U. S. Cuban-Extremists

Hurting Good Cubans in Cuba!!
{Updated for: Monday, Nov. 20th, 2017}

    The magnificent photo above was taken by Santiago Barriero for the superb National Geographic Magazine {which I subscribe to} and the photo is also featured on its excellent website, which I visit often. It shows a student at Cuba's National Ballet School holding up her baby sister just outside the school. The older girl, sweetly and poignantly, was merely bidding good-bye to the baby before she entered the building to continue her grueling but beloved ballet training. It's a typical scene in Cuba -- beautiful, touching, and...bittersweet. That's because, having been to Cuba, I am aware that some bad Cubans in America have been allowed, since 1959, to hurt some good Cubans in Cuba, like the ballet student above and her baby sister.

           A native of Chesapeake, Virginia, Rachel Brown is a superb writer and producer at National Geographic Magazine. On Nov. 13-2017 Rachel included the photo of the ballet student and her baby sister in a major article that reminded me of the cruelty and injustice of bad Cubans in the U. S. being allowed to punish good Cubans in Cuba since 1959, the year the Cuban Revolution overthrew the vile U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship. That statement is not anti-America; it's very much pro-American because no other topic has hurt America's worldwide image as much as its Cuban policies have in assaulting Cubans on the island for over half-a-century on behalf of a handful of two generations of Cuban-Americans. Oh, yes!! The rest of the world agrees with my assessment as evidenced by the yearly vote in the United Nations that condemns America's Cuban policies. It appears that Rachel Brown agrees with that international unanimity of opinion. That's why, I believe, she included the photo of the little ballet girl in Cuba saying a brief good-bye to her beloved and precious baby sister. Ms. Brown explained in her Nov. 13-2017 National Geographic article that, on Nov. 9-2017, the U. S. government had issued another round of cruel Executive Orders that, as always, mostly hurt the most innocent Cubans on the island -- like the ballet student and her baby sister. The fresh round of Executive Orders on Nov. 9th-2017 were signed by President Trump at the insistence of a few bad Cuban-Americans in the U. S. Congress from Miami -- especially Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Mario Diaz-Balart but also Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Carlos Curbelo. Is it permissible or healthy for me to express such an opinion knowing that Emilio Milian -- a top Cuban-American newsman in Miami -- was car-bombed for criticizing terrorist acts by Counter Revolutionary Cubans against totally innocent Cubans? I don't know, but I still think it's worthwhile. Rachel Brown's article explained that National Ballet School children in Cuba were excited about their SCHEDULED trip to Tampa, Florida, where they would have performed for an appreciative audience BECAUSE MOST CUBAN-AMERICANS STRONGLY DESIRE NORMAL RELATIONS WITH CUBA and, in fact, Cubans in the U. S. send billions of dollars each year to Cubans in Cuba, something else that bad U. S. Cubans in Congress are determined to stop. BUT Rachel Brown's article said that the Rubio-fueled Nov. 9th-2017 assaults from Washington will probably prevent the Cuban ballet students from performing in Tampa. Rachel Brown thinks such cruelty by rich Cuban-Americans against vulnerable and poorer Cubans in Cuba is wrong. And, I believe, every decent American and Cuban-American agrees with Rachel Brown. And yet, decade after decade it is allowed to continue in the name of the United States of America. Now, if you will, go back to the top and study the photo of the National Ballet School student and her baby sister. I think you'll agree they are not America's enemies and they should not be punished all their lives by a few bad U. S. Cubans. Of course, propagandized Americans supposedly disagree.

     One of the world's greatest journalists, Marc Frank works for London-based REUTERS, the world's best news agency and one that treats Cuba fairly.

REUTERS covers Cuba expertly with real journalists.

     From behind the scenes in Havana, Marc Frank's books, like Cuban Revelations, are classics. And so are his truly great articles for REUTERS from the Caribbean island.

     The photo above was taken by Alexandre Meneghini. It illustrates a Nov. 17-2017 article by Marc Frank for REUTERS. It's entitled "Cuban Businesswomen Seek Rubio Meeting as U. S. Policy Bites." Those decent and totally innocent Cuban businesswomen, like Niuris Higuera {in the red dress}, are well aware that President Trump has anointed U. S. Senator Marco Rubio, the self-serving Counter Revolutionary zealot from Miami, as the new American dictator of Cuba. On Nov. 9-2017 Rubio's latest very cruel assaults on hard-working Cuban women like Niuris became U. S. law. She had, thanks to the decency of former President Obama, a thriving restaurant that catered to tourists like the ones she is shown hosting at her table above. But Rubio's new rules -- made legal by President Trump's Executive Orders -- aim to destroy Niuris's livelihood and that of other totally innocents on the island. Propagandized Americans are supposed to think Rubio is only hurting "the Castros" while every fair-minded and insightful person on the planet, like Marc Frank, well know that Rubio knows he is only hurting the most innocent people in Cuba, like Niuris Higueras and her children. That's why Marc Frank tells us about a heart-wrenching letter women like Niuris have written directly to Senator Rubio pleading with him to consider their plight and begging him to at least meet with them and hear them out. Rubio, of course, has met with fierce Counter Revoutionary Cubans in Washington but it's unlikely he'll meet with decent Cubans like Niuris, except maybe to lecture them for not having defected to Little Havana.

 The Nov. 17-2017 article by Marc Frank for REUTERS included the photo above of Nidialys Acosta who, thanks to Obama, had opened a thriving business renting vintage cars to tourists. She is shown asking Marc Frank why the American people have allowed Trump and Rubio to destroy her business that was supporting her family and the families of her workers. Marc Frank reports that Nidialys and a whole association of Cuban women like her signed the letter sent to Rubio begging him to meet with them. Decent people in America and around the world believe rich and powerful people in a rich and powerful country SHOULD NOT be allowed to feather their own political-and-economic nests by hurting much weaker-and-poorer people in another country. But Rubio in the U. S. Congress has that salacious permission.

     The Marc Frank Nov. 17th article also includes the photo above of a heart-broken Julia de la Rosa. Julia too signed that letter begging for a meeting with Rubio. Thanks to Obama, Julia owned a thriving 10-bed Bed & Breakfast that employed 17 other Cubans. In the photo above, Julia asked Marc Frank and REUTERS why Rubio has destroyed her business AND WHY do the American people allow him to do it.

     With tears in her eyes in the above photo, Julia de la Rosa had earlier told Andrea Mitchell of NBC News: "By ruining my business the U. S. is hurting not only my family but the families of the 17 Cubans that worked for me. Mr. Obama had made my successful business possible." Study the photos, if you will, of the Cuban women that Senator Rubio is so severely hurting IN AMERICA'S NAME. And then...oh, YES...go back to the top and study the photo of the little Cuban girl and her baby sister that Rubio is also hurting. And the tears in Julia's eyes are courtesy of MARCO RUBIO.

     For Republican political reasons, President Trump's anointment of Senator Marco Rubio as essentially America's new Cuban dictator not only severely hurts totally innocent Cubans on the island, it severely hurts most Cuban-Americans who favor normal relations with Cuba. And, of course, it severely hurts America's and Democracy's images in the entire world, something Rubio could care less about.

       The photo above deeply saddens 11 million innocent Cubans on the island. It deeply saddens the majority of the 2 million Cuban-Americans in the Miami area, many of whom send money to poor Cubans. It saddens every nation in the UN that voted 191-to-ZERO to condemn America's Cuban policy. And IT SHOULD SADDEN every democracy-loving American. This photo shows President Trump in Miami's Little Havana cowardly appeasig the choir by signing documents whereby the United States punishes totally innocent Cubans to sate the revenge, economic, and political goals of a handful of Cuban-American extremists. MOST HAUNTING OF ALL about the above photo is Marco Rubio peering directly over Trump's right shoulder as Trump signs and legalizes the anti-Cuban AND anti-American papers.

     The photo above, I believe, is Pulitzer-worthy. It was taken by Greg Kahn for National Geographic. It shows a young Cuban standing on a rocky ledge overlooking Havana's famed Malecon seawall. The background includes other Havana landmarks such as the famed Hotel de Nacional de Cuba that, up until 1959, was a favorite hangout for Mafia kingpins like Al Capone and Lucky Luciano as well as A-list Hollywood-Las Vegas celebrities such as Frank Sinatra who also flocked to the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia playpen. In 2017, however, the young Cuban above seems to be gazing across the Florida Straits toward the nearby United States. I...wonder why?

And speaking of Frank Sinatra:

      On Nov. 7-1951 -- with the Mafia in firm control of Cuba just before Fulgencio Batista officially became dictator with the Mafia's and America's wonderful blessings and strong-arm support -- Frank Sinatra married another Hollywood superstar, Ava Gardner. They actually got married in Philadelphia and quickly flew to Havana for their whirlwind honeymoon. The cake-cutting above occurred on Nov. 8-1951 at Havana's Montmarte nightclub and they spent the night at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba where Sinatra maintained a suite and where he once famously insisted he saw a ghost.

     In the 1950s prior to the 1959 triumph of the Cuban Revolution, any even slightly sinful American longed to travel to Cuba where Mafia-directed gambling, drugs, and prostitution were massive lures and where rich American businessmen were also eagerly partaking in the spoils of the Mafiosi playpen. That, of course, included Hollywood superstars like Frank & Ava as well as every U. S. college student who had some money as well as some wild oaks to sew. CONFESSION: I was in college in 1958 and longed to go to Cuba, but I was too poor. But my roommate's rich family in 1958 purchased two sets of round-trip Pan-Am tickets for his Cuban trips. I got so sick-'n-tired of his raving about his promiscuity delights in Cuba that one day I actually doused him with hot coffee, which resulted in a new roommate. As for Cuba-loving Frank & Ava...they got divorced in 1957...maybe because they had just HEARD THAT FIDEL CASTRO HAD RETURNED FROM MEXICO AND JOINED CELIA SANCHEZ'S REBEL ARMY IN THE SIERRA MAESTRE MOUNTAINS OF EASTERN CUBA, meaning that Cuba as a BRUTAL Mafia playpen/piggy bank was doomed!!

      This Bettmann/Corbis photo of Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner honeymooning in 1951 was used in the London Daily Mail, which said that, "Ava, a passable actress, is considered the most beautiful animal in the world. Frank is a New Jersey Italian known as a talented singer who has a deep fascination with the Mafia." And the accuracy of that sentence has resonated in various forms in many Frank and Ava biographies.

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