A Cuban Billionaire in Miami Who DOES NOT Hate Cuba!!!!

The US-Cuba Conundrun In 2025!!

    Born in Manzanillo {Cuba} 71 years ago, Mike Hernandez's parents brought him to the U. S. in 1964, five years after the Cuban Revolution had overthrown the US/Mafia-backed Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Growing up in the U. S. he received huge advantages afforded by counter revolutionary Cubans, the Catholic Church, the U. S. government, and the U. S media. As an adult the well-educated and well-positioned Cuban-American Mike Hernandez, like many other U. S. refugees from Revolutionary Cuba, became a millionaire and then a multi-billionaire. He founded MBF Heathcare Partners in 2005. In the USA's two-party political system, he was a Republican and tried to promote Republican Jeb Bush's presidential bid. But in 2016, as a billionaire, he accompanied Democratic President Barack Obama on the historic goodwill trip to Cuba. Over the years he supported various politicians but became disenchanted with Miami's and the USA's treatment of everyday Cubans in Cuba, especially with Miami's and Washington's recent tightening of the 7-decade-old U. S. economic Embargo/Blockade that has helped leave everyday Cubans with drastic food shortages and island-wide power blackouts, a situation that Americans are routinely told "is ONLY Cuba's FAULT." Therefore, the multi-billionaire Mike Hernandez in this year of 2025 has sponsored billboards and other ads lambasting Cuban-American politicians in Miami-Washington such as Marco Rubio, Carlos Gimenez, and Maria Elmira Salazar that he seems to believe have grown rich and powerful in Miami on the backs of grossly mistreated Cubans in Cuba.

     The Madrid, Spain-based media giant El Pais has also taken notice of Miami's Cuban-born multi-billionaire Mike Hernandez in late August of 2025 as  he feels sorry for devastated Cubans in Cuba and he blames much of the genocide-like treatment of the island on Miami's key Cuban policians such as Marco Rubio, Carlos Gimenez, and Maria Salazar. In late August of 2025 shown below is what El Pais is telling the world about Mike Hernaandez, Miami, and Cuba:

    And take particular note of the last two El Pais sentences shown above: "And people like Mario Diaz-Balart, with decades in the House, I'm sure that at one point he meant well. But these guys are drunk with power and they have to be removed. These guys have lost their backbone." 

    The El Pais mention of "Mario Diaz-Balart" aptly updates in late August of 2025 the US-Cuba/Miami-Havana conundrum that has existed frantically since the early 1950s when the United States wildly supported the Mafia-riddled Batista dictatorship in nearby Cuba. Massively backed by U. S. tourism and greedy U. S. companies that flocked to Batista's Cuba created a Las Vegas-like gold mine in Cuba starting in the early 1950s. Any Google search will inform you that Batista's Interior Boss and also the "Majority Leader of the Batista-controlled Cuban House of Representatives was Rafael Diaz-Balart." On January 1st in 1959 Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution overthrew Batista and then Rafael Diaz-Balart {and others} fled to nearby Miami. Rafael's son Lincoln, who was born in Havana, became a powerful lawyer in Miami and then represented the Miami area in the U. S. Congress for many years but recently died of natural causes. Rafael's next son, Mario, was born 63 years ago in Key Biscayne and for two decades has represented the Miami area in the U. S. Congress. Thus, as referenced this week by El Pais, the Diaz-Balart family in Batista's Havana and then starting in 1959 in Miami has had a profound political and financial influence in the vast US-Cuba/Havana-Miami conundrum since 1959.

       Amazingly, Rafael Diaz-Balart and Fidel Castro were childhood friends and that friendship extended to their days as classmates at the University of Havana's Law School. Both of them were born in 1926 in Banes, Cuba. Fidel in 1948, who was by then well-known as Cuba's Athlete of the Year, married Rafael's sister Mirta Diaz-Balart!!!!

