Israel Seeks Cuban Ties

Surprises Cuba
{Updated: Thursday, April 7th, 2016}

      Modi Ephraim is the head of the Latin American and Caribbean Division of Israel's Foreign Ministry.  This week {April 5th} a major article in The Jerusalem Post led with this paragraph: "Israel looks favorably on the recent U.S.-Cuba reconciliation and hopes that in the future it, too, will re-establish ties with the Caribbean country, the head of the Foreign Ministry's Latin American and Caribbean Division said on Tuesday." Mr. Ephraim noted that Cuba "has influence on Latin American countries because of its revolutionary elan." He also said that Cuba is a tourist destination for Israeli citizens and that Israel has maintained relations with Cuba in the medical, cultural and environmental areas. According to The Jerusalem Post, Israel does not have formal diplomatic relations with Cuba and with three of Cuba's best friends -- Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Bolivia. Left unsaid is the fact that lack of diplomatic relations with those four nations might simply be a capitulation to the United States; Israel is the recipient of by far the biggest yearly chunk of America's $38 billion in foreign aid.

      Cuba this week is left to ponder the surprise overture from Israel. In recent years, the yearly vote in the United Nations against the U. S. embargo of Cuba has been a resounding 191-to-2 with not a single abstaining nation, despite the unmatched economic and military influence the U. S. has around the world. In all the world, only Israel joins the United States in the United Nations in support of the embargo. As Cuba ponders Israel's kind words yesterday, it also ponders that vote, which Cuba has very sharply criticized.

        This photo reflects the fact that not only the entire world -- except for the U. S. and Israeli governments -- oppose the embargo of Cuba, but most Cuban-Americans, even in Miami, also oppose it. The above demonstration illustrates that many Miami Cuban-Americans were not pleased that their Cuban-American in the U. S. Senate, Marco Rubio, had, they believed, sold-out to Jewish billionaires in his fervent bid for the Republican presidential nomination. Rubio, the favorite of the media and the Republican establishment, quit the race when he was wiped out by Donald Trump in his own home-state of Florida.

     Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is the high-profile Mayor of Baltimore, Maryland. She is also the President of the U. S. Congress of Mayors. She will visit Cuba May 23rd-29th. The week-long trip by Ms. Rawlings-Blake and her staff is seeking business with Cuba, and it will be paid for by the U. S. Congress of Mayors.

      Leo Rodriguez was born in Cuba but he has worked for over quarter-of-a-century for American Airlines in Miami. In fact, Leo -- exactly 25 years ago this week -- was the Tower Planner in Miami that coordinated American's very first charter flight to Cuba on April 5th, 1991. He has been doing it ever since and says, "Back then, going to Cuba was like going to the moon. It was not like it is today. We were pioneers." 

        This is Leo Rodriguez today. As a Cuban-American in Miami, Leo is "very proud that my company's charter flights to Cuba, which I helped start 25 years ago this week, has evolved into commercial flights from the U. S., just like from any other country. We have had our differences but we are neighbors and good people on both sides of the Florida Straits are finally taking charge of the situation. I am proud of being a part of something new for American, America, and Cuba." Leo doesn't yet know how his charter flights will be affected but he is glad that, back in February, President Obama skirted the U. S. Congress and agreed with Cuba to begin up to 110 commercial flights to Cuba daily, the first such flights in over half-a-Century.

       American Airlines has a major hub in Miami and it has applied for more than half of the limit of 20 upcoming commercial flights to Havana plus it is bidding for flights to five other Cuban cities. The U.S.-Cuban agreements calls for 120 daily flights from the U. S. to Cuba -- 20 to Havana and up to another hundred to nine other Cuban cities. The commercial tickets are expected to be priced from $150 to $250 from Miami or Tampa to Havana while the charter tickets are running from $439 to $459. It is estimated the first commercial flights from the U. S. to Cuba in half-a-century could begin in September, and up to 7,300 U. S. commercial flights could land in Cuba in a coming year. Currently there are 12 charter flights a day connecting the U. S. to Cuba but on April 25th Tampa will add four more, pushing its overall total to 11.

       This epic photograph shows waves breaking on and over Havana's famed Malecon seawall. The photo was taken by Ernesto Mastrascusa/EPA. It was first used to illustrate an article written by Oliver Wainwright in London's The Guardian newspaper. The article is entitled: "CUBA FOR SALE: Havana Is Now the Big Cake and Everyone Is Trying to Get a Slice." Wainwright shows dilapidated buildings that are suddenly very valuable because real estate brokers love their locations in what, yet again, may be a thriving Cuba.

           Rodolfo Reyes, Cuba's Ambassador to the United Nations, yesterday -- Wednesday, April 6th -- joined 118 other nations in voting to ban the use of so-called cluster weapons that particularly harm civilians.

     Cuba's UN Ambassador Rodolfo Reyes, third from the right, was congratulated yesterday for voting to ban cluster weapons. He is standing next to Steve Goose, who is holding the brown book. Mr. Goose, the Arms Director of Human Rights Watch and Chairman of the Cluster Munitions Coalition, said, "Cuba is showing others that it is wrong to cling to cluster munitions that invariably cause harm to civilians."

      The New York Times used this photo of a Cuban living room to illustrate an article entitled: "CUBA ON THE EDGE OF CHANGE." The subtitle was: "Yet After All These Decades, an Uncanny Openness Among the Cuban People Remains." That NY Times article explains why President Obama and so many other people, after all these decades, support the Cuban people -- except, of course, the U. S. Congress and Israel.

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