Cuba: Batista, Castro, and Miami

   Today -- on December 30th-2022 -- this was the massive headline in the Miami Herald: "Cuban migrants awaiting deportation are freed after U. S. accidentally leaked their info." For sure, in these last few days of 2022 the Miami Herald is obsessed with all things Cuban...including the record numbers of Cubans now flocking across the controversial U.S.-Mexican border to reach the United States.

    Of course, the reasons for the Cuban Revolution from 1952 to 1959 have never been emphasized in Miami's depiction's of why or how Fidel Castro replaced the Luciano-Batista-Lansky rule of Cuba on the first of January in 1959.

    And, of course, the massive attempts designed to overthrow the Cuban Revolution since 1959 include the Bay of Pigs military attack in 1961, along with an all-time record of assassination attempts against Fidel Castro, and -- since 1962 -- including the longest and cruelest economic Embargo ever imposed by any powerful nation against a much much smaller nation.

     The Bay of Pigs military attack, the assassination attempts, the EMBARGO, etc., have somehow not overthrown Revolutionary Cuba...but have starved, deprived, and made miserable the lives of generations of everyday Cubans on the island for the past six+ decades.

    Of course, since January of 1959 Cuba in Miami has created a Welcome to Little Havana USA that has spawned a bevy of rich and politically powerful Cuban-Americans in Miami...and in Washington.

    Of course...since Batista fled Cuba and left Castro in control of Cuba on January 1, 1959, Miami has dictated much of the history and topicality of the U.S.-Cuba conundrum.

     Thus, to justify six+ decades of trying to overthrow Revolutionary Cuba it has been important to deny the truths of Batista's extreme brutality in Cuba from 1952 till 1959, events that grossly enriched the Batistianos, the Mafiosi, and U. S. businessmen. 

     In Batista's money-crazed Cuba not even a few crumbs were doled out to the non-Batistiano Cubans, as indicated by the two photos shown above that spawned the Revolution.

          If truths are ever revealed in the U. S. regarding the Cuban Revolution, they will explain that a brilliant doctor's daughter named Celia Sanchez...not Fidel, Che, or Camilo...was the most important rebel and the key decision-maker during the Revolutionary War and then in Revolutionary Cuba after 1959.

    Because Miami has basically defined the U.S.-Cuba conundrum since 1959, Americans are supposed to not be able to understand this photo in Revolutionary Cuba. So permit me to explain it: Typically, on a porch one morning, the tireless and brilliant Celia Sanchez was busy writing rules for Revolutionary Cuba while Fidel Castro casually lazed in his rocking chair. But then, most importantly, whatever decisions Celia was writing down would be supported 100% by Fidel, whether or not he agreed with them. Thus...perhaps one day the Miami Herald will try to truthfully explain this historic photo.

    Or, perhaps, one day the Miami Herald might try truthfully to explain this photo. Meanwhile...I'll try to explain it. It shows Fidel Castro intently studying the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. It was during his 12-day visit in April of 1959...shortly after he had replaced Batista as Cuba's leader. The visit was not Fidel's idea...it was Celia's. After the triumph of the Revolution, she knew that friendship and trade with the U. S. was vital to Cuba. She then worked for weeks beginning in January of 1959 to get the U. S. to allow Fidel to visit the U. S. so he could tell President Eisenhower that Cuba wanted friendly relations with Cuba and that the U. S. could closely monitor a democratic election that fall in which Fidel would not be competing in...and neither would Che or Camilo. Finally, Celia got permission from the U. S. Society of Newspaper Editors and the U. S. State Department so that Fidel could make the vital visit. The trip for Fidel, which included Celia, lasted for 12 days in April of 1959 and Fidel was wildly treated as a rebel hero who had just overthrown a brutal dictator. But, of course, the historic trip soon took some historic and cruel turns.

    During his Celia Sanchez-orchestrated 12-day trip to the U. S. in April of 1959, Fidel Castro, speaking English, appeared on the top U. S. news show, Meet the Press...as also arranged by Celia.