      A son named Fidelito for several years made the Fidel Castro and Mirta Diaz-Balart family happy, at least till the Batista dictatorship in the 1950s caused Fidel and Mirta's brother Rafael to take very bitter opposite sides. Fidel started a revolution to overthrow Batista while Rafael was a key offical in the Batista dictatorship. {Mirta and Fidel divorced and ended up fighting over custody of Fidelito, a battle that Fidel won just as he won his anti-Batista Revolution that was a bitter revolutionary war that primarily lasted from July 26th of 1953 till January 1st of 1959.

     After defeating "Cuba's Mafia-backed dictator Batista" on the first day of January in 1959, Fidel Castro then had to try to defend his island against the superpower United States.

      Starting on January 1st in 1959, the nearby superpower United States has tried to overthrow Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution. As shown above, in April of 1961 Fidel Castro had to lead a defense of Cuba when the U. S. and Miami-based Cuban-Americans launched a air-land-and-sea military attack that is known as "the Bay of Pigs invasion." 

       Both before and after the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, history also registers that Fidel Castro almost surely survived the most assassination attempts of anyone in history. One famous documenary claims there were "538" serious efforts to kill Fidel Castro.

     Even CNN News, as shown above, tried to determine how many assassinations Fidel Castro had survived and then came up with a number of "600"...and researched the famed time a beautiful German spy, Marita Lorenz, had been in on one of the CIA plots to kill Fidel Castro.

Fidel Castro died of old age in Havana in 2016.

       But, for sure, at the end of August in 2025 the seven-decade-old battle between Miami and Havana continues with no end on the horizon. And, of course, rich Miami is winning that battle but somehow it is not over...at least not YET!!!

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Rubio's Regime Change in Cuba Has Not Happened YET?

 Let's review WHY...........!!!

      Today is August 15th, 2025. The most interesting US-Cuban Headline flashing around the world today is: "U. S. Exports To Cuba Surge -- Paid in Cash." It is from "Belly of the Beast," which has excellent journalists that keep close daily tabs on US-Cuba Relations. Actually, by August 15th in 2025, most people had believed Cuba's 1950's historic revolution, which has ruled Cuba since 1959, would finally be ended by Miami's Marco Rubio who has been President Donald Trump's ultra-powerful Secretary of State for over six months now!! But the Cuban Revolution is still alive and, in fact, the U. S., instead of starving the Cuban people and otherwise tormenting them as per the infamous EMBARGO/Blockade that has existed since 1962, today is actually sending vital exports to Cuba. And so, why is the U. S. doing  this? If you go to the Belly of the Beast website you can read the explanations, including this one: "How is Cuba, under  siege from devastating U. S. sanctions, importing so much from the U. S.? The apparent paradox is explained by the growth of Cuba's private sector." In other words, private businesses are not only beginning to arrive but also thrive in Cuba...and they are buying needed supplies from countries like China, Vietnam, and Belarus. Vietnam has also recently sent an expert delegation of food producers and their modern equipment to work with Cuban farmers to train and help them to produce agricultural products that have so badly been lacking on the US-sanctioned island. So it appears the new U. S. exports to Cuba, which are being paid for in cash, are a result of the U. S. competing with some other countries that appear to be trying to help Cubans in Cuba.

      Also reflecting a long-awaited change in Cuban economics, one of the island's most popular TV journalists, Rosy Amaro, has started a Podcast entitled "Let's Do Business." Each Podcast features a young Cuban entrepreneur who has started a business that is proving to be successful.

      And so, amid world headlines about Cubans starving and being forced to exist with long island-wide power shortages, there appear to be in August of 2025 some positive changes in Cuba. If so, of course, they are coming on the heels of the two most powerful Americans -- Donald Trump and Miami's Cuban-American Marco Rubio -- apparently trying to end the pugnacious Cuban Revolution once and for all!! For sure, by mid-August of 2025 most observers believed that the U. S., holding all the cards, would have retooled Cuba to Rubio's liking by now.

