December-2023: Cuba's Plan to Survive US Blockade

 

   Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and First Lady Lis Cuesta, in these last few weeks in 2023, have received and accepted invitations to fly to many friendly nations that are obviously concerned about the drastic damage the U. S. Embargo/Blockade is having on Cuban families on the island. Yesterday -- on November 28th-2023 -- they arrived in the United Arad Emirates.

    Interestingly, it is reported that yesterday the Emir of Abu Dhabi asked Cuban President Diaz-Canel, "Is it true that the leaders of the United States, which is a few miles from your country, will not allow Cuban leaders to visit the United States even to discuss the blockade?" Diaz-Canel reportedly replied, "As Cuba's leader I am not allowed in the U. S., except to to go to the United Nations in New York. And, no, no United States official will discuss with me or my wife about how the blockade affects Cuban families."

         Of course, back on November 2nd-2023 -- for the 31st consecutive year -- the UAE and 187 other nations around the world voted at the United Nations to beg the United States to end its six-decade-blockade of Cuba. It is known that during the session yesterday in Abu Dhabi {shown above} that the UN votes were on the minds of the UAE officials hosting Cuba's leader.

   It is also interesing to note that the Emir of Abu Dhabi told President Diaz-Canel, "We in the UAE get most of our Cuban news by reading and seeing the photos reported by the Reuters News Agency." Obviously the Emir has read and studied Reuters articles such as the one above. Based in London but with offices around the world, including Havana and Abu Dhabi, Reuters has the best and most honest coverage of US-Cuban News, and apparently world leaders understand that.

And, meanwhile, while the UAE and other nations around the world are begging the United States to at least ease or hopefully end the USA's blockade of Cuba, it is known that nations, such as the UAE this week, are asking the U. S. "to at least allow Cuba to have the same right that other small nations have, which is to use tourism to prop up its economy." In other words, the nations of the world understand that Cuba has massive tourist attractions, such as world-class beaches such as Santa Maria and Varadero that are directly just a few miles south of tourist-obsessed Florida...and it is Santa Maria that has been voted the Second Best Beach in the World while Varadero has been voted THE Best Beach in the World. WOW!! And the U. S. Blockade keeps Americans from visiting Cuba's nearby beaches that are considered by many to be the BEST in the world.

        Spain's two world-renowned Hotels & Resorts giants -- Iberostar and Melia -- have over forty {40} 4-star and 5-star Hotels & Resorts in Cuba. This is now the prime Winter Tourist Season for Cuba, and both Iberostar and Melia are currently using international ads like the one above to lure tourists to visit their renowned properties in Cuba. For many years both of the Spanish-owned Hotels & Resorts experts have battled the dictates of the U. S. blockade against Cuba, but obviously neither of the giant chains have not yet given up on promoting tourism to Cuba. Below are some more of the images being used in current ads by Iberostar and Melia in November-December of 2023 in the hopes that the U. S. government will permit them the freedom to operate in Cuba. Both of the Spanish Hotels and Resorts chains have gorgeous 4-star & 5-star Hotels in many places around Cuba...but below you can tell by their ads in November of 2023 that they are stressing Cuba's incomparable beaches.

   The Spanish word "Bienvenido" means "Welcome." It is drastically important to Cuban families that Cuba is allowed the freedom to welcome tourists to their island. But...a few Cuban-Americans in Miami and Washington for over six decades still seem to be saying, "We are the good Cubans while the Cubans in Cuba are the bad Cubans. So the blockade will stay in place!!!!" 

   The rest of the nations in the world -- and it appears to be unanimous -- believe that tourists, if they choose to do so, should be allowed to visit Cuba. But the richest and strongest nation in the world disagrees, and therefore most would-be tourists abide by that edict. Yet a few, like the Canadian couple above, defy the blockade's ultimatum.

From 1962 till 2023 -- and Forever!!

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Yes, Fidel Castro IS STILL the Leader of Cuba

Even If Americans Don't Know It!!

    Yes, both of the captions posted on Cuban TV on November 25th of 2023 are correct. They report that Fidel Castro died at age 90 in Havana on November 25th of 2016 and that Fidel Castro is still the leader of Cuba on November 25th of 2023. The words above say..."...Cuba laments the death...on November 25th of November in 2016." On the anniversary of that day, Cubans in Cuba lament the death of Fidel Castro...and still consider him the leader of Cuba.

    On November 25th in 2023 huge crowds like the one above acknowledged and mourned the death of Fidel Castro exactly seven years ago. In the middle of the front row above, that is Cuba's current President Miguel Diaz-Canel who is 63-years-old and was born in 1959 a few months after Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution overthrew the U.S.-backed and Mafia-backed Batista dictatorship on January 1st of 1959.

     Since 2018 Miguel Diaz-Canel has been Cuba's President and Leader. He firmly says, "Fidel Castro will remain the leader of Cuba as long as his Revolution lives. And that is why we must make sure that it lives another 63 years and beyond that." 

     During his lifetime Fidel Castro ordered that, after he died, there would be no roads or buildings named for him nor that no statues of him should never be erected...although he had decreed that such honors should honor Celia Sanchez, Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos, Jose Marti and other special revolutionary icons. But the photos above show the Tomb that contains Fidel Castro's ashes. Cubans, including those showed in long line above, rountinely pay homage to him at his Tomb. In the photo directly above the 3 people in the middle of the front row at the Tomb are Cuba's current Prime Minister, President, and First Lady.

