Cuba Made Its Case on Meet the Press

 On Sunday, March 22nd-2025!!

     The most iconic news program in the United States and in the world is Meet the Press. It debuted in December in 1947 and it is the longest running news show or television program in history. And it remains a legendary NBC News feature on Sundays till this very day. Now Kristen Welker anchors Meet the Press. A rare thing in U. S. journalism occurred yesterday on Sunday, March 22, 2026. That was when Kristen Welker and Meet the Press for a half-hour allowed a top Cuban spokesman to make Cuba's case as it tries desperately to survive against the unchecked power of Miami Cubans. Normally since 1959 the U. S. media has only permitted only Miami Cubans to comment on the decades-long/rich-poor lopsided struggle between the two sides, but amazingly yesterday on the massive Meet the Press forum on NBC News Cuba got to also make its own comments for a half-hour.

   From Cuba's standpoint on Meet the Press yesterday the island's Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez De Cossio, Cuba's top U. S. expert, for a half-hour answered all of Kristen Welker's questions and he did so in fluent English and quite precisely. The entire interview is still easily obtained on the Internet if you care to study his pertinent answers.

       Tap the arrow above to see and hear Fidel Castro on Meet the Press on April 19th in 1959 soon after his Cuban Revolution had overthrown dictator Fulgencio Batista in Cuba.

       Tap the arrow above to see and hear Fidel Castro on the famed Face the Nation news half-hour program on CBS News soon after his Cuban Revolution had overthrown dictator Fulgencio Batista in Cuba on January 1, 1959. In this interview he speaks in English for a half-hour about his democratic plans for Cuba, about the U. S. support of Batista until it appeared that Castro's rebels could actually win, about how he felt about the vicious Dominican Republican dictator Trujillo that liked the U. S. but hated Cuba, etc.

    Yes, history registers the fact that Fidel Castro was the guest speaking English on both Face the Nation on CBS News and on Meet the Press on NBC News soon after his Cuban Revolution took over Cuba on January 1, 1959. It was on Sunday, April 19, 1959 that he was on Meet Press. That was a mere three months AFTER he had shocked the world by leading the Cuban Revolution over the powerful Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista who had been supported by the powerful United States and by the powerful MAFIA. Americans to this day have gotten their Cuban news mostly from Miami Cubans who, starting in January of 1959, created their rich and powerful anti-Castro haven/sanctuary in Miami known as Little Havana. Every day since January in 1959 Little Havana has tried frantically to overthrow Castro's Cuban Revolution, but seven decades later the Cuban Revolution still lives although Fidel Castro himself died at age 90 in 2016. Amazingly, a few weeks after he overthrew the Batista dictatorship in Cuba, Fidel Castro spent 12 days in the United States trying to make friends with its northern neighbor but, while being wildly welcomed by the American people, Richard Nixon and the U. S. government, of course, showed Fidel Castro that they preferred Batista because U. S. companies had made vast fortunes in Batista Cuba's. Speaking English during his half-hour on Meet the Press on April 19th, 1959, he explained that he, unlike Batista, wanted a democratic government in Cuba. That entire interview, for what it's worth in late-March in 2026, is shown above. Just tap the arrow to see and listen to it. And below the Meet the Press/NBC is the Face the Nation/CBS interview. Listen to him speak in English, in 1959, about how he felt about the U. S. Democracy for Cuba, enemies such as dictator Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, and even about the "several dozen" executions the revolution carried out in 1959 after trials demanded by the Cuban people who had lost loved ones, especially children {"ninos"}, murdered by the Batista dictatorhip.

     To this day in Havana the largest Children's Hospital in Cuba is the William Soler Children's Hospital. Little Willie Soler was one of the children the revolution said was murdered by "Batista" as a warning for the parents to not oppose Batista. But marches like this one fueled the revolution and fueled Fidel Castro's fervor. The great New York Times reporter Herbert L. Matthews told about marches like these. The woman in sunglasses and wearing the white blouse above was Little Willie Soler's mother. She and other mothers like her marched with huge signs saying exactly why they marched: "Batista is killing our children." Yes, there is two sides to the Cuban Revolution. Little Willie Soler is one of the key sides as Herbert L. Matthews of the New York Times tried to tell the American people back in the 1950s.

A great journalist, Herbert L. Matthews.

1959 Fidel Castro interviews in English are important.

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