A Fresh Glance at Cuba

 An Island in Flux 
 {Updated: Tuesday, July 19th, 2016} 

        Josefina Vidal is Cuba's top minister in dealing with U. S. issues and normally she is tough but also quite poised and diplomatic. But sometimes in exasperation she throws up her hands in disgust. Yesterday was one of those days. Ecuador, more disgusted than Vidal, has deported 75 Cubans back to Cuba. They were among the thousands of Cubans and their traffickers taking the expensive air-land route to the Mexican border where Cubans who touch U. S. soil, and only Cubans, are awarded instant residency with instant benefits totally unavailable to all non-Cubans. "The U. S. Wet Foot/Dry Foot law related to Cubans is a joke," Vidal fumed, "but all other nations have never laughed at it. For heaven's sake! Instead of mocking the U. S. and democracy for another six decades, perhaps the Batista take-over of the U. S. Congress should be challenged by Americans interested in preserving their nice democracy!"

      Americans know but may not recognize this young Cuban. It's Elian Gonzalez. He's now 22-years-old and he has just graduated from college. Yes, at his graduation he sported a beard. His idol is Fidel Castro. He read a speech at his graduation and noted that Fidel turns 90-years-old "in less than a month." He also said, "I want him to know that my classmates and I will fight from whatever trench the revolution demands." After the ceremony, he said: "In my case, I like to study and in my free time I go out with my brothers, my friends. I enjoy swimming and I like baseball. What young Cuban doesn't like baseball? I like music and I read a lot. Fidel still sends me very nice books."

      This is the Elian Gonzalez photo that will forever be seared in history. In 1999 in the Florida Straits his mother drowned trying to reach the United States but saved 5-year-old Elian's life via a final motherly gesture by putting him on an inner tube, which drifted near Florida where he was rescued by two fishermen. For months a tug-of-war for Elian's custody gripped the world with his father and Cuba battling anti-Castro Cuban-Americans who had control of him, defying the U. S. government till U. S. Marshals, as depicted above, rescued a frightened Elian who was flown back to Cuba on June 28, 2000.

        This photo was taken in July of 2001 in Elian's hometown of Cardenas, Cuba. The six-year-old Elian is shown smiling at and listening intently to Fidel Castro who has remained in close touch with Elian. To this day Castro equates the return to Cuban soil of Elian with his victory at the Bay of Pigs in 1961.

       This is Adrian Morejon. He was born just 17 years ago in a very poor Cuban town. He is now a multi-millionaire. The San Diego Padres wrote him an $11 million dollar check as a signing bonus. In fact, the Padres wanted Adrian so badly that, after giving him an $11 million check, they had to give Major League Baseball another $11 million check as a penalty for over-spending on "international players" such as the teenage Adrian. It's a microcosm of the U.S.-Cuban conundrum that has left Cuba very, very poor while reminding the island of nearby gluttony.

       American baseball scouts spotted Adrian Morejon as a left-handed pitcher for Cuba's 15-and-under Mayabeque team. They then fawned over him at the 15-and-under World Cup in Mexico.

      Cuba is an absolute gold mine for producing baseball players. The pipeline of Cuban stars defecting to the U. S. creates a lot of instant millionaires -- the players and, in many cases, their traffickers, some of whom have imprisoned the players till they got their share of the huge bonuses. Embargoed for over a half century by the U. S. government, the Cuba-to-the-U.S. baseball pipeline is reminiscent of the 1950s when the rape and robbery of Cuba was on Cuban soil by the U.S-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship. Since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the rape and robbery of Cuba has taken place off the island. Of course, propagandized Americans accepted the Batista-Mafia rule of Cuba in the 1950s and now accept the U. S. Congress's dictation of Cuba. But if you're a baseball prospect, the upfront million-dollar bonuses are indeed real money.

          Fidel Castro's all-time favorite baseball player was Yulieski Gourriel, shown here with the island's revolutionary legend. The operative word this weekend is was. Yulieski last played in Cuba in 2015 and this weekend he is signing a $47.5 million contract with the Houston Astros in the money-crazed U. S. 

       For over a decade Yulieski Gourriel was Fidel's and the country's most beloved baseball player. That was so because of his talent and his refusal to defect and become an instant multi-millionaire in the U. S., which craves Cuba's baseball stars. Yulieski is now 32-years-old. The $47.5 million contract with Houston is totally guaranteed even if he never gets a Major League base hit. He will be paid $3.5 million the rest of this season and then in the next four seasons his guaranteed salaries will be $14 million, $12 million, $10 million and $8 million.

