Cuba: The Old and the New

It's Well Worth A Peek
{Friday, December 27th, 2013}

Cubans got great news Christmas day, 2013!

    This magnificent 1200-passenger ship will now make weekly circles around the gorgeous coasts of the alligator-shaped island. The ship is owned by Cristal Cruise of Canada. The ship will dock in major Cuban ports, including Havana and Mariel, which has undergone a billion-dollar refurbishing 28 miles southwest of Havana. The ship's passengers, in addition to enjoying the Cuban vistas, can watch Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs hockey games on giant video screens while they indulge themselves on prime Alberta steaks washed down with Canadian beer. Dugald Wells, the Toronto entrepreneur, owns Cristal Cruise. Wells and his partner, Craig Marshall, say they are very interested in taking advantage of Cuba's burgeoning entrepreneurial class. Marshall specializes in building nice homes and condominiums. 

    On Monday, December 23, 2013 General Mikhail Kalashikov -- the inventor of the famed AK-47 rifle -- died at age 94. For the past 60 years most revolutionaries -- including Cuba's Fidel Castro {above} -- have used the AK-47 as their prime weapon.

      Even democratically elected Presidents have used the AK-47 to fight to the death in attempts to avoid having their legitimate government's overthrown. History's greatest example of that occurred in 1973 when Chile's President Salvador Allende died at his La Moneda Palace in Santiago, Chile, trying to ward off the U.S.-backed coup of the murderous General Augusto Pinochet. President Allende died fighting with the engraved AK-47 that Fidel Castro had given him as an inauguration gift. The photo above shows Fidel with President Allende on the balcony of La Moneda Palace shortly before Allende died. The AK-47, like these two men, will forever be enshrined as a salient part of world history -- as will the AK-47's inventor, General Kalashnikov.

Fidel Castro and President Allende at La Moneda Palace.

This photo was taken when President Allende summoned Fidel Castro to discuss rumors of a CIA coup.

President Allende using his AK-47 to defend his Chilean Presidency.

He died using the AK-47 Fidel Castro had given him.

     The photo above vividly registers the fact that the 1973 CIA-backed coup that killed Chile's democratically elected President Salvador Allende resonates loudly today in Chile and all across Latin America. After Allende was killed, the U. S. - backed Augusto Pinochet was Chile's brutal dictator for the next 17 years. Among the thousands of innocent people murdered by the Pinochet terror was the father of Michelle Bachelet. She is shown above with her dear friend Fidel Castro. Michelle Bachelet was democratically elected President of Chile in 2006 and left office with an approval rating of 84% in Chile, the nation that has the highest per capita income, by far, in Latin America. Chile's constitution does not allow for consecutive terms so Bachelet worked for the UN for three years before recently being re-elected as President of Chile! Like all Latin Americans and Chileans, she remembers the 1973 CIA-directed coup that killed Chile's democratically elected President Salvador Allende to pave the way for the killer-dictator Pinochet. And so does Fidel Castro.

  The photo on the right, taken this week at Cuba's National Assembly session, shows the old and the new in Cuba as the new year of 2014 dawns. That's President Raul Castro listening to his heir apparent/designated successor Miguel Diaz-Canel. The transition-to-come has been mandated by Revolutionary Cuba, not by a foreign superpower. The move reflects the fervent desire of the elderly Castro brothers, 82-year-old Raul and 87-year-old Fidel, to prolong both the island's sovereignty as well as the sacred Cuban Revolution, still their pride and joy.

   Miguel Diaz-Canel is both a true believer in the revolution and an advocate for modernizing the Cuban government. He has ridden his motorcycle to some remote villages and urged the citizens to complain when they feel they are being abused or left out of government affairs. "If you do that," he says, "I promise you that I will listen and abide."

  The new Cuba, of course, was revealed earlier this month when Cuban President Raul Castro and American President Barack Obama actually shook hands and greeted each other warmly at the Nelson Mandela Memorial service in South Africa. Raul said, "Mr. President, I'm Castro." Barack replied, "Good to see you looking well." Raul said, "We need to act civilized, your country and mine." Barack said, "I agree and I'm working on it."  Then, as registered by this photo, President Obama cocked his eyes toward to the lady standing beside President Castro. She, of course, is President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, the Latin American superpower. President Obama is acutely aware that President Rousseff these days is much fonder of Cuba than the U. S. and, we imagine, that too is something he will "work on." Recently she very angrily canceled a scheduled visit to the White House.

  Upon his arrival back in Cuba from South Africa, President Raul Castro was tasked this past week with leading the two-day Cuban General Assembly session. When the photo on the left was taken, Raul stood up and, punctuating his remarks with fist pumping, shouted, "Long live Fidel! Long live Fidel's combative spirit! Long live the revolution!" The man in the white shirt is heir apparent Miguel Diaz-Canel. The two army generals behind them are Alvaro Lopez Miera and Leopoldo Cintras Frias. Raul Castro had chosen this moment to remind the Cuban General Assembly that his older brother, 87-year-old Fidel Castro, will always remain the "Heart and the soul of sovereign Cuba!"

   Latin America's two richest nations -- Chile and Brazil -- now have female Presidents -- Michelle Bachelet and Dilma Rousseff -- that are dear friends of Cuba and sharp critics of America's imperialist past. At one point in their young lives both of these remarkable women were imprisoned and tortured by brutal U.S.-backed military dictatorships in their countries. The redolent and magnificent democratic elections that have replaced those U.S.-backed dictatorships now resound throughout Latin America, as personified by Presidents Bachelet and Rousseff! President Rousseff, Latin America's economic superpower, has lavished economic assistance on Cuba. President Bachelet, whose nation has by far the highest per capita income in Latin America, is sharply critical of the past U. S. domination of Cuba and the "present effort to keep Cubans in the stone-age."

