Embargo Shames America

So Does The Cuban Adjustment Act

       Ivette Leyva Martinez is one of a myriad of Miami-based journalists who write endlessly about Cuba and, although typically and vehemently anti-Castro, she's one of the best. A major article last Friday penned by Ms. Leyva began with these words: "In yet another shameful spectacle for the defenders of the Cuba Adjustment Act, 14 people stood before a Miami federal court this Thursday on charges of contracting false marriages and committing immigration fraud to take advantage of the benefits afforded by the legislation. The alleged leaders of the fraud network recruited Cuban citizens who were eligible for permanent residency in the United States under the CAA and arranged fraudulent marriages with foreigners willing to pay for the services in order to evade the immigration regulations applicable to them. The CAA has been in effect since 1966. Over 30,000 Cubans a year still use the law to obtain permanent U. S. residency..." The insightful article by Ms. Leyva points out what every brave, decent, and intelligent American already knew: A plethora of U. S. laws, rammed through an intimidated or bought-and-paid-for U. S. Congress, have for decades been designed to benefit Miami Cubans, hurt Revolutionary Cuba, and harm non-Miami Cubans.

      The Cuban Adjustment Act is purely designed to benefit Cubans and purely meant to discriminate against everyone else. It is one of an endless array of anti-democratic Cuban ventures that are consequences of two dramatic blights on the U. S. democracy: {1} Teaming with the Mafia in 1952 to support the brutal, thieving Batista dictatorship so rich U. S. businessmen could also partake of the rape and robbery of the lush, nearby island; and {2} when the Cuban Revolution overthrew the Batista-Mafia dictatorship on January 1, 1959, the U. S. allowed the ousted Batistianos and Mafiosi to reconstitute their dictatorship on U. S. soil with the Little Havana section of Miami their new capital. The Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 came about after numerous assassination attempts, the Bay of Pigs attack in 1961, the embargo enacted in 1962, etc., etc., had failed to recapture the island. Unlike any other people in the world, Cubans who touch U. S. soil are home free as permanent residents and immediately draw monthly welfare checks, get on Medicare, are put on fast tracks to citizenship, etc., etc. Primarily the Cuban Adjustment Act was to encourage Cubans on the island to get to Miami via any possible means so as to undermine Fidel Castro's government. A secondary objective, as with all such Cuban-related laws, was/is to enrich and empower the already rich and powerful Cuban-Americans in Miami and Union City, New Jersey. A U. S. Congress that has largely become a bought-and-paid-for enterprise greatly exacerbated the greed and revenge motivations of the Miami Cubans. Discussing the Cuban Adjustment Act in Progresso Weekly, Mayte Gonzalez wrote: "The U. S. Congress is contaminated with politicking that has paralyzed the legislative process in general."

       It has been cogently argued that George H. W. Bush -- as Vice-President under Ronald Reagan and then as President himself -- anointed anti-Castro zealot Jorge Mas Canosa as the leader of the Cuban government-in-exile in the 1980s. From that point on Mr. Canosa not only became a reputed billionaire in Miami but the architect of an extraordinary stream of anti-Castro/pro-Cuban exile laws. That Bush-Canosa connection is best understood by reading two seminal books: Julia E. Sweig's "What Everyone Needs To Know About Cuba" and Anne Louise Bardach's "Cuba Confidential: Love and Revenge in Miami and Havana." The most cogent advice the newly anointed Mr. Canosa ever got, according to Julia E. Sweig, was to study AIPAC, the ultra-powerful Israeli lobbying arm, and replicate it. Mr. Canosa took that advice and created The Cuban-American National Foundation. The rest is history. Since then both Israel and Miami have had firm grips on the U. S. Congress when it comes to any and all laws affecting those two entities.

          This cogent photo shows George H. W. Bush handing out souvinir pens to anti-Castro zealots Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Jorge Mas Canosa after yet another cogent anti-Castro/pro-Cuban exile bill was officially signed into law. Cogent is indeed the applicable word to describe the Bush-Canosa connection, but there are other more damnable words. Once anointed, Mr. Canosa had no trouble at all gaining sycophants in the U. S. Congress such as Robert Torricelli, Jesse Helms, Dan Burton, etc. Perhaps you have heard of the Torricelli Bill and the Helms-Burton Act. If not, read the two aforementioned Sweig and Bardach books and you'll comprehend how such cruel laws started and have kept the U. S. democracy on a downward spiral.

