Crucial Days for Cuba

Anti-Cuban Forces Align In Venezuela
{Tuesday, March 18th, 2014}

     The AFP/Juan Barreto photo above shows Venezuelan opposition activists marching toward the Cuban embassy in Caracas Sunday, March 16th. The protesters, at least for a day, shifted their venom to focus on Cuba, a major supporter and benefactor of President Nicolas Maduro's now shaky Venezuelan government.

     On national television President Maduro has told the Venezuelan people that Cuban-exile extremists in the U. S. are behind an attempted coup against him just as they "for a few hours" successfully executed a coup against the late President Chavez in 2002. He also used a television address to invite the U. S. to discuss the issues with his government. The protests began in student enclaves on February 12th and now have killed at least 28 people and injured about 300. Maduro is solidly backed by the Venezuelan military and it would take an extremely bloody coup to overthrow him. He considers Sunday's anti-Cuban protests to be proof that Cuban-exile extremists in the U. S. are "funding and encouraging this stuff in hopes of getting a reaction that would get the U. S. to attack us or the CIA to assassinate me, a bus driver who has African bloodlines like President Obama." Maduro, however, was narrowly elected a year ago over a U.S.-educated opposition leader and Venezuela is suffering mightily from excessive crime, high inflation, and shortages of food, diapers, and other necessities. The bulk of Maduro's support lies with the military and the poorest Venezuelans. He is also bolstered by the fact some of the key opposition leaders are now ashamed of the prolonged, ongoing violence.  

   
      Josefina Vidal is Cuba's Minister of North America Affairs and as such she has a primary responsibility for assessing threats to Revolutionary Cuba from anywhere in the region. Vidal, who has worked as a Cuban diplomat in Washington, is a key reason the revolutionary government has, against all odds, survived for 55 years and counting. This week Vidal's assessment of America's Cuban exile-dictated Cuban policy focuses on the violent demonstrations that have stricken Venezuela, a key Cuban ally, since February -- resulting in 28 deaths and at least 300 injuries.

     Josefina Vidal is a student of both American and Cuban history. After a 2002 speech at the Kennedy Library in Boston, she received by far the longest and loudest standing ovation at a session that was hosted by Caroline Kennedy and featured a roster of some of America's best historians, such as Arthur Schlesinger Jr. So, what's happening in Venezuela is not surprising to Ms. Vidal and, perhaps, her assessment is most pertinent of all considering that she is a Cuban firewall against invasion. Because Cuba is a two-pronged {not one-sided} equation, topical compendiums of what Josefina Vidal is thinking are worthwhile but generally foreign to Americans.

   "The three main opposition leaders fueling the violence in Venezuela," according to Ms. Vidal, "are all closely associated with the Cuban-exile extremists in the U. S. Congress and the operatives related to the Bush political dynasty in America. All that is well known. We understand their frustrations, through two generations now, over not being able to re-capture Cuba for use once again, as in the 1950s, as a piggy-bank and playpen. The Cuban exile leaders and Bush people also realize that, after all these decades, the worldwide UN vote each October sharply condemns, in unanimity, America's Cuban policy. Further, America's influence in the Caribbean and Latin America is amazingly small considering it is the strongest and richest nation in the world...and its Cuban policy is one reason for its lack of overwhelming regional influence, I think. And further, recent national polls in America show more and more majority opinions oppose the U. S. Cuban policy. And further still, the two top pollsters in Florida, as reported by even the Miami Herald, reveal that Cuban Americans in South Florida, even more strongly than the national average, oppose America's Cuban policy."

