Cuba And The U.S. Media

Mostly A Barren, Biased Wasteland
Updated: Wednesday, June 10th, 2015

        Al Neuharth, a superb journalist and visionary from South Dakota, founded USA Today in 1982. Today and for the past three decades, I have subscribed to his invention, both the print version and online. I think USA Today was a great idea and remains a great American newspaper. However, when it comes to Cuba, USA Today, like the rest of the mainstream U. S. media, is extremely biased as it caters only to anti-Cuban extremists in Miami. In doing so, Americans are incessantly pommeled with anti-Cuban propaganda from self-serving politicians and promoters while opposing views are rarely, if ever, mentioned.

        Alan Gomez -- based in Miami, of course -- is USA Today's top columnist on all things Cuban. Like most of America's high profile journalists or propagandists regarding Cuba, Mr. Gomez has a serious generational hatred of Revolutionary Cuba and, obviously, somewhat of a fondness for the Batista-Mafia dictatorship that preceded it prior to 1959. This week {Monday, June 8th} Mr. Gomez's column in USA Today was entitled "Cuba In Congress' Cross Hairs Again." When he stuck to facts, he explained how vicious anti-Castro zealots in the U. S. Congress from Miami are using an underhanded tactic to, as he put it, "block the president's plan to expand trade with Cuba." Those devious tactics, which Mr. Gomez seems to champion, involve members of Congress from Miami, such as Mario Diaz-Balart, attaching anti-Cuban bills to much larger so-called "must pass" bills working their way through Congress, such as the vast Transportation Bill that needs to be passed. In his typically biased column yesterday, Mr. Gomez, in the column itself and in bold headlines above it, quoted Miami's U. S. Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart as saying, "People don't want to just give up all leverage, getting nothing in return for the United States and doing nothing for the Cuban people." Since 1959, when the Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba was overthrown and quickly reconstituted in South Florida, two generations of the extremely rich and powerful Diaz-Balart family, and a handful of others like it, have successfully reserved the right to dictate America's Cuban policy, which the rest of the world and almost all democracy-lovers oppose. By never mentioning that Miami's entrenched contributions to the U. S. Congress might be more than a bit biased regarding Cuba, USA Today and the rest of the compliant U. S. media do a disservice to the U. S. democracy, just as right-wingers {such as the Dulles brothers} permanently harmed the U. S. democracy in 1952 when the U. S. government teamed with the Mafia to support the brutal, thieving Batista dictatorship in Cuba -- a disastrous imperialist adventure that spawned the Cuban Revolution, which in turn gave birth to Little Havana in nearby Miami, Florida.

        This WLRN.org photo shows three generations of Diaz-Balarts. On the left is the grandfather Rafael Diaz-Balart. He was a well-to-do mayor and legislator in Cuba. In the middle is his son, also named Rafael. In the upper-right is Rafael Jr.'s son Lincoln, who was born in Havana on August 13th, 1954, and thus Lincoln shares a birthday with...Fidel Castro, who was born on August 13th, 1926. In the lower right is Rafael Jr.'s son Mario, who was born in Miami/Fort Lauderdale in 1961. Both Lincoln and Mario were elected to the United States Congress from Miami. Lincoln resigned his entrenched congressional seat to, among other things, create a second anti-Castro La Rosa Blanca {The White Rose} organization. Lincoln's dad Rafael Jr. had created the first White Rose in 1959 as the very first very powerful anti-Castro paramilitary unit.

      This photo shows Rafael Diaz-Balart, in the middle and flanked by the infamous Masferrer brothers, attending a pro-Batista political rally in 1958. All three, soon after this photo, fled the Cuban Revolution.

        Rafael Diaz-Balart died of leukemia at age 79 on May 6, 2005, in Key Biscayne, Florida. He was born on January 17, 1926, in Banes, Cuba...the same year {on August 13th} that Fidel Castro was born on a nearby farm owned by his rich dad Angel Castro. Rafael and Fidel were later bosom buddies as classmates at the University of Havana Law School. In fact, Fidel in 1948 married Rafael's beautiful sister Mirta. But in the 1950s Rafael and Fidel went separate ways. Rafael ended up as a key Minister in the Batista dictatorship and Fidel became a rebel determined to overthrow Batista. When that accomplishment shocked the world on January 1, 1959, the first generation of Cuban exiles -- personified by Rafael -- operated freely from South Florida in massive efforts to assassinate/overthrow Fidel. That didn't happen. But the second generation of Cuban exiles -- personified by Rafael's sons Lincoln and Mario -- are to this day conducting massive efforts to topple the soon-to-be 89-year-old Fidel's Cuba. That probably won't happen either, but the effort continues to create a vast economic and political cottage industry headquartered in Miami but now also with a tight grip on the U. S. Congress that the U. S. media pretends does not exist. Rafael Diaz-Balart, with vast post-Batista holdings in Spain and South Florida, was a very, very rich man...almost on a par with other ultra-rich Cuban exiles in South Florida such as the billionaire Fanjul and Canosa families.