  This is still a common scene in Cuba -- a farmer using oxen to plow his field. Presidents Rousseff and Bachelet -- and most of the rest of the world -- blame the 51-year-old U. S. embargo of Cuba, an embargo largely written, mandated, and maintained by a handful of Cuban-exile extremists that, for two generations, have sought political and economic power in the U. S. while seeking revenge against their ouster by the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Presidents Rousseff and Bachelet are outraged that the U. S. embargo punishes other nations for dealing with Cuba, "with imperialist fines and other abominations" according to President Rousseff. President Bachelet says, "The resilience of the Cuban people, and not just their leaders, to U. S. and exile belligerence is what the rest of the world, outside the United States, is now respecting."

    The resilience of this young Cuban woman is what President Bachelet meant. This young lady in Havana -- Photo courtesy AP/Ramon Espinosa -- has survived on the island long enough to take advantage of Cuba's new entrepreneurial rules. She opened a food stand and it is thriving, as indicated this week by the lines of Cubans and tourists who were anxious to buy her speacialty -- empanados. "The resilience of the Cuban people, not just their leaders," is in stark contrast to a handful of two generations of exiles who who have depended on the power and might of the United States to exact their revenge against what is still the Cuban Revolution's desire for sovereignty.

      This AP/Ramon Espinosa photo taken this week shows a Cuban bride-to-be and her flower girl being driven to her wedding in style -- in an old but exquisitely maintained convertible! Those of us who have been to Cuba have seen scenes like this that attest to the Cuban spirit and resilience. Most Americans are prohibited from visiting one place on this planet -- Cuba. That un-democratic law sates the appetite of a few Cuban exiles but incurs the wrath of democracy lovers around the world who believe Americans should have the freedom to judge the island for themselves as opposed to being told how to judge it. Cuba being the one place in the world most Americans cannot visit is viewed as yet another price Americans pay for America's Cuban policy being set by a few revengeful Cuban exiles who, two generations ago, fled the Cuban Revolution.

  Speaking of cars, Reuters used this photo this week to point out that Cubans and tourists will soon be seeing much newer cars on the island. Cubans can now buy and sell either new or used cars. American dealers, of course, won't benefit but car dealers in other nations will. Sarah Rainsford of the BBC says about 60,000 American cars from the 1950s still operate in Cuba along with Soviet-made Ladas and Moskvich cars but "mint-condition Cadillacs, Chryslers, and Oldsmobile from the 1950s" remain the crown jewels. Now more modern autos, vans, trucks, and motocycles will gradually emerge on the island. China, especially, is primed to take advantage.

    AP photos from Cuba often say a thousand words or more about what is happening on the island. However, for topical and unbiased articles from Cuba one has to depend on major international sources, such as the BBC or Reuters. For example, on Sunday {Dec. 22-2013} Sarah Rainsford and London's BBC used this handshake photo in a major article that revealed the message President Castro conveyed to President Obama: "our two countries should be civilized with each other for everyone's benefit." Unlike much of the U. S. media, Sarah Rainsford and the BBC are not obligated to report only unflattering, Cuban-exile promoted details about Cuba. The "handshake" is an example. Raul, by the way, spoke to President Obama in English although both he and his brother do not like to speak English in public situations because of their nationalistic beliefs. But President Obama does not speak Spanish.

        On Sunday, Dec. 22-2013 Sarah Rainsford and the BBC reported that President Castro, at the Cuban General Assembly session, also explained to both "the assembly and to heir apparent Miguel Diaz-Canel" that "Cuba and the United States must begin to act civilized toward each other for the benefit of the majority, not a select few." According to the BBC, Castro said to the legislators and to Diaz-Canel: "We do not ask the United States to change its political and social system, nor do we agree to negotiate ours. If we really want to make progress in bilateral relations, we have to learn to respect each other's differences and get used to living peacefully with them. Otherwise, no. We are ready for another 55 years like the last." It is obvious that the 82-year-old Raul and the 87-year-old Fidel have chosen Miguel Diaz-Canel to continue, at all costs, Cuba's sovereign path as outlined by the revolution. And, just as interesting, Raul reminded the Cuban legislators and Diaz-Canel that it is Fidel's imprint and Fidel's legacy that will guide Revolutionary Cuba in the future.

  So soon, the 53-year-old Miguel Diaz-Canel will be speaking for Cuba. In the meantime, he is usually seen sitting next to President Raul Castro or riding his motorcycle in remote areas around the island reminding Cubans he wants them to be "polemical." In other words, he wants them to voice their objections to their government and then gauge governmental reaction. In that vein, Granma, the state newspaper, has begun publishing anti-government Letters-to-the-Editor. Those letters quickly revealed a hatred of the two-peso monetary system that favored those with access to dollars. Then -- WOW! -- Cuba, quickly reacting to all those letters, announced it will go back to a one-peso system.   

    
     And, oh yes! Take note of the young man walking directly behind Raul Castro as the Cuban President walked to the podium to conclude the two-day General Assembly session this week. The young man is Guillermo Rodriguez Castro. He is Raul's grandson, personal assistant and, some say, his primary bodyguard. Guillermo, by the way, has no political ambitions and both Castro brothers, Raul and Fidel, do not want a Cuban monarchy. Thus, the next leader of Cuba will certainly not be a Castro. This is in keeping with a promise long espoused by Fidel even as he maintained that his loyal brother Raul would succeed him.

    This photo shows the Castro brothers in 1959 in the very early days of Revolutionary Cuba. Raul was in his 20s, Fidel in his 30s. They were in their primes. They are now deep into their 80s. Time marches on. Soon, it will be their legacies, not them, that will influence whatever lies in Cuba's future. This month when he was visited by the Franco-Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet, Fidel said: "When Raul and I are gone it will be up to a younger generation of real Cubans, not Cubans propped up by a foreign power, to keep this island sovereign. That will be my everlasting hope."

