cubaninsider: U.S.-Cuban History Unfolded Today

Yes, Embassies Are Open!!

This Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images photo shows the Cuban flag being added to the display of flags this morning at the U. S. State Department. It's the first such American gesture to Cuba in 54 years.

57-year-old Bruno Rodriguez, Cuba's Foreign Minister since 2009, had never been in Washington prior to today. He and U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry held a joint news conference to herald the opening of the Cuban embassy. Next month Rodriguez will host Kerry to celebrate the new U. S. embassy in Havana.

Senator Marco Rubio and the other three Cuban-American members of the U. S. Congress are outraged that Cuba and the U. S. today are officially resuming diplomatic relations for the first time since 1961. Rubio has vowed to block confirmation of any Cuban-U.S. ambassadors. On Sunday talk shows he said, when elected President, "I will end diplomatic relations." As Commander-in-Chief, would a Rubio presidency mean that Miami had captured the White House prior to recapturing Cuba? That, of course, is a little tougher query than the softball questions Rubio is accustomed to, but it perhaps is relevant.

Today -- Monday, July 20th, 2015 -- this stately building in Washington marked a very historic event in the modern and contentious history of the United States and Cuba. {AP/Jacquelyn Martin Photo}. As of this morning, a Cuban flag will fly in front of this Washington landmark to signify that, for the first time in 54 years, Cuba will have an embassy on U. S. soil. The limestone mansion was built in 1917 and it has been magnificently refurbished, inside and out, by Cuban workers since U. S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro agreed to normalize relations between the two neighboring nations, at least as normal as possible. The opening of embassies is a gigantic start and a major tribute to sanity.

It is very fitting that Cuba's Josefina Vidal and America's Roberta Jacobson were on hand this morning in Washington when the Cuban flag was raised to mark the opening of the regal Cuban embassy.

It has been hoped by many that these two brilliant women would emerge as ambassadors at the two embassies. But it is not to be. Josefina Vidal is too valuable in Havana as Cuba's Minister of North American Affairs and Roberta Jacobson will soon take over as the U. S. Ambassador to Mexico. It is believed Ms. Jacobson craved the historic ambassadorship in Havana but she anticipates it will increase, not decrease, the efforts of Miami Cubans to disrupt any chance of appeasement between the U. S. and Cuba. Now the leading contenders for the ambassadorships are California congresswoman Barbara Lee and Jose Ramon Cabanas, the capable head of Cuba's Interests Section in Washington since 2012. In any case, six Cuban-Americans in the U. S. Congress -- supported by a cabal of key right-wingers -- vow to prevent confirmation of any U. S. ambassador to Cuba and, indeed, a handful of anti-Castro zealots are still quite capable of provoking Cuba into a crisis that can be expected to unravel, sooner than later, the inroads President Obama has managed. Such events happened when previous Democratic presidents since 1963 have tried, in vain, to normalize relations with the nearby island. This time, the easily anticipated disruption will be a grave disservice to good people...especially Vidal and Jacobson.

U. S. Senators such as Nancy Pelosi, Jeff Flake, and Patrick Leahy have been among the patriotic Americans who have helped U.S.-Cuban detente reach today's point when the Cuban flag was raised to officially open a Cuban embassy in Washington. In the above AP/Getty Images photo, that is Senator Pelosi shaking hands with Cuba's Josefina Vidal as Pelosi grasped the hand of Bruno Rodriguez, Cuba's Foreign Minister. Rodriguez. Vidal and 28 other Cubans flew to Washington for today's historic ceremony.

Jose Diaz-Balart is a prime example of how extremely biased network television in the United States is regarding Cuba. Jose is the anchor of his own daily 9:00 A. M. program on MSNBC. When Americans follow his anti-Cuban bias, such as today's opening of the U. S. embassy in Washington, they should be cognizant of the fact that Jose is the son of Rafael Diaz-Balart who was a key Minister in the Batista dictatorship in Cuba and, after 1959, one of the richest and most powerful anti-Castro zealots in Miami.

Mario Diaz-Balart is one of the four members of the U. S. Congress from Miami. They're holding multiple news conferences in Miami today to denounce the opening of the U. S. and Cuban embassies. Mario followed his older brother Lincoln as a member of the U. S. Congress from Miami. Like his brother Lincoln, like his brother Jose the broadcaster, and like his other brother Rafael the banker, Mario is a son of the former key Minister in the Batista dictatorship. Polls even in Miami reveal most Cuban-Americans favor normalizing relations with Cuba. Yet, a handful of anti-Castro zealots still dictate Miami politics.

It is interesting to note that Granma, the most important newspaper in Cuba, today did not even mention the historic opening of embassies until the fourth page. Fidel Castro is not overly enthusiastic regarding detente with the United States. He is surprisingly healthy but turns 89-years-old on August 13th.

This huge 7-story building overlooking the famed Malecon seawall in Havana was the home of the U. S. Interests Section in Cuba since the Carter presidency in the 1970s. The U. S. embassy in Havana is now in this building as of today but the official flag-raising ceremony will be held in a few weeks when Secretary of State John Kerry will be there. Many Americans would be surprised to know that the U. S. Interests Section in Havana had over 300 diplomats, more than any American embassy in the entire world! At times, hostilities involving this building have almost boiled over into confrontations between America and Cuba. A U. S. embassy in the building will further enrage some anti-Castro zealots in Miami and in Congress.

Jim Cason {Photo courtesy: Miami Herald} is now the Mayor of Coral Gables, Florida, in the heart of Miami-Dade County. It is a city of about 50,000 on Route 95 and home to the University of Miami.

From September 10-2002 till September 10-2005 Jim Cason was President George W. Bush's top man in Havana as head of the U. S. Interests section. He is shown above mingling with Cubans. To this day many Cubans believe Mr. Cason tried to start either a confrontation or a war between the U. S. and Cuba. In one instance Cuba arrested 735 dissidents and charged them with accepting cash or gifts from Cason. Most have since been released; some have not. Cason also stirred Fidel Castro's wrath by erecting a huge electronic billboard across the front of the 6th floor of the U. S. Interests Section building, flashing anti-Castro notices. Fidel reacted by leading marches and erecting giant flag poles to hide the electronic messages. When President Bush sent Jim Cason to Havana, he expected fireworks and he got them.

This was Jim Cason's expensive electronic billboard that fronted the 6th floor of the U. S. Interests building in Havana. In addition to constant denunciations of Fidel Castro, the flashed messages teased Cubans about such things as how well their former beloved baseball players were doing in the U. S.

These are the flag poles Cuba erected to hide Jim Cason's electronic billboard.

To this day there are very influential Cubans, such as 26-year-old Cristina Escobar, who remember Jim Cason's electronic billboard as one of many examples that detente with the U. S. "will not work." Escobar -- Cuba's top journalist, interviewer, and news anchor -- says, "Hundreds of U. S. diplomats at the Interests Section were there to hurt Cuba. The embassy will be a bigger Trojan Horse, even with a decent President like Obama orchestrating it while he remains in office another year-and-a-half. Miami and the current make-up of Congress can circumvent the President, however. The American and Cuban embassies will await the next war-like Republican administration that joins with a war-like Congress. 1 plus 1 equals 2 and war, I suspect."