Vidal Speaks Bluntly!!
The above photo is courtesy of Reuters/Carlos Barria. It was taken March 21-2016 in Havana and shows the left hand of U. S. President Barack Obama reaching out to the right hand of Cuban President Raul Castro. The photo eerily documents the historic and brave overtures Obama has made in a valiant attempt to normalize relations with Cuba. His trip to Cuba was the first by a sitting U. S. president since Herbert Hoover in 1928 arrived on a warship. Obama came in peace displaying deep respect for both the Cuban people and for America's democracy, which is currently being denounced in the United Nations with a 191-to-0 vote that unanimously condemns America's vile, Batistiano-driven Cuban policy. Before and after shaking hands with Castro, Obama has astutely used executive powers to sharply slice into the bastardly U. S. Congress policy regarding Cuba -- reopening embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time since 1961; arranging commercial air traffic and sea cruises to Cuba for the first time since 1962, etc., etc. But a rich and powerful contingent of revengeful Cuban-Americans, with massively cancerous tentacles in Congress and in Republican White Houses, can and will fight back furiously to continue its now vast and lucrative Castro Cottage Industry in the United States. Obama, the decent Democratic president, is concluding his two-term presidency and will make way for Republican Donald Trump on January 20th. Trump has already stated that he will reverse the positive Cuban overtures that Obama has made, and Trump will have the support of the Republican & Batistiano-controlled Congress. The photo above illustrates a major Reuters article today -- Dec. 8-2016 -- that fairly updates Cuba's thoughts on the impending Obama-to-Trump transition that will determine much of the coming U.S.-Cuban relations. The article, which you should read, is entitled: Cuba Wants to Sign Accords With U. S. Before Obama exits."
Beyond doubt, Sarah Marsh of Reuters has emerged as the best source of information from Cuba. Since April of 2016 she has had the title of that powerful news agency's Chief Cuban Correspondent. She is both brilliant and fair. Although still young, she has reported for Reuters from Berlin, London, Frankfurt, Buenos Aires, Vienna and now Havana. Incredibly, she speaks these languages fluently: English, Spanish, French, German, and Italian. Sarah wrote today's aforementioned article that superbly updates the major face-to-face bilateral U.S.-Cuban session that took place yesterday concerning the imminent Obama-to-Trump presidential transition in the United States. She made these points:
"Cuba said on Wednesday it hoped to sign off on at least a half a dozen agreements with the United States before businessman Donald Trump, who has threatened to derail detente between the former Cold War foes, becomes United States President on January 20th. The more Cuba and the United States deepen their detente prior to Trump, the more irreversible it will become."
With that preamble, Sarah Marsh then got to the crux of yesterday's significant U.S.-Cuban meeting by liberally quoting the session's most important participant -- Cuba's American expert Josefina Vidal.
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For going on fifteen years, Cuba has put its omnipotent relations with the United States in the skilled and determined hands and heart of Josefina Vidal. Almost three years ago, top aides of President Obama contacted Vidal and told her Obama, in the closing years of his two-term presidency, wanted to normalize relations between the two countries. Vidal was both receptive and excited but she drew a line in the sand: "If you remove Cuba from your Sponsors of Terrorism list, I will sincerely discuss the normalization process with any of Obama's representatives." She actually did not believe Obama had the courage to meet her demand, but he surprised her. Then Vidal faithfully kept her very sincere promise to talk to the United States.
Obama chose his most skilled diplomat, Roberta Jacobson, to go head-to-head against Vidal in four historic sessions, two in Havana and two in Washington. They hammered out the detente that will be a major thrust of Obama's legacy, regardless of how the Batistianos and the Republicans counteract it.
That brings us right up to today -- December 8, 2016 -- and Vidal's up-to-the-minute quotes in Sarah Marsh's Reuters article summarising yesterday's bilateral meeting with Obama's Cuban experts. Here are Vidal's exact words and, yes, she speaks for Cuba on any and all things related to the United States:
"At the moment we are negotiating 12 more accords with the aim to absolutely conclude and sign a majority of them. Cuba would hope the new U. S. government takes into account the results of the existing differences between us and do so without having to make demands for concessions to the principles in which Cuba firmly believes."
With those words, Vidal merely restates her willingness to continue with incoming President Trump the path toward normalization she has paved with outgoing President Obama. She also, as Sarah Marsh opined, remains anxious to sign more major "accords" with the Obama administration prior to the Trump administration, believing that businessman Trump will be reluctant to quash Obama-related business deals that have already acutely benefited thousands of everyday Cubans on the island as well as thousands of American workers. But Vidal is not naive. She is aware that, for decades, only the most radical Cuban exiles aligned with the most self-serving U. S. right-wingers have successfully carved out a vast Castro Cottage Industry that caters to the revenge, economic and political goals of a select few. Vidal is also aware that most Americans, most Cuban-Americans and all the nations of the world, as reflected by the 191-to-0 UN vote, support her quest and Obama's quest to normalize relations between her pugnacious Cuba and Obama's more decent America. Vidal was recently asked a simple question by a Spanish "El Pais" journalist: "What would you most like to see changed about the United States' attitude toward Cuba." Without hesitation Vidal replied: "All I ask is that the United States respect our hard-earned independence and sovereignty and treat Cuba within the boundaries and parameters of its most famous democratic tenets."
Apart from yesterday's bilateral meeting that featured Josefina Vidal representing Cuba once again, two Miami-based cruise giants -- Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Lines -- jointly announced they have now received Cuban and American approval for both brands to operate voyages to Cuba from Florida.
Just last week, thanks to President Obama, American Airlines became the first commercial airline to fly from U. S. soil to Cuba's capital city of Havana since 1961. The historic event enthused all those U. S. workers shown above jubilantly displaying a huge Cuban flag. It, of course, angered a few hardcore Cuban-Americans in Congress who, right now, are depending on President-elect Trump to end all such sanity.
And by the way:
Do you know this All-American beauty? If you don't, you soon will. Her ubiquity in the coming years will overwhelm you. Her name is Tomi Lahren. As you can probably guess, she is of Norwegian and German ancestry. She is 24-years-old and from South Dakota. She graduated from the University of Nevada in 2014. She has many millions of followers on Facebook where her nascent but now mammoth fame began with political videos. She is fiercely conservative and combative enough to face and defeat veteran liberals on a moment's notice. She has awesome talent for extemporaneous speaking and, additionally, exceptional skill in both writing and reading teleprompters. The networks noticed. Bill O'Reilly, whose mighty Fox program overwhelms all other cable "news" shows, is mesmerized by Tomi's...well her looks, her youth, her talent, her views or...whatever. Tomi now has her own mesmerizing program on Ken Beck's The Blaze network while the larger and more conventional networks are salivating about Tomi's potential. Did I say potential? Hell, ready or not, Tomi's already arrived!! And she'll likely stick around for awhile.
And, uh...OH, YES. Tomi Lahren staunchly believes that the "trend" toward all-consuming political correctness, out-of-control diversity programs, and media cowardness "should not" be allowed to subjugate or stamp out the entire white race. And...lo 'n behold...Tomi's voice is getting louder not just day-by-day but literally by the hour. As Bill O'Reilly opined, Tomi's looks and youth snare your attention but then her talent and her views encapsulate you. By the time she turns 25, she might change America...or even replace Van Jones on CNN and Rachel Maddow on MSNBC!! Fresh looks, check. Fresh voice; check.
WOW!!
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