   In 1959 Celia Sanchez, the most important Cuban revolutionary, was also in her prime. It was that year when she first laid down the most amazing proclamation related to Revolutionary Cuba: "The Batistianos will never regain control of Cuba as long as I live or as long as Fidel lives." No one believed her then because the ousted leaders of the Batista-Mafia dictatorship had quickly regrouped in South Florida and still had the unmatched power of the United States behind their efforts to recapture Cuba. But despite all that, and with the dawn of 2014 just over the horizon, everyone believes her now. Undoubtedly, if she were alive today, Celia would be over-joyed that Fidel has reached age 87 and, of course, that the Batistianos have not, after all these many decades, "regained control of Cuba."

   The child-loving Celia Sanchez's outrage about the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship reached a pivotal crescendo when she learned that young Cuban boys like William Soler were being murdered as warnings for Cubans not to resist the dictators. That revelation inspired Celia to become the most daring and the most effective anti-Batista urban recruiter, as best depicted by respected Cuban historian Pedro Alvarez Tabio. But it was when Celia learned that young Cuban peasant girls like Maria Ochoa were being kidnapped to be used in Mafia-run hotel/casinos to lure rich foreign pedophiles that Celia was transformed into the greatest female guerrilla fighter in history, all 99 pounds of her! Therefore, it would not be incorrect to conclude that the fate of 10-year-old Maria Ochoa was the biggest mistake Batista, the Mafia, and the United States ever made on the island of Cuba.

    Lest it be forgot, it was brave Cuban mothers like these who took to the streets to protest the murders of their children that started the Cuban Revolution, not macho men like Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Beyond doubt, the powerful Batista dictatorship backed by the powerful Mafia and the powerful United States could never have been overthrown except for these outraged women. If that historic fact doesn't correlate with your understanding of the Cuban Revolution, then it is because much of the American history concerning those years has been written quite conveniently by rather biased and revengeful Cuban exiles.

The banner above says: "Cease the assassinations of our sons and daughters. Cuban mothers."

  Since the overthrow of the Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba in January of 1959, Cuban exiles have primarily dictated the narrative in the United States regarding anything and everything Cuban. That narrative has convinced many Americans that the Castro rule of Cuba since 1959 has been possible only because the Castro brothers have eliminated, incarcerated or otherwise done away with all opposition. That's not exactly true. In February of 1959 rebel heroine Celia Sanchez mandated a Committee for the Defense of the Revolution on each and every block. To this day those committees have been the primary Defense of the Revolution. The REUTERS/Enrique de la Oso photo {above-right} was taken on December 10, 2013. It reflects a common event in Cuba this month and every month since 1959. The pro-Castro marchers above were hastily organized CDR members shouting down an anti-Castro march by the Ladies in White. The lady in the orange blouse holding the Fidel Castro poster is shouting, "No one is paying us a peso! How many dollars are you ladies being paid by the CIA?" Most anti-Castro demonstrations in Cuba to this day are met with counter pro-government demonstrators. Whatever the percentage of anti-Castro Cubans, there are many more who are anti-foreign domination. The Castro brothers are defined as local domination. This is significant on an island in which a long line of its heroes -- such as Antonio Maceo and Jose Marti -- died on battlefields fighting foreign domination. Also, the marchers above acutely remember the aforementioned anti-Batista marchers that ignited the successful anti-foreign-domination Cuban Revolution. To ignore the above two photos is to ignore reality.

   Before macho men like the Castro brothers, Camilo Cienfuegos, and Che Guevara ever set foot on Sierra Maestra battlegrounds, Celia's recruitment of rebels and supplies and even her anti-Batista war was well underway. Fidel Castro's lifelong worship of Celia began during 1953-1955 when he was in a Batista prison and heard about Celia's exploits fighting, recruiting, and organizing the long-shot rebel movement. As a guerrilla fighter, as a rebel and armaments recruiter, and as a strategist, Celia Sanchez was the soul of the Cuban Revolution. Before Fidel had joined her in the Sierra Maestra, Batista had already put a $75,000 bounty on her head.

    Even after the macho men arrived in the Sierra Maestra, Celia Sanchez remained the most important anti-Batista strategist. A prime reason for that, of course, was because her idolater, Fidel Castro, made sure Celia's decisions and opinions remained supreme. If any rebels, including Camilo and Che, objected to that feminine prominence, they were put in their places as important but secondary rebels. From the moment Fidel laid eyes on Celia in the Sierra Maestra in the closing days of 1956, he has worshiped her...and he will till the day he dies. Celia was responsible for the success of the Cuban Revolution and, speaking topically, she is, for sure, responsible for the fact that the Batistianos have not "regained control of Cuba."

 In Revolutionary Cuba, Fidel -- who usually spent his nights at Celia's modest 11th Street apartment in Havana -- could relax to his heart's content because Celia, who never relaxed, was the decision-maker. His job was to support her, which he unfailingly did. His seminal U. S. biographer, Georgie Anne Geyer, correctly stated that Celia "over-ruled Fidel" whenever and wherever she chose. Cuban insider Roberto Salas, in his book, stated: "Celia made all the decisions for Cuba, the big ones and the small ones." Pedro Alvarez Tabio, the Cuban historian, cogently wrote: "If Batista had managed to kill Celia Sanchez anytime between 1953 and 1957, there would have been no viable Cuban Revolution, and no revolution for Fidel and Che to join."  

    This is one of the last images of Celia before she died of cancer at age 59 on January 11, 1980. Fidel Castro and others who would know say she was the most important figure in Cuba's Revolutionary War and in Revolutionary Cuba. The Cuba exiles who have mostly written the self-serving history of the Cuban Revolution claim the child-loving doctor's daughter from Media Luna was a non-factor. Why? Well, I believe the answer is...Fidel is a lot easier to demonize and vilify than Celia. But she covered and honed the arc and the epicenter of Fidel's life. His trepidations, as both Salas and Tabio point out, were mollified by her. Motivated by the fates of children like Maria Ochoa and William Soler, she was the ravenous rebel that doomed Batista.

