Just a few weeks ago Cuba was reporting deaths from COVID-19 in the hundreds and the confirmed cases each day in the many thousands. But in recent weeks Cuba has embarked on a massive vaccination campaign across the island with its three own primary homegrown vaccines -- shown above -- and the numbers have drastically dropped.
Now in its 24-hour statistics Cuba is reporting confirmed cases just in the hundreds and, in many days, Zero-0 deaths {"fallecidos"}. To be sure, the advent of the Omicron strain plus the sharply increased tourism to the island has increased the numbers somewhat, with the first two days of 2022 having one new death each day.
And, meanwhile, as respected international observers like NewScientist tout Cuba's homegrown COVID-19 vaccines, big countries such as Mexico, Vietnam, etc. are beginning to use Cuba's vaccines to curb the pandemic...not to mention in the Caribbean little Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, with its population of 111,000, is using Cuba's Abdala vaccine to battle COVID-19.
And, meanwhile, on this first weekend of 2022 the Top Headlines including the Paris-based France 24 Newwork reporting on the fascinating history of Havana's Hotel Nacional while actually this weekend the top Cuban headline in the USA finds the Washington Post reporting on the crime in Key West, Florida's nearest U. S. NEIGHBOR. Most Cubans on the island now have access to the Internet and they are appalled by the crime that seems to inundate and be rampant in U. S. cities.
And, meanwhile, this first weekend in 2022 Floridians see the staggering statistics about their state having "58,000 infections in one day, a record number of COVID-19 cases in Florida." Of course, Florida is just across the Florida Straits from Cuba. Florida has a population of 21.7 million and Cuba has a population of 11.2 million people.
And, meanwhile, well-educated and media-savvy Cubans in Cuba, such as Maria, have pertinent opinions about Florida and her Cuba. She even said: "Florida has so many problems with having so much money, so much crime, and so many COVID-19 cases, a sane person might think that Florida, instead of concentrating on starving Cuba, should concentrate more and better on its own problems, which include polluted beaches and waterways, which scientists continue maintaining that Florida should learn about what Cuba has long done to protect its much more pristine beaches and waterways."
I am a Democracy-loving Virginian but I note that my state has drastically more COVID-19 cases and drastically more crime than Cuba has. Virginia has a population of 8 million+ and Cuba has a population of 11 million+.
Cuba, as shown above, has reopened its borders to comply with much-needed tourism but with the very contagious Omicron strain of COVID-19 Cuba is now applying new restrictions.
And, meanwhile, through it all...Cuba is trying mightily to survive the twin perils of the U. S. Blockade and the COVID-19 Pandemic. A major U. S. news sources, Forbes, sent a crew of Travel Writers to Cuba and then informed the world that American tourists should know that in the Winter of 2022 "NOW IS THE TIME TO GO TO CUBA." The huge Forbes article bravely reported that Cuba's "well developed medical structure" and the unique "warmth of the weather as winter sets in would be matched by the warmth of the Cuban people." So, incredibly, Forbes -- a prime U. S. media giant -- is brave enough to suggest that Cuba would be a nice place for Americans to visit this winter!! Folks, that is being brave in the USA.
And, meanwhile, music-loving and dance-loving Cubans in Cuba -- as shown above -- brought in 2022 with an elaborate performance at Havana's famed Cabaret Tropicana.
And, meanwhile, on this first weekend of 2022 Cubans in Cuba are celebrating the New Year by singing and dancing. And, also, the Cubans in Cuba were showing off some of the major renovations being made to many buildings despite the Pandemic and the Blockade. Above this weekend the singing and dancing above was in the lavish Gran Teatro Alicia Alonso Ballroom in Havana. In other words, while Revolutionary Cuba is far from perfect, many Cubans on the island at the start of 2022 believe that Cuba today is better that it was prior to 1959 when the U.S.-backed/Mafia-backed Batista dictatorship ruled the island. And as a Democracy-loving American, I believe that the U. S. media should consider the opinions of everyday Cubans on the island, not only Cubans in Florida or Cuban dissidents on the island. After all, Cuba and the U. S. are now into the 63rd YEAR of Revolutionary rule in Cuba and it is perhaps time that the U. S. media informed the U. S. people how that incredible development has endured all these decades against incredible odds!!
And, meanwhile...as a Democracy-loving American...all I ask is that the U. S. media be fair enough and honest enough and brave enough to consider the opinions of the Cubans on the island, not just the opinions of extreme Counter Revolutionary Cubans in Miami and extreme dissident Cubans on the island. Everyday Cubans on the island obviously have opinions too and it is those Opinions, APPARENTLY, that MOST disapprove of the fact that Cubans in Little Havana dictate the USA's Cuban POLICIES that MANY consider GENOCIDAL!!
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