Putting Cuba in Its Crosshairs!
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| Photo courtesy: Adalberto Roque-AFP-Getty Images. |
The photo above was used to illustrate a major article yesterday -- May 31, 2017 -- in Billboard Magazine. It shows a Cuban standing on the Malecon waterfront proudly waving a Cuban flag at a cruise ship entering Havana Harbor. The article in America's top entertainment magazine was written by Judy Canto-Navas and entitled: "5 Cuba Music Tours to Book Before Possible Travel Tightening." Ms. Canto-Navas lamented the fact that President Trump is about to announce his Batistiano-pressured plans to roll back the thawing of U.S.-Cuban relations that had been stamped by a more decent, more intelligent and more democracy-loving President, Barack Obama. Even after Obama's brave challenge to the long-standing Batistiano dictation of America's Cuban policies, everyday Americans remain today the only people in the world without the freedom to visit Cuba. That assault on democracy has been designed to prevent Americans from judging U.S.-Cuban relations themselves and instead forces them to mainly rely on the self-serving distortions and propaganda of a few counter-revolutionaries who reside mostly in Miami and in the U. S. Congress. Obama eased as many of those cruel and undemocratic restrictions as he possibly could, opening up extremely popular slivers of democratic daylight regarding Cuba. Obama's Cuban overtures are supported by a vast majority of Americans, Cuban-Americans and, of course, by ALL of America's best friends around the world, friends mightily embarrassed by America's Bastistiano-driven Cuban policy, which is reflective of how the Batista-Mafia dictatorship ruled Cuba in the 1950s prior to the victory of the Cuban Revolution. Beyond that, America's biggest enemies in the world gleefully point HUGE FINGERS at America's Cuban policy whenever the U. S. criticizes other nations that deserve criticism.
Today -- June 1, 2017 -- on the eve of President Trump's capitulation to Batistiano extremists -- Pearl Seas Cruises has full-page color ads appearing in America's top magazines advertising its upcoming cruises to Cuba. The Pearl Seas ads stress these points: "THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE CUBA EXPERIENCE: Be the very first to experience the captivating heritage of this fascinating island nation on our exclusive 10-night Cuba Cultural Voyage. Relax as you cruise aboard the most modern small cruise ship, Pearl Mist."
Each time the Pearl Mist would have the freedom to sail from Fort Lauderdale-Miami to Cuba, a lot of Americans, including many Cuban-Americans, would be making money off the trips. Because of Obama, 12 major U. S. airlines and cruise lines are currently taking eligible Americans and Cuban-Americans to Cuba. Other major U. S. companies -- including Marriott Hotels, Google, AIRbnb, etc., etc., are already deeply involved in Cuba creating jobs on the island and across the U. S., but the Batistiano-faction in Miami and Congress -- which represents a decisive MINORITY of Cuban-Americans even in Miami -- could care less about America and democracy as long as they can dictate a revengeful, self-serving and extremely hurtful Cuban policy, apparently because since 1959 they have been unable to recapture Cuba even with massive support from sycophants in the U. S. Congress such as Robert Torricelli, Jesse Helms, Dan Burton, etc. Also, of course, the cowardice and lack of patriotism on behalf of large segments of two generations of Americans have fueled the Batistiano-dictated damage to America's and democracy's image...with that segment of Americans not even embarrassed by the 191-to-0 pro-Cuban/anti-American vote in the UN.
The aforementioned full-page, expensive color ads in America's major magazines by Pearl Seas Cruises include the above map. It shows its planned cruises from Fort Lauderdale-Miami that would circle the nearby island of Cuba with stops in six cities -- Havana, Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Casilda, El Cobre, and Santiago. Every port and almost every business in South Florida -- with many or most of them owned and/or managed by non-hostile Cuban-Americans -- strongly desire normal relations and commerce with Cuba. But it is most evident -- IN THE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL DEMOCRACY -- that such moderate Cubans and the vast majority of Americans are over-ruled by just a mere handful of extremists in Miami and in Congress.