   In 1955 Marta Rojas {left} was an enterprising young journalist in Havana. She was trusted by Dictator Fulgencio Batista who thought she was, uh, kinda pretty. But Marta was a lot of things, including an anti-Batista rebel. She had frequent access to the imprisoned Fidel. When she exited his cell she would always have, in her bra, notes Fidel had written to his rebel idol, Celia Sanchez. In a similar manner, Marta transported notes from Celia to Fidel. After the triumph of the revolution, Marta became the island's top journalist and author. One of her very best books -- "Tania: The Unforgettable Guerrilla" -- was first published in America by Random House.

    Now Marta {Photo courtesy: Tracey Eaton} would easily qualify as the world's greatest expert on Celia Sanchez, Fidel Castro, and the Cuban Revolution. She is also an internationally acclaimed journalist, author, and historian. In a 2005 email Marta told me: "Since Celia Sanchez died of cancer in 1980, Fidel has ruled Cuba only as he precisely believes Celia would want him to rule it." Considering Marta's insight as a prime Cuban insider, and the fact that Fidel's brother Raul and the soon-to-be post-Castro leader of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel are both Fidel disciples, it seems that Celia's influence on the island will extend from the 1950s till well into the future, as it should. If you want to know about Celia Sanchez, Fidel Castro or the Cuban Revolution, check with Marta Rojas on the island of Cuba. She is much more informative and a lot less biased than the Cuban exiles and their acolytes.

     To comprehend the Cuban Revolution and Revolutionary Cuba, one would need to study this photo. It was taken by the incomparable war photographer Dickey Chapelle and is copyrighted in her native state by the Wisconsin Historical Society. It shows the two immeasurably important female guerrilla fighters -- Celia Sanchez, the studious one, and Vilma Espin, the gay one. This was during a lull in the fighting in the Sierra Maestra. By the time this photo was taken, Fidel Castro's lifelong worship of Celia was already deeply embedded; and Raul Castro had already proposed to Vilma. Later, in Revolutionary Cuba, these two women would be the two prime decision-makers in all areas except the direct military defense of the island. If you have been told differently, you have been conveniently misinformed.

   In fact, these three women -- left to right: Vilma Espin, Celia Sanchez, and Haydee Santamaria -- were more vital as a trio to the Cuban Revolution and Revolutionary Cuba than any three men. That includes the Castro brothers, Camilo Cienfuegos, and Che Guevara. Fidel Castro, to his dying day, will vouch for that statement. These three women were do-or-die guerrilla fighters and later Cuba was theirs to shape and to form. Haydee, after the revolutionary victory, mostly devoted her energy to the literary organization she founded. Celia and Vilma were much more brash as decision-makers and the Castro brothers weren't about to over-rule them.

   This photo shows the rebels regrouping and winding down in camp after a guerrilla attack against a Batista unit. That's Vilma standing in the middle of the photo. She always had a smile on her face. That's Haydee sitting on the stump and Celia sitting on the ground. Batista had a lot more soldiers and much more powerful armaments but his forces never matched the motivation of these women. That feminine motivation began with the aforemention street protests by mothers whose sons and daughters had been killed. These three women merely fanned the flames of those protests.

  This photo shows Vilma Espin and Raul Castro being driven in a stolen jeep to attack a Batista unit in the foothills of the Sierra Maestra. Vilma was always smiling -- before, during, and after battles. At night around campfires she sang and played the guitar. All the rebels fell madly in love with her. Raul married her within days in 1959 after the improbable revolutionary victory. 

    
    In Revolutionary Cuba Fidel anointed Raul's wife Vilma as "Cuba's First Lady" after the exceptionally modest and private Celia declined the offer. At sessions like the one depicted in this photo Fidel would say a few words and then introduce "our First Lady." Vilma dutifully fulfilled that role from 1959 till she died of cancer in 2007, the mother of Raul Castro's four children.

   But in Revolutionary Cuba Vilma Espin was much more than just Cuba's First Lady and the wife of Raul Castro. In reaction to what she termed the Batista dictatorship's "damnable" treatment of the island's women and children, Vilma founded the Federation of Cuba Women. From 1959 till she died in 2007, anyone who mistreated women or children on the island answered to her. And while she lived, no women took to the streets to protest the "asesinatos de nuestros hijos" {"the murders of our boys and girls."}. And because of Vilma's Federation of Cuban Women, which was strongly endorsed by Celia Sanchez and Haydee Santamaria, beginning in 1959 all women and children on the island were guaranteed food, shelter, free health care for life, and free educations through college. As she was dying of cancer, on a last visit to her beloved Santiago de Cuba, Vilma said, "The U. S. embargo, the exile attempts to recapture the island...these things have hurt us. Yet, we have done so much too. I am very proud of us. I am proud of Vilma Espin Castro."

Vilma Espin: Cuba's First Lady.

Vilma Espin

April 7, 1930 - June 18, 2007

Celia Sanchez: guerrilla fighter, decision-maker.

Celia Sanchez

May 9, 1920 - January 11, 1980

   Lastly, the photo on the left captured an important ongoing event in Cuba this past week. It shows the three FARC leaders holding a news conference. Cuba is receiving plaudits, from the UN and even from the U. S., for trying to broker a peace in Colombia where for decades thousands have died in warfare between FARC guerrillas and the U.S.-backed Colombian army. The two men in the photo are top FARC commanders. So, who is the lady? Her name is Laura Villa. She has been such a renowned guerrilla fighter that now she is the head of all the guerrilla operations.

        This photo shows President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela visiting Fidel Castro Saturday, December 21, 2013. Maduro said he and his wife Cilia Flores -- the second most powerful person in Venezuela -- made an unscheduled visit to Havana to discuss "international and regional issues" with "the Commander."

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It's Not Henry Kissinger's Latin America Anymore!