    In regards to Venezuela, Josefina Vidal said: "The Cuban exiles in the U. S. Congress are quite aware that Cuba has good to excellent relations with every nation in the region except the United States and, with that new poll in Florida, I'm sure they feel the need to tighten their grasp on control of the U. S. policy regarding Cuba. After a half century, they probably realize Cuba will not be re-captured as soon as next week. Thus, they attack our friends when they see an opening -- such as their bills recently to sanction/punish Argentina and President Cristina Fernandez. The U. S. should not assail Cristina because she is Cuba's friend and a few Cuban exiles don't like that. They see this week that Michelle Bachelet, one of Cuba's best friends, has been overwhelmingly re-elected President of Chile. They see that President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil is doing all she can to help Cuba. So, it is no surprise to me that the usual suspects -- the Bush-related Cubans from Miami and Union City entrenched in the U. S. Congress -- jump at an opening to overthrow President Maduro in 2014 similar to their short-lived coup against President Chavez in 2002. However, as in 2002, I believe the region tired of U. S. dominance in decades past when America saddled us with the Mafia, Batista, Pinochet, Trujillo, Samoso, Videla and all the other so-called U.S.-friendly thieves and fiends. And to allow two generations of Batistiano and Mafiosi exiles to rule America's Cuban policy is not exactly what I would call a feather in America's democratic hat. Of course, being the world's economic and military superpower, they can ignore regional and world opinion. That doesn't make it right. And fanning the flames of violence in Venezuela is not right. For two generations now, the Batistianos and the Mafiosi have denigrated American democracy."

   And lastly, in echoing a sentiment she expressed in that Kennedy Library speech in 2002, Ms. Vidal said, "We are merely an island trying to maintain our sovereignty when our nearest neighbor, the strongest nation in world history, threatens it on a daily basis at the behest of a handful of the last foreigners who ruled us. We did not extricate ourselves from them, nor have we shocked the world by keeping them at bay for so long, by being stupid or cowardly. In my capacity I spend much of my time, maybe most of it, anticipating what the most visceral Cuban exiles in Miami and Union City will concoct to provoke us into a reaction that, they hope, will have the full weight of the CIA, the U. S. treasury, and the U. S. military thrown at us. That's what, I believe, history confirms what such things as the Brothers flying over Havana and dropping leaflets was all about, that's probably what the bombing of Cubana Flight 455 was all about. And that, I believe, is what the Cuban exile support of the Chavez coup was all about. So, yes, that's what the Maduro coup is all about. Naturally, all along the way, my hope has been, and remains, that the American people will understand that there are two sides to the Cuban story...and two sides to the Venezuelan story that is now unfolding."

      As the violence in Venezuela roars through a second month, the New York Times used the photo above {by Leo Ramirez/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images} to illustrate its report from Caracas heading into last weekend. It shows an anti-government protester after her arrest being taken away by Venezuela's national police. The NY Times article said the protests "began in February with student demonstrations against the country's high rate of violent crime." Whatever the reasons, Sunday, March 16th was an especially crucial day. It revealed to many Latin Americans that the influence of a few Cuban-American zealots in the U. S. Congress can have dire ramifications against any of Cuba's vulnerable friends in the region. Like sharks reacting to blood in the ocean, the Menendez/Ros-Lehtinen/Rubio/Diaz-Balart anti-Castro coalition in the U. S. Congress in the past two weeks has marshaled the incomparable might of the United States against what they perceive as vulnerable Cuban-friendly governments, particularly Venezuela but also Argentina...or so Presidents Maduro and Fernandez believe. Presumably, Presidents such as Bachelet in Chile and Rousseff in Brazil are safe...for now. At the moment, Latin American political blood is being shed only in Venezuela and the majority of the U. S. Congress should, perhaps, try to stop it, not increase it. However, don't hold your breath! For over a half century now, the U. S. Congress has not reacted to such anti-democracy catastrophes as...the Bay of Pigs, the bombing of Cubana Flight 455, the 2002 coup in Venezuela, etc. Thus, whatever happens in Venezuela will be permitted...to happen.

    Maria Corina Machado, Venezuela's leading U.S.-backed right-wing congresswoman, called for the most massive anti-government protests to commence on a memorable day -- Sunday, March 16th. And her themes for the huge demonstrations were aimed directly at Cuba, perhaps to appease her Cuban-American allies. She claimed that Venezuela's "brutal repression orders come from Havana." Thus she said Sunday's mass protests were "against Cuban repression and for Venezuelan dignity." It is believed that the genesis for Corina Machado's anti-Cuban belligerence recently had its origin in the U. S. Congress where the usual contingent of the most virulent and revengeful Cuban-Americans -- Menendez, Rubio, Diaz-Balart, and Ros-Lehtinen -- backed bills demanding that the U. S., at the least, institute drastic sanctions against Venezuela and anything attached to Venezuela, an important Cuban ally. While Corina Machado and her Cuban-American backers in the United States Congress are fully capable of fanning the fires in Venezuela, it should be noted that they are also capable of creating and fomenting backlashes that might well rally the majority of Venezuelans to support Corina Machado's mortal enemy, the besieged democratically elected President Nicolas Maduro, the former bus driver and band member.

