cubaninsider: Welcome to Cuba

Obama Opened the Door
Wednesday, April 27th, 2016

This Disney Fantasy Cruise ship had a typical experience in the Florida Straits Tuesday, April 26th. It was sailing off the northwestern coast of Cuba when it spotted and rescued 3 Cuban-American fugitives clinging frantically to the side of an overturned boat. As usual, they were simply turned over to the long-frustrated U. S. Coast Guard that's over-burdened by such repetitious events based on salacious U. S. Cuban laws.

The U. S. Coast Guard identified the fugitives as Luis Rivera-Garcia, 30; Juliet Estrada-Perez, 23; and Enrique Gonzalez-Torres, 23. The Coast Guard said they were wanted in Florida and Louisiana on Credit Card fraud. It is routine for cruise ships in the Florida Straits to rescue Cubans fleeing Cuba to take advantage of U. S. laws that permit Cubans, and only Cubans, to be home-free with instant financial benefits beginning the moment they touch United States soil. By the same token, such United States laws favoring only Cubans results in many criminals also severely burdening American taxpayers. While the U. S. media is either too intimidated or too politically correct to point out such facts, the U. S. government is continually burdened by such Cuban-only laws. And, of course, for many decades documentaries, and even famous movies such as Scarface, have scripted story-lines based on such facts.

Cuba, of course, tries to protect itself from U. S. laws such as Wet Foot-Dry Foot, the Cuban Adjustment Act, the Torricelli Bill, Helms-Burton and the vast array of other Cuban-related laws mandated for decades by a handful of self-serving Cuban Americans that are financially and politically aligned with a handful of their right-wing sycophants in the U. S. Congress. Cuba's problem...AND AMERICA'S...is the simple fact that the majority of U. S. citizens, since the 1950s, have had neither the guts nor the patriotism to challenge such affronts to the frayed U. S. democracy. The episode in the Florida Straits, a typical derivative of America's Cuban policy, is a daily problem for the U. S. Coast Guard...and cruise ships in the Florida Straits.

These are the mugshots of the Cuban fugitives that the Disney cruise ship turned over to the U. S. Coast Guard in the Florida Straits yesterday, Tuesday, April 26th. They epitomize U. S. Cuban laws that entice Cubans to the U. S. -- great Cubans, not-great Cubans, all manners of Cubans and only Cubans, making for a gigantic immigration joke. The discriminatory Cuban laws have sapped U. S. tax dollars and U. S. prestige for many decades and a bought-and-paid-for segment of the U. S. Congress wants it to continue, so it probably will. Meanwhile, regarding these three former fugitives, Americans allegedly paid for their credit card fraud and will now pay dearly for their lawyers, their incarcerations, etc. It's a sad, unending sympathy without a coda.

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Posters like this -- "Bienvenido A Cuba" or "Welcome to Cuba" -- now greet the avalanche of tourists flocking to the island since Presidents Obama and Castro in December of 2014 announced their mutual goals of normalizing relations. The reaction has spawned a plethora of growing pains, such as not enough hotel rooms to meet the demands, but most people around the world welcome the bold and brave effort.

Sarah Stephens, the founder and director of the Washington-based Center for Democracy in the Americas, is the prime proof that President Obama, more than any of the previous ten U. S. presidents, is accepting advice on Cuba from democracy-lovers and not just hard-line and self-serving Cuban exiles and their easily acquired sycophants in the U. S. Congress. For example, famed musicians and artists flocking to Cuba are a direct result of President Obama taking suggestions from Ms. Stephens: "Culture has enormous power. It cannot replace diplomacy, but collaboration in the arts and humanities between the U. S. and Cuba can play an important role in moving it forward." The President heeded those words and also listened to Ms. Stephens when she begged him to confront the congressional dictation of America's Cuban policy. She said, "Cuba sanctions in the hands of the U. S. Congress is like a hammer in the hands of a child who discovers that everything is a nail." President Obama, with such reminders, has attempted to restrain such senseless pounding. Thanks to Ms. Stephens, Mr. Obama has created The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. That has resulted in such resounding events as the scintillating Rolling Stones' concert last month followed by other high-profile visitors from the world of arts and entertainment.