It's Michelle Bachelet's Latin America Now!!
{Updated Thursday, December 19, 2013}

    This week {Sunday, December 15, 2013} Michelle Bachelet was overwhelmingly re-elected as President of Chile, a wealthy and very important Latin American nation. {The AP/Jorge Saenz photo on the left shows Bachelet after her victory was assured} She had been President of Chile from 2006 till 2010 and left office with an 84% approval rating! Chile's democracy does not permit consecutive terms so Bachelet, between elections, worked on behalf of women and children for the United Nations in New York City. Now 62-years-old, a trained pediatrician and lover of children, the outcome of yesterday's presidential election was a foregone conclusion once she entered the race. Chile and Latin America need Michelle Bachelet. So does the world. For Latin America and the world, Michelle Bachelet represents the absolute and total antipathy to the Henry Kissinger-installed/supported dictators that plagued Latin America for so long. Every nation in Latin America understands that appraisal. However, Americans do not understand it because the United States media, both printed and electronic, has neither the integrity nor the courage to explain how and why remembrances of Henry Kissinger assured Ms. Bachelet's easy re-election Sunday as President of Chile.

     Henry Kissinger is now 90-years-old. He was born on May 27th, 1923 in Furth, Germany. From 1969 till 1975 he was National Security Advisor. From 1973 till 1977 he was U. S. Secretary of State. During those years, Henry Kissinger used his ultra-powerful position in control of the U. S. foreign policy to stave off Latin America's fervent desire for democratic governments to replace brutal and thieving dictators often installed and massively supported by the United States, the world superpower and, supposedly, the greatest proponent of democracy! This week's overwhelming re-election of Michelle Bachelet as President of Chile reminds Latin Americans of Mr. Kissinger. In 1973 Mr. Kissinger, supported by President Richard Nixon, orchestrated the overthrow and death of Chile's very popular and democratically elected President, Salvador Allende. For the next 17 years, Allende's democratic government was replaced by General Augusto Pinochet, a murderous tyrant but one that, in exchange for U. S. support, allowed U. S. businesses to partake in the rape and robbery of Chile. Pinochet is famed to this day for his Operation Condor assassins that killed innocent people around the world, including the murders of Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier and his beautiful American aide Ronni Moffitt within sound of the White House in Washington. Any study of the Letelier-Moffitt murders will reveal that Pinochet's favorite assassins were well-trained Cuban exiles and that the CIA Director at the time, George H. W. Bush, tried to steer the FBI's investigation of the Letelier-Moffitt murders away from Kissinger's beloved dictator, Augusto Pinochet. Since he left government work, Henry Kissinger has amassed fortunes with his lucrative and secretive consultancy business. Once he was appointed to a prestigious presidential committee and he readily accepted. Then he was told he would have to reveal his clients. That was when he readily declined. To this day, Kissinger would not set foot on Chilean land because to this day Chile is trying mightily to come to grips with the Pinochet years by continuing to put on trial his cohorts during his murderous reign. One of the many innocent people murdered during the Pinochet dictatorship was...THE FATHER OF MICHELLE BACHELET! Americans are not supposed to know the extreme brutality of the Kissinger-Pinochet connection nor are they supposed to know the significance of Sunday's overwhelming re-election of Ms. Bachelet as the President of Chile.

  Democracies other than America's are abundantly aware of Henry Kissinger's ties to Augusto Pinochet. However, to this day in the U. S. media, especially on the cable "news" networks, Kissinger can spend hours promoting his latest book or his other projects and never have to worry about being asked about such untidy things as Pinochet. If a celebrity such as Kissinger were asked a tough question, it would send a message to other celebrities not to appear on cable "news" shows. And then the cable "news" programs would have to actually go out and cover news instead of having all those "talking head" celebrities free-of-charge on their sets. Thus, for the most part, Americans are kept in the dark about things they need to know if they are to be significant participants in their democracy -- which, after all, is precisely what a democracy should be all about.

   Peter Kornbluh heads the Chile Project and the Cuba Project at the U. S. National Security Archive based at George Washington University. Beyond doubt, Peter Kornbluh knows more about the modern histories of Chile and Cuba than any person alive. He is also the best at de-classifying long classified U. S. documents that, for decades, shielded anti-democratic actions by Henry Kissinger and others. Peter publishes those actual de-classified documents on the National Security Archive for all to see. Because of Kornbluh and a handful of other great investigative journalists {such as James Bamford}, there is really no excuse for Americans not to properly comprehend what is going on today in Latin America, such as the re-election of Michelle Bachelet in Chile. Americans who do not know Peter Kornbluh simply do not know important Latin American history.

   Peter Kornbluh is a prolific orator.  The year 2013 marks the 40th anniversary of the U. S.-backed coup that resulted in the death of the democratically elected President Allende to install the murderous but U.S.-friendly Pinochet for 17 bloody years. On this 40th anniversary of the coup, Peter Kornbluh has made ubiquitous speeches about the significance of the coup and how it relates to Latin America today -- including the re-election of Ms. Bachelet, whose father was one of Pinochet's victims, as President of Chile.

    Also, in 2013 to mark the 40th anniversary of the Pinochet coup, Peter Kornbluh has updated a new version of his book "The Pinochet File." The updated book is 605 pages long with page-after-page of actual de-classified U. S. documents to chronicle at long last the uncontested history of the Pinochet coup that killed Chile's democratically elected President Allende and later murdered thousands of others -- including Michelle Bachelet's father, Orlando Letelier, Ronni Moffiff, and thousands of other innocent people. Peter Kornbluh is not only a superb journalist but also a patriotic, democracy-loving American. He believes Americans need to know the true history of Latin America if they are to fulfill their role as defenders of America and democracy. To do that, Peter Kornbluh believes, requires knowledge of U. S. history in Latin America. To not know that history, he believes, leaves the U. S. democracy in a precarious situation in which the likes of Henry Kissinger, with no accountability to worry about, can run roughshod over foreign nations that prefer democracy over imperialist dictators. Even if accountability is decades late in coming, it is still important for Americans to acknowledge it, not necessarily to punish the elderly Henry Kissingers of the world but to assure that democracy-lovers learn from history and then apply that knowledge to their current democracy as well as to all future democracies.

