Since 1492 when Columbus discovered Cuba, the Caribbean's largest, most strategically located, and most beautiful island has been wildly coveted by imperative powers.
Since 1962 the superpower United States, which is a mere 90 miles from Cuba, has imposed an economic EMBARGO on Cuba designed to overthrow the Cuban Revolution, which had overthrown the US-backed and Mafia-backed Batista dictatorship on January 1, 2959. Obviously, any small nation saddled with such an assault for over 62 years, over six decades, was not expected to survive for more than a year or two. Yet, Cuba has somehow survived the EMBARGO although, for sure, generations of Cubans on the island have suffered massive food shortages, power outages, and other dire deprivations.
Many media and online sources report daily about the dire conditions that Cubans in Cuba have endured since the Embargo was imposed by the United States in 1962. Above is a typical photo and caption posted on the "Patria Orgullosa"/"Proud Homeland" website, and such reminders often receive thousands of views and comments. The caption above says: "See what remains of the old 'Villa Clara' cinema and the 'Florida' hotel on the corner of Cuba and Trista streets in Santa Clara, Cuba." Daily there are photos and captions like this depicting the destructions of Cuba's infrastructues from Havana on the western end of the island to Santiago de Cuba 500 miles away on the eastern end of the island. The contrast is that back in the 1950s, when the U. S. and the Mafia ran the islandl, Cuba was a VERY rich nation. For sure, somehow there are some impressive new buildings in Cuba, including 40 or so 4-star and 5-star hotels maintained and continually refurbished by the two Spainish Hotel & Resorts giants Melia and Iberostar. But, of course, such new photos of such structures are rarely posted online or by the media.
This is the luxurious Iberostar Hotel & Resort at Varadero Beach, the Cuban beach that has been rated internationally as the Top Beach in the World. Varadero Beach is located about an hour's drive southeast of Havana in north-central Cuba due south of Key West, Florida. In September of 2024 Iberostar Hotels is paying for a ubiquitous bevy of ads on Facebook and other forums promoting tourism to its splendid Cuban properties but, of course, the EMBARGO massively discourages such tourism to Cuba.
\ Today, on September 4th, 2024, a top U. S. media source, NBC News, posted the huge article about the financial struggle is having, suggesting the prime reason is the revolutionally Cuban government, not the EMBARGO. The two NBC journalists who wrote this aritcle, as you can note, are Orlondo Matos reporting from Havana and Carmen Sesin reporting in Miami. The US-Miami media rarely mention the EMBARGO as a problem for Cubans on the island.
London-based Reuters is the international News Agency that best reports on and from Cuba. Above the huge Reuters update explains that many of the strongest revolutionary supporters are now beginning to give up after the decades of one-sided battles. That includes, as you see above, the notable former ambassador and professor Carlos Alzugaray. Although 2024 is fast coming to an end, some Cuban experts believe that the total demise of the Cuban Revolution could occur before the arrival of the New Year in 2025.
Recent headlines, shown above, reveal that Cubans in nearby Florida continue to pound Cuba, with little consequences unless they are caught by Cuba's border patrols.
While, of course, the EMBARGO for the past six decades has been Cuba's biggest problem, as noted in the huge Reuters article above, littler problems such as gun-runners arriving from Florida on water skis must be considered threats too. Meanwhile, perhaps, observers should admit that little EMBARGOED Cuba should get some credit for just surviving for the past 65 Years in the world's greatest David and Goliath struggle.
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