Florida City Loves Cuba

A Notable Love Affair

            Today -- Sunday, November 22, 2015 -- The Tampa Tribune -- used the above photo to illustrate a major article written/photographed by Paul Guzzo. The article is entited: "HAVING ENDURED EMBARGO, TAMPA-CUBA TIES GROW EVER STRONGER." The photo above shows two Cuban women mingling in front of a small, entrepreneurial clothing store. Guzzo points out that back in the 1880s Tampa and Cuba developed a close cultural and business relationship via such mutual associations as the cigar industry and Cuba's struggles against Spain's imperialism. He writes: "The bond seemed broken in 1961," which was the second year of revolutionary rule on the island after the overthrow of the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship.  In 1961 the U. S. and Cuban exiles failed to recapture Cuba with their failed attack known as the Bay of Pigs. And in 1961 Guzzo pointed out that "the U. S. imposed a travel and trade embargo that isolated the island nation." Guzzo returned to Cuba and discovered "...that the people of Havana never stopped thinking of Tampa as a brother. Signs were everywhere this week that ties have grown stronger again in the year since President Barack Obama first moved to normalize relations between the two nations." Guzzo noticed that the Tampa-Havana camaraderie was evident in such things as a fishing tournament and "Tampa citizens were very prominent this week when 600 U. S. citizens participated in the Havana Marathon." Guzzo cogently quoted one Tampa visitor as saying, "Tampa is back in Cuba, but it never really left."

          This was the wildly successful Marabana Havana Marathon in Havana this week that featured 600 United States runners. Because it was a positive event, only a few fair-minded U. S. media outlets, such as the Tampa Tribune, mentioned it. In his column today in that newspaper, Paul Guzzo reported on many pros and cons, providing both sides of a two-sided story. Some of the observations included:
              ****Florida will benefit from a new marine partnership that allows research of Cuba's pristine reefs to help grow reefs that are dying in Florida waters.
                    ****A Tampa runner in the above marathon, Lynn Gray, said, "I'll return to Tampa with nothing but good things to say about the Cubans. I feel a connection to Cuba now." That type of quote is the last thing visceral exiles in Florida, who have dictated that everyday Americans are the only people in the world who can't freely visit Cuba, want to hear or to see in print, but Paul Guzzo included the quote in his article.
                    ****Guzzo wrote: "Americans can fish in Cuba now if they're in a competition, but visiting purely for tourism remains illegal under the embargo."
                ****"One of Havana's most popular beers has a link with Tampa. It's called Bucanero."
                  ****"With a Cuban-American population that is the third largest in the U. S. dating back to the 1880s, Tampa shares foods and architecture with Cuba. Cuba celebrity, architect Eusebio Leal, visited Tampa in October and was treated as a rock star for restoring over 300 landmark buildings in Old Havana."
                  ****"Cuba welcomes the help many Americans are providing...including the four-person Tampa medical team led by surgeon Kenneth Gustke of Florida Orthopedic Institute." The group provided knee and hip replacements. Cuba's universal health care is superb but the surgeons from Tampa had better equipment because the embargo prevents Cuba from purchasing some of the material that it needs.
                       ****"Tampa is a star as organized visits to the island are growing more popular."
                 ****Tampa was among Jose Marti's favorite U. S. cities...Fidel Castro had early support for his revolution from Tampa...Tampa gangster Santo Trafficante Jr. helped the American Mafia create a casino industry in Havana."
         With the U. S. embargo against Cuba still preventing everyday Americans from visiting the island to judge it for themselves, unbiased observations from journalists who do visit remains important. Paul Guzzo's long article in Sunday's Tampa Tribune was fair and balanced...uh, almost like having the freedom to go there yourself.

       Journalist Pual Guzzo mentioned Santo Trafficante Jr. as a prominent Tampa-Cuba connection, and he sure was. During the Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba from 1952 till 1959, Trafficante Jr. was fourth in command behind Fulgencio Batista, Lucky Luciano, and Meyer Lansky. In the 1930s Santo Trafficante Sr. became the Mafia kingpin of Tampa. When Trafficante Sr. died in 1954 he turned Tampa over to Trafficante Jr. When the Cuban Revolution defeated the Batista-Mafia dictatorship in January of 1959, Batista, Luciano, Lansky, Trafficante Jr. hastily escaped to safer pastures. Trafficante Jr. was briefly arrested by Fidel Castro but freed because at the time Fidel still harbored thoughts of peaceful relations with the U. S. Back on U. S. soil in Tampa, Trafficante Jr., like his father before him, was one of the top Mafia celebrities, free as a bird as his demeanor in the above photo attests. In the gray coat with the satchel is his very efficient lawyer Frank Ragano. Trafficante Jr. died in 1987 at age 72. Before he died in Tampa in 1998, Ragano in a book confessed that Trafficante Jr. and other well-known Mafiosi, unhappy with being booted out of Cuba, tried mightily to work with the CIA in trying to assassinate Fidel Castro. Ragano also confirmed that Trafficante Jr., Sam Giancana, Carlos Marcello, etc., also massively targeted the Kennedy brothers -- President John Kennedy and presidential contender Robert Kennedy. Trafficante Jr. provided an unconscionable criminal nexus between Havana and Tampa. 

       Many books -- such as "THE TAFFICANTES: Godfathers from Tampa, Florida" -- had plenty of fodder from declassified FBI and CIA documents to tie the Trafficantes of Tampa to a litany of crimes in Cuba during the Batista reign and in the U. S. before and after the Batista dictatorship.

But the Tampa-Cuba connection enjoys happier times now:

        Kathy Castor was born in Miami 49 years ago but she has represented Tampa brilliantly in the U. S. Congress since 2007. For one thing, in defiance of the post-Batista political leaders in Miami, Ms. Castor has worked tirelessly to bring about normal and peaceful business relations between Cuba and her Tampa constituents.

      As a Miami-born member of the U. S. Congress from Florida, Kathy Castor deserves a medal for having the sheer courage and decency, over a sustained period of time, to actually treat Cubans on the island decently while also trying to do all she can to help the people in the Tampa area who have kept her in Congress since 2007. Rare birds like Kathy Castor are few and far between in a U. S. Congress that, according to a recent poll, had an approval rating of 9%, apparently the 9% that have bought-and-paid for it. Yes, the Tampa-Cuba connection -- which the Tampa Tribune featured today, November 22nd -- includes Tampa's representative in the U. S. Congress, Kathy Castor. Of course, because she's unwilling to be bought-and-paid-for, she is not one of Florida's current presidential contenders, although she should be.

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