To A Non-Castro Leader!!
In a few days -- on April 19th, 2018 -- the 86-year-old Raul Castro will retire as Cuba's President and be replaced by mild-mannered 57-year-old Miguel Diaz-Canel.
The best article this week related to the upcoming monumental change in Cuba is written, not surprisingly, by William LeoGrande. A renowned Cuban expert, Dean LeoGrande is the Professor of Government at American University and he has been a prolific writer & author on Cuba for the past four decades. His article this week is entitled: "Cuba's New President: What to Expect?" The sub-title is: "For the First Time in Six Decades His Last Name Will Not be Castro." The article includes this sentence: "This is a momentous occasion -- one of the most important I've seen in 40 years of studying and writing on Cuba." Dean LeoGrande explains that Miguel Diaz-Canel will face two monumental challenges: {1} "growing Cuba's economy" and {2} "contending with the United States." And that's terrific insight.
In the United States for 6 decades the U. S. government and the mainstream U. S. media have allowed only Counter Revolutionary extremists in Miami and in the United States Congress to dictate America's Cuban narrative and much of America's Cuban policies, which have centered around revenge against the Cuban Revolution and continuous, unsavory, and fervent attempts to regain control of the nearby, pugnacious island. Thus, Americans are usually devoid of unbiased data regarding Cuba, a topic that resulted in a 191-to-0 condemnation of the United States in the United Nations, a denunciation that was approved by then President Barack Obama. But, as William LeoGrande vividly explains in his insightful article this week, this month's voluminous change in Cuba's leadership should finally, at the very least, be treated even in the United States with at least modicums of intelligence and honesty.
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Another renowned award-winning journalist, Mimi Whitefield at the Miami Herald, also has a well-written, knowledgeable, well-researched, and unbiased article this week on Cuba's impending presidential transition later this month. Ms. Whitefield's article is entitled: "Cuba Desperately Needs to Reform Currency System. But Timing Couldn't be Worse." She agrees with William LeoGrande that Cuba's first non-Castro President since 1959, Miguel Diaz-Balart, will be tasked with improving Cuba's economy and doing so even though the friendly Obama administration in Washington has been replaced by yet another Counter Revolutionary Republican assault led by President Donald Trump. Mimi Whitefield's update is both fair and solidly informative.
And by the way, Jon Lee Anderson for the past two decades has been one of the greatest writers-authors regarding Cuba, Latin America, and other important topics. That's why, at least among fellow journalists, the caricature above readily distinguishes Jon Lee Anderson from everyone else. His latest essay in The New Yorker emphatically explains why it is not only High Time but Long Past Time for the United States to finally attach some decency and sanity to its Cuban policies.
This photo shows the real Jon Lee Anderson, a heralded staff writer for The New Yorker since 1988. His latest article in that esteemed publication is devoted to the changes in Cuba. It is one that should be read by anyone interested in Cuba and its relations with the USA. It is entitled: "As Castro Prepares to Leave Office, Trump's Cuba Policy Is A Road to Nowhere." Somehow Revolutionary Cuba has survived for six decades and IF it can survive Trump, Jon Lee Anderson's thoughts are revealing.
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| Photo courtesy: Calvin Abe/Los Angeles Times.
Meanwhile, Cubans on the island -- like the man driving the blue 1950s vintage convertible above -- will try to survive man-made or natural hurricanes that will target the coveted island.
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