Havana's Fault or Miami's Fault??
I have been to both Havana in Cuba, to Little Havana in Miami, and I've spent many years {long-ago} as a radio-television anchor in local markets in the United States. Especially since 2004 when the Little Havana-aligned George W. Bush administration reluctantly allowed me to visit Cuba on a research assignment, I have been convinced of one thing: The triumph of the Cuban Revolution in January of 1959 over the U.S.-backed and Mafia-backed Batista dictatorship has, incredibly, changed the United States even more than it has CHANGED CUBA. The success of the U. S. experiment in democracy, as Thomas Jefferson so astutely predicted in 1776, primarily depended on a VIABLE and TRUSTWORTHY news media. If he were alive today, I believe Thomas Jefferson would be shedding tears about a respected poll, Gallup's, revealing that only 7 percent of Americans now trust the mainstream U. S. media" and, alarmingly, above that number those who "ONLY TRUST the U. S. media ONLY a little bit" is also amazingly low. Can a Democracy survive and be viable indefinitely with such numbers? Especially since January of 1959, I believe the U. S. media's dishonest and propaganda-filled coverage of U.S.-Cuban Relations epitomizes the drastic decline in the manner in which Americans trust the U. S. media, something that should be a hallmark of a great Democracy. Yet, there remain a few honest and superb U. S. journalists and in yesterday's Cubaninsider I reported how Richard Stradling at the Raleigh News & Observer actually has just penned an honest and brave article even though it provided a POSITIVE IMAGE of Revolutionary Cuba, which is rare in the U. S. Incredibly, another honest and superb journalist still working in the mainstream U. S. media is Andrea Rodriguez, the Associated Press's correspondent in Havana who lives with the Cuban people and understands their foibles, nuances, joys, and struggles. She is incredible because she is honest & fair.
When the AP's Andrea Rodriguez reports from Cuba, Americans can trust her journalism whether or not it reveals negative or positive details regarding daily life on the island. Today -- on Feb. 17-2022 -- Andrea's article, because the AP's articles are published in newspapers across the U. S., is one that Americans should carefully read while ignoring the plethora of daily anti-Cuba articles that only present the lucrative Little Havana propaganda that has saturated America's "Journalism" since January of 1959. Thus, like Richard Stradling in Raleigh with the News & Observer, Andrea Rodriguez is a rare & precious jewel if you search for honest U. S. journalism, especially regarding the largest nation in the nearby Caribbean...where the U. S. actions against its people shapes negative views of both the U. S. and Democracy among millions...even billions...of people around the world.
Above is the headline and sub-headline of the AP article today -- Feb. 17-2022 -- by an honest journalist, Andrea Rodriguez. Note the sub-headline: "Grocery shopping has become an increasingly costly and arduous struggle for many people in Cuba." As usual, Andrea Rodriguez is honestly reporting on current struggles of Cubans on the island who arduously are trying to get adequate food and other necessities. Note that Andrea is not telling you that the fault is Havana's or Little Havana's...Cuba's or the USA's!! She is just telling you honest facts and allowing her readers to decide for themselves. That's what great, honest journalists do. Except for a few journalists such as Richard in Raleigh or Andrea in Havana, U. S. journalists are obliged to tell Americans how great Batista's Cuba in the 1950s was...you know, the regime that permitted rich Americans and Mafiosi to greedily and cruelly partake in the spoils...while repeatedly TELLING Americans that Revolutionary Cuba since 1959 has been and is the worst REGIME IN HISTORY, daily propaganda that hasn't yet recaptured the island for Little Havana but that has made a lot of Miami Cubans rich & powerful while legally using the power of the U. S. to starve, deprive, and make miserable Havana Cubans, as has been the incredible three prime purposes of the U. S. Embargo since February of 1962...although, of course, the FIRST PRIME PURPOSE is to enrich & empower Miami Cubans. In that regard, in today's AP article from Havana Andrea Rodriguez tells us about and names a 65-year-old grandmother in Havana who is trying to keep her family from starving in February of 2022.
As a fair-minded journalist for the USA's AP in Cuba, Andrea Rodriguez observes and lives with everyday Cubans, and she reports fairly on them and the Cuban government. That is what the rest of the U. S. media should do...but doesn't do.
Whether she is observing the trials and tribulations of the 65-year-old grandmother or quoting Marcia Ochoa -- "It's impossible to maintain my family on my salary" -- the AP's honest journalist in Havana, Andrea Rodriguez, tells the truth...as shown above today -- Feb. 17-2022 -- as even ABC News, which republished Andrea's article, acknowledged.
But, as mentioned earlier, an honest journalist like Andrea Rodriguez is the rarity in mainstream U. S. journalism today. And that is why rich and powerful Little Havana/Miami politicians can go on the mainstream media and national television any hour of any hour and say things such as, "There is NO EMBARGO on Cuba." That is a shameful lie that shames Cuban grandmothers and mothers on the island, such as the two that the honest Andrea Rodriguez quoted today for the AP in Havana. But even more shameful, I believe, is how much shame the endless and unchecked lies that endlessly permeate most of the U. S. media regarding U.S.-Cuban Relations proliferates unchecked, such as internationally renowned cruelties such as the lucrative but salacious lies about...the shameful and endless EMBARGO!!!
*&***********************&*