With all polls showing that a clear majority of Cuban-Americans in the Miami area support normal relations with Cuba and an end to the embargo, Americans are not supposed to be brave enough or smart enough to ask, "Why is it that only visceral pro-embargo {and worse} Cuban-Americans, as depicted above, seem eligible to be voted into the U. S. Congress?" But in both topical and historic pantheons and judgments of U.S.-Cuban relations, the greatest sin, I believe, is the decades-long cruel punishments of totally innocent Cubans by a self-anointed, mostly unchecked band of counter-revolutionaries.
Study the above AP photo and the AP caption. The photo was taken in January of 1960 in South Florida. It was one year after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, which booted many of the leaders of the Batista-Mafia dictatorship mostly to eternal sanctuaries in South Florida. Immediately, still backed by the Washington-based politicos that had backed the Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba, tax-supported paramilitary units flared up in the Miami area intent on recapturing Cuba. They had access to U. S. warplanes, military bases, etc., as well as the apathy of a post-World War II generation of U. S. citizens. Most Americans are aware of such things as the Bay of Pigs attack on Cuba in April of 1961 and the constant reports of assassination attempts against Fidel Castro, a number that reached 638 according to the Guinness Book of World Reports. But re-study and re-read the AP photo and caption depicted above. You will note the date -- January of 1960, long BEFORE the Bay of Pigs attack, etc. -- when warplanes from South Florida began regularly attacking "Cuban fields with napalm-type bombs." The bombs were not meant to assassinate Fidel Castro; they were meant to recapture Cuba and harm innocent Cubans.
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That brings us to today -- June 1, 2017
From January 1 of 1959 till June 1 of 2017 counter-revolutionary tactics centered in Miami and the United States Congress have failed to recapture Cuba but the ceaseless efforts have been "successful" in creating the current 191-to-0 condemnation in the United Nations of America's Batistiano-driven Cuban policy. The graphic above was created by Garrett Evans. It was used to highlight a major article in The Hill, an influential publication in Washington. The article was written on May 30-2017 by Melanie Zanona and it pointed out that President Trump's impending plans to cave in to Batistiano demands regarding Cuba will turn back the widely popular and pro-democracy advances instituted by former President Obama that are "widely popular with the U. S. business community and a growing number of {even} Republican lawmakers."
This is a Cuban entrepreneur named Diana Elilanne Benitez. Taking advantage of openings provided by U. S. President Barack Obama and thus a less-pressured Cuban President Raul Castro, Deana has co-founded a successful company -- Knales. She and her company were spotlighted this week by the London-based BBC in an article written by Natalie Sherman and entitled: "How Cuba's Growing Internet Is Fueling New Businesses." Such articles, of course, are not permitted by the intimidated U. S. media that is, generally speaking, afraid to report on Cuban positives that might displease the counter-revolutionaries. But Cuba abounds with Cuban-loving and well-educated, talented young people like Diana. Her company provides updates on weather, news and other events via hook-ups involving text messages and phone calls. Diana, as well as her parents, waited for the day when extreme pressure from the U. S., such as the embargo, would no longer punish her and prevent the realization of her entrepreneurial dreams. President Obama bravely and decently eased that pressure; President Trump cowardly and indecently appears poised to restore it on behalf of a handful of extremists. But even then very decent and very talented Cubans on the island like Diana hope...that one day the American people will reclaim their superpower nation so a neighboring little nation can chart its own path. Below is an exact quote that Diana gave to Natalie Sherman in the aforementioned BBC article this week:
"Cubans are disrupters by definition."
Perhaps Diana's five words explain how and why Cubans have, for six decades, disrupted the nefarious plans of far richer and more powerful foreign miscreants to reclaim their island.
This Casey Strong photo shows a Cuban mother feeding pigeons while her precious daughter poses beautifully for the cameraman. Neither this Cuban mother, all her life, nor her little girl, all her life, deserve to be punished by rich, powerful and unchecked miscreants flourishing in a foreign country.
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