A Tearful Look at Cuba

The Tears Are for America!!

{Note: This essay -- "A Tearful Look at Cuba: The Tears Are for America" -- was posted Sunday, Nov. 12th, and, according to the Google and Amazon metrics, it quickly received an additional above normal thousands of views. Thus, I left it at the top of Cubaninsider for two more days, including today --Tuesday, Nov. 14th -- 2017}.

Photo courtesy of Lauren Rothman.

       Tears have flowed from my eyes very seldom during my lifetime. But I admit I cried...even sobbed...when I read the story behind the photo depicted above. I am an America, born and bred, and I love my country. But I am ashamed...as you should be if you are an American...that my country in 1952 sicced the Mafia on Cuba to support the vile Batista dictatorship so a few already rich, politically connected rogues in the Eisenhower administration -- such as the ultra-powerful Dulles brothers -- could partake in the rape and robbery of the Caribbean's biggest and most beautiful island. In January of 1959 the Cuban Revolution shocked the world by becoming the only nation to overthrow a U.S.-backed dictatorship, but only managed to chase the Batistiano-Mafiosi dictators to their next haven on U. S. soil with the Little Havana neighborhood in nearby Miami becoming their new capital. Although never held accountable, the Bush dynasty from the outset supported and master-minded the Little Havana plague that quickly advanced to the U. S. Congress and is enmeshed in all Republican administrations. Americans are not supposed to know such things but de-classified U. S. documents connect George H. W. Bush to the CIA and the Little Havana power-base in the 1950s long before he became CIA Director in 1976 followed by two terms as Vice President and one term as President, setting up his son George W.'s two-terms as President and his son Jeb's two terms as Governor of Florida as well as Jeb's ongoing presidential ambitions for himself and Jeb's son George P. Bush. In other words, propagandized Americans have meekly accepted America's asinine Cuban policies since the 1950s that the rest of the entire world, including America's best friends, finds appalling. With that prologue, permit me to return to the photo that brought unabashed tears to my eyes:

      I urge you to study it again. This photo was taken in April of 2015. It shows an American student-journalist named Lauren Rothman visiting Cuba at the urging of President Barack Obama. During his two-terms as President, Mr. Obama was the only U. S. president with the guts, intelligence, and decency to severely challenge the Batistiano-Mafiosi dictation of America's cruel Cuban policies. For example, in order to support the Batistiano-Mafiosi propaganda lies, everyday Americans prior to Obama were the only people in the world without the freedom to travel to Cuba. Obama with Executive Orders changed that and other cruel and un-democratic Cuban-related practices although before, during, and after Obama the Bastiano-Mafiosi dictators have maintained primary control of America's Cuban policies with their undeserved power in the U. S. Congress regarding Cuba. Thus, Bush-anointed Counter Revolutionary Cubans such as pre-Obama extremists Jorge Mas Canosa and Rafael Diaz-Balart dictated Cuban policy to Congress while post-Obama and Bush and now Trump-anointed Miami Cubans have been allowed to dictate Cuban policy to both Congress and every Republican White House. All brave journalists and politicians in Washington know that Miami's contributions to the U. S. Congress -- Marco Rubio and Mario Diaz-Balart -- dictated the freshly punitive Trump policies aimed at Cuba on November 9th, 2017. The Bush dynasty and now the Trump White House allow only vicious Cuban extremists to dictate America's Cuban policy because two generations of Americans have not had the guts or the patriotism to intervene. Meanwhile, the majority of Cuban-Americans...over two million of them...are perfectly decent U. S. citizens who strongly desire Obama-like normal relations with Cuba. However, only Counter Revolutionary Cuban extremists get elected to the U. S. Congress and when even well-known decent Cubans, such as Miami's Hugo Cancio, complain about that catastrophic anti-democratic phenomenon, it is to no avail...a situation reminiscent of when the very decent Cuban-American newsman, Emilio Milian, complained about Cuban-American terrorism against innocent Cubans only to get car-bombed himself in Miami. And that takes me back to the photo that brought tears to my democracy-loving eyes.