     But the one dark and cruel aspect on the April-1959 visit to the U. S. by Fidel Castro involved a double-cross to Celia Sanchez. She had been told that Fidel would be allowed to meet with President Eisenhower, and that turned out to be a lie. Fidel was forced instead to meet with Vice President Richard Nixon, who brashly told "Fidel" that there was no need for him to talk about such things as friendship or trade or an election because..."your revolution will end in a few months...actually in just a few weeks."

    It so happens that Celia Sanchez, the prime decision-maker in Revolutionary Cuba, returned to Cuba devastated after her 12-day visit to the U. S. with Fidel in April of 1959. She then told two people -- Fidel and famed journalist Marta Rojas -- these exact words: "Nixon is an idiot and a criminal. As long as I live or as long as Fidel lives, Washington will never end this revolution." Celia died of cancer in 1980; Fidel died at 90 of old age in 2016. And as 2022 turns into 2023 Washington has still not ended the Cuban Revolution.

     By the way, when I visited Cuba in 2004 with the permission of the George W. Bush administration, I met the legendary journalist and author Marta Rojas. My mission in Cuba was to research the legendary rebel Celia Sanchez. The first American I met in Havana was Tracey Eaton, the USA's top journalist in Cuba. Tracey told me, correctly, that Marta Rojas knew more about Celia Sanchez, Fidel Castro, and the Cuban Revolution than anyone alive. That's how I got to know Marta Rojas, and in 2005 I wrote a book in which I explained why I exchanged emails with Marta, a truly great and sweet lady, after I returned to the U. S. in 2004. It was Marta, the one person who would know, who told me what Celia Sanchez said regarding the visit she and Fidel made to the U. S. in April of 1959: "Nixon is an idiot and a criminal. As long as I live or as long as Fidel lives, Washington will never end this revolution."

*&***********************&*

 

THE USA WILL ALLOW CUBA TO PLAY BASEBALL

 AMAZING!!

    Since January of 1959 Little Cuba has considered itself a sovereign nation. That was the month the Cuban Revolution shocked the world by overthrowing the U.S./Mafia-backed Batista dictatorship.

    But since January of 1959 Little Cuba has struggled to express its sovereignty because the U. S. colossus just to the north has maintained its own colossal plans for the Caribbean's largest and most beautiful nation.

  But...lo and behold!!...the U. S. Cuban Headlines today -- on December 28th-2022 -- are truly shocking: "United States to allow MLB players to play for Cuba in World Baseball Classic." Incredible; I mean the U. S. IS ALLOWING Cuba to compete with the other 19 nations involved in the World Baseball Classic that starts in March, 2023. FANTASTIC!! Does this mean that someone in Washington actually believes that Cuba is a sovereign nation?????????

     If the headline and sub-headline shown above is true, Cuba is suddenly a favorite to win the 20-nation World Baseball Classic starting in March of 2023!!! On level playing fields, Cuba is capable of winning the 2023 World Baseball Classic starting on March 8th when it plays its first game in Taiwan...just like Cuba won the first three Olympic Baseball Championships when the games were played on level conditions. Per capita Cuba produces the best baseball players in the world and that includes the 600 that have defected to the riches of Major League Baseball because of draconian sanctions against Cuba since 1959.

     Other baseball powers such as the U. S., Japan, and the Dominican Republic {where all 30 U. S. Major League teams have lucrative year-around baseball training facilities}, of course, have recently been allowed to use Major League Players, all nations except Cuba.

    Until this last week of 2022 Cuba believed the USA's worldwide influence, and its excruciating "longtime sanctions" against Cuba, would keep the Caribbean nation from competing in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

    Like families in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and other Caribbean nations, Cuban fathers in Cuba begin early to train their boys to play baseball...knowing that they now can have long careers in the U. S. where star players are now making $40 million dollars A YEAR in salaries -- plus more millions of easy dollars each year from U. S. companies eager to lavish ad money on such athletes. In the Caribbean there are many poor families that have learned that a star baseball player can earn $40 to $60 million dollars A YEAR on outrageous but very legal long-term U. S. contracts!!!!

