Later this week -- on June 3rd in Los Angeles -- the Ninth Summit of the Americas will begin its five-day 2022 event. Even the map shown above registers the fact that Cuba is one of the nations that comprises the Americas. But most of the attention leading up to the Summit concerns the fact that the United States plans to not invite Cuba and its allies Venezuela and Nicaragua to the event.
Today -- on May 30th, 2022 -- above are the two Top Headlines in the world related to Cuba. Al Jazeera's headline concerns a long interview its respected Latin American expert Lucia Newman had with Cuba's Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, who is Cuba's prime Minister in charge of issues with the United States. And the Miami Herald's headline today, of course, only concerns the views of extremist Counter Revolutionary Cubans in Miami's Little Havana section. Of course, Little Havana dominates Florida's politics as well as Washington's politics when it comes to Cuba. Thus, of course, Cuba is not welcomed at the Summit of the Americas starting Friday in Los Angeles. But, of course, key Cuban dissidents in Cuba are invited!!
Because she is a well known Cuban dissident from Santa Clara, Cuba, Saily Gonzalez got a massive invitation to attend the Summit of the Americas!!
The Cuban government blames Saily Gonzalez of being supported by Miami Cubans and that she has backed riotous opposition protests. Below is how Saily Gonzalez proudly splashed her Summit invitation all over Social Media as well, of course, via 14/Medio, the ultra powerful and supposedly well-funded counter revolutionary digital newspaper published by Yoani Sanchez, who is Little Havana's & Washington's favorite dissident.
For a couple of decades Lucia Newman was one of the USA's most notable journalist related to Latin American, with top awards including the Edward R. Murrow prize for Latin American coverage. She now is the Latin America Editor for Al Jazeera.
Prior to the Summit of the Americas starting June 3rd in Los Angeles, Lucia Newman had a long interview with Carlos Fernandez De Cossio, Cuba's top Minister concerning the United States. The half-hour interview is in English and all of it is shown in the video below, so just tap it to see & hear it.
The entire Lucia Newman-Carlos Fernandez interview is shown in its entirety above and it shows the astute and respected Carlos Fernandez presenting Cuba's views on such things as the Summit, the Embago/blockade, etc. A very pleasant man, he has been invited to speak in Miami and other Florida venues but he has repeatedly said that the U. S. media "only presents one side of the two-sided story pertaining to U.S.-Cuban relations."
The world-renowned London-based Reuters News Agency can be relied on to report honestly about U.S.-Cuban relations, including this week's summit.
As you can see above, Reuters honestly informed the world about: "Sally Gonzalez, a Cuban entrepreneur and one-time member of a dissident group that called for protests in Cuba last November, posted an image of her invitation, dated May 20, on social media late on Friday."
The President of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel has not and will not be invited to the Summit of the Americas...but he also has strongly stated that he would not attend "under no circumstances."
The 61-year-old Miguel Diaz-Canel was born after the Cuban Revolution overthrew the U.S.-backed Batista dictatorship more than 62 years ago. But he is a fierce supporter of "our Revolution" and, moreover, he believes most Cubans strongly support him. He says, "I wish, for the region's sake, that the U. S. was a strong democracy. But I see that the polls show that Presidents such as Trump and Biden have had approval ratings in the 30s. I have told meetings, and even on news broadcasts, that I would resign the day I believed that most Cubans don't support me as President." For sure, independent and foreign journalists in Cuba have reported that Diaz-Canel was very popular during his important stint as Cuba's Minister of Education and that he has been popular with most Cubans in Cuba since he became President in 2018.
As Education Minister and now as President, Miguel Diaz-Canel has emphasized being in close touch with "the Cuban people." He often walks on the streets of Cuban cities, and not just in Havana, to talk to the citizens. He also makes ubiquitous opportunities to speak to the people on radio and television as well as Social Media outlets. For example, above is the start of a Diaz-Canel Social Media reminder to the Cuban people. Translated to English it says, "A mercenary will never understand a patriot...With this I say..." Diaz-Canel often states that mercenaries fight for money while patriots fight for their country. Then he adds: "Americans are not told how in the world this little nation's revolution beat Batista, a powerful dictator who was backed by the United States, the most powerful nation, and by the Mafia, the most powerful criminal organization. Well, the Cuban rebels who fought for Cuba against the mercenaries were patriots. And, so, the American people are not told how in the world this little nation has held off such powerful U.S.-based mercenaries since 1959. Well, the answer is...since 1959 we have always had enough patriots to survive the mercenaries who think of Cuba as a money pit, the way it was for Batista, the United States, and the Mafia prior to the Revolution."
Perhaps...a powerful Cuban Minister named Betsy Diaz is even more blunt than President Diaz-Canel regarding mercenaries and patriots. Betsy Diaz said: "Before the rebel patriots defeated the mercenaries...I mean the Americans, the Mafiosi, and the Batista thugs...the money kings didn't bother to throw a few crumbs to the majority peasants...no education, no food, no health...and then brutally killed anyone who objected. So, thank god...the patriots were smarter and more motivated than the mercenaries."
And so...this week as the Ninth Summit of the Americas gets underway in Los Angeles, the United States apparently doesn't think of Cuba as a country in the Americas. But Cubans such as President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Minister Betsy Diaz try to remind everyone that Batista's Cuba in the 1950s was a time when the United States believed that Cuba was an utra-important country just below Key West, Florida!!!!