     Encouraged by President Obama, student-journalist Lauren Rothman visited Cuba in April of 2015. She traveled extensively and made friends with many everyday Cubans, including the little boy shown above. When she returned to America, the heart-broken Lauren penned an article still posted online and entitled: "AS PRESIDENT OBAMA EASES RESTRICTIONS ON TRAVEL TO CUBA, ONE STUDENT TAKES A PEEK BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE ISLAND NATION." As noted, Counter Revolutionaries such as Rubio, Menendez, Diaz-Balart, Ros-Lehtinen, Curbelo, etc. in the U. S. Congress didn't want Lauren or any other free-thinking, freedom-loving American to visit Cuba because that might interfere with their lies about why they are enhancing, with President Trump's gutless cooperation, the embargo of Cuba that was imposed way back in 1962 to starve, deprive and make miserable Cubans on the island to induce them to rise up and overthrow their revolutionary government. That fact has been revealed by de-classified U. S. documents from 1962 but Americans are supposed to be too afraid to acknowledge it. But Lauren Rothman, the student-journalist, acknowledged such things after President Obama arranged for her to visit Cuba in 2015 prior to his own historic visit in 2016. While in Cuba, Lauren acutely observed how everyday Cubans, like the little boy she befriended, are punished everyday of their lives -- like all decent Cubans since 1959 -- by rich, powerful, revengeful, and unchecked Cubans hiding behind the skirts of the Superpower U. S. government. Lauren's article upon her return to the U. S. had photos of such totally innocent Cubans on the island "suffering" while the vicious Cubans in Miami and in Congress force the American people to accept the lie that they must punish them in order to punish "the Castros." Intimidated cowards, of course, are the only ones who accept such lies. Lauren Rothman, after visiting Cuba courtesy of Obama, certainly doesn't believe them...not now and not ever again.

        Lauren Rothman's article included photos of innocent Cubans on the island, such as the little boy she befriended, who have been and are being tortured, ever since 1962, by cruel and revengeful Cuban-Americans with the cowardly concurrence of most Americans. Lauren included photos of elderly Cubans who had suffered such torture all their lives from the shores of a foreign country, the United States. Those photos are too painful for me to show here. But I do show Lauren's photo depicted above of a totally innocent Cuban on the island who tries so hard to hide his suffering caused since 1962 by unchecked U. S. Cubans such as the Bush-anointed Jorge Mas Canosa and Rafael Diaz-Balart long-ago to the Trump-anointed Marco Rubio and Mario Diaz-Balart today. Lauren Rothman concluded her heart-wrenching article with the words that brought tears to my democracy-loving American eyes. Those words, illustrated by the photo above, were and are:

              "Cuba tries hard, too hard, to cover up its poverty. The government struggles to put up a brilliant facade, and the question comes down to how sensitive you need to be to see it. With extra thought, you can look beneath the surface of the tourist-filled Cuba, and you can see the struggle of the people. Although there wasn't an immediate display of suffering, it's hard to say how we can help." Those were Lauren Rothman's concluding words, the words that made me cry. Like her, I have been to Cuba and I have seen the suffering of totally innocent Cubans being punished every day of their lives by greedy and powerful Cubans in the U. S. hiding behind the gutlessness of the American people who have allowed them to do it since 1959 and especially since 1962 when the still-viable embargo was imposed to starve, deprive and make miserable the lives of everyday Cubans to induce them to overthrow their revolutionary government. To their credit, Cubans have not attempted to do that because, I believe, they do not want a return of the Batistianos, Mafiosi, and rich Americans who robbed and brutalized the island without mercy from 1952 till 1959.

