In the Age of Trump!!!
The photo above was taken in Havana last night {Dec. 4th, 2019} and it shows, if subtly, how much Cuba has {and is} changing in the Age of America's Trump with a Cuban President, Miguel Diaz-Canel, who was born after the triumph of the 1959 Cuban Revolution. The beautiful and ultra-talented Haydee Milanes and her singer-songwriter father Pablo Milanes are revered in Cuba and in other places around the world. Last night the duo had a sold-out concert at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana. After the impromptu performance was first promoted in the media, all the 2,000 tickets were sold out within minutes. Selling out in venues is normal for Haydee but this concert last night came on the heels of controversial comments Haydee had made in the magazine El Estornudo whereby she had spoken emotionally and candidly about "the future of Cuba."
In the magazine interview prior to last night's concert, Haydee Milanes shocked everyday Cubans and President Diaz-Canel with comments such as: "No se si quiero a mi higa en el fututo de Cuba." {"I don't know if I want my daughter in the future of Cuba"}. Many Cubans believed such comments might have caused President Diaz-Canel to cancel the concert, but that wasn't considered. Haydee had earlier strongly expressed displeasure that Amara Ruiz Urquiola had been fired even though Amara was considered a highly respected teacher at the Higher Institute of Design in Havana. Still incensed about Amara's dismissal, Haydee vented other beliefs in El Estornudo magazine, such as her concerns that "changes" she deems necessary in Cuba during the USA's Trump administration's genocide will "not happen." Such public comments by the high-profile Haydee are now tolerated, even encouraged, by Cuba as long as they are not made by Cubans on the payroll of the U. S. government. No one in Cuba, including President Diaz-Canel, denies Haydee's love and patriotism for the island and the Revolution that remains supreme against all odds. With most Cubans now engaged Online in the digital Social Media stratosphere, they are clearly agitated about the still crippling, 6-decades-old U. S. embargo that Trump has now ramped into a true genocidal blockade but most of them still support the Revolution that rid them of the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia rule. But in today's Cuba, if Haydee wants to raise her daughter off the island, such as in non-embargoed Spain, she has the wherewithal to do so or, if she chooses to remain in Cuba, Haydee can openly critique the government because everyone knows she is not influenced by U. S. dollars.
Even with another Little Havana-aligned Republican U. S. President in the White House, the Cuban Revolution is still in control of the island, at least all of it except the hated U. S. Military Base on the eastern tip of the island at Guantanamo Bay that islanders believe was stolen from them in 1903 after the U. S. gained domination of Cuba after the 1895 Spanish-American War...at least till the Cuban Revolution changed things in January of 1959.
In December of 2019, even as the likes of Marco Rubio appears to have President Trump's permission to carve out illimitable legal rules designed to eviscerate Cubans on the island, an American that somehow got to visit Cuba reportedly asked, "I am told that these school children had their choice of brand-new Nike, Fila, or Adidas shoes. But how is that so?" {Perhaps Rubio would frown and scratch his head if he saw this photo this week}.
An exasperated Rubio would probably point at Diaz-Canel and snarl, "How the hell did those embargoed Cuban children get those brand-new shoes?" On Twitter Rubio and Diaz-Canel bark at each other. Rubio famously tweeted this message to Diaz-Canel: "See you soon," meaning he was about to overthrow Diaz-Canel's revolutionary government. Diaz-Canel then tweeted back to Rubio: "I'll be waiting for you at the Bay of Pigs."
Any map from 1492 till today shows Cuba to be the dominant {and largest and most coveted island} in the Caribbean. Because Cuba is the only nation that ever defeated a U.S.-backed dictatorship {the brutal Batista-Mafia dictatorship in January, 1959}, Cuba therefore since 1962 has had to cope with history's longest and cruelest economic embargo ever imposed on a small nation by a strong nation, in this case the nearby United States superpower. All of the other nations in the Caribbean since 1962 have had excellent trade relations with the United States. Consider Jamaica, which is located just south of Cuba. Today -- December 5th, 2019 -- America's largest newspaper, USA Today, spotlighted Jamaica's prosperity in an article by its Travel expert Lindsay Cohn. He wrote:
"Jamaica is a popular destination for families, honeymooners and college students. That's because the third-largest Caribbean island really has something for everyone. It's blessed with spectacular scenery -- lush rainforests, banana groves, volcanic cliffs, gorgeous beaches, and the Blue Mountains. The birthplace of reggae and Bob Marley, native rhythms echo in the breeze. Couple that with a carefree attitude and bold, Caribbean flavors. Try the jerk chicken! To wash it down? Red Stripe beer." {Digest those words and then consider how much richer Cuba would be than Jamaica if not for the decades-old embargo imposed on Cuba by the United States}.
Those exact words today in USA Today about Jamaica are nice, but Jamaica is no Cuba, which easily has the most potential economically, tourism-wise and otherwise If NOT FOR BEING the only nation in the world massively crippled from 1962 till today by a massive economic embargo imposed by the world's superpower that is geographically just 90 miles to its north. But somehow Cuba's historic Revolution still survives. Caribbean Havana Weekends in Revolutionary Cuba are still even enticing to some American tourists although the Trump administration, even as it fights impeachment in the U. S., tries to keep Cuba isolated from Americans and the world while also blocking exports and imports from leaving or getting to the pugnacious island, obviously trying to create blackouts, starvations, and deprivations for everyday Cubans. During every Republican presidential administration since 1959, daily and dire predictions of Revolutionary Cuba's demise have been rampant. But its unique dilemma also adds to the mystique and allure of the Caribbean's largest, most historic, most beautiful, and most intriguing island. The visitors riding recently along Havana's Malecon Seawall in the 1950s-era convertible above seem to concur with those observations.
In Cuba, for example, you can even drive your own taxi that might turn out be a fine-tuned 1950s-era convertible.
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