratic aspects of the U. S. policy related to Cuba. And that is precisely why it has continued to plague democracy for all these decades.
Peter Kornbluh's Washington-based National Security Archive is a prime source for definitive and pertinent data regarding U.S.-Cuban relations since the 1950s. Mr. Kornbluh is America's best and most persistent investigative journalist when it comes to unveiling long-classified U. S. documents that, for many decades, hid nefarious right-wing American/Cuban American plots against Cuba -- its government and its people. Googling "Peter Kornbluh" or "National Security Archive" is rather easy in 2014 but perhaps too hard or too time-consuming for many Americans who should be defenders of their democracy.
In the grossly overcrowded blogosphere, there are too many self-serving, revengeful, and economically motivated Cuban blogs. But the best Cuban blog is "Cartas Desde Cuba" {"Letters From Cuba"} by Fernando Ravsberg. {Note: If you are looking for the best blog that blends a nexus of topical Cuban events with historic Cuban events, your current location, Cubaninsider, is probably your best bet}. Mr. Ravsberg is the best and bravest blogger concerning current Cuban affairs. His recent blog entitled "Leaving Cuba Alone A Sound Policy" garnered international attention, and deservedly so, from the BBC and other media giants. He wrote: "Cuban-American Senator Bob Menendez recommends that the administration should confront all of the countries in the region to keep Cuba from attending next year's Summit of the Americas." In other words, Mr. Ravsberg believes very sanely that the entrenched Cuban-Americans in the U. S. Congress from Miami and Union City should devote more time to American issues than to assailing foreign sovereign countries that, in their minds, do not do enough to assail Cuba. And Mr. Ravsberg added: "Anti-Castroists outside and inside Cuba want foreign governments, particularly the United States, to do their job for them. It is a policy they have maintained since 1959, when opponents of the government left for Miami, to wait for Americans to overthrow Castro. In the Bay of Pigs invasion, they received training, weapons, ships, and planes from the United States. Despite this, they blamed their defeat on President Kennedy, despite the fact it was the anti-Castro Cubans who surrendered en masse in less than 72 hours. Half a century later, very few things have changed." Mr Ravsberg is unique. He has the insight and the courage to state such absolute truths in an atmosphere that is greedily toxic and vehemently misrepresented.
Take, for example, this image of Antony John Blinken. You may note that this image, courtesy of C-SPAN, shows Mr. Blinken acutely embarrassed, scared, and humiliated. That should never have happened recently, especially not in the hallowed halls of the U. S. Senate, but it is a frequent happening perpetrated by Cuban-American members of the U. S. Congress. Mr. Blinken is a decent member of President Barack Obama's administration and he has input regarding America's relations with Cuba. Thus, Mr. Blinken was unmercifully grilled recently by U. S. Senator Marco Rubio from Miami in a manner that many other innocent souls have been grilled in the U. S. Congress by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen from Miami, Mario Diaz-Balart from Miami, Robert Menendez from Union City, etc. Mr. Blinken was assailed by Senator Rubio apparently because Mr. Rubio did not like hearing rumors that President Obama was considering easing sanctions against Cuba in his final two lame-duck years as President. Four times...four times...Senator Rubio asked the same question of Mr. Blinken before he apparently got the answer or assurance he was seeking...uh, no sir, Senator Rubio, sir, President Obama will not even th...think about Cuba wi...without your permission!
Senator Marco Rubio is now campaigning hard to be President of the United States in 2016. He might succeed. At least, it is for sure there is nothing he can do in his zealotry regarding Cuba that would cost him votes from a proselytized or intimidated U. S. citizenry, which also likely would not object too much if a President Rubio in 2016 named Ted Cruz his Secretary of State, Robert Menendez his Secretary of Defense, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen the head of Homeland Security. Of course, in that event other pressing needs of the United States of America would take a backseat to the Cuban issue, but who the heck would care? Surely, the many problems that need addressing in the United States are not nearly as important as regaining control of Cuba or, at least, continuing to severely punish Cuba for another six decades or so!