One final Lauren Rothman thought:

    President Trump, un-patriotic Americans, and an incompetent or intimidated mainstream U. S. media is today permitting U. S. Senator Marco Rubio to be the prime dictator of America's Cuban policy, which is reversing President Obama's sane and decent Cuban policies that Obama bravely forged despite the Batistiano-controlled U. S. Congress. For example, Rubio was the prime architect of the avalanche of hateful Trump rules announced on November 9th, 2017. A lavishly funded presidential wannabee from Miami, Rubio is daily depicted in the U. S. media as a Mother Teresa-like choirboy. A braver and more accurate depiction of Rubio, I believe, is in a long and massively documented article by Ken Silverstein, one of America's all-time best and most respected investigative journalists. Silverstein -- in the article fronted by the graphic below -- depicts Rubio as America's greatest "For Sale" politician massively corrupted by...real estate deals, credit card shenanigans, Washington lobbyists, etc. As far as I know, no one has denied Silverstein's revelations nor has he been sued for so publicly revealing them.

Marco Rubio, Trump's Cuban dictator.
The graphic above fronts the aforementioned Ken Silverstein article.

      A photo Rubio doesn't want Americans to see shows a decent, democracy-loving American named Lauren Rothman befriending a totally innocent little Cuban boy. Lauren returned to America ashamed of the suffering she saw and openly wondered how Americans can do something about it. Well, Lauren, here's my opinion: To keep Cuban children on the island, like the little boy that touched your heart, from being punished all their lives...as their parents and grand-parents have been punished...I believe Americans should demand that America's Cuban policy, condemned by the whole world, should be taken out of the hands of a second generation of greedy, revengeful benefactors like Marco Rubio and the Diaz-Balarts. Most Cuban-Americans, like Hugo Cancio in Miami; and most members of Congress, like Senator Patrick Leahy from Vermont and Kathy Castor from Florida, desire normal and decent relations with Cuba. But "most" doesn't count in the U. S. democracy, it seems, when a Batista or a Canosa or a Diaz-Balart or a Rubio are permitted to dictate a Cuban policy that shames America and Democracy in the eyes of the world. As Lauren Rothman points out, the little Cuban boy shown above is not America's enemy and a handful of miscreants in America should not be allowed to punish him the rest of his life. The rest of the non-American world agrees with that sentiment. But so do decent Congressmen like Senator Leahy, decent Miami Cubans like Hugo Cancio, and decent Americans like Lauren Rothman.

     So why does the mainstream U. S. media saturate proselytized Americans with Marco Rubio's sanitized lies about his Cuban cruelty while only U. S. media outlets like C-SPAN dare to vent Senator Patrick Leahy's Cuban truths???

        This is Hugo Cancio, the well known Miami businessman who travels often to Cuba. Hugo openly wonders why only Counter Revolutionary extremists like Rubio and the Diaz-Balart brothers get elected to the U. S. Congress from Miami while the majority of Cuban-Americans in Miami, like Hugo, desire Obama-like normal relations with Cuba. And forgive Hugo if he also wonders why more Americans don't have the guts or the patriotism to wonder about the same thing.

      Born in Miami on Aug. 20-1966, Kathy Castor has brilliantly represented the Tampa area of Florida in the U. S. Congress since 2007. In all that time, she has fervently fought for the U. S. to normalize relations with Cuba. Note above her appearnce on C-SPAN to promote her dedicated work as Co-Chair of the Cuba Working Group. The anti-Cuban zealots in the U. S. Congress from Miami, like Rubio and Diaz-Balart, can get on the mainstream U. S. television networks any hour of any day to spout-out their anti-Cuban venom. But the same U. S. networks do not have the courage or the integrity to air the views of the brilliant and decent Kathy Castor and Americans are not supposed to have the guts to question why that is so. But there is a brilliant broadcast anchor in Cuba that has questioned such things both in Cuba and on American soil in Washington, D. C. and at three U. S. universities.

