cubaninsider: Cuba Loves UK AND Google

29.3.19

Cuba Loves UK AND Google

And THEY LOVE CUBA Too!!
{Saturday, March 30th, 2019}

During an historic 4-days this week -- from Sunday through Wednesday -- Prince Charles, the future King of England, and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, enjoyed a splendorous and productive visit to Cuba. This Chris Jackson/Getty Images photo shows them enjoying a Mojito at The Habanera, a privately owned restaurant/bar in a private home {these are known as paladars}.

This Chris Jackson/Getty Images photo shows Prince Charles making his own Mojito as Camilla admires his enthusiasm and skill. Asked Thursday if she wanted to go back to Cuba, Camilla instantly replied, "YES! And not later than TOMORROW!!"

These Cubans were honoring the British flag this week during the visit of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall.

This Yamil Lage/Getty Images photo chronicles another good moment in Havana this week. Cuba's telecom company ETECSA signed another important deal with GOOGLE, which has had an office in Havana since 2017. With Luis Adolfo Iglesias representing ETECSA and Brett Perlmutter who is already in charge of GOOGLE'S office in Havana, the two companies agreed to speed-up Internet connectivity but first Cuba needs to install a new undersea fiber-optic cable. Once finished, it will then be free and very cost-effective for Cuba because now Cuba must pay a third country for Cubans to connect to Google.com and YouTube but the Cuba government is quickly making the Internet accessible for all Cubans to do so. ETECSA has five million customers and now there are WiFi hookups all across the island.

Almost all Cubans now have access to Smart Phones and Internet hook-ups and the Cuban government is trying hard to make the connections even easier. The island's new President and former Education Minister, Miguel Diaz-Canel, has made Internet accessibility on the island a major priority...and the results are astonishing.

In his first year as Cuba's President, Miguel Diaz-Canel has held important meetings with Eric Schmidt, the top boss {CEO, President, Chairman} of GOOGLE, the Internet Superpower. They met first in Havana and then, as shown above, Mr. Schmdt hosted Diaz-Canel at GOOGLE'S New York City headquarters where the Cuban President was introduced to dozens of other major American business executives. {Most U. S. execs, farmers, and ports -- including every port in Florida -- want to do business with Cuba}.

This Ramon Espinosa/AP photo shows GOOGLE boss Eric Schmidt signing an Internet deal with Cuba's Mayra Arevich Marin, the President of ETECSA. While President Diaz-Canel has dire Counter Revolutionary enemies in Miami and in all Republican administrations, he also has some direly important USA friends, like Eric Schmidt, the top boss at GOOGLE. After a new deal was signed Thursday in Havana, GOOGLE and ETECSA engineers are already working together to get that new undersea optic cable in working order to make Cuba's Internet connectivity faster, more efficient, and cheaper...and already Cubans have suddenly become furious fans of GOOGLING and using the social media sources, especially Facebook and YouTube.

Of course, having close friends like Eric Schmidt at Google and Prince Charles in the UK helps Cuba's new President Miguel Diaz-Canel somewhat offset his dire enemies in Miami and in Washington, such as Marco Rubio. And, yes, already Diaz-Canel has met with Prince Charles in London back in November and this week in Havana.

And make no mistake about it, a strong majority of Cubans on the island strongly support their President, Miguel Diaz-Canel. Born after the triumph of the Revolution, he rose politically outside Havana as an educator and then served as the nation's Education Minister. Yet, his idol is the late Fidel Castro and he possesses revolutionary fervor regarding Cuba's sovereignty, which he says was "only attained in our 5th century due to the historic victory over U. S. imperialism by the Cuban Revolution at the beginning of 1959." Diaz-Canel, for Cuba's sake, desires a peaceful political and trade relationship with the United States..."the same as most Americans and Cuban-Americans want, but the Republican party in their 2-party system blocks what would benefit both Cubans and most Americans." The photo above was posted Thursday -- March 28, 2019 -- by Havana's popular and influential television News Anchor Rosy Amaro. It shows President Diaz-Canel assisting his wife Lis Cuesta down some tricky airplane steps. Among his edicts as President, in addition to sharply boosting Internet accessibility, Diaz-Canel has told his most important Ministers and six Vice Presidents, 3 of whom are women, "to appear regularly on Cuban television and radio programs to let the people know how, and if, you are working on their behalf...because they can judge whether we are doing that or not."

It may come as a shock to Americans who have never been to Cuba, but Rosy Amaro is not reluctant to criticize the Cuban government, including President Diaz-Canel whom she strongly supports. If Rosy thinks everyday Cubans are not being treated fairly...she has fired off her criticisms both on her state-owned television station and on social media. For example, she once sharply rebuked the General Manager at the iconic state-owned Nacional Hotel when she learned that a Cuban working at the hotel was charged a fee to take his family on a visit to the hotel's popular garden, which is a favorite of fee-paying tourists. The GM at the hotel then sent Rosy a LONG letter, which she posted in its entirety on her Facebook page. The GM explained that her sharp criticism was warranted and would be corrected. The best way to know Cuba is to ignore what Counter Revolutionaries and anti-Cuban Republicans say and get to mingle with Cubans on the island, as the UK's Prince Charles and Duchess of Cornwall did this week.

AND OH, YES....................

...............the smart, feisty, talented, and well-educated News Anchor, Rosy Amaro, has a five-year-old daughter. And Rosy is totally convinced that Marco Rubio is lying when he claims he will take better care of little Cuban girls on the island than their Cuban mothers are doing and plan to continue doing. Americans paid it no mind but Cubans are still infuriated over a boastful Tweet that Rubio sent to President Diaz-Canel -- "see you soon." It was Rubio's way of telling Diaz-Canel that President Trump had given Rubio the financial and military wherewithal to recapture Cuba on behalf of Rubio's Little Havana stalwarts in Miami. It's highly possible, maybe even probable. But that doesn't mean that Cubans like Rosy, who have traveled widely and have close relatives and friends in the U. S., won't stay on the island and resist...even in the manner of history's all-time greatest female revolutionary fighter and leader: