cubaninsider: "3" Cuban Quotations

From 1959 Till 2016

Defining the U.S.-Cuban Turmoil

#1:

Celia Sanchez: "The Batistianos will never regain control of Cuba as long as I live or as long as Fidel lives."

Explanation: Celia Sanchez was/is the most important player in the U.S.-Cuban conundrum that, from 1952 till today, has so powerfully defined both countries. Americans are not supposed to know that, but it's a sheer fact that helps define the U. S. today. Her reference to "Batistianos" depicts the remnants of the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship that the Cuban Revolution overthrew in January of 1959, only to result in the Batistiano-Mafiosi leaders quickly reconstituting their dictatorship on U. S. soil with Miami, or Little Havana, as its new capital. From January of 1959 till today, the Batistianos -- unchecked politically and economically -- have dictated the Cuban narrative in the United States, not to mention crafting an array of self-serving Cuban laws tailored to their revenge and economic motives. Vilifying Fidel Castro, the second most important figure in the Cuban Revolution, has always been a prime feature of the Cuban narrative in the U. S., but so has dismissing Celia Sanchez. That's because the Batistiano leaders in the U. S. knew that the vilification of the 99-pound doctor's daughter was/is not nearly as easy as pillorying Fidel Castro.

Yet, from 1953 as the prime guerrilla fighter and also the most important recruiter of vital anti-Batista rebels and supplies, no one -- including Fidel Castro -- rivals Celia Sanchez as the leading player in both the Cuban Revolution and Revolutionary Cuba. The most significant quotation related to that 1952 till 2016 phenomenon was first stated by Celia Sanchez on April 27th, 1959 -- right after she and Fidel had returned to Cuba from a 12-day visit to the U. S.: "The Batistianos will never regain control of Cuba as long as I live or as long as Fidel lives." April of 1959 was a mere three months after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. Desiring friendship with the superpower U. S., Celia arranged with the U. S. State Department and the U. S. Society of Newspaper Editors to take Fidel, considered at that time as a first-class revolutionary hero in both Cuba and America, to the U. S. to inform President Eisenhower that Cuba would hold a democratic election in the fall of 1959 and the U. S. could closely monitor its honesty. But the promised Fidel-Eisenhower meeting never took place. Instead, the right-wing faction of the White House led by Vice President Richard Nixon maneuvered the decent but old, tired, and malleable Eisenhower out of Washington so Nixon could meet Fidel. Nixon famously destroyed Celia's thoughts of amity by telling Fidel that the U. S. and the Cuban exiles, already in training at Georgia's Fort Benning, would regain control of Cuba in short order, with some historians saying Nixon's timetable was "three weeks" and others maintaining it was "three months." But it was a timetable and double-cross that surprised Fidel and, most importantly, infuriated Celia. Still fuming when she and Fidel returned to Havana in April of 1959, she mandated the all-time most important sentence in Cuba's tumultuous and historic relations with the U. S.: "The Batistianos will never regain control of Cuba as long as I live or as long as Fidel lives." It is known that on at least two other documented occasions Celia repeated that precise mantra -- once to late and famed journalist Carlos Franqui and once to the still-living famed journalist/author/historian Marta Rojas.

Celia Sanchez died of throat cancer at age 59 on January 11, 1980. The doctor's daughter had become a chain-smoker in 1953, the year she became the most important anti-Batista guerrilla fighter and recruiter. But her definitive quotation still lives: "The Batistianos will never regain control of Cuba as long as I live or as long as Fidel lives." Fidel Castro is still alive and aims to celebrate his 90th birthday on August 13, 2016. Thus, Celia's quotation still lives. While the Batistiano control of the Cuban narrative in the U. S. since 1959 dismisses the significance of the doctor's daughter, the best and most unbiased Cuban experts know better. That includes still-living Cubans who worked closely with both Celia and Fidel -- photographer-journalist-author Roberto Salas, historian Pedro Alvarez Tabio, and journalist-author-historian Marta Rojas. It also includes America's seminal Castro biographer Georgie Anne Geyer who cogently acknowledged that Celia "over-ruled" Fidel wherever and whenever she chose, which was often. Salas, in his notable book, said: "Celia made all the decisions for Cuba, the big ones and the small ones." Tabio said, "If Batista had managed to kill Celia Sanchez anytime between 1953 and 1957, there would have been no viable Cuban Revolution, and no revolution for Fidel and Che to join." And Marta Rojas told me in an email in 2005: "Since Celia Sanchez died of cancer in 1980, Fidel has continued to rule Cuba only as he precisely believes Celia would want him to rule it." Thus, to not know Celia Sanchez is to not know the Cuban Revolution, Revolutionary Cuba, and the Batistiano control of the Cuban narrative in the United States since 1959.

