Cuba, A TWO-SIDED STORY

So, Let's Talk Both Sides!
{Tuesday, May 16th, 2017}

Photo courtesy of Nora Lewis.

      Americans need to know this young lady, Victoria Ferraro. She graduates from the University of Rhode Island on May 21st, 2017. She has just returned from spending a semester at the University of Havana. The experience was shocking to her as it would be shocking to other everyday Americans if they were not the only people in the world who, for decades, have not been allowed to visit Cuba. Quite fortuitously, Ms. Ferraro got to go to Cuba via a special education program and because former President Obama had the guts and the decency to slice into America's self-serving, draconian Cuban policy mostly dictated since 1959 by a handful of revengeful exiles from the ousted Batista-Mafia dictatorship. In dictating the U. S. policy regarding Cuba, the Batistianos and their sycophants in the U. S. Congress have dictated that quiescent everyday Americans are indeed the only people in the world without the freedom to visit Cuba. That's important because it enables the regrouped Batistiano faction to dictate the Cuban narrative in the United States, which insinuates that the brutal, thieving Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba till 1959 was composed of Mother Teresa-type sweethearts. With such a propaganda-ruled narrative, U. S. tax dollars have funded since 1959 military, terrorist and embargo tactics designed to annihilate Revolutionary Cuba, presumably to restore the Batistianos to power. Along the way it has sacrificed much of America's international reputation, which gets a current 191-to-0 condemnation regarding Cuba in the United Nations. But remember, all those 191 nations, including America's best worldwide friends, are not overwhelmed by Batistiano lies and intimidation.

          And so, back from Cuba and thus a bit more enlightened, Victoria Ferraro is totally "amazed" about the Cuba she now knows as opposed to the Cuba she has been propagandized about for the first 22 years of her life. In a major article on the University of Rhode Island website this month, Ms. Ferraro said, "What was most unexpected was how much Cubans love America. They love our music, our culture. We're not forbidden to them. You'd be amazed..." Yes, indeed. Americans would "be amazed" about Cuba if the handful of counter-revolutionaries who selfishly dictate America's Cuban policy did not dictate that everyday Americans are the only people in the world without the freedom to visit Cuba and judge it for themselves.

            So, Victoria Ferraro, thanks for that reminder upon your return home.

      There are over two million moderate and very decent Cuban-Americans in the Miami area who agree with President Obama's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. Unfortunately, it seems only the most extreme counter-revolutionary types are eligible to be elected to the U. S. Congress from that wide-ranging and diverse faction. And since 1959, it also seems that neither the United States voters nor the United States media have the courage or the patriotism to ask why that is so. In past American generations, however, stalwarts in the U. S. democracy, I believe, would have asked such questions in defense of the United States and democracy.

This photo and the following one are courtesy of the Miami Herald.

        The CEO of Equality Florida, Nadine Smith, and other counter-revolutionary-type Floridians arrived in Cuba last weekend -- on May 13, 2017 -- in an unending effort to reshape the Cuban government. Ms. Smith told the Miami Herald, "I began my activism helping to found the International Gay and Lesbian Youth Organization in the '80s and I'm pleased to have an opportunity to return to the roots by connecting with activists in Cuba. Florida has a special connection to the people of Cuba. Our state has been a destination of hope and a beacon of light in the midst of a brutal regime." I have no problem with her first two sentences above but I question the third sentence about Cuba's present "brutal regime." Such propaganda, of course, is politically correct and generally unquestioned in Florida but it seems to imply, as always, that the previous Cuban regime -- the Batista-Mafia one -- was a Mother Teresa-type sweetheart government and that every Florida-directed action regarding Revolutionary Cuba since 1959 has been both decent and correct. There are, of course, mountains of very respectable documentations that say otherwise.

       At the podium above with his palm out-stretched is Tony Lima and he is backed by Dexter Lehtinen and Havana-born, Miami-based U. S. Congresswoman {since 1989} Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. As American citizens I believe they should have input in the U.S.-Cuban narrative and in formulating U.S.-Cuban policy. However, I believe the majority opinions of over two million Cuban-Americans in South Florida should also have input into the Cuban narrative and Cuban policies in the United States, and polls show that the majority of Cuban-Americans favor normalizing relations with Cuba, as does the former very decent United States President Barack Obama and as does the international community -- by a 191-to-0 vote in the United Nations.

        One of the highest-profile Cuban-Americans in Miami is Hugo Cancio. He was born in Cuba in 1964 and arrived in the United States courtesy of the famed Mariel Boatlift in 1980 when an irked Fidel Castro decided to rid the island of unwanted dissidents and other undesirables that included prisoners. Wikipedia's bio of Hugo Cancio reveals that he "pretended to be a homosexual to be granted the authorization to leave." Hugo's wife and three daughters live in Miami but, as a top businessman, he travels often to Cuba and also has an office in Havana. Hugo is Founder and CEO of Miami-based Fuego Enterprises. He publishes two bilingual magazines and they are both published and read in both Cuba and America. Like most Cuban-Americans even in Miami, Hugo strongly advocates for normal and friendly relations between Cuba and the United States. In fact, in interviews both in Cuba and America Hugo has lamented the fact that the majority opinions of Cuban-Americans like him are not represented in South Florida or by Congressional politics in Washington.

The outspoken Miami-Cuban Hugo Cancio.

 The outspoken Miami-Cuban Hugo Cancio in Havana.

