Lecturing Cuba Grows Old

An Endless American Pastime
{Updated: Saturday, March 5th, 2016}

          U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry this week -- Thursday, March 3rd, 2016 -- slapped Cuba in the face, an age-old pastime that will, or should, cause Cuba to punch back, yet again. First off, it was leaked days earlier that Kerry "tentatively" planned to visit Cuba prior to the arrival of his boss, President Obama, on the island on March 21st. Tentative or not, Kerry created this giant headline in the Los Angeles Times: "Kerry Cancels Trip To Cuba Amid Haggling On Human Rights." The alleged trip was just "tentative" to begin with but the cancellation was very emphatic, an example of the U. S. government creating straw-men so the follow-up would put Cuba in a bad light. This particular contrived cancellation indicates Kerry's tentative visit to Cuba was to line up the dissidents that President Obama would meet on March 21st and 22nd. Cuba has a slight problem with that, and well it should. Cuba believes, with justification, that the U. S. continues its age-old practice of having the U. S. Congress eagerly fund any and all dissident programs on the island that the anti-Castro congressional zealots from Miami and New Jersey propose. And regarding the presidential visit later this month, if Kerry's plan was to make it a charade of photo-opts with the President meeting mostly with dissidents, perhaps that should provoke another emphatic headline: "Obama Cancels Trip To Cuba Amid Haggling On Human Rights." Around the world, the U. S. contributes money and military hardware to countries that have gross human rights violations, but the U. S. contributes money and other resources to fund and create dissidents in only one country -- Cuba! At the same time, Cuba could perhaps criticize the U. S. for constant video coverage of urban mistreatment of African-Americans on U. S. streets and, again this week, in U. S. schools. Funding and encouraging dissidents in Cuba and then critiquing Cuba's reaction is a two-edged sword, and it might also be a bit hypocritical.

        Back in August, Secretary Kerry was in Havana to raise the U. S. flag at the re-opening of the U. S. embassy in Cuba for the first time since 1961. Since then, the Obama administration -- in defiance of the right-wing dominance of a dastardly Cuban policy in the U. S. Congress -- has made other major positive overtures to Cuba, including easing but not ending the anti-democratic Batistiano law that prohibits one group of people in the world -- everyday Americans -- from visiting the island. A result has been an influx of tourism that has severely tested Cuba's ability to handle the tsunami. Advised that President Obama's entourage will include "hundreds" of officials, news personnel, etc., Cuba has been forced to send guests from the Nacional, Capri, Panorama, and Parque Central hotels in Havana to Veradero, which is an hour's drive southeast down the coastal highway from the capital. Veradero is awash with hotel rooms because it is Cuba's most sought-after tourist destination with world-renowned white sandy beaches and shimmering blue waters. President Obama's March 21-22 visit comes the same week a Cuban baseball team with play the Tampa Bay Rays and the Rolling Stones band will play a major date in Havana. Instead of slapping Cuba in the face this week with that emphatic cancellation of his tentative visit to the island, perhaps Secretary Kerry should have shown some respect for Cuba related to two things: {1} A little sympathy for Cuba trying to cope with the crowded presidential visit during March, which is traditionally the busiest tourist month of the year in Cuba even without the additional events such as the Rolling Stones and a baseball game against a U. S. Major League team; and {2} Kelly's slapping Cuba in the face regarding dissidents belies the well-known Cuban objection to the U. S. funding and creating dissidence on the island, something the U. S. probably would object to if, say, China or Russia or Iran did the same thing on U. S. soil. But even using a straw-man to slap Cuba in the face always gets lavish traction in the weak and proselytized U. S. media.

Thanks to President Obama, the U. S. flag now flies proudly on Cuban soil.

         The Cuban people, of their own accord, are flying American flags right beside Cuban flags in their homes, businesses, or in cars...as indicated by this Desmond Boylan/Associated Press photo. The Cuban people are very fond of and appreciative of President Obama. He should either reciprocate that respect or stay home, especially if the hints from the State Department that he should spend most of his time with U.S.-backed dissidents takes hold. To non-dissident Cubans, it would be eerily reminiscent of the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship from 1952 till 1959. The U. S. doesn't have to apologize for such things in the U. S. and Cuba is not asking that the U. S. apologize to its citizens either. But an historic presidential visit from the U. S. should emphasize friendship, amity, to the Cuban people who have suffered too much for too long from such American atrocities as the embargo that is still in place and that originated way back in 1962 for the purpose of starving and depriving Cubans on the island to induce them to rise up and overthrow their government, which -- for all its faults -- overthrew a far more vile U.S.-backed dictatorship.