   Michelle Bachelet's re-election Sunday as President of Chile will be covered this week on the back pages of America's newspapers and barely mentioned, if at all, by America's cable "news" operations. That's a shame because the United States democracy needs a vibrant, honest, and fair news media. Latin America is important to America. And newly elected President Michelle Bachelet in Chile personifies Latin America today -- a totally new Latin America than the one envisioned by Henry Kissinger who would prefer U.S.-friendly dictators throughout the region.  Like President Dilma Rousseff in Brazil, the Latin American superpower, Michelle Bachelet represents the trend in Latin America of democratically electing superbly intelligent and honest females to replace once entrenched males who tend to be motivated mostly by money, womanizing, and power. Michelle Bachelet, Dilma Rousseff, etc., tend to be fueled and motivated by genuine concerns for the welfare of the majority of their citizens, especially the historically maligned women and children. Ironically, the strident abuses of males like Henry Kissinger and Augusto Pinochet expedited that remarkable transformation in Latin America. Please take note that the politician who finished a distant second to Michelle Bachelet in Sunday's election in Chile was...a woman named Evelyn Matthei. No male was seriously considered.

God bless Latin America! May all your Presidents be women!

    President Michelle Bachelet of Chile is truly a great person. As a pediatrician, she worked tirelessly to better the lives of less fortunate women and children. As the re-elected President of Chile, she continues to work tirelessly on behalf of women and children. She understands that how a nation treats its women and children will, and should, define it as a nation. In decades and centuries past, power-hungry and money-hungry males like Augusto Pinochet had their bloody, thieving decades of devious devastation. Now it's time for good, smart, caring women like Michelle Bachelet to correct those historic mistakes in the evolution toward decency. ALL HAIL HER CHILEAN PRESIDENCY! And now...congratulations to all of Latin America!

  As for the United States of America, President Michelle Bachelet in Chile should represent a much-needed history lesson as well as also nurturing an abiding interest in meaningful topical events, and not just a fascination with the latest Miley Cyrus scandal. Sunday's Associated Press article from Santiago, Chile concerning the overwhelming re-election of President Bachelet was written by Luis Andres Henao. That AP article pointed out that: "Policies imposed by Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship kept wealth and power in a few hands." That AP article said that today Chile has wealth for being, among other things, "the world's top copper producer," and that, "its fast-growing economy, low unemployment and stable democracy are the envy of Latin America." And a prime reason that Chile today is "the envy of Latin America" is the simple fact that the re-election of Michelle Bachelet means that Chile has a decent leader to disperse that wealth to its very deserving majority of women and children, not as in the past when it was dispersed to a few friends of Pinochet, Kissinger, etc.

    Sunday's Associated Press article by Luis Andres Henao about President Bachelet's re-election as President included this fact: "The 62-year-old pediatrician ended her 2006-2010 presidency with 84 percent approval ratings." The AP article also stated this fact: "Bachelet's father was tortured to death for refusing to support the strongman Pinochet. And Bachelet was imprisoned herself." Well, America! Bachelet is no longer a prisoner. Neither is Chile! Instead, Bachelet is the re-elected President of Chile. The photo on the right is today a memorial at the military base where Bachelet's father was murdered, reminding Chileans and Latin Americans of their dictatorial history, a sad past that includes the detestable, murderous Pinochet rule that Henry Kissinger and the United States imposed on Chile. Americans who love democracy and who love America should know the history of Chile -- especially from Pinochet to Bachelet -- because it parallels the history of Latin America. And with that knowledge of Latin American history, Americans would realize the true significance of Sunday's re-election of Ms. Bachelet as President of Chile. Kissinger's loss is a big victory for democracy! 

   On the left is the Pinochet prison where Michelle Bachelet was tortured while in that other prison {depicted above} her father was being tortured to death. Chileans today are vividly reminded of both those prisons because Chileans need to know about past foreign-backed dictators like Pinochet so there will be no foreign-backed dictators in their future. Americans need to understand Chile's history because, in the past, the United States was indelibly tied to Pinochet and other such brutal Latin American dictatorships. Not knowing history leaves Americans ignorant of modern events. The modern history of Kissinger and Pinochet in Chile, you see, paved the way for today's Michelle Bachelet presidency. 

    Fidel Castro was a dear friend of Chile's democratically elected President Salvador Allende and Fidel Castro was a bitter enemy of vile U.S.-backed Latin American dictators such as Pinochet in Chile, Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, Samoza in Nicaragua, Batista in Cuba, etc. The photo on the right shows Fidel Castro with Allende shortly before Allende died in the bloody U.S.-Pinochet coup in 1973. The powers that be in the United States to this day seem to believe that the U. S. democracy is not strong enough for Americans to comprehend the significance of the above photo, lest they denounce their democracy. But it's the Kissingers that usurp and defame that democracy that should be denounced, not democracy itself!

   Today as the new democratically re-elected President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet is Fidel Castro's dear friend. For Americans to comprehend such facts, they would need to be better informed about Latin American history that includes...Salvador Allende, Fidel Castro, Augusto Pinochet, Michelle Bachelet, etc. All that history is important because it is also topical. Today Fidel Castro is 87-years-old and has, amazingly, managed not to be assassinated or overthrown in Cuba by a vast array of Kissinger-like American right-wingers. And today at age 62 Michelle Bachelet has just been overwhelmingly re-elected as President of Chile. Instead of being ignorant about such things, Americans need to understand them.