    But apart from the obscene and easy money that Cuban players can get playing baseball in the United States, Cubans such as the three shown above simply love baseball!!!!

     And, yes, despite the ultra-cruel and ultra-unique sanctions that the U. S. has levied on Cuba for the past six decades, Cuba still produces, per capita, the best baseball players in the world. And, yes, on level playing fields around the world Cuba can still win heralded international baseball tournaments such as the upcoming 20-nation World Baseball Classic in which teams from the Dominican Republic, U. S., Japan, Venezuela...and Cuba...will be among the favorites.

   In the USA's two-Party political system, in the past six decades the Republican President Donald Trump has levied the most harsh sanctions against Cuba. But the current Democrat President Joe Biden has been slower than expected to ease the most draconian Cuban policies he inherited from Trump.

    After sane and decent overtures to Cuba by two-term President Barack Obama, Major League Baseball and the Federation of Cuban Baseball signed an historic agreement in which Cuban baseball players would have the same rights as players from other nations to reach the U. S. and play pro baseball. The MLB leaders direly wanted the agreement because greedy and criminal agents and human traffickers were grossly ripping off and at times brutally treating Cuban defectors who wanted to play baseball in the Major Leagues. Everyone except the sanction benefactors loudly praised the MLB-FCB agreement. But like all other sane and decent agreements between the U. S. and Cuba since 1959, the sane and decent MLB-FCB agreement was quickly doomed by a minority of rich and powerful people in the U. S. who benefit either financially or politically from the vast and unending Cuban diaspora.

    During the Trump presidency, ultra-powerful Cuban-American U. S. Senators Marco Rubio and Bob Menendez weren't about to allow the sane and decent MLB-FCB agreement to last very long.  And therefore it didn't!!

    Yet...at least for a few hours on December 28th-2022...the United States {see above} appeared to treat Cuba as a sovereign nation that would be "allowed to" make some sovereign decisions of its own regarding the upcoming 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Incredible!!

Is Miami sleeping on Dec. 28th-2022??

Or can Cuba now win the World Baseball Classic?

*&***********************&*

 

 

A Rich Nation Starving a poor nation.

 The U. S. vs. Cuba as 2022 ends!!

     The Associated Press is the top News Agency in the United States and its articles literally saturate most U. S. newspapers every day. But since 1962 most Americans in the U. S. have been programmed to dismiss headlines such as the one above --- the AP Headline that blanketed the U. S. while Americans were/are celebrating the joys of Christmas Week in 2022.

     Despite being denounced worldwide by billions of concerned people that are ashamed of this definitive international image of the U. S. {created by famed Brazilian artist Carlos LaTuff}, Americans obviously are the only ones not ashamed about it. But the history and awesome longevity of the U. S. EMBARGO against Cuba has existed since 1962 for the purpose of starving, depriving, and making miserable Cubans on the island to entice them to rise up and overthrow their Revolutionary government, the Revolution that in 1959 overthrew the brutal U.S./Mafia-backed dictator Batista. But that, despite the brutal EMBARGO, has not happened...yet the failed EMBARGO in the past six decades has continued to starve, deprive, and make miserable generations of totally innocent mothers and children in Cuba. All the while Americans are told that those Cuban mothers and children are the bad guys and the Americans who created and continue to maintain  the EMBARGO are the good guys!!! But, for what it's worth, below I show what the aforementioned Associated Press article this Christmas week tells the American people how the EMBARGO at Christmas time in 2022 is starving, depriving, and making life miserable for everyday Cuban mothers.