     Back in January of 2025 Danald Trump began his second 4-year term as President of the United States by naming Marco Rubio as Secretary of State. Later Rubio was also given the title of National Security Advisor. That arguably makes Rubio the  second most powerful person in the world. Thus, quickly many experts predicted that Rubio would make quick work of finally putting an end to the pugnacious but teetering Cuban Revolution, which in 1959 overthrew the US/Mafia-backed Batista dictatorship. After all, after being born 54 years ago in Miami to anti-Castro parents, Rubio has devoted his entire adult life to overthrowing the Cuban Revolution's rule in Cuba. Of course, by the time Rubio was born his hometown had already become known as Little Havana Miami and was totally led by very rich and politically powerful anti-Castro Cuban-Americans. From 2011 till 2025 as a powerful U. S. Senator from  Little Havana Miami,  the well-groomed and well-educated Rubio spearheaded the USA's vast anti-Cuban efforts in Washington, but never has he been able to overthrow the revolution's hold on the Caribbean's largest island that is just a few miles south of Litttle Havana Miami. But as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, many assumed that by August in 2025 that Secretary of State/National Advisor Marco Rubio would have already ended Fidel Castro's victory in the long-ago Cuban Revolution. But it has not happened...at least not YET.

     Born in Miami/Little Havana 54 years ago, Marco Rubio has unabashedly spent his entire adult life in Miami and Washington trying to overthrow the Cuban Revolution, which way back in 1959 overthrew the brutal Miami/Washington/Mafia-beloved dictator Fulgencio Batista. Well, since January of 2025 Rubio, as President Trump's Secretary of State, apparently has an easy road to finally end Cuba's revolutionary rule. Quickly Rubio's State Department placed Cuba on its Sponsor of Terrorism List, which severely tightens the already severe economic Embargo/Blockade of Cuba that the U. S. has imposed on the vulnerable island since 1962. Also, of course, Rubio's State Department has "escalated his  war on the Cuban medical aid program" that has famously helped other countries but of course Rubio does not want Cuba to make a peso or penny from the Cuban doctors that other nations need and want. Is this, uh, a WONDERFUL way for a superpower neighbor to treat a much weaker and poorer nation? Of course, if you are a superpower Cuban-American U. S. politician from Miami/Little Havana your regime change plans regarding Cuba are totally unimpeded and totally supported in the nearby United States of America, the same superpower that back in the 1950s wildly promoted vast business and massive tourism to Batista's dictatorship.

      But now in mid-August of  2025 the top Cuban Headlines flashing around the world, as shown above, reveal vididly that Marco Rubio, now in charge of the USA's foreign affairs, continues to be trying wildly to end the Cuban Revolution even though the U. S. is also embroiled in other massive foreign entanglements such as upping tarrifs on many nations that are huge trading partners and, of course, also there are bloody wars raging around the world that the U. S. is trying to put ends to. Already the U. S. has put Cuba back on its Sponsors of Terrorism List, which means even stronger sanctions can be placed on Cuba atop the excruciating EMBARGO/Blockade that has existed for almost seven decades, since 1962. The headlines above refer to measures against Cuba by Rubio in August of 2025 to use the massive influence that the U. S. can exert against other countries to dissuade them not to help or do business with Cuba.

       In March of this year, right after becoming Secretary of State, Marco Rubio toured countries in the Caribbean and elsewhere in the Americas to make sure the U. S. is not impeded in its renewed Trump-Rubio efforts to orchestrate the regime change in Cuba. In the photo above Rubio is shown meeting with Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness. In fact, Rubio was embarrassed at their new conference when Holness pushed back when Rubio wanted Holness to stop paying Cuba for the Cuban doctors and nurses in Jamaica. Holness held his ground and suggested that the Jamaican people needed and loved the help they are getting from the skilled  and dedicated Cuban medical brigade.

        Of course, U. S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has unlimited resources to use to persuade Jamaican leader Andrew Holness and other leaders in the Americas and elsewhere in the world. But Holness, while agreeing to sign a new deal with Rubio in March of 2025, at least admitted he still wanted the medical help from Cuban doctors to continue in Jamaica.

    While Marco Rubio pinpointed Kingston, the capital of Jamaica, as his first stop on his anti-Cuban tour, the unique U. S. influence throughout the Americas and around the world has largely dissuaded help for Revolutionary Cuba. But all maps such as those above reveal that Cuba's strategic location as the largest nation in the Caribbean has always made it a powerful lure coveted by world powers. Spain, of course, dictated Cuba for many decades with Cuba, in the 1890s, losing two Independence War to Spanish soldiers on Cuban soil. But by then the burgeoning United States wanted to be a world power too, and that quest began with Cuba!!!!

      By April 21st in 1898 the U. S. recognized that Spain was no longer able to maintain control in Cuba, and the United States, Cuba's neighbor, was finally powerful enough to become a world power. Thus in April of 1898 the SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR began on Cuban soil. It, of course, was a quick and easy win for the United States. Spain then had to cede Cuba to the U. S. along with Puerto Rico and  Guam, and also Spain was forced to cede or sell key parts of the Philippines to the United States. In other words, starting with Cuba in 1898 the burgeoning United States of America became a world power and soon thereafter the U. S. became THE WORLD POWER.

      By 1903 the United States had its own Military Base on Cuban soil at Guantanamo Bay on the island's southeastern tip. The U. S. occupation of 45 plush acres of Cuban soil has, of course, greatly embarrassed Revolutionay Cuba since 1903 till today, which is mid-August of 2025.

       The ultra-powerful United States Secretary of State in 2025 is Marco Rubio who was born in Miami to Cuban parents who hated revolutionay Cuba. Rubio himself has never been on Cuban soil but, of course, as a U. S. Senator he has visited the "U.  S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay  in Cuba." Notice above that the U. S. flag flies over Guantanamo Bay. And also notice that the U. S. government calls it the "Pearl of the Antilles." and says so in capital letters.

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Cuba Accuses US of Lying About Its Cuban Provacations

 

    When it comes to issues between the United States and Cuba, Johana Tablada is the most forceful and ubiquitous spokesperson for Cuba. Recently at the Cuban Embassy in Washington she held forth about the latest ongoing disputes that divide the neighbors, one of which is the world's economic and military superpower and the other being the largest island/nation in the Caribbean. The U. S. media, as usual, ignored what Johana Tablada had to say at that session but, as usual, Reuters -- the London-based international superstar News Agency -- reported worldwide about what this important Cuban had to say. If you want to read about the "Reuters" article its headline is: "Top Cuban official accuses US of trying to provoke conflict." One of the key sentences in the Reuters worldwide article quoted Johana Tablada as saying, "An armed clash between the two old Cold War rivals was 'not a good idea.'"

      This photo shows Johana Tablada pointing out one Cuba's scenic attactions to a friend. Very fluent in Spanish and English, she often speaks before groups of Cubans about the hardships they are facing and she blames most of it on the United States. Below, using her English words, is one such example of her prime points about what she labels the U. S. "policy" regarding Cuba:

When she speaks, Johana Tablada speaks {as above} for Cuba.

      Johana Tablada says that the U. S. EMBARGO against Cuba, which has existed since 1962, is genocidal against the masses of everyday Cubans "but somehow has not overthrown the revolutionary Cuban government that has existed since 1959."

      Johana Tablada says, "Back in the 1950s the United States supported and armed Cuba's brutal dictator Fulgencio Batista because he allowed rich U. S. companies to rob Cuba blind along with Batista's U. S. Mafia friends such as Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky."