         Meanwhile, an ill and weak Fidel Castro, who was born far richer than Rafael was, lives in a modest Havana home with his wife Dalia and one of their five sons, Alex. Dalia and Alex are his primary caretakers. On August 13th he is due to turn 89 although some believe he is too weak to make it to...August 13, 2015. 

         Louis A. Perez Jr. is one of the world's greatest and most unbiased experts on Cuba and on U.S.-Cuban relations. That, unfortunately, is the prime reason you will never see or hear him on any of the major U. S. news networks or programs, all of whom much prefer biased anti-Cuban propaganda espoused by self-serving benefactors or promoters. The reason is two-fold -- longtime intimidation or political correctness. Louis A. Perez Jr. is a prolific journalist and author about Cuba, with the above book -- "Cuba In The American Imagination" -- among his classics. He is also the Director of the Institute For The Study Of The Americas at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. In the first week of June, 2015, the U. S. networks featured anti-Cuban vitriol from the likes of John Boehner, the right-wing Speaker of the House of Representatives, along with the usual litany of anti-Cuban Cuban-American stalwarts Rubio, Cruz, Diaz-Lalart, Ros-Lehtinen, Menendez, etc. Meanwhile the U. S. networks wouldn't touch or mention much more insightful and far more unbiased major Cuban articles penned by Sarah Stephens, the head of the Washington-based Center for Democracy in the Americas; Peter Kornbluh, the head of the Cuba Project at the Washington-based U. S. National Security Archives; and Louis A. Perez Jr., the head of the Institute For The Study Of The Americas; etc. The sheer fact that Stephens, Kornbluh, Perez Jr., etc., are America's best unbiased Cuban experts disqualifies them from having their insight or views exposed on mainstream U. S. outlets. And that, as Perez Jr. has stated, is "much more an American problem than a Cuban problem."

       Louis A. Perez Jr, now 72, on June 5th penned a long article carried by "La Prensa San Diego" and other similar publications but it was far too accurate and unbiased to be mentioned by the mainstream U. S. media, which feasted on Rubio, Boehner, Menendez, Ros-Lehtinen, Diaz-Balart, etc., viciously maligning President Obama for removing Cuba from the U. S. Sponsors of Terrorism list. Here, by way of contrast, is the first sentence of Perez Jr.'s article: "On May 29, the United States removed Cuba from the list of 'state sponsors of terrorism' as one more step toward normalization of relations between the two countries. But, historically, it is the United States that has sponsored terrorism against Cuba." Throughout that article Perez Jr., an unchallenged expert on such history, revealed in detail gruesome U. S. terrorist acts against innocent Cubans, much of it perpetrated without consequences by the most vicious CIA-trained-and-funded exiles from the overthrown Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba -- such as Luis Posada Carriles, still an honored citizen of Miami. Lopez Jr. wrote: "The United States engaged in a program of extralegal paramilitary operations as part of the failed attempts at Cuban regime change all through the early 1960s. These efforts included the Bay of Pigs invasion, scores of assassination attempts against Cuban leaders and numerous other covert operations. The intent was to bring about the collapse of the Cuban government, the CIA itself explained in 1963, through a 'strategy of economic strangulation to weaken and undermine the regime.' One planned operation the CIA detailed was designed to 'control major sabotage operations targets against Cuban industry and public utilities.' Another CIA project included 'the contamination of fuel and lubricants' as well as 'the introduction of foreign material into moving parts of machinery.' One plan specifically directed that 'fuel and food supplies should be sabotaged,' while another directive prescribed 'major acts of sabotage on shipping destined for Cuba and on key installations in Cuba.' The United States especially targeted sugar production, Cuba's principal source of foreign exchange. Covert operations involved planned arson of cane fields, sabotage of sugar machinery, and acts of chemical warfare including the spreading of chemicals in sugarcane fields to sicken Cuban cane cutters." While you won't find Louis A Perez Jr. on your U. S. "news" programs, you should become familiar with his books and also go online to study his aforementioned June 5th article. The U. S. media will provide unlimited free space and air time for Rubio, Diaz-Balart, Bush, etc., to spew propaganda about Cuba while being too scared or too biased to air the views of a Louis A. Perez Jr.