   Last week, for example, the whole world paused to eulogize the life of perhaps the world's most beloved person, Nelson Mandela. The event highlighted the fact that Americans, conveniently ignorant of how and why Mandela attained such heights, were surprised when some insightful coverage of the Mandela memorials pointed out that Mandela himself deeply loved and admired Fidel Castro. For Americans to be appalled at Mandela's relationship with Fidel Castro is one thing. But to be totally ignorant of it is another thing altogether, similar to being ignorant about why Chile's beloved newly elected President Michelle Bachelet is Fidel Castro's dear friend. An ignorant American might ask, "Was Mandela crazy? Is Bachelet crazy?" Uh, no. Mandela was both brilliant and intelligent. Bachelet is both brilliant and intelligent. Fidel Castro is many things, including brilliance and intelligence. Americans need to be less ignorant about such things even if they have to Google the facts for themselves. Afterward, embellished with facts, it would then be alright to hate Fidel Castro and love Henry Kissinger. 

    The book on the right is entitled: "Modern World Leaders: Michelle Bachelet." If they do not do something easy by just Goggling Peter Kornbluh's Chilean and Cuban postings on the U. S. National Security Archive website, Americans, for starters, should purchase Richard Worth's book that chronicles the rise of today's wave of new female leaders like Michelle Bachelet in Chile and Dilma Rousseff in Brazil. There are reasons for the phenomenons that Richard Worth documents. One of the reasons, of course, is Henry Kissinger's fondness for dictators like Pinochet in Chile as opposed to the murdered democratically elected President Allende and today's newly democratically elected President Bachelet. Being blinded to Latin American history by an embarrassed U. S. government and by an inept U. S. media should not, in this age of easily accessible search engines like Google, condone the ignorance of Americans when it comes to such monumental events as this week's memorial service for Nelson Mandela in South Africa and this week's re-election of Michelle Bachelet as President of Chile. The ineptness of the U. S. media, including the power of a right-wing propaganda machine like Fox News, is no longer an excuse for Americans to be ignorant of colossal modern events such as the death of Nelson Mandela and the re-election of Michelle Bachelet. After all, the year is 2013 and that entails the now well-established marvels of such things as the Internet and Google. Yes, perils like cancer and Fox News still abound. But while the search for cancer's cure is ongoing, the search for curing Fox News has been discovered! It's called the Internet and Google. So today -- this hour, in fact -- Americans should turn off their television sets and Google the name "Michelle Bachelet." Then they would know what to think as opposed to being told what to think. Such a transformation would take a while to get used to but, for sure, it would be a very worthwhile endeavor.

       The Cuban News Agency -- Prensa Latina -- has released this updated photo of Fidel Castro. It was taken Friday -- December 13, 2013 -- at Castro's home in Havana and shows the 87-year-old Fidel with Ignacio Ramonet, the Franco-Spanish journalist. Ramonet, the long-time Editor-in-Chief of Le Monde, is Fidel Castro's only authorized biographer. He said he spent two hours with the revolutionary icon. Afterward, Ramonet told the Associated Press's Anne-Marie Garcia, "I found him to be in excellent health and in a good mood, physically, mentally and psychologically. He's interested in everything. The environment, the climate crisis, Chile, Venezuela, South Africa. I found him alert, on top of current events."

      This AFP/Adalberto Roque/Getty Images photo was taken Tuesday, December 17th, 2013 and depicts an important and ongoing event in Havana. It shows leaders of the FARC guerrilla movement heading to the Convention Palace in Havana to continue peace talks with the Colombian government. Notice that two of the top FARC guerrilla fighters are women. For decades, thousands of lives have been lost in Colombia as the FARC has battled government armies. The U. S. has devoted billions of dollars to support anti-FARC efforts. Today even the U. S. government has praised Cuba for taking the lead in trying to broker a peace.

       This AFP/Yamil Lage photo was taken in Cuba Tuesday, December 17, 2013 and shows an elderly Cuban woman paying homage to St. Lazarus at St. Lazarus Church in El Rincon, which is 25 km from Havana.

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Why Mandela Loved Fidel

And Why That Shocks Americans and Brits

   When Nelson Mandela -- the South African and world icon often called "the most beloved person in the world" -- died on Dec. 5-2013 at age 95, just about every prominent person in the world, and almost every world leader, rushed to make sure their comments expressing condolences received maximum print and air-time locally and worldwide. It also revealed maximum hypocrisy and cowardice on the part of many, especially American and British leaders who tried desperately to annihilate Mandela and/or keep him imprisoned for the rest of his life. For example, on Dec. 6-2013 -- the day after Mandela died -- Francisco Peregil in Buenos Aires, Argentina, wrote a major article that was headlined in leading newspapers around the world, such as Spain's El Pais. Peregil's article bore this headline: Mandela's Best Friend...Was Fidel Castro."  The fact that Americans and Brits are not supposed to read or know about such articles reflects the American and British love for imperialism and colonialism that two renowned men -- Fidel Castro and Nelson Mandela -- did the most to defeat. In 1959 Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution ousted the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship. In 1961 in South Africa, inspired by Cuba's incredibly successful guerrilla war, Nelson Mandela -- a lawyer like Fidel Castro -- began a guerrilla war to overthrow England's pernicious apartheid rule of South Africa. In Cuba, a young Fidel Castro spent two years in a Batista prison before he emerged to resume his guerrilla war. In South Africa, Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in an apartheid prison with a bucket for a toilet before he emerged to become the democratically elected President of South Africa, a five-year term followed by his worldwide canonization as the most beloved person in the world, the best example of an everlasting freedom and human rights icon, a champion of sovereignty and democracy, etc.