#2:

Josefina Vidal: "The revised plan of the Batistianos in the U. S. is to capture the White House first and then recapture Cuba."

Explanation: For almost two decades, working in both Washington and Havana, Josefina Vidal has been Cuba's prime diplomat, expert, and decision-maker on all things American. Her current title is Minister of North American Affairs. Her brilliance is reflected in the fact that Cuba amazingly survived the determined efforts of the Batistiano-aligned George W. Bush presidency from 2000 till 2009. And her brilliance is further reflected by the startling diplomatic advances she has orchestrated in the past two years during the more decent Barack Obama presidency -- advances that include Cuba's removal from the Sponsors of Terrorism list, the opening of embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time since 1961, etc. In the meantime she is insisting on discussions regarding anti-Cuban laws that the Batistianos and right-wingers in the U. S. Congress dearly cling to -- such as the return of Guantanamo Bay to Cuba and ending the ongoing congressional funding of regime-change programs and support of dissidents on the island.

In defense of Cuba, Josefina Vidal has necessarily emerged as the world's greatest expert on U.S.-Cuban relations, otherwise the Batistianos would be back in power on the nearby island as they were from 1952 till 1959. Taking note that two anti-Cuban and Batistiano-aligned Cuban-Americans are serious Republican presidential candidates, Vidal assessed the ominous situation with this quote: "The revised plan of the Batistianos is to capture the White House first AND THEN recapture Cuba." In all the decades since Celia Sanchez's definitive quote, Vidal's appraisal of the current Batistiano-influenced political situation in the U. S. takes second place regarding the survival of Cuba as a proud sovereign nation.

#3:

Cristina Escobar: "I don't want the United States to bring me democracy. That is a project for Cubans on the island, not Cubans in Miami and Washington."

Explanation: Because of the control of the Cuban narrative in the U. S. by the Batistianos, Americans are not supposed to know Cristina Escobar nor are they supposed to understand the third most important quotation that defines U.S.-Cuban relations today, the quote depicted above. Celia Sanchez's quote defined Cuba from 1959 till 2000 while Josefina Vidal's quote and Cristina Escobar's quote have defined Cuba from 2000 till today. Anyone unfamiliar with those three quotations does not have a clue as to how a small island nation has pugnaciously held off the imperialist designs of the world superpower, which happens to be a close neighbor, since the 1950s. Escobar at age 28 is a truly brilliant news anchor in Cuba and the region. Beyond that, she is the leader of the young adults on the island who are determined to shape Cuba's impending post-Castro future. That determined young generation on the island is well aware that the next Republican administration in Washington, whether led by Cruz or Rubio or someone else, will most likely brutally try to suppress their love of sovereignty. Yet, in the mold of Celia Sanchez and Josefina Vidal, Cristina Escobar boldly says: "I don't want the United States to bring me democracy. That is a project for Cubans on the island, not in Miami and Washington." Cuba's ultra-powerful and nearby enemies have failed to recapture the prized island because they have grossly underestimated Celia Sanchez, Josefina Vidal and Cristina Escobar. Of course, IF SOME REAL OR EVEN SELF-PROCLAIMED CUBAN EXPERT HAS A BETTER EXPLANATION, I SURE WOULD LIKE TO HEAR IT.