Cuba on the Brink

 A Sink-or-Swim Island 

  The great London-based newspaper The Guardian does the best job of reporting on Cuba from Cuba. The photo above illustrated an article by Oliver Wainwright in which he called Havana "one of the world's great cities on the brink of a fraught transition." Discussing the overflow from President Obama's historic efforts to normalize relations with Cuba, Mr. Wainwright wrote: "Cuba for Sale: Havana is now the big cake -- and everyone is trying to get a slice." He then updated Cuba's efforts to "open its doors to the world." Being British, Oliver Wainwright can write fairly about Cuba; being American, U. S. journalists are either too intimidated or too politically correct to do the same.

       This Reuters/Claudia Daut photo shows run-down buildings in Havana. In his article, Oliver Wainwright said such buildings are "undergoing a spate of restoration" but he wondered "if the city of Havana can cope with the commercial storms ahead." Those eclectic storms include an influx of tourists and investment dollars on the heels of President Obama's historic efforts to normalize relations with the nearby island.

       The journalist Oliver Wainwright took this photo of Havana Harbor and explained that Cuba planned to invest in sharply improving the waterway...at least till Venezuela, in dire straits itself, was forced to curtail its oil shipments to the island by 20% with bigger reductions looming very ominously for both nations.

    Cuba has curtailed upgrades to this elevated railway system.

      While the renovation work in Havana is a mammoth undertaking, The Guardian used this Oliver Wainwright photo to point out that all around the city improvements are surely but slowly being made.

      With the financial assistance of Brazil, Cuba's all-important Mariel Port has received a billion-dollar upgrade and its deeper waters can now handle much larger container ships than Havana's port. The splendid Mariel Economic Zone is vital to Cuba's economic future as it tries to diversify its financial focus.

Ana Teresa Igarza is the Director of the Mariel Port.

        U. S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker visited the Mariel Port and was "awesomely impressed." She is shown above talking enthusiastically to Charlie Baker. He is the Director of the Mariel Container Terminal. That is Mariel's overall boss, Ana Teresa Igarza, in the white jacket. Ana told Secretary Pritzker, "This port is vital to us and the Caribbean. The biggest challenge and threat to it is the U. S. embargo of Cuba. I know it is Miami and the Congress that keeps the embargo in place but I appreciate your understanding."

       This excellent map shows the strategic location of the Mariel Port, just 30 miles southwest of Havana and 90 miles southwest of Key West, Florida. Further to the south is the newly deepened and expanded Panama Canal that links two oceans and is now taking much larger container ships through Panama.

      But this updated Reuters photo shows the two-sides of the Cuban equation. In the background is that spanking new, billion-dollar Mariel Port. In the foreground is what to this day is a common means of travel in Cuba -- a horse and buggy. Most people in the world, such as Penny Pritzker and President Obama, hope Cuba's future revolves around such things as a successful Mariel Port. But there remains in Miami and Washington a small but powerful contingent of Cuban-Americans who hope to dictate, as they have since 1959, that such things as the horse-and-buggy -- or worse -- remain as the dominant forces in Cuba." 

And by the way: 

        This is a very iconic Reuters photo related to the recent history of Cuba's Mariel Port. It was taken on January 27, 2014 as President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil and Cuba's President Raul Castro were arriving to celebrate the billion-dollar overall of the vital port. President Rousseff's Brazil had invested $900,000.

Presidents Rousseff and Castro led the Mariel celebration.

        Dilma Rousseff has twice been democratically elected President of Brazil, Latin America's largest, richest, most populated and most important nation. As noted above, her approval rating has soared as high as a phenomenal 91% because the majority of people in Brazil are poor. Dilma dearly loves Brazil's poorest, most maligned people. All of her adult life she has paid, and is paying, a steep price for that love.

       As a girl in Brazil, Dilma was appalled about the treatment the Brazilian peasants were receiving from a U.S.-backed dictatorship. Inspired by the Cuban Revolution, she became a fierce guerrilla fighter.

   Dilma was captured and became prisoner #3023. After a rigged military trial, she was unmercifully tortured in prison for many months. After becoming the democratically elected President of Brazil, the United Nations, as trials of such dictators and their collaborators are still underway in Latin America, asked her to painfully recount the details of her torture, which she tearfully and painfully did. 

       Dilma Rousseff is crying today too. As the two-term, democratically elected President of Brazil, she has been impeached. As Brazil prepares to host the Olympics in a few days, she is fighting that impeachment just as she fought those brutal dictators in her youth. As the appeals process continues, she is confined to her quarters. Ironically, it seems the impeachment leaders against her are similar to those dictators she fought long ago. Those impeachment leaders, backed by a cabal of very rich Brazilians, resent all the resources Dilma as President has devoted to the needy majority poor as opposed to the greedy, minority rich. She calls her impeachment "a coup perpetrated by criminals." Many observers agree with her.

      As an unbiased, internationally renowned newspaper, London's The Guardian has covered the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff fairly. She has not been charged with a crime but many...some say most...of the impeachment leaders in Brazil's Lower Congress have been charged with crimes such as taking bribes from the rich elite. Dilma herself remains a fighter and she is not an easy sacrificial lamb. She says, "I will never regret what I have done on behalf of the poor people in my beloved country, even though it put me in a terrible prison when I was young and has impeached me as President now. One thing I do regret is that anti-Cuban elements in the United States supported the dictatorship I fought against and, I believe, are again supporting those who have now impeached me. Many of my democratically elected friends in Latin America have told me the same thing -- including the Presidents of Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Nicaragua in particular. The Cuban Revolution ushered in hopes for democracy in my country and throughout Latin America. Now don't ask me why so-called fringe or minority forces in the U. S. were allowed and are allowed to hurt poor people in other countries. You should ask the U. S. that question. As for the particulars related to my Presidency and to my impeachment, you can ask me. I believe I am well-versed on the particulars." It is tough to see a great lady cry, especially when the tears are caused by greedy fiends.

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