    But mostly, the normal daily visitors to Fidel Castro's Tomb are everyday Cubans, such as the two above.

    Because of the area where Fidel Castro was born and where he bagan his Revolution, the Fidel Castro Tomb  is in Santiago de Cuba on the island's for southeastern end. But almost 500 miles away in Havana on the northeastern tip of the island is the new and very splendid Fidel Castro Ruz Center in Havana.

"Fidel Forever"

     Whether you love or hate Fidel Castro -- and there are surely many millions who still fall within those two extremes -- unbiased opinions agree that, yes, his legacy still rules Cuba 64 years after the triumph of this Revolution and 7 years after his death at age 90. If the six-decade-old Blockade of Cuba, or some other U.S.-orchestrated Bay of Pigs-like ploy finally succeeds, Fidel Castro's rule of Cuba and his Revolution will both finally end, but till or when that occurrs it will remain Fidel Castro's island.

    For sure, as noted, November 25th of 2016 {When Fidel Castro Died} is deeply engraved in the memories of Cubans on the island but, as shown above, so is "November 25th of 1956." That was the day that Fidel -- and 81 other rebels including Raul, Che, Camilo, etc. -- arrived back in Cuba from Mexico on the yacht Granma to join Celia Sanchez's viable rebel army that was already raging a fierce war against dictator Batista on the southeastern end of the island in the foothills of the Sierra Maestra Mountains. Today in Revolutionary Cuba "Granma" is the name of a prime Province in Cuba and also the name of the top newspaer in Cuba. Of course, if and/or the U. S. government and the Cubans in Miami & Washington finally overthrow Fidel Castro's Revolution, there would be no Province or Newspaper in Cuba named "Granma." 

   On November 25th of 2023 the photo above showed Cubans in Cuba standing on a roadside and paying homage to Fidel Castro's Revolution. The U. S. media & government claim there are not many Cubans in Cuba that feel that way...at least of their own free will. But that is simply not so. During the Revolution in the 1950s, during the Bay of Pigs attack on Cuba in 1961, and during the Blockade since 1962, there have always been millions of Cubans in Cuba who have always supported their most beloved rebel Fidel Castro. Starting in 1960 when Dwight Eisenhower was replaced by the young John Kennedy as U. S. President, every U. S. President has been politically and economically compelled to overthrow Fidel Castro's Revolution, but, incredibly, that remains a project that is still ongoing as November turns to December in 2023!!!

    And as November turns into December in 2023, the "Hombre" that still rules Cuba is Fidel Castro, seven years after his death at age 90 on November 25th of 2016.

    Prior to becoming the rebel that overthrew Dictator Batista, Fidel Castro was a baseball pitcher who was offered a Major League contract by the Washington Senators. 

    Many Cubans in Cuba today who remember the US-Mafia-Batista dictatorship still speak dearly of their "amigo" Fidel Castro...and Frei Betto remains Fidel's friend.

    Today in Cuba children also fondly remember Fidel Castro based on what their parents, grand-parents, and their governmental leaders have told them about Fidel Castro.

     On November 2nd of 2023, for the 31st consecutive year, the nations of the world -- 188 of them -- voted in the United Nations to beg the United States to end its six-decade-old Embargo/Blockade of Cuba. Of course, that international plea is denied year-after-year-after-year....!!!! 

    Of course, many Cubans like this athlete choose to stay in Cuba despite the terrible economic disasters the island is facing, but in 2023 about 400,000 of them have bolted Cuba seeking financial rewards in the United States.

\     At the end of November in 2023, the six-decade-old U. S. blockade of Cuba continues with no end in sight. Yet, incredibly, Fidel Castro -- seven years after his death at age 90 -- remains the ruler of Revolutionary Cuba.

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All Cubans Remember November 25th of 2016

     Today is November 25th of 2023 and every Cuban remembers that revolutionary icon Fidel Castro died at age 90 in Havana on November 25th of 2016. And on November 25th of 2023, while cogently denied by Americans, most Cubans in Cuba still consider and love Fidel Castro as the leader of Cuba.

    And so...on November 25th of 2023...Cubans in Cuba today not only remember the death of Fidel, but most Cubans in Cuba honor their memories of him...such as the ones below:

   Today on November 25th of 2023 on the SEVENTH ANNIVERSITY OF HIS DEATH AT AGE 90, above are some of the memories that Cubans in Cuba are having about Fidel Castro. Back in the 1950s most of the Cubans in Cuba supported him powerfully against the Batistianos, the mafia, and the U. S. businessmen who controlled the island. Also, it should be noted, that many of history's greatest independence icons, such as Nelson Mandela, were lifelong admirers of Fidel Castro.

    Of course, today on November 25th of 2023 the Cubans in Cuba remember that Fidel Castro survived 634 assassination attempts, "MOSTLY BY THE USA'S CIA." 

     But mostly Cubans in Cuba remember Fidel Castro for the Cuban Revolution, which stunned the world on January 1st in 1959 and, incredibly, still rules Cuba on November 25th of 2023.

AUGUST 13-1926 till NOVEMBER 25-2016!!

A favorite memory of Fidel Castro!!

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