    Sarah Stephens is the democracy-loving Executive Director of the Washington-based Center for Democracy in the Americas. She is, beyond question, one of the world's greatest unbiased experts on Cuba and on U.S.-Cuban relations. And that, unfortunately, is precisely why you will seldom if ever see or hear her in the mainstream U. S. media, which reserves its Cuban reporting for anti-Cuban zealots. Ms. Stephens each Friday writes the CDA's "Cuba Central" blog. Her June 5th blog again excoriated Miami congressmen Marco Rubio and Mario Diaz-Balart for using their right-wing power in Congress to prey on innocent Cubans. This past Friday she singled out Diaz-Balart for his "budget bills moving through the House to shut down President Obama's travel reforms and other features of our historic diplomatic opening with Cuba." She added, "Of course, U. S. firms can easily do business with Russia, Saudi Arabia, and China -- among many other countries -- and U. S. travelers freely visit those places as Senator Rubio's Deputy Chief of Staff did last year on an all-expense paid trip to Beijing." Rubio's hypocrisy in regards to Cuba is not supposed to be noticed by uncaring Americans but Ms. Stephens is a democracy-lover that cares. She flatly accused Rubio of "trying to starve the island and its people," presumably to enhance his economic and political positions. And this past Friday Ms. Stephens wrote, "The U. S. State Department has declassified documents documenting the role of Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles in the 1976 terrorist attack on a Cuban airplane, the Miami Herald reports. The document shows that Posada, a trained CIA informant, alerted the Central Intelligence Agency of his plans to bomb the Cuban airliner en route from Panama to Havana. The document shows that the CIA...failed to act...and failed to alert Cuba of the plans. Years of documentary evidence assembled by the National Security Archive and others put Posada at the center of the plot to bomb the airliner in an attack that killed 73 persons on board." Ms. Stephens also mentioned documentary evidence that tied Posada to other horrendous terrorist acts, and she often notes that, thanks to incredible actions by the Bush dynasty and Miami-based members of Congress, Posada is a heralded free man today in Miami, recently in the news for leading an anti-Obama, anti-Cuban tourism street rally.

         George H. W. Bush was CIA Director only one year. But that year, 1976, was by far the bloodiest year for terrorist acts against Cuba, including the Oct. 6-1976 bombing of Cubana Flight 455 that killed 73 people. The Wikipedia photo above shows Mr. Bush when he was CIA Director, which lasted 357 days -- from January 30, 1976 till January 20, 1977. That brutal year marked the nadir of CIA-related Cuban violence.

        This Wikipedia photo shows George H. W. Bush with President Dwight Eisenhower. It was the Republican Eisenhower administration that in 1960 turned over to incoming President John Kennedy the CIA/Cuban exile plans to recapture Cuba, including the Bay of Pigs attack in April of 1963 that Kennedy was forced to sign off on. Later, Kennedy did an about-face on Cuba, once famously bellowing to his staff that he wished he could "blow the CIA to smithereens!" Then in November of 1963 Kennedy famously told Pierre Salinger and other key aides that his "main priority" when he got back from Dallas was to "normalize relations with Cuba." On Nov. 22-1963 Kennedy returned from Dallas in a coffin. The above photo of George H. W. Bush with outgoing President Eisenhower in 1959 is interesting because some great investigative journalists -- including Jack Anderson and Robert Parry -- wrote that GHW Bush in the early 1960s was far more engaged with the CIA, particularly concerning Cuba, than with his oil business in Texas. In fact, while with the Associated Press and Newsweek, Robert Parry spent countless but fruitless days following GHW Bush trying desperately to ask him about his ties to nefarious Cuban projects. Parry today runs Consortiumnews and you can reach him there or just Google his award-winning investigative work.

          Robert Parry is now 65-years-old. In 1985 for his stupendous investigative reporting for the Associated Press and Newsweek Magazine, Robert Parry won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. 

A great book by Robert Parry.

      Tim Padgett remains a rare bird in American journalism, especially considering that his home-base is Miami, the capital of South Florida's lush Banana Republic. Tim is not only a great reporter -- specializing on the Caribbean and Latin America -- but he also has the guts and the integrity to sharply criticize Castro's Cuba or to sharply criticize the vast cottage industry in the U. S. that makes economic and political hay out of unfairly assaulting and propagandizing Castro's Cuba. And Tim has been doing this for a long time. Since 1990 he has served as Bureau Chief in the Miami region for such enterprises as Time and Newsweek magazines. He currently is based in Miami for the WLRN-Miami Herald collaboration. Journalists in Miami, by their nature, are expected to say nothing but positives things about the Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba and, by the same token, report on only negatives about Revolutionary Cuba, especially while serving as propagandists to support the political and economic aspirations of Miami's Cuban-Americans. Miami journalists who have departed from that axiom have paid dearly for their integrity -- such as Emilio Milian who objected to such things as the terrorist bombing of Cubana Flight 455 and Jim DeFede who got fired as a top Miami Herald columnist shortly after he wrote a scathing column excoriating Miami members of the U. S. Congress -- the Diaz-Balart brothers and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen -- for their incredible work on behalf of infamous Cuban-American terrorists, most notably Luis Posada Carriles. Most journalists, in Miami and elsewhere, got the message regarding any journalism related to Cuba. Tim Padgett, a very brave man, is the exception. His column the first week of June right there in Miami was entitled: "How Rubio Can Fix His Cuba Double Standard." Remember now, journalists in Washington and New York...not to mention Miami...are not supposed to say anything negative about Marco Rubio, the first-time U. S. Senator from Miami, now that Rubio is a major Republican presidential candidate. Padgett wrote: "I'm waiting any moment now for Marco Rubio to demand that President Obama recall our ambassador to China and shut down our embassy there." Then the very brave Tim Padgett explained how Mr. Rubio licks up to mighty China while pummeling little Cuba unmercifully to enhance his banks accounts, his PACs, and his poll numbers. For example, Padgett wrote: "Like the time -- just last year, actually -- that Beijing paid for a junket his aides took to the People's Republic for friendly talks on trade and foreign policy." Mr. Padgett, of course, implied that China paid for that junket to impress Rubio's U. S. Senate votes. Merely to write such words in a major forum of the U. S. media in 2015 separates Tim Padgett from his Miami colleagues but also from mainstream U. S. electronic, print, or online "journalists." Tim Padgett is a brave man and a great reporter, even concerning Cuba.

All of which reminds me of.........

         ..........................Cristina Escobar. At age 26, she is the top journalist in Cuba. She hosts the country's top program on state television -- The Round Table. Last month she made a star-studded trip to Washington to cover the 4th diplomatic session featuring Cuba's Josefina Vidal and America's Roberta Jacobson. Cristina, fluent in English as well as Spanish, garnered headlines of her own when she fired a series of pertinent questions at White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest during a crowded news conference. For example, she asked Earnest if he thought the U. S. diplomats at the proposed U. S. embassy in Havana "would be respectful?" She was plainly implying that she didn't think the U. S. diplomats at the 7-story U. S. Interests Section building in Havana have been "respectful" in their efforts to undermine the Cuban government. But after that introduction at the Josh Earnest news conference, Cristina made some standing-room-only speeches around the U. S. capital, presumably at pre-arranged pro-Cuban affairs. At each stop she made it plain that "my main mission to the United States is to point out that the lies the U. S. media tells about Cuba hurts everyday Cubans more than it hurts the intended target, our government. In Cuba, on my program and in talks, I feel more free to criticize my government than I believe the U. S. journalists are free to tell the truth about U.S.-Cuban relations. That surprises me, especially the lack of input from U. S. citizens." Beyond her obvious photogenic and telegenic prowess, Cristina came across as a well educated and brilliant journalist. Perhaps highlighting her Washington trip are the rumors bouncing around the Caribbean that she was offered "3 million tax-free dollars" if she would defect to Miami and denounce the Cuban government. A Jamaican journalist who knows her well said, "Trust me, such offers have interested a lot of others but that's not in Cristina's DNA."  

      On Sunday, June 7th, the Philadelphia Enquirer introduced America to a Cuban lady named Margarita Alvarez. The article was written by Michael Matza and was entitled "U. S. Executives Explore Possibilities In Cuba." Margarita is a prime example of Cubans awaiting what they hope will be a U. S. relaxation of the 54-year economic embargo against Cuba. She owns an old mansion in Havana that was splendidly built in 1901, complete with 18-foot ceilings, marble floors, etc. It's a bit worn down now but the entrepreneurial-minded Margarita uses two neat rooms in the back for a very successful Bed & Breakfast, called Casa Particular in Cuba. Recently a Cuban, obviously fronting a large wad of U. S. money, offered Margarita $400,000 for her old mansion. She quickly said, "No, gracias." It will take a much larger cash offer than that to interest Margarita. Her mansion is located within three blocks of the fabled, refurbished Hotel Nacional. It is within easy walking distance of Havana's famed Malecon seawall. Location! Location! Location! A real estate agent's and a property owner's dream! Some of the richest people in the Western Hemisphere are eyeing Cuba as an investment opportunity. Margarita Alvarez knows that. So, she's not ready to sell her old mansion for a measly $400,000 right now. But...she does have a very neat and convenient Bed & Breakfast in Havana that she would be happy to rent you at a very reasonable price.

Meanwhile, back in the U. S......... 

      ...............this is a beautiful Baltimore Oriole coming in for a perfect landing. His human friend leaves his favorite snack, strawberry jelly, in this plastic dish to make sure he shows up regularly in her backyard.

{Baltimore Oriole photo courtesy of Jill Spaake/Birds & Bloom Magazine}

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