         This AP photo shows two fine-tuned 1950s convertibles taking tourists past the U. S. flag outside the U. S. embassy in Havana. The President Obama-Secretary Kerry overtures to Cuba this year have shown great respect for the Cuban people, giving them hope along with overtures by the Cuban government that now, for example, allow Cuban entrepreneurs to own cars like these and use them in their business of driving tourists around the island. But Kerry's emphatic cancellation of a visit that was only tepidly announced as tentative in the first place indicates an Obama-Kerry capitulation to self-serving Cuban hardliners in the U. S. who have shamefully been allowed to punish Cubans on the island for decades.

       Josefina Vidal, Cuba's no-holds-barred Minister of North American Affairs, has worked tirelessly in the past two years to negotiate remarkable advances in U.S.-Cuban relations. But she has made it very plain that much remains to be done, among them: The U. S. needs to discuss the return of Guantanamo Bay to its rightful owner, Cuba; the U. S. needs to stop funding and creating dissidents on the island; and the U. S. needs to stop funding a continuing array of regime-change programs aimed at Cuba. To put it bluntly, she says: "If Obama really wants to normalize relations with Cuba, we are mid-way there, but that's all. If the theft of our land and waters at Guantanamo Bay remains without discussion, let's go back to the Cold War animus. The same for funding dissidents and endless regime-change schemes. To accomplish what? The return of foreign Mafia rule in Cuba? The end of free health and education in Cuba? The return of unsafe streets and rural areas across the island? The loss of Cuban sovereignty that so many have fought so hard for, and died for, for so long? Obama, a good and decent President, has only a few months left in office. What then? If a Republican assumes control of the White House to align with a Congress that relishes assaulting Cubans on the island and enriching dissident Cubans in both Cuba and the U. S., then what do we do? Do we give up and meekly agree to become an abused colony of the United States, or do we resist? I think any study of our history will reveal that...we will fight. We will probably lose, but...we will fight!" Vidal cogently speaks for Cuba. 

          Cuba's young superstar broadcast journalist, Cristina Escobar, is even more dynamic than Josefina Vidal when it comes to "America's unchecked insults to Cuban sovereignty." She adds, "If Mr. Obama and Mr. Kerry want to continue dealing rationally with Cuba, that's good. But if they want to come over here, or just talk about coming over here, to continue to prop up the few well-funded dissidents they have created, then they should stay home. My generation of Cubans has its hands full trying to create a Cuba that serves us, not our enemies in Miami and Washington. It's a crucial time, and my generation needs to breathe normally instead of holding our breath to see what's the next attack from Miami and Washington. If their hope is that my generation on the island will cave in to such pressure, they need to rethink their Bay of Pigs and blockade approach. We will not only not cave in, we will fight to keep our sovereignty and to correct such things as the imperial theft of Guantanamo Bay. The U. S. can keep its damn embargo as far as the U. S. is concerned but one aspect we will always fight, with international support, is the punishment by the U. S. of other nations that are friendly with Cuba. The U. S. can maintain such injustices only because of its nuclear arsenal, but military superiority does not make it right even if it accepts being labeled a bully. Cuba is Cuba. Cuba is not an American playpen. If the U. S. doesn't want to be our good friend, we must accept it as our enemy, and try to move on despite it."

       Steve Joyce just got back from Havana and he wasn't there to lecture Cubans. He is the CEO of Choice Hotels, the major company headquartered in Rockville, Maryland. It has 6,300 hotels globally and Steve wants some built in Cuba. He also says he wants to train thousands of Cubans to become hospitality workers and entrepreneurs. Mr. Joyce said, "Havana is a beautiful and fascinating city. If Cuba and the U. S. let the doors open, Cuba will be involved in a 20-year boom that will help Cubans and Americans." Mr. Joyce, to his credit, didn't lecture Cubans on his visit; he just showered them with kind and promising words.