Curt Anderson {above} is one of the best and most knowledgeable journalists when it comes to writing fairly and without bias or fear when it comes to the complex vagaries and foibles of U.S.-Cuban relations. He is not a lone wolf. There are other U. S. journalists/authors/bloggers that also report fairly and bravely on the U.S.-Cuban conundrum, such as: Ann Louise Bardach, Julia E. Sweig, Peter Kornbluh, Tracey Eaton, Sarah Stephens, Wayne S. Smith, etc. However, they are in the minority because many otherwise fair-minded U. S. journalists are simply afraid to be unbiased when it comes to Cuba, ever mindful of such things as the mysterious death of ABC-TV anchorwoman Lisa Howard for standing up to the Johnson administration's Miami-based policies; the anti-Cuban car-bombing of newsman Emilio Milian in Miami when he complained about Cuban-American terrorists; and the firing of the Miami Herald's Jim DeFede when he had the temerity to excoriate Miami-based members of the U. S. Congress -- namely Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balart brothers -- because of their support of the best known Cuban-American terrorists, including Luis Posada Carriles. Even more significantly than the fear factor, since 1959 when the Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba was overthrown, there has been a vast, well-funded Cuban exile-fueled industry that insists on controlling the Cuban narrative in two vital components of the U. S. democracy -- the media and the U. S. Congress. For example, the Radio-TV Marti boondoggle in Miami has siphoned off billions of tax dollars since the 1980s because of the Cuban-exile alignment with the Bush dynasty and other key political sycophants -- Richard Nixon, Jesse Helms, Robert Torricelli, Dan Burton, etc. During the George W. Bush presidency, for example, tax dollars were sent to Miami to pay 'journalists" with the so-called mainstream media, including the Miami Herald, to write and publish anti-Castro, anti-Cuban articles. Thomas Jefferson and other Founding Fathers would have cringed in disbelief over such things. Jefferson famously once said if there was a choice between having a government or free newspapers, he would take the free newspapers. But sadly, a presidential administration paying for biased, anti-Cuban articles in major newspapers did not worry this generation of Americans who, it appears, have neither the intelligence nor the courage to defend their democracy. That being said, decent and courageous journalists such as Emilio Milian, Jim DeFede, Lisa Howard, etc., are badly needed in the modern era when democracy, as Mr. Jefferson would define it, is more endangered than ever. That's why today's best journalists, such as Curt Anderson, should be appreciated by democracy lovers. On November 23, 2014, Mr. Anderson penned an Associated Press article from Miami entitled: "Bay of Pigs Vet, Families Seek Billions From Cuba." The article revealed how, since 1959, the Cuban conundrum has done more than just about anything else to make the sacrosanct U. S. democracy resemble a Banana Republic-type governance, with most Americans too timid or ignorant to defend their democracy as judgments in Florida courtrooms against unrepresented Cuba reach into bank vaults from New York to Spain. Two generations of the most vicious anti-Castro Cuban-Americans have been allowed to hide behind the huge skirts of the U. S. military and the U. S. treasury to sate their two prime motives -- Revenge and Money.
For these reasons, fair-minded journalists like Curt Anderson are more vital to the U. S. democracy than ever before because, since the 1950s, the Cuban conundrum has done more than just about anything else to make the sacrosanct U. S. democracy resemble, in the eyes of the rest of the world, a Banana Republic-type governance.