     Upon his release from prison and upon his election as South Africa's President, the first person in the world that Nelson Mandela thanked and embraced was Fidel Castro, surely not the leaders of Britain and America. While in imprisoned, Mandela became aware that it was Fidel Castro who sent Cuba's best 40,000 soldiers to Angola to defeat Britain's, America's, and South Africa's powerful South African apartheid army. That monumental Cuba-led victory freed Mandela from his prison and freed Africa from the bondage of foreign domination. Yet, to this very day the citizens of America and Britain are not supposed to comprehend the affection that Nelson Mandela showered upon Fidel Castro. In fact, to this very day -- using Angola as the prime reason -- Fidel Castro's Cuba is still listed on America's "Sponsors of Terrorism" list although the rest of the world, except for U. S. sycophants and dependents, totally disagrees with that listing and considers it merely another way to appease a handful of the most visceral second generation Batistianos that the Cuban Revolution evicted from Cuba in 1959. Also, to this day American and British citizens are not supposed to know this fact: UNTIL FIVE YEARS AGO -- REPEAT, UNTIL FIVE YEARS AGO -- THE U. S. LISTED NELSON MANDELA HIMSELF AS A TERRORIST! Only five years ago, as Mandela turned 90 and his health was significantly fading, did the U. S. remove Mandela himself and his ANC anti-apartheid cohorts from the Sponsors of Terrorism list. And that, remember, was only after it was apparent that Mandela was "the most admired person in the world" and it was quite apparent that his legacy would live through the ages as the anti-apartheid, anti-colonialism, and anti-imperialism icon that, inspired by Fidel Castro, rebelled against America's and Britain's age-old domination of smaller foreign nations such as Fidel Castro's Cuba and Nelson Mandela's South Africa.

  One would think, in December of 2013, the U. S. and British democracies would be strong enough to do what The Center for Democracy in the Americas, Spain's top newspaper, El Pais, and other unbiased sources did today -- and that is to explain why Nelson Mandela's "best friend" was Fidel Castro. To this day, for example, Americans and Brits are not supposed to know this basic fact: In trying to assure that the apartheid rule of South Africa was prolonged far into the future, Britain and the U. S. provided South Africa nuclear weapons. When Mandela was democratically elected President of South Africa in 1994, South Africa became the only nation in history to willfully destroy its own nuclear stockpile! This made the entire world much safer.

      In other words, from the 19th century into the 1980s it was wrong for America and England to rape, rob, and dominate smaller and weaker nations -- like Cuba and South Africa, for example. And now deep into the 21st Century, instead of longing for their colonial and imperialist pasts, it might be timely for the United States and Great Britain to admit some truths about their Cuban and South African imperialist reigns. 

    On Dec. 6-2013 -- the day after the death of Nelson Mandela -- the highly respected Center for Democracy in the Americas used a major article on its website to suggest to the United States of America that it would be a tribute to Nelson Mandela to remove Cuba from its very short list of nations that sponsor terrorism. That suggestion came after the Center for Democracy in the Americas pointed out that it was only five years ago that the United States finally admitted that Nelson Mandela himself was not a terrorist. Of course, as the Center for Democracy in the Americas knows, the U. S. democracy in 2013 is simply not strong enough to remove Cuba from the terrorism list because a handful of Cuban-exile extremists continue to control America's Cuban policy. 

    Two generations of dictatorial, anti-Castro zealots that he booted out of Cuba should not be allowed to re-write the history of either Cuba or South Africa. When he died this week, Mandela had been and will continue to be lionized and revered as the world's most beloved freedom fighter and human rights icon -- ALL AROUND THE WORLD EXCEPT IN MIAMI-Dade County THAT, SINCE THE CUBAN REVOLUTIONARY VICTORY IN 1959, HAS BEEN DOMINATED BY A MERE HANDFUL OF REVENGEFUL CUBAN EXILES. When Mandela made his one visit to Miami, he was shamefully treated rudely in a campaign directed by five Miami-area mayors. Americans were not supposed to be ashamed but Mandela's treatment in Miami resulted in a massive boycott of Miami businesses by African-Americans. The boycott was so powerful that, after three years, the political leaders of Miami actually apologized because it was adversely affecting their finances. The two Cuban-exile priorities -- money first and revenge against Castro second -- have shamed America's democracy. Americans have been proselytized or intimidated into giving Miami-Dade County a pass on being the only place in the world that mistreated Mandela because he was Fidel Castro's friend; for giving Miami-Dade County a pass for harboring well-known terrorists because, after all, the victims were/are innocent Cubans; for reconstituting the Batista dictatorship on U. S. soil, etc.

   The photo on the right shows Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro celebrating in Matanzas, Cuba, in 1991 shortly after Mandela had been released from prison. In Matanzas that day Mandela said, "My dearest friend Fidel and Cuba freed me and freed Africa. We in South Africa and in Cuba are used to stronger countries wanting to carve up our territory and subvert our sovereignty. It is unparalleled in history what Fidel accomplished in Cuba and now what he has accomplished in Africa." As a democracy-loving American, I point this out not because I desire Americans and Brits to like Fidel Castro or to love Nelson Mandela. Rather, I point this out to suggest that the American and British democracies in 2013 should be strong enough to admit the various documented truths about...Nelson Mandela, Fidel Castro, South Africa, and Cuba. History deserves a true telling. Mandela, Castro, apartheid, and Batista represent history. To distort them is to distort history AND democracy.

These two men carved out historic niches.
People have a right to judge them -- to love them or hate them.
But a handful of self-serving, revenge-minded Cuban exiles should not be given a license to distort them.

   All the leaders of the world, including America's five still-living Presidents -- were quick to register their heartfelt condolences within minutes after the death of Nelson Mandela. Mandela liked the three Democratic Presidents on the right but disliked the two Republican Presidents. As a lifelong conservative, democracy-loving Republican, I understand why. And I believe, within the bowels of the modern U. S. democracy, it is alright for Americans to study whys and why-nots, especially if they would like to prolong their democracy and learn from its past mistakes in places like...South Africa and Cuba. 

   The book "How Far We Slaves Have Come" was written by two men -- Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro -- who believed South Africa didn't deserve to be enslaved by England and Cuba didn't deserve to be enslaved by the United States. In December of 2013, a month dominated by the death of Nelson Mandela at age 95, Brits and Americans should read this book. After all, their democracies claim to embrace both sides of two-sided stories.

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