And A Punching-Bag
At this point in time, I believe America's best photographer is Sarah L. Voisin of the Washington Post. Luckily, she seems to have a particular fascination with Cuba. Her photo above shows 23-year-old dancer Henry Labrada dancing on the famed Malecon sea wall with the churning waters of the Florida Straits in the foreground and the historic Havana skyline as the backdrop. It is used to preface an outstanding article in the Washington Post this weekend...August 5th, 2016...written by Mariah Balingit. The article, which also appeared in other top American newspapers including the Denver Post, is entitled: "As the Future Closes in, There is Still Time to Travel to Authentic Cuba." Ms. Balingit and Ms. Voisin toured the entire island to obtain the pulse of everyday Cubans as they react to President Obama's herculean efforts to normalize relations with the island for the first time since Cuban exiles have teamed with the incomparable power of the U. S. government to target the island after Cuba ousted the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship in 1959. Ms. Balingit discovered this fact: "Cubans are ambivalent about the warming relations with the United States. A former hospital worker...she has seen the effects of the U. S. embargo...but she feared what more capitalism -- and more tourists -- would mean for the island. While U. S. travelers have been flying to Havana for years from foreign locales -- Costa Rica and Mexico are popular -- commercial U. S. airlines will soon offer direct flights." Later in this month of August-2016 U. S. commercial airlines will begin flying to ten Cuban cities for the first time since 1962 when the embargo designed to overthrow Revolutionary Cuba went into effect. In the decades since, only special charter flights have been permitted from the U. S. As the insightful article by Ms. Balingit points out, many Cubans are understandably concerned about the portent of a return of U. S. influence, or dominance, on the island. Back in 1952, instead of using its dominance to bring democracy to the island, the U. S. incredibly teamed with the Mafia to infamously support the vile Batista dictatorship, apparently so rich Americans could partake in the fleecing of Cuba. With transplanted Batistianos largely controlling the Cuban narrative in the U. S. since 1959, Americans are not supposed to remember such things. But, as Mariah Balingit's article points out, many Cubans are not quite so forgetful.
This is another Sarah L. Voisin photo featured in that edifying aforementioned Washington Post article this weekend written by Mariah Balingit. This photo shows 26-year-old Cuban Yasmany Garcia at his home in Camaguey playing dominoes with three of his best friends. The observations of photographer Sarah L. Voisin and journalist Mariah Balingit paint an interesting, updated and unbiased portrait of everyday Cubans, Cubans who are not America's enemy and should not...all their lives...be hurt by the U. S. embargo and other Batistiano-inspired U. S. laws that supposedly exist to hurt, eliminate or overthrow Fidel Castro.
Fidel Castro, the young & legendary revolutionary leader.
Fidel Castro turns 90-years-old next week -- Aug. 13, 2016.
And by the way:
Sarah L. Voisin was born in St. Louis, Missouri.
Her photos have graced the Washington Post since 1998.
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