Fulfilling Sarah Stephens' considerable cultural input, photos by Desmond Boylan/AP chronicled last week's 4-day visit to Cuba by American superstar musicians Usher and Dave Matthews, for example.

In Havana, Dave Matthews asked many questions about Cuba's past.

Dave Matthews posted the above photo on his Facebook page. It shows him and Smoky Robinson with two members of Cuba's famed Buena Vista Social Club. And on his Facebook page, Dave Matthews wrote these words about Cuba: "The responsibility people have to each other here is very rare, and I love it."

U. S. superstar Usher thrilled his Cuban fans.

Usher's four-day visit to Cuba was a part of Sarah's and the President's large Committee on the Arts and Humanities contingent, but he loves Cuba and is no stranger on the island. The photo above was taken last September when Usher and his new bride, Grace Miguel, flew to Cuba for their honeymoon.

The legendary Smokey Robinson made friends with Cuban schoolchildren.

This Desmond Boylan/AP photo shows Smoky Robinson watching an audacious Cuban schoolgirl performing a dance just for him. He later said, "She was fantastic. All the kids were. I am impressed with the priority Cuba places on its children -- safety-wise, education-wise, and health-wise. The parents and teachers are allowed to fawn over those kids. I believe they are happy. I believe we should try to make them happier."

Sarah Stephens at the Washington-based Center for Democracy in the Americas agrees wholeheartedly with Smoky Robinson and disagrees just as strongly with the assaults by the U. S. Congress on Cuba and its schoolchildren. Ms. Stephens: "Cuba sanctions in the hands of the U. S. Congress is like a hammer in the hands of a child who discovers that everything is a nail." In addition to influencing Obama, Ms. Stephens also influences fair-minded members of the U. S. Congress...such as Kathy Castor and Tom Emmer who will soon sponsor legislation to repel the U. S. embargo of Cuba.

President Luis Guillermo Solis of Costa Rica, speaking for other Latin American leaders, this week railed against U. S. laws that discriminate grossly in favor of Cubans and against all other would-be immigrants. For months his nation has been roiled by up to 8,000 Cubans and now another 2,000 stranded at its border with Nicaragua as they seek to reach the U. S. via the Mexican border. Once setting foot in the U. S., Cubans are home-free with instant financial and residence rewards, a judicious enticement totally unavailable to non-Cubans thanks to the long-standing U. S. Wet Foot/Dry Foot law. An exasperated President Solis said, "It's up to the United States to administer its laws but its Cuban laws should be fair enough so as not to bring hardship to everyone else, including nations like mine who do not deserve and can't afford these fall-outs. The American people need to consider all the Cuban fall-outs."

President Solis is shown here holding a Cuban flag after his arrival at Jose Marti Airport in Havana. Like every single Caribbean and Latin American nation, Costa Rica strongly opposes the U. S. embargo of Cuba as well as such discriminatory laws as Wet Foot/Dry Foot and other U. S. laws enticing Cubans.

The death toll from the devastating earthquake that struck Ecuador has reached 654 with many more still missing. Three of the dead were Cuban doctors that were among the 742 Cuban health personnel working in Ecuador. The day this latest earthquake struck, Cuba dispatched 53 more health workers to the stricken country from its Henry Reeve International Medical Team that is considered the world's best in dealing with such disasters. When Hurricane Katrina was barreling down on New Orleans, Cuba begged the George W. Bush administration for permission to fly 1500 Henry Reeve professionals to New Orleans, but that permission was denied even as the Bush administration famously botched the disaster. By contrast, the Obama administration has gone out of its way to thank Cuba for being among the first to respond to disasters such as the earthquake in Haiti and the Ebola crisis in Africa.

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