     The photo and caption shown above shows rebels and regular citizens in Havana January 1st in 1959 trying to find Batista cronies before they could find sanctuary in Miami or in dictator Trujillo's Dominican Republic. Johana Tablada says, "Of course, most of the Batista and Mafia cronies by daylight on January 1 in 1959 had fled with lots of loot with Miami being their main final and lucrative destination. That's how Little Havana in Miami formed, of course."

     The Little Havana of Miami destination was created starting in 1959 by key members of former dictator Batista's dictatorship such as Batista's minister Rafael Diaz-Balart who quickly created The White Rose unit in Miami that was the first counter revolutionry group on U. S. soil. Since 1959 Little Havana in Miami has not yet overthrown Revolutionary Cuba but it has surely produced a vast array of extremely rich and politically powerful Cuban-Americans.

      After being a key Minister in the Batista dictatorship in the 1950s, Rafael Diaz-Balat, starting in 1959, became one of the richest and most-powerful Cubans with connections to Miami and to Washington. He is shown above in the photo above in the middle wearing a holstered gun while he was attending a Batista rally in the last full year {1958} of the Batista dictatorship in Cuba.

      In the photo above that is Rafael Diaz-Balart in the middle flanked by his father Rafael on the left and two of his sons Lincoln, who was born in Havana, and Mario, who was born in Florida. Both Lincoln and Mario became powerful counter revolutionary members in the U. S. Congress in Washington...Lincoln starting in 1993 till 2011 and Mario starting in 2011 until the present day. Lincoln was born in Havana in 1954 and died at age 70 in southern Florida on March 3rd in 2025. Mario was born in 1961 in Fort Lauderdale in southern Florida and is 63 years old.

This was a rural family in Batista's dictatorship.

     After the victory of the Cuban Revolution that overthrew Batista on January 1 i 1959, Revolutionary Cuba guaranteed every Cuban things such as free food if needed, free educations through college, etc. Both Cubans in Cuba who support the Revolution and Cubans in Miami who hate the Revolution identify closely with The White Rose, which was the name of one of Jose Marti's most famous poems and also the name of the first counter-revolutuionary unit in Florida.

    The images above of Jose Marti and Fidel Castro reveal an intriguing aspect of the legendary divide between Havana and Little Havana as well as the difference between Cuba and the United States. For example, Cubans in both Havana and Little Havana love Jose Marti but the love and hatred for Fidel Castro to this day in August of 2025 still reaches historic, topical and vastly different parameters in the two neighboring countries. Jose Marti has been loved as an artist and revolutionary in both Cuba, the U. S., and the world; Fidel Castro is still mostly loved in Cuba but still roundly hated in the U. S., mostly in Miami. Jose Marti was born in Havana on January 28th in 1853 and died fighting Spanish soldiers on Cuban soil at the Battle of Dos Rios on May 19th in 1895. Fidel Castro died peacefully of old age in Havana at age 90 on November 25th, 2016.

      Back in the 1950s during the Batista dictatorship both the U. S. government and the U. S. media wildly supported and promoted tourism to Cuba when the Batistianos, Mafia kingpins, and top U. S. companies were making financial fortunes on the island. Above ubiquitous ads like this one saturated the United States promoting tourism to Cuba in Batista's Cuba touting prime lures such as the famed Varadero Beach in the 1950s.

     But starting in 1959 after the Cuban Revolution ousted dictator Batista, the U. S. has tried desperately to restrict tourism to Cuba...even though Varadero Beach, just a few miles south of Florida, has been rated "The Greatest Beach in the World." A drastic lack of tourism in 2025 has helped cause drastic food shortages and island-wide power blackouts in Cuba. The U. S. loudly claims that Cuba's own mistakes have created the problems...although Cuba is the only nation in the world that has ever suffered from such a prolonged Embargo/Blockade imposed by the world's srongest and richest nation, and IT has existed since 1962!!!!!

And So...Miami and Havana remain close but FAR apart in August, 2025.

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