The aforementioned 11-23-2014 AP article by Curt Anderson started with this photo of 78-year-old CIA/Cuban-exile and Bay of Pigs veteran Gustavo Villoldo. Mr. Villoldo flew an American warplane to bomb Cuba prior to the land invasion at the Bay of Pigs in April, 1959. But neither that infamous attack or any other carefully calculated scheme eliminated Fidel Castro or his Cuban Revolution. In fact, affording Castro such triumphs on silver platters have helped embellish and entrench Castro as well as his revolution and his soon-to-be legacy. However, two generations of Cuban-Americans since 1959, transplanted to the U. S., have been permitted to grow rich and powerful with the support of the U. S. government and the non-interference of intimidated or uncaring American citizens. Cuban exile-fueled laws -- Torricelli and Helms-Burton -- rammed through the U. S. Congress have given a relative handful of Cuban-Americans -- mostly from Miami and Union City -- free reigns to punish Cuba and use it as a gravy train in an ongoing parade of almost unlimited tax dollars coupled with legal U. S. laws designed to punish Cuba. For example, by keeping Cuba on the U. S. Sponsors of Terrorism list, something that no unbiased observer could currently justify, Cuban-Americans, even in Miami courts in which Cuba is not represented, can sue Cuba for...well, for whatever they want to sue Cuba for. Yes, many multi-millionaires in Miami have resulted from such nuances. Such lawsuits against another sovereign nation would not be allowed if Cuba was not on that Sponsors of Terrorism list, so judge for yourself why Cuba remains on it. Mr. Villoldo, shown above talking in his lawyer's office, won a $2.8 billion judgment in Florida against Cuba in 2011. According to Curt Anderson's article, there are still several billion {billions with a "B"} dollars of so-called frozen Cuban money in New York and Spanish banks and that money is subject to lawsuits in Miami with the U. S. government, as many times before, bound by law to make sure any money won in such lawsuits is sent to the victorious lawyers and their clients. Such easy victories in U. S. courtrooms, indeed, plague Cubans on the island as well as the U. S. democracy but who cares as long as it sates the money and revenge appetites of a few Cuban-Americans, their lawyers, and their acolytes??? Mr. Villoldo's lawyers also have angered Spain by claiming they have the rights to any Cuban money or assets in Spanish banks! Curt Anderson's insightful Associated Press article from Miami also reported that the lawyer for Mr. Villoldo expects the Cuban money frozen in the New York banks to start reaching Miami shortly.
This is the very beautiful Ana Margarita Martinez. She was born in Cuba but made her mark in Miami where she was married for several years to another Cuban, the very handsome Juan Pablo Roque.
But...Juan Pablo Roque left Ana Margarita in Miami and moved back to Cuba.
The very beautiful Ana Margarita was furious at Juan and decided to sue.
But Ana Margarita realized there was no need to sue Juan. After all, he was back in Cuba and, anyway, the only thing he owned of any value was his beloved Jeep and Ana Margarita already had possession of that in Miami. But...here in Little Havana...there must be...some way..........................................................
................................to get reimbursed for what Juan did to her, especially considering that the Miami media was saying he was in Miami not because he loved her but because he loved Cuba so much he was spying for Cuba while using her to ingratiate himself among Miami's seething anti-Castro zealots. Ummmmmm....everyone in Miami knew that Cuba was still on the U. S. Sponsors of Terrorism list and that meant Cuba could be sued in Miami courts in which Cuba would not even bother to defend itself. Moreover, it was well known that the U. S. government would abide by such lawsuits and make sure wads of so-called frozen Cuban assets, meaning bundles of cash, went from Washington to Miami pronto! And, of course, there were lawyers all over Miami waiting for phone calls from Cuban-Americans wanting to sue Cuba for...something, anything! Yes, Ana Margarita put through one such call, and sued Cuba. It was said that the lawyer answered on the first ring. And guess what? She won! $27.3 million tax-free dollars.
The Miami New Times did the best job of covering the love-story-gone-sour involving Ana Margarita Martinez and Juan Pablo Roque, one of the many fascinating chapters within the endless U.S.-Cuban saga -- one that, as the title to this essay indicates, is fueled by Revenge and Money. It was the Miami New Times that put through a phone call to Juan after his return to Cuba. The Q and A I liked best was this: Question: "Juan, now that you are back in Cuba, what do you miss most about Miami?" Answer: "My jeep!"
And by the way...................
...............................the best source to comprehend how Miami-based Cuban exiles managed to pull off dominance of America's Cuban policy via such tactics as the self-serving Torricelli Bill and the Helms-Burton Act is the brilliant book "Cuba Confidential: Love and Vengeance in Miami and Havana" by Ann Louise Bardach. Not to know Ann Louise Bardach is to not know U.S.-Cuban relations since 1959.
Because of photos like this, my favorite magazine is Birds and Blooms. This little guy is a Chipping Sparrow. The ice-cycles remind me that in wintertime our fabulous flying friends need help with seeds because ample food fuels their warmth in winter. This photo is courtesy of Steve and Dave Maslowski.
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