 On both Cuban soil and American soil, Cuba's highly respected and influential television anchor, Cristina Escobar, has firmly stated: "Cuban journalists have more freedom to tell the truth about the U. S. than U. S. journalists have to tell the truth about Cuba." NBC-TV's veteran Chief Foreign Correspondent Andrea Mitchell, the U. S. journalist who often visits Cuba, bravely congratulated Cristina Escobar for that comment.  Also, Cristina Escobar is so respected by American journalists that she is the only Cuban from the island ever to ask questions at a White House news conference, and she asked six that special day. But, of course, propagandized Americans are supposed to only get their Cuban "news" from the likes of Marco Rubio while dismissing truths from...for sure...Cristina Escobar or Andrea Mitchell.

     On her most recent visit to Cuba, Andrea Mitchell reported fairly back to NBC on two pertinent and current issues: {1} The mysterious {Miami?} sonic-acoustic attacks that Rubio and his ilk are using as an excuse to further punish innocent Cubans; and {2} Andrea Mitchell interviewed everyday Cubans who became successful entrepreneurs thanks to President Obama's kindnesses only to be brought to tears now that President Trump has anointed Rubio America's cruel Cuban dictator.

      It was in the above interview with Andrea Mitchell that proud Cuban entrepreneur Julia de la Rosa cried when she talked about how her 10-room Bed & Breakfast had thrived thanks to the Obama presidency but has now been destroyed by the cruel Trump presidency when Trump turned over his Cuban policies to Counter Revolutionary Miami members of Congress Rubio and Diaz-Balart. Assuming Americans are either cowards or idiots, they claim they are hurting "the Castros." For over half-a-century it has, of course, been non-political Cubans like Julia who have been most hurt by the likes of Marco Rubio and Mario Diaz-Balart from their entrenched sanctuaries in the U. S. Congress where their revenge against Cuba is grossly exacerbated when Republicans occupy the U. S. White House.

      If the photo above of the teary-eyes Julia de la Rosa didn't bring tears to your American eyes, I believe the photo above should. That's Yamina Vicente holding up and delivering a plea in Washington signed by Yamina and three dozen other young Cubans who had started their own successful businesses thanks to President Obama bravely confronting the cruelty of Rubio, Diaz-Balart, etc. The signed letter begged...BEGGED!!...President Trump to allow them to "continue to be able to make livings for their families in Cuba." In my opinion, any American who is not brought to tears by the letter Yamina is holding is both anti-American and anti-democracy.

Above is a quote by Yamina in Washington. 

      The montage above shows President Donald Trump flanked by Marco Rubio and by Mario Diaz-Balart. The two Counter Revolutionary Cuban-American extremists are among Miami's current contributions to the United States Congress. Rubio the "choirboy" arrived in the U. S. Senate with his bio still claiming his parents fled the tyranny of Castro's Cuba for the freedom of Miami; then it was pointed out that Rubio's parents had fled the tyranny of Batista's Cuba long before Americans had ever heard of Fidel Castro. Diaz-Balart's father Rafael was a key Minister in the Batista dictatorship and then in 1959 rich enough to create the first Counter Revolutionary paramilitary unit in South Florida. So now, as most Americans sit back on their cowardly rear-ends, Trump has turned America's Cuban policies over to Rubio and Diaz-Balart who in turn are busy reversing the decency of the Obama presidency. And that's why the decent, hard-working Cuban, Julia de la Rosa, cried when NBC's Andrea Mitchell interviewed her in Havana recently. And that's why Yamina Vicente, on behalf of dozens of other young Cuban entrepreneurs like her, brought that letter to Washington BEGGING President Trump and the United States of America to allow them to make decent livings in their own sovereign country.

     The Rubio/Trump/Diaz-Balart disaster is why decent Americans like Lauren Rothman are direly concerned about miscreants in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA punishing decent Cubans like Julia de la Rosa and Yamina Vicente and Cuban children like the little boy that touched the caring heart of Lauren Rothman. And the photo above is the precise reason Counter Revolutionaries like Rubio and Diaz-Balart try to dictate that Americans are the only people in the world without the freedom to visit Cuba because in "legalizing" such laws in the U. S. Congress they can continue to punish totally innocent Cubans like Julia, Yamina, and this little boy.

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