     While it is politically incorrect in the United States to say so, throughout Latin America Maria Corina Machado is considered to be closely allied with the Bush dynasty that has always been tightly allied, economically and politically, with the most radical Cuban exiles. That fact has greatly enhanced Corina Machado's power in Venezuela but it also represents a colossal warning to Venezuela's masses that she yearns for a return to the days when Venezuela was ruled by foreign-backed elites who happened to be Venezuela's richest families, such as the one that produced Congresswoman Maria Corina Machado herself. Furthermore, most Venezuelans and Latin Americans firmly believe that the coup that briefly overthrew the presidency of Hugo Chavez in 2002 was inevitable from the moment President George W. Bush named anti-Castro, Cuban-born zealot Otto Reich to a recess {without Senate approval} appointment to essentially dictate America's Latin American policy. Although the coup lasted a mere 72 hours, the U. S. quickly and embarrassingly recognized the new government and documents later proved it was a a new government supported by...Maria Corina Machado. Beyond doubt, Maria Corina Machado is the most important opposition leader in Venezuela and she holds a strong hand. However, as was quickly revealed during the 2002 coup, it remains to be seen if the majority of Venezuelans will capitulate to being ruled by a rich elite supported by the foreign coalition powered by the Bush dynasty and Cuban exiles.

The protests in Venezuela will provide clues.
Meanwhile..........

     Juan Orlando Hernandez has taken over as the new President of Honduras, which is very interesting from Cuba's and Venezuela's standpoints. After the 2009 coup that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, Cuba and Venezuela withdrew their ambassadors to Honduras. But the first thing President Hernandez did in March was to fully normalize diplomatic ties with Cuba and Venezuela. Hernandez, a lawyer and businessman, is only 45-years-old and he got his Masters degree in public education at the State University in New York. Also, he is the leader of the right-wing National Party of Honduras.

   
   54-year-old firebrand Xiomara Castro lost the Honduran election to Juan Orlando Hernandez by only 250,000 votes.

Since 1976 she has been married to Manuel Zelaya, the Honduran president ousted by the 2009 coup. Honduras is a troubled nation with the continued marginalization of indigenous communities. And Xiomara Castro will doubtlessly remain a political force.

      This photo is a reminder of just how fascinating, odorous, audacious, and unpredictable the volatile mix of love, war, and politics really is in the Caribbean and Latin America. On the left, that's Manuel Zelaya, the Honduran president ousted by a coup in 2009. On the right is his wife, the fiery Xiomara Castro. In a heated and contested election, she barely lost to new Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez. Considering the turmoil in Honduras, allow me to make a prediction: Xiomara is a future President of Honduras!

      This AFP/Adalberto Roque photo shows U. S. Congressman Jim McGovern in Cuba this week listening to Ada Rosa Alfonso, the head of the Ernest Hemingway Museum outside Havana. The U. S. and Cuba are engaged in a joint effort to preserve and digitize the Nobel Prize-winning author's personal effects.

This Getty Images photo shows Congressman McGovern admiring Hemingway's typewriter.

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Food Production Is Key to Cuba's Future

And Vital to Its National Security

   Christina Polzot {left} is one of the most important people on the island of Cuba. In July of 2012 she left her position at Care International in Ottawa, Canada for Cuba. Her assignment: Put Cuba on the path towards attaining food security. It was, she knew, a daunting task. But she is making enormous strides in the right direction. Yet, Cuba still spends $1.6 billion a year importing about 60% of the food it consumes. Christina longs for the day when the plush island of just over 11 million people can begin exporting vegetables and fruit along with other profitable products such as nickel and tobacco. But Christina found an island where much of the soil had been neglