Vs. Moderate Cuban-Americans
Hugo Cancio is a moderate Cuban-American. Therefore the mainstream U. S. media does not want you to know him. Yet in recent days he has been ubiquitously spotlighted by numerous news outlets, including: A major Reuters international article; almost a book-length article in The New Yorker written by the notable Jon Lee Anderson; a huge spotlight on the vast Voice of America network; an insightful interview by Cuba's young media superstar Cristina Escobar that reached Latin America on the Telesur network, etc., etc. The 13-minute Escobar interview is in English and readily available on YouTube via "Interviews From Havana: Cristina Escobar." Cancio is a businessman in Miami and in Havana. Among other things, Cancio told Escobar that he laments the fact that the majority of Cuban-Americans who agree with him are seldom considered by the mainstream U. S. media while the views of only extremists anti-Cuban Cuban-Americans dominate the U. S. news media and the U. S. Congress. Cancio also told Escobar that he has needed protection from the authorities in Miami because of his moderate views about U.S.-Cuban relations.
Hugo Cancio, shown here with Johnny Pacheco, is a big promoter of Cuban and Latino music. He was born in Miami of Cuban parents who had come over in the 1980 Mariel Boatlift along with 120,000 other Cubans. As Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has referenced, and as the famed "Scarface" movie highlighted, Fidel Castro emptied his jails and included many unwanted Cubans on the Mariel Boatlift. But Cancio's parents were musicians who, like many Cubans, merely wanted a better life in Miami.
As a moderate Cuban-American, Hugo Cancio is among the majority, including those in Miami, who advocate normal relations with Cuba. The aforementioned Voice of America/Reuters article began with this paragraph: "Hugo Cancio believes he's the new face of American style entrepreneurship in Cuba...his company's stock is public and a handful of investors say they're betting on him." A frequent visitor to the island, Cancio stresses that most Cubans and most Americans can benefit during the last 18 months of the Obama presidency with "saner attitudes" towards Cuba. He staunchly maintains that business ties "will benefit most Cubans and most Americans." He believes the next 18 months are crucial. "Beneficial business ties can be nailed down in this period that even a Republican President in 2017 would have a lot of trouble unraveling," Cancio says. He also believes, as Cuba transitions to a Vietnam-style of capitalism, "It's going to be gradual. Cuba will probably pick and choose carefully who they do business with. Especially with the new deep-water, state-of-the-art Mariel Port, Cuba will have more and more business options, including Europe."
Joe Garcia represents an astounding mellowing of formerly vicious anti-Castro Cuban-Americans in Miami. Born in Miami 51 years ago to Cuban-born parents, Garcia represented Miami in the U. S. Congress and was also head of the anti-Castro Cuban American National Foundation. He now works for President Barack Obama and in recent interviews has, amazingly, supported Obama's peaceful Cuban overtures.
This photo is courtesy of Florida Trend. That's Alfonso "Alfy" Fanjul on the left and his brother Jose "Pepe" Fanjul on the right. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump brags that he is worth $10 billion. Maybe so. But the Fanjul brothers could buy everything Trump owns and they would still be worth far more than a piddling $10 billion, although their billions extend through the many Fanjul families and mansions in South Florida and elsewhere. Prior to the Cuban Revolution, the Fanjul sugar monopoly in Cuba was worth many millions. The Cuban Revolution in 1959 did them a favor because, for decades, the Fanjul sugar monopoly in the U. S. and the Dominican Republic has been worth many billions. {The Fanjuls control Domino and other sugar brands and refineries}. For decades it has been known that some of the Fanjul fortune has been devoted to regime change programs in Cuba and to getting anti-Castro zealots in the U. S. Congress. However, as testimony to President Obama's remarkable attempt to normalize relations with Cuba, the Fanjul brothers now seem supportive of that turnaround. Both of them long for a return to Cuba as investors. Alfonso says, "I would love to go back to Cuba, if there is a way to do so." Wow!! The Fanjuls supporting Obama and not the Bush dynasty?? Truly hard to believe.
The two-term George W. Bush presidency preceded the current two-term Barack Obama presidency. During his 8 years as President, in keeping with the decades-long efforts of the Bush dynasty to annihilate the Cuban Revolution, George W. Bush almost exclusively appointed only anti-Castro zealots -- such as Otto Reich, Roger Noriega, and Carlos Gutierrez {above} -- as his Cuban and Latin American decision-makers. The moment Bush put Reich and Noriega in charge of Latin American affairs, all Caribbean and Latin American leaders expected regime-change actions. Very soon, that appraisal was proved accurate with the highly embarrassing {for the U. S.} coup that briefly overthrew Hugo Chavez's pro-Cuban government in Venezuela. As his Secretary of Commerce, Bush chose Cuban-born Gutierrez. In the eyes of the world, Gutierrez grossly insulted Cuba and the entire Caribbean when back-to-back hurricanes devastated Cuba, destroying about 240,000 homes. Many countries vowed to aid Cuba. Gutierrez held news conferences to announce that the U. S. had X-amount of dollars to assist Cuba but it was a tease. He said the money would not go to the Cuban government. Cuba assumed, like other U. S. dollars, it would go to Cuban dissidents. Gutierrez held more news conferences, raising the amount of aid the U. S. was willing to provide Cuba but blaming the Cuban government for the fact he was withholding it. Meanwhile, Cuba, with help from other nations, did the best it could to recover from the devastating hurricanes. Americans were provided only Gutierrez's side of what typically was a two-sided story.
Carlos Gutierrez was born 61 years ago in Havana and grew up in Miami. He is a very rich man. Prior to serving as Bush's Secretary of Commerce from 2005 till 2009, he was CEO and Chairman of Kellogg Company. Like Otto Reich, Roger Noriega, and many other Bush-connected anti-Cuban zealots, Mr. Gutierrez has taken advantage of his political ties to continue on in many lucrative conservative enterprises -- such as Citigroup, Albright Stonebridge Group, the University of Miami, etc. Also, he was Founder and Chairman of Global Political Strategies. Top political positions -- whether you are Nixon's Henry Kissinger or Bush's Carlos Gutierrez -- translate to vast wealth as future consultants. Amazingly, again in testimony to President Obama's softening U.S.-Cuba relations, Carlos Gutierrez has made speeches in the last few weeks seemingly in support of detente with Cuba, pointing out the exceptional business benefits that will accrue. However, skeptics -- such as Hugo Cancio and Cristina Escobar -- abound all around.
Cristina Escobar was taken aback when she read aloud a synopsis of a speech in Miami in which Carlos Gutierrez appeared, at least from a business standpoint, to champion President Obama's peaceful overtures toward Cuba. At age 26, Escobar is Cuba's most ubiquitous and most influential journalist. She is the anchor of the most important news programs on Cuban state television and she is also now a star on YouTube and regional networks such as Telesur. Fluent in both English and U.S.-Cuban relations, Escobar knows about all the anti-Cuban stalwarts in the U. S., such as the Bush dynasty, Gutierrez, Reich, Noriega, Ros-Lehtinen, Rubio, the Diaz-Balarts, etc. Gutierrez's about-face intrigued her. Her conclusion: "I think it's a ruse. For six decades now, Havana-borns like Gutierrez and Ros-Lehtinen have used the might of the U. S. government to try to retake Cuba from the Revolution. They have not managed to do so. Now I believe they want to take advantage of President Obama's attempt to normalize relations. They believe it will give them more avenues, such as the new U. S. embassy in Havana, to assail Cuba. They now have over 300 so-called diplomats at the U. S. Interests Section building in Havana working with and creating dissidents. I think Gutierrez thinks that regime-change tactics can be more effective when the U. S. has an actual embassy in Havana. He probably thinks of it as a Trojan Horse because supposedly huge pouches under diplomatic immunity can enter the island without being inspected. So, that's what I think of detente with the U. S. It's a damn Trojan Horse."
Photo of the week:
This Associated Press photo was taken Friday, July 17th, at the White House. It caught President Barack Obama turning to the cameras and lavishly bragging about the heroine in his midst. Her name is Emma Didlake. She is from Detroit. She is 110 years old, the oldest veteran of World War II. In 1942 Emma was 38-years-old, married with five children. But she feared that vile dictators in Germany, Japan, and Italy were capable of conquering the world, including her beloved United States. Emma volunteered for the U. S. Army and became an award-winning member of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. After helping to save the world, Emma returned to her family. Hours after hosting Emma in the White House Friday, President Obama was still gushing about her, tweeting very sincerely, "Emma Didlake is a true American hero."
Emma Didlake, age 110, a treasured American.
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