       While Cuban-born Jorge Mas Canosa was George H. W. Bush's favorite anti-Castro Cuban, Cuban-born Mel Martinez was/is George W. Bush's favorite anti-Castro Cuban. A political power in Miami, Mel Martinez became a national power thanks to the Bush dynasty. He became a U. S. Senator, a member of George W. Bush's cabinet, head of the Republican Party, etc. The Bush dynasty has accounted for much of the extreme power of the Miami Cubans and they want the Bush dynasty to continue for future decades, such as with Jeb Bush and Jeb's son George P. Bush, already the ultra-powerful Land Commissioner in Texas.

         This photo explains why Jeb Bush became the two-term governor of Florida and why, in 2015, Jeb is the top Republican candidate to succeed Barack Obama as President of the United States. In this photo, that is Jeb standing next to Mel Martinez, the Cuban-born former U. S. Senator from Miami and former key cabinet member in the George W. Bush presidency. Jeb's bid for the Presidency is fueled by rich and powerful long-time supporters of the Bush dynasty, such as Mr. Martinez. Standing behind Jeb and Mel Martinez in this photo are the Diaz-Balart brothers of Miami, Lincoln and Mario. They are the sons of Rafael Diaz-Balart, a key Minister in the Batista dictatorship who quickly became one of the richest and most powerful of the anti-Castro Miami Cubans. Rafael's Havana-born son Lincoln Diaz-Balart was elected to the U. S. Congress from Miami but gave up the safe seat to re-build the White Rose anti-Castro movement that his father had started in Miami shortly after the revolution changed things in Cuba, Miami, and Washington. Mario, Rafael Diaz-Balart's son born in Miami, has also been elected to the U. S. Congress from Miami and Mario remains there as one of the prime anti-Castro zealots. Anti-Castro Bush zealots and anti-Castro Miami-Cubans believe they alone should dictate America's Cuban power. And they have done so.

        This photo shows Jeb Bush in 1989 putting a halo around the head of Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Miami's anti-Castro zealot who had just been elected to the U. S. Congress. Jeb Bush had been her Campaign Manager. It was one of the things that endeared himself to the Miami Cubans and later accounted for his two-term stint as Florida's governor. Ros-Lehtinen has been entrenched in the U. S. Congress since 1989.

       There are now five members of the U. S. Congress from the two old Mafia strongholds of Miami and Union City, with these three -- Marco Rubio, Bob Menendez, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen -- being the prime anti-Castro zealots along with Mario Diaz-Balart. The Cuban-Americans all try to become head of congressional committees that most affect Cuba. Ros-Lehtinen, for example, has been Chairwoman of the House Foreign Relations Committee. Menendez has been Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. and Rubio is now the Chairman of the Western Hemisphere Committee. Unfortunately, Cuba is a foreign country and is in the Western Hemisphere. It is also interesting to note that Rubio is sacrificing his first term in the U. S. Senate to be a Republican presidential candidate. Rubio is a protege of Jeb Bush, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Mel Martinez, and other powerful political brokers; plus he is Cuban-American. But guess what? Ros-Lehtinen, Martinez, etc., are strong supporters of Jeb Bush's presidential bid. The Bush-Cuban exile connection has reshaped the U. S. democracy, and not in a good way. Both Jeb and George P., with strong support from the Cuban-American elite, could block Mr. Rubio's path to the White House.

          Displaying Herculean guts and decency, President Obama -- in the homestretch of his two-term presidency -- has used his executive powers to defy a money-contaminated U. S. Congress to attach some sanity to America's Cuban policy. The reopening of embassies in Washington and Havana for the first time since 1961 seemed impossible, but he accomplished it. Yet, Miami Cubans and right-wing Republicans still control Congress and that's why the U. S. embargo and other hostilities against Cuba remain in effect.

         This graphic not only embarrasses President Obama but it embarrasses all democracy lovers around the world. The embargo against Cuba is the longest and cruelest in history. It dates back to 1962 when it was created for the purpose, according to declassified U. S. documents, of starving and depriving Cubans on the island to entice them to overthrow Fidel Castro. Except for hurting millions of totally innocent Cubans as well as the U. S. democracy, it hasn't worked. The embargo is now 53-years-old and Fidel Castro is 89-years-old. Like the Cuban Adjustment Act, Wet Foot/Dry Foot, Torricelli, Helms-Burton, and the rest of the contaminated Congressional laws related to Cuba, the embargo is designed to hurt Cuba and benefit a handful of Cuban-Americans economically, politically, and revengefully. The embargo has shamed democracy-loving Americans for over five decades. It should not be allowed to shame our children.

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