Capped By Rolling Stones!!
{Updated: Saturday, March 26th, 2016}
Study Josefina Vidal's smile. It's important whether she cries or smiles. That's because she's the most important person in Cuba and the most vital person regarding today's Cuba as well as tomorrow's Cuba. Oh, yeah. I know, if you're in America, you think that's a ridiculous statement because you're convinced that Barack Obama, Raul Castro, Fidel Castro, Berta Soler, Ted Cruz, etc., are far more important when it comes to the island of Cuba than Vidal. And, you would, of course, be wrong. Vidal is the reason the two-term George W. Bush presidency -- from 2000 till Obama arrived in 2009 -- didn't finish off Revolutionary Cuba once and for all. Moreover, Vidal is the reason that Obama has been able to correct much of America's Cuban policy that shames the American democracy as well as America's best friends around the world. And therefore, Vidal has ample reasons to show you her best smile, especially this week. As dawn began to shine over Cuba yesterday -- Friday, March 25th -- Vidal sipped some strong Cuban coffee and sighed, "Well, we survived President Obama being in Cuba for three days this week. Now, if we can survive the Rolling Stones today, it will have to be classified as one of the greatest weeks in the history of this amazing island."
Friday night the Rolling Stones gifted the Cuban people with a free concert courtesy of the legendary band's legendary leader Mick Jagger. The outdoor venue accommodated over 500,000 excited Cubans!!
The BBC and Aljazeera America showed live portions of the Rolling Stones concert from Havana's Ciudad Deportivo. Mick Jagger began it by saying, "Hello, Havana! Good evening, my people of Cuba!" He then opened the spirited, deeply appreciated performance with the 1966 hit "Jumpin' Jack Flash."
Cubans waited all afternoon for the Rolling Stones.
And Mick Jagger made sure the Stones delivered.
There were 61 shipping containers holding 500 tons of equipment shipped to Havana ahead of the Rolling Stones. The last three containers were aboard a Boeing 747 that took off from Mexico. Mick Jagger was born 72 years ago in Kent, England. Before the free concert, he had arranged for a huge array of instruments to be given free to Cuban musicians. The Rolling Stones concert Friday night capped off an historic Cuban week that started with the arrival of U. S. President Barack Obama Sunday afternoon.
Mr. Obama's 3-day visit to Cuba this week -- the first by a sitting U. S. president since 1928 -- is still being analyzed. Vidal, the most important analyzer, has a lukewarm reaction. She appreciated Obama's assurance that the U. S. "will not/should not" dictate Cuba's future, presumably even if he is succeeded in the White House by a Republican. But Vidal is still fuming that Obama met with Cuban dissidents whom Vidal insists are "created and funded" by the U. S. Congress. Further, Vidal thought Obama could have mentioned her other two pet peeves -- the U. S. funding of Cuban regime-change schemes and the U. S. refusing to discuss the return of Guantanamo Bay to Cuba. "Despite all we and he have achieved, those three things will prevent the normalization that he and most other Americans desire," Vidal says.
Veteran Cuban journalist Rosa Miriam Elizalde once again offered the most visceral and the most substantive summation of President Obama's visit to Cuba. Rosa, a revolutionary power, wrote: "Obama has a gentle and seductive face, and that's a danger. No apology for crimes against Cuba. He did not mention the continued theft of Guantanamo Bay. And he did not say what needs to be said about the blockade."
But to his credit, while in Cuba and while being covered by a media throng, President Obama did salute Cuba for its totally free and "terrific" health care system. He also praised Cuba for "working with the U. S. and the UN to help stamp out Ebola in Africa. Medicine is an area our two nations need to cooperate."
Obama saluted Cuba for being the first "Latin nation" to eradicate polio and he referenced Cuba's "world-class low" infant mortality rate. Among his battles with the U. S. Congress, Obama is trying to help American doctors get access to unique and proven Cuban-invented cancer and diabetes medicines that other nations have found to be extremely beneficial and which Cuba provides free to poor countries.
In Cuba this week, President Obama applauded Cuba's totally free "and superb" educational system, which First Lady Michelle Obama also praised. In that regard, Obama even bravely hinted that Cuban independence hero Jose Marti would "appreciate" Cuban sovereignty. WOW! Obama made it a point to get an international photo-op laying a wreath at the Marti memorial in Havana. Marti, of course, died in 1895 on a Cuban battlefield trying in vain to gain Cuban independence from Spain. Three years later, in 1898, the U. S. fulfilled a long-held dream by gaining control of Cuba with the easy victory in the U.S.-provoked Spanish-American War. But, as it turned out and as Marti would have hated, U. S. rule replicated Spanish rule in denying Cuban independence -- at least until the Cuban Revolution in 1959 achieved that coveted goal.
While in Cuba this week, President Obama was criticized back home for spending so much "cordial and fun time" with Cuban President Raul Castro. This iconic photo was taken by the AP's Ramon Espinosa.
89-year-old Fidel Castro, a newshound, watched this week's Obama festivities in Cuba on state television. Some pundits had wondered aloud if Obama would visit Fidel's home, as most leaders from Pope Francis to French President Hollande have been anxious to do. But Obama visiting Fidel was not in the cards, even for the brave Obama. And, first off, Fidel himself would not permit it, not for a sitting U. S. president. But already, Fidel's wife Dalia has been contacted by an Obama confidant about a visit by Obama in 2017, when Fidel will be 90-years-old and Obama will be an ex-president. Fidel actually admires Obama and has predicted "he will one day be Secretary-General of the United Nations, a role he very well deserves."
Jimmy Carter, as a former U. S. president, visited Fidel twice.
On his trip to Cuba this week, President Obama was gracious enough to include 93-year-old Rachel Robinson aboard Air Force One. Rachel is the widow of Jackie Robinson who died in 1972 as one of America's greatest baseball and civil rights legends. Rachel married Jackie in 1946, the year before he broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers. The photo above shows Rachel with Obama at Tuesday's baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and a Cuban national team.
Jackie Robinson, by the way, was a great admirer of Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution. Jackie, shown above with his Cuban friend Fidel, once said, "Fidel's Cuban Revolution was acutely necessary."
Before the Cuban Revolution, Jackie Robinson played many games in Cuba because his Triple-A team, the Montreal Royals, and his Major League team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, trained there. In the photo above, that's Jackie in 1946, playing for the Montreal Royals, stealing second base against a Cuban team. Obama this week knew that the 93-year-old and still healthy Rachel would love to see the game at Havana's Latin American Stadium where her Jackie played long ago. Needless to say, her memories were precious.
In Havana this week, the above photo depicted one of the miracles Obama has wrought to the chagrin of the pro-embargo zealots in America. The photo shows bags of mail from the United States being off-loaded in Cuba, the first time in half-a-century that direct mail from the U. S. to Cuba has been permitted.
And finally, this photo of President Obama's Air Force One flying low over Havana was taken by Ismael Francisco for the Associated Press. As Josefina Vidal said, Cuba "survived" President Obama's historic 3-day visit to the island this week. HECK!! Cuba has survived...Batista, the Mafia, the United States, the Bay of Pigs, and the Miami Cubans!! AND HELL!! It might even survive the U. S. Congress and Ted Cruz!!
No comments:
Post a Comment