Cuban beaches such as Cayo Santa Maria and Varadero are ready for the winter tourism season that starts for Cuba on November 15-2021. Varadero has been rated the top beach in the world by tourist-related polls and this year of 2021 Cayo Santa Maria has been rated as the Second Best Beach in the World by TripAdvisor. The two giant Spanish hotel chains -- Iberostar and Melia -- are currently producing ads like the one above to promote the fact that Cuba is reopening its world-class beaches to international tourism on November 15th-2021. Between them, Iberostar and Melia have forty luxurious 4-star & 5-star Hotels & Resorts in Cuba.
Today -- October 29th-2021 -- the COVID-19 statistics for the past 24 hours reveal just 4 deaths and just 866 new cases, numbers that pale to previous numbers prior to Cuba's massive vaccination campaign using its own COVID-19 vaccinations.
This week at the United Nations in New York the Cuban representative, Pedro Luis Pedroso, warned the international community that, "The latest well-promoted U.S.-funded coup set for next month on November 15th will fail like the others because of the strong-willed and sovereignty-loving Cuban people." Also this week at the UN Pedro Luis Pedroso took a few minutes to denounce the United States for failing to pay its UN dues. Today -- October 29th-2021 -- Prensa Latina said: "Padrosa also highlighted how Cuba has fully complied with all its payments, making colossal efforts and sacrifices, despite having to deal with a tense scenario this year, mainly associated with Covid-19 and the immovable economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States." In the rest of the article above, as you can see, Pedrosa was even more defiant in denouncing the U. S. for enhancing the 6-decade-old Blockade during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Although the U. S. media and the U. S. government categorically deny it, it seems...as shown above...that most of the rest of the world agrees with what Pedro Luis Padrosa told the UN today...and he lambasted the Trump and Biden administrations for greatly expanding the Embargo/Blockade during the Covid-19 pandemic.
And interestingly today -- October 29th-2021 -- this is the most ubiquitous Cuban photo today in both the Cuban media and Social Media. It shows Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel almost 500 miles southeast of Havana today. At the site where Fidel Castro's ashes are entombed, President Diaz-Canel, who was born after the 1959 triumph of the Cuban Revolution, is shown paying homage to the Revolution's undisputed historic leader.
Next to Fidel Castro himself, it is reported that President Miguel Diaz-Canel's next most cherished historic revolutionary figure is Celia Sanchez. Prior to becoming Cuba's leader, Diaz-Canel was the island's popular Education Minister and it is known he memorized some of Celia Sanchez's most memorable quotations about the Revolution that she devoted her life to as an incomparable fighter, leader, and recruiter. After the revolutionary victory in 1959, even the renowned U. S. conservative journalist Georgie Anne Geyer -- who wrote a great and very important bio of Fidel Castro -- correctly concluded that "During the war and after 1959 till her death in 1980, Celia Sanchez over-ruled Fidel whenever she chose to do so." The incomparable Celia Sanchez died of throat cancer at age 59 on January 11th, 1980. Disclosure: In 2004 the George W. Bush administration, which was very intent on helping Little Havana regain control of Cuba, had tight restrictions on Americans going to Cuba. But apparently someone close to President Bush knew about a book I had just written entitled "Sacajawea: Her True Story." And alas, I was permitted to go to Cuba for the purpose of studying why there were so many statues on the island of Celia while Fidel had already made it known he never wanted any statues of him to ever be erected. Well, in 2004...like most Americans...I had never heard about Celia Sanchez and, moreover, I believed that every citizen in Cuba hated Fidel and his {and Celia's} Revolution. But in 2004 I made it to Cuba and, to me, it was truly a revelatory visit!!!
Yes, As a democracy-loving American, I believe that the true story of the Native American Sacajawea should be told.
And as a democracy-loving American, I believe that Americans have a right to know the true story of Celia Sanchez, such as why today there are so many statues of her in Cuba.
And if you take the time to study why there are so many statues of Celia Sanchez in Cuba today, you might learn why this historic Lee Lockwood photo is pertinent to explaining some truth about Revolutionary Cuba. It shows a typical morning after the triumph of the Revolution when Fidel was relaxing in his favorite rocking chair while the tireless Celia was on the couch writing down a new law for Revolutionary Cuba. Whatever she ruled, and whether or not Fidel liked it, it is well known that Fidel always made sure it would became official, and to this day most Cubans on the island worship whatever the beloved Celia Sanchez said.
So...I believe for Americans to understand Cuba today they need to understand the Lee Lockwood photo above...as well as the earlier photo that showed President Diaz-Canel today -- October 29th, 2021 -- visiting Fidel Castro's tomb.
Of course, my point is also this: For Americans to understand either the victory or the longevity of the Cuban Revolution, I believe Americans need to know why most of the everyday Cubans on the island still love the legacy of their revolutionary heroine Celia Sanchez. Without her, neither of those historic and topical events would have happened. And by the way, the famous quotation by Celia Sanchez shown above said: "We rebels...get too much credit for winning the revolution. Our enemies deserve most of the credit, for being greedy cowards and idiots." And after all these decades later, its resonance and truth seems more historic than ever.
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