But Cuba Prefers Vietnam's Offer!!
Since Jan. 1-1959 Counter Revolutionary Cubans in the USA have craved regaining control of Cuba but in January of 2019 more-and-more U. S. business executives would settle for just claiming, or at least having a piece of, Cuba's magnificent Port of Mariel, which is located about 30 miles southwest of Havana. {See Mariel on the above Map}.
Even the top executives at ports in southern Florida, many of them Cuba-friendly Cuban-Americans, are extremely envious of Cuba's Mariel Port, and for good reason: It'll be WORLD-famous soon.
This map spotlighting the Port of Mariel with the red circle shows the extreme strategic location of Cuba's prized port. But beyond its location, it is a state-of-the-art deep-water port that has been in operation since 2014 fully capable of handling huge ships that pass through the newly widened Panama Canal. Mariel has 702-meters of modern decks, 4 massive cranes, a 27-hectare container yard, etc., etc. The McGraw Center of Business Journalism says Mariel can handle 824,000 containers a year and has a capacity to easily move past a million a year. In addition to the United States, other world powers -- especially China, Vietnam, and Russia -- covet Mariel...and guess which nation has already carved out a niche with its own ultra-modern Industrial Park at Mariel?
This map illustrates Vietnam's belief that the Mariel Port is about to become one of the most important ports in the world. Since winning the Vietnam War and uniting it as a Communist country, Vietnam has been a major trading partner with the U. S. and has been wildly congratulated by visits from Presidents Obama and Bush. Vietnam used the map above to point out that "if and when the USA relaxes its embargo against Cuba, Mariel the next day would become one of the world's most important and valuable ports. Its location and its technical advances would assure that."
In what Cuba calls its Mariel Economic and Investment Zone, Vietnam's vast Viglocera Real Estate Company is building its own magnificent Industrial Park that will not only cater to offices, restaurants, hotels, houses, etc., but stress all aspects of "Mariel's current trade as well as the unlimited commercial potential it entails."
Savvy when it comes to U. S. and international trade, Charles Alistair Baker is the General Manager of the Mariel Terminal. Mr. Baker says, "In 2018 we moved 349,000 tons of container material but we had the capacity to move 800,000 and also have the capacity to sharply increase that." Mr. Baker knows the USA craves Mariel.
The Executive Director of the Mariel Economic Zone, Ana Teresa Igarza says, "If you look at the map and also check our facilities, anyone will comprehend its potential. Companies being established in the Zone have a permanent and direct connectivity with the world of trade. It connects East-West shipping routes for trade with the Gulf ports and the East Coast of the USA. The Vietnamese development is the major investment at the moment but we have signed agreements as well as impressive offers from many more. I have been asked about the USA and I will repeat that I would love to consider...to balance...such offers on totally even terms with any others. I have certainly discussed this with enough Americans who fully realize how beneficial it could be to American ports and to American commerce if we were friends, not enemies."
The Port of Mariel.
The Port of Mariel.
The Port of Mariel.
The Port of Mariel.
The left-handed Ana Teresa Igarza is a very sweet lady and she happens to be the boss at Cuba's magnificent Mariel Port. She is anxious to sign deals with foreign investors, including American companies.
Cuba-friendly Frank Del Rio is one of the ultra-rich and ultra-powerful Cuban-American businessmen in Miami. He is the President and CEO of the omnipotent Norwegian Cruise Lines. Like most Cuban-Americans, Frank yearns for normal relations between the USA and Cuba. When the decent and brave President Obama, at least prior to Trump, did his best to normalize U.S.-Cuban relations, Frank rejoiced and he unabashedly cried when he spotted Cuban land from the bow of one of his huge commercial ships as it legally neared Havana. When decent and powerful Cuban-Americans like Frank Del Rio are virtually voiceless during Republican administrations in Washington...while pipsqueaks like Marco Rubio dictate policy...most decent Cuban-Americans, like Frank, and all Americans, like me, have every right to shed tears for their country and for their precious democracy.
AND NOW...study this map of Cuba AND REMEMBER that the title of this essay is: "U. S. CRAVES MARIEL PORT." Notice that on the southeastern tip of Cuba is the lush, controversial United States Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. And notice on the northwestern tip of Cuba, just southwest of Havana, is the Mariel Port. In 1903, after the U. S. had gained dominance over Cuba because of the 1895 Spanish-American War, the U. S. simply stole plush Guantanamo Bay from Cuba...simply because it could. Now in January of 2019 the U. S. wants to steal plush Mariel Port from Cuba...simply because with Brazil's help it can. Americans since 1903 have been programmed to believe that Guantanamo Bay was legitimately acquired from Cuba; Americans in 2019 will be programmed to believe that the theft of Mariel Port is "to help the Cuban people." Such incredible lies related to U.S.-Cuban relations are effective for one reason: We Americans...through 3+ generations since 1952...have been the most ignorant, the most undemocratic, and the most cowardly generations in American history. And if that's not true, I would surely like for some smarter and braver American than me to explain to all of us WHY that is not so.
V
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