     This photo shows Yuliesky Gourriel {on the left} and his brother Lourdes when they decided to leave Cuba and become multi-millionaire baseball players in the United States. The guaranteed $47.5 million Houston has given Yuliesky realizes his dream. But Lourdes will get far more. The even-more-talented Lourdes is just 22-years-old, ten years younger than Gourriel. The Houston Astros have already announced that they will bid "highly" for Lourdes against the other 29 MLB teams. Lourdes said, "I've been beside Yuliesky all my life. I would love to be with my brother in the Houston Astros organization."

       Major League baseball in the United States is already awash with Cuban stars, such as Yoenis Cespedes, the 30-year-old outfielder with the New York Mets. Wikipedia says Yoenis is being paid $17.5 million this year but that is outdated. USA Today correctly says Yoenis is being paid exactly $27,328,046 this year by the Mets. He is a free agent at the end of the season, meaning all 30 Major League teams can bid for Yoenis Cespedes this coming winter.

      This is a rich young Cuban named Yoan Moncada. He is a speedy 21-year-old switch-hitting second baseman in the Minor League system of the Boston Red Sox. He is currently rated the best baseball prospect in the world. Boston gave Yoan a guaranteed $31.5 million signing bonus -- a bonus, not a salary. And the Red Sox wouldn't think of taking a $250 million offer for Yoan today.

         28-year-old Cuban lefthander Aroldis Chapman is the lights out closer for the New York Yankees. Before Boston gave Yoan Moncada that $31.5 million signing bonus, the largest in baseball history had been the $16.25 million signing bonus the Cincinnati Reds gave Chapman in 2010. Chapman too is a free agent at the end of this season and all 30 teams can bid for him, the only man on the planet with fast balls up to 105 miles-per-hour. There are pitchers who don't have 105 mph fast balls -- like Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, and David Price -- who are making in excess of $30 million per year on long-term, guaranteed contracts. With the island of Cuba being a baseball mecca, no wonder U. S. teams salivate over getting Cubans to defect. And if you study the above bonuses and salaries, it is also no wonder that even the most loyal Cuban, Yulieski Gourriel, has finally capitulated to those Yankee dollars.

         The red dots on this map reflect the six Cuban cities that will soon be getting commercial flights from American Airlines. Till President Obama intervened, they had not been allowed for over half-a-century. 

       The co-founder of MEDICC, Gail Reed, is one of many American medical experts yearning for U.S.-Cuban medical cooperation when and if the U. S. Congress ever lifts the ancient embargo of Cuba.

       The democracy-loving Congresswoman from California, Barbara Lee, has always fought tenaciously to get the U. S. to normalize relations with Cuba. Congresswoman Lee is second from the left in this photo that includes three young doctors. She was impressed with Cuba's Latin American hospital that provides totally free educations to poor foreign students who are only asked to return and, at least for a time, serve their home areas. Ms. Lee was instrumental in persuading the Cuban government to include Americans.

       One of the gracious Americans who have graduated from Cuba's Latin American School of Medicine is Dr. Lillian Holloway. Back home now as a skilled U. S. doctor, she doesn't owe Cuba a single penny.

Dr. Lillian Holloway.

      This Getty Images photo shows the beautiful Cuban Port of Cienfuegos. As you can see on the map at the top of this report, Cienfuegos is one of the Cuban cities that will soon have U. S. commercial airplane flights for the first time in half a century. Cienfuegos is also now one of the stops for U. S. cruise ships.

       Cienfuegos is in south-central Cuba, northwest of the gorgeous colonial city of Trinidad. West of Cienfuegos is a beautiful, historic beach called Playa Giron. Americans know it in English as the Bay of Pigs and in Spanish as Bahia de Cochinos, the site of a surprising Cuban military triumph in April of 1961.

Tourist love the beach at Playa Giron, the old battle site.

Playa Giron now has a very beautiful hotel.

The Playa Giron museum reminds visitors of the battle.

       Tourists who visit Playa Giron will be reminded that Fidel Castro, when he realized the U.S.-Cuban exile attack would be at the Bay of Pigs in April of 1961, rushed to the frontlines and led the successful defense.

       But today -- as Fidel Castro nears his 90th birthday on August 13th and as President Obama bravely believes Americans have a right to visit Cuba -- this is the peaceful beach tourists will find at Playa Giron.

And speaking of baseball:

       This is Melissa Mayeux. She is French and now 17-years-old. She doesn't speak English or Spanish but she is the only female in history who has been put on the list that makes her eligible to be signed by a Major League baseball team. If you Google her name and watch the videos of her and listen to what MLB scouts say about her, you'll understand why. She is a brilliant defensive shortstop and a powerful hitter.

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