              Federica Mogherini was born 42 years ago in Rome, Italy. She is now the top executive of the 28-nation European Union with the title of Foreign Policy Chief. She will be in Cuba next week, on March 10th and 11th. Ms. Mogherini has tried to seal an agreement between Cuba and the EU to normalize relations, jumping at the opportunity that arose when President Obama ushered in the process on behalf of the United States. Yesterday -- Friday, March 4th -- Ms Mogherini's office said, "We have covered all the chapters of the agreement with Cuba." She also says her arrival in Cuba just a few days ahead of President Obama's visit on March 21-22 is only "coincidental." Ms. Mogherini told Reuters in 2014 that she is a great admirer of the U. S. "and someday I want to work there." However, she is not an admirer of America's Cuban policy that she feels "hurts innocent people in a smaller country." Ms. Mogherini is a fair and decent leader.

       This week Fox News hosted another Republican presidential debate involving four candidates, any of whom would take what Cristina Escobar calls a "Bay of Pigs approach" to Cuba. The debate process itself is an endless charade primarily designed to make money and propaganda for the corporate billionaires that own the networks. This week -- Thursday, March 3rd -- the glaring headline in USA Today prior to the latest debate was: "GOP Debates Have Turned Into Glorified Reality TV." NO KIDDING!! The article was written by USA Today's media expert Rem Rieder. He wrote: "Once presidential debates were largely civic exercises, sessions to be watched dutifully to learn about the policy positions of the rivals." But of course "once" was a long time ago, back when the U. S. democracy and even the media was actually serious about trying to be a democracy. Now both the U. S. democracy and the media have evolved into propaganda machines, one reason Cuba's brilliant young Cristina Escobar says emphatically, "I don't want the U. S. to bring me democracy. That is a project for the Cubans on the island." Escobar is a better and fairer broadcast journalist than Fox's overly hyped Megyn Kelly, the primary debate moderator. Again last night in the debate in Detroit, the un-shuffled deck was stacked against front-runner Donald Trump in favor of Kelly's choir-boy favorite Marco Rubio. For example, after Trump made a sane comment, Kelly quickly shifted her pro-Rubio gears to say, "But the point I'm making is, you change your mind on so many things, so what's your core?" Whatever his core is, it is for sure that all the network broadcasters and pundits want to destroy him so their choir boy Rubio can be elevated to the throne, and the very same gigantic effort is being wildly, unconscionably, and unabashedly conducted by the entire Republican establishment and by every right-wing billionaire who is notable for trying to purchase America's democracy for themselves. Those billionaires and the Republican establishment know they can control Rubio but they are not sure they would be able to dictate to a less definable Trump. Meanwhile, on behalf of the billionaires who own the media, such propaganda shames democracy by repeatedly and clearly saying, "Americans, you can vote but if your vote is for Trump or for anyone we don't like, we will over-rule it, understand?" From her perch in Havana, young Ms. Escobar observes that and says, "I don't want the U. S. to bring me democracy...." In other words, left to their own devices, she thinks her young generation of Cubans on the island might be able to craft a democracy not propagandized by what USA Today simply calls "Glorified Reality TV." 

         Dana Loesch represents what the broadcast media in America...radio and television...has evolved into, namely right-wing propaganda machines. Ms. Loesch is a radio and TV right-wing pundit of the first order, and a star on both Fox and Blaze, with the latter being the radio and television empire owned by right-wing propagandist Ken Beck. Thursday night, after moderating the debate in Detroit, Megyn Kelly on Fox continued the Glorified Reality TV farce by hosting a right-wing panel of analysts that included the foul-tongued Dana Loesch. The vilification of Trump and the glorification of Rubio continued unabated. At one point Ms. Loesch promoted Rubio and trashed Trump by using the word "phallic" to imply that Trump was not manly endowed, picking up on Rubio's earlier very stupid and very boyish references to Trump's "small hands...and you know what that means." Yes, we...uh...know what that means, unfortunately. It means that Fox, Megyn Kelly, Dana Loesch, and their ilk have turned the once-proud broadcast media in the United States into one giant propaganda machine, nothing more and nothing less than "Glorified Reality TV."

Photo courtesy of: Southern Country Home Magazine.

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