       On U. S. soil and Cuban soil and in international hook-ups, Hugo Cancio voices his important themes -- such as advocating normal relations between the U. S. and Cuba and lamenting the fact that the majority opinions of like-minded Cuban-Americans in South Florida are not represented politically in the USA, the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave {at least prior to 1959}. In the above photo, Hugo Cancio is being interviewed in Havana by Cuban journalist Cristina Escobar.

And speaking of Cristina Escobar:

       Cuba is now showcasing its superstar broadcast journalist Cristina Escobar on a brand-new channel -- Canal Caribe -- that also affords her Skype hook-ups for live international interviews in addition to comfy on-set interviews like the one shown above. The new channel is aimed at Cuba's well-educated and increasingly restive and influential young-adult generation. It proposes to provide news and information truthfully and without bias because it is aware that, in this digital age, the well-educated young Cubans are too smart and too informed to be misled or misguided. In that milieu, Ms. Escobar is well respected in Cuba, the region and...yes...even the United States...as I will explain below. 

Canal Caribe and Cristina Escobar.

Canal Caribe and a Cristina Escobar interview.

The Canal Caribe set with anchor Cristina Escobar.

      By the time she was in her mid-twenties, Cristina Escobar's talent as a broadcast journalist, speaking in Spanish or English, had expanded beyond Cuba into the region, including the United States, and around the world via venues such as YouTube as well as foreign interviews of Ms. Escobar herself by other journalists.

       She has reportedly been offered outrageous economic and other defection incentives but Cristina Escobar is pure Cuban and fiercely devoted to the island.

      On her journalistic visits to the United States, Cristina Escobar has gained some important fans -- such as Barack Obama, the former United States President; Andrea Mitchell, the matriarch of American broadcast journalists who is still the best reporter at NBC-TV News; and Josh Earnest, former President Obama's Press Secretary. That resulted in Cristina, as shown above, making history by being the first Cuban journalist to ask questions at a White House news conference, and she took advantage of that opportunity by asking Josh Earnest six pertinent questions.

      While in Washington to cover the 4th and final Vidal-Jacobson diplomatic session that paved the way for the reopening of Cuban-U. S. embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time since 1961, Cristina Escobar made some headlines by dominating the Josh Earnest-White House news conference. Then, as shown above, she was stopped even in parking lots for U. S. television interviews. By then she was making some more headlines in America with comments such as, "Cuban journalists have more freedom to tell the truth about the U. S. than U. S. journalists have to tell the truth about Cuba;" and, "I don't want the U. S. to bring me democracy. That is a project for Cubans on the island, not Cubans in Miami and in Washington." 

        In addition to being a superb broadcast journalist and anchor, Cristina Escobar, as shown above, is often interviewed by foreign networks about U.S.-Cuban issues because she is well-versed about those topics. Her University of Havana thesis eerily predicted how President Barack Obama's presidency would affect Cuba.

An international interview featuring Cristina.

        Respected U. S. journalist and Cuban expert Tracey Eaton was sent to Cuba by the Pulitzer Center to interview Cristina Escobar and the above image is taken from that interview. She consented to the video-taped session just before getting prepared to anchor her own news program. Two versions -- one just over 15 minutes and one just over 3 minutes -- are posted on YouTube as well as on the Pulitzer Center website. In that interview you can see and hear her candid and forceful comments such as, "Cuba's fate is up to Cubans, not Americans." I believe the Cuban narrative in America should include the directly expressed views of Cubans in Cuba like Cristina and not just the views of a handful of Cuban-Americans in Miami and in the United States Congress who supposedly speak for Cuba's Cubans. 

See...there are TWO SIDES to the Cuban conundrum.

And...one side is well represented by Cristina Escobar.
And by the way:

       Sunday was May 14, 2017 -- MOTHERS DAY. The Mothers Day photo above was taken by Yuliat Danay Acosta. The young mother lives in Havana. Her name: Rosy Amaro Perez. A beautiful photo; a beautiful mother; and a beautiful daughter.

This photo is courtesy of Cyber Cuba.

       On Mother's Day the talented Puerto Rican singer Olga Tanon sent her love to Cuba. On Telemundo's "A New Day" program on Saturday, May 13th, Olga talked about her great affection for Cuba. She said she is eternally grateful to Cuban doctors for treating her daughter Gabriella, who has suffered from developmental health problems. Olga says a drug developed by Cuban doctors and scientists now prevents her daughter from getting the previously very debilitating infections.

        Because she was born in Santurce and Puerto Rico is a United States Territory, Olga Tanon is a United States citizen. But her heart is in Cuba. She is shown above in Havana with the United States embassy behind her right shoulder. Olga is a truly great singer and a multiple Grammy-award winner. From Havana to Santiago de Cuba she has performed before tens of thousands of adoring Cubans at outdoor concerts billed as "Anti-Imperialist Tributes." If you go to YouTube, you can see some of Olga's "Anti-Imperialist" performances in Cuba. And seeing is believing.

In her beloved Cuba, Olga Tanon.

See, I told you "Cuba is a TWO-SIDED Story."

     This photo will surprise most Americans. It shows Mariela Castro on Mothers Day -- Sunday, May 14, 2017 -- leading a large anti-homophobia demonstration in Havana. Mariela is the feisty daughter of President Raul Castro and the late Vilma Espin.

         The huge anti-homophobia demonstration in Havana on Mothers Day was within sound and sight of the United States embassy, the blue 7-story building in the background. As this photo was taken, the crowd that included Mariela Castro was loudly chanting, "Revolution Yes! Homophobia No!" and "I am Fidel! I am Fidel!"

Yes, Cuba is a Two-Sided Story.

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