     As you can see above, the AP starts by quoting a well-to-do Cuban-American named Ricardo Torres as blaming Cuba for its dire economic problems. But at least, this time, the AP mentions a 67-years-old mother and grandmother named Estrella as a totally innocent Cuban being starved, deprived, and made miserable. Of course, the prime cause of Estrella's punishment is the EMBARGO, which Americans have been programmed since 1962 to accept...YOU KNOW, so the good guys in the United States can keep starving, depriving, and making miserable the lives of the bad guys in Cuba, such as Estrella.

   And, of course, Carlos LaTuff and 8 billion other people around the world remain ashamed of this image of the United States. MEANWHILE, 330 million Americans are not ashamed!!!

*&***********************&*

 

 

Ana Belen Montes in the Headlines Again

 

     In the captivating saga of U.S.-Cuban history from Columbus to Castro and beyond, the name Ana Belen Montes looms large in the most massive pantheon of intrigues and misunderstandings. {The above graphic is from the Washington Post and Andy Potts}.

     Today -- December 23rd-2022, two days before Christmas -- the Top Cuban Headline in the United States comes from the Miami Herald and it is, not surprisingly, another blistering and scathing assault on...Ana Belen Montes.

     This is the scathing denunciation of Ana Belen Montes today -- Dec. 23rd-2022 -- headlined by the Miami Herald. Powerful Cubans in Miami, of course, are alarmed that Ana Belen Montes is about to be freed after spending the last two decades in a U. S. federal prison.

     The above 3 paragraphs show how the Miami Herald today begins to explain the latest news in the Ana Belen Montes saga: "Cuba's top spy in the United States will be freed from prison on Jan. 8 after serving just 20 years in a federal prison in Texas. She is said to be coming to Miami.........!!!!"

     Of course, there have always been many people who believe that Ana Belen Montes should never have served the last 20 years in a United States federal prison.

     A graduate of the University of Virginia and Johns Hopkins University, Ana Belen Montes quickly zoomed up in the higher echelons of the U. S. Defense Department as the USA's top expert regarding Cuba.

    As the U. S. government's top expert regarding Cuba, Ana Belen Montes won numerous citations and awards from the CIA and the Defense Department.

    But on 09-21-2001, as shown above, Ana Belen Montes was arrested by the FBI and charged with being the most notorious Cuban spy in the history of the United States. She, of course, was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in a federal U. S. prison. On the day she was sentenced Ana Belen Montes famously stated that she would never regret having done what she did to help innocent Cubans in Cuba from being brutalized by the United States. Twenty years later...as she is about to be released from prison...Ana Belen Montes will say the same thing.

    At her trial it is still important to know exactly what Ana Belen Montes told the judge right after she was sentenced. That aspect of her life is not often reported but, as quoted below by Elio Delgado Legon, you can read correctly every word of her statement. As you see below, she started by saying: "Your honor, I engaged in the activity that brought me before you because I obeyed my conscience rather than the law. I believe our government's policy toward Cuba is cruel and unfair, profoundly unneighborly, and I felt morally obligated to help the island defend itself from our efforts to impose our values and our political system on it." That was the first paragraph of her statement and the other six paragraphs of what she read and said to the judge is also correctly listed below.

     "I hope for a U. S. policy that is based instead on neighborly love, a policy that recognizes that Cuba, like any nation, wants to be treated with dignity and not with contempt." As you can see in the third paragraph from the bottom above, the above quotation and sentence in pink was included in the long speech Ana Belen Montes made before the judge right after he sentenced her to 25 years in a federal U. S. prison.

    Born on February 28th, 1957, Ana Belen Montes rose to become the top U. S. Cuban expert for the Defense Intelligence Agency and at the job for 17 years she was convicted in 2001 as being a Cuban spy. But even her accusers acknowledge she didn't do it for money {Cuba did not pay her} but to assuage her "conscious" for what she considered to be an egregious Cuban policy by the United States that she told the judge is "cruel and unfair." And for that belief, she has spent the past twenty years in a federal prison in Texas. It remains to be seen what she will do after she is released on January 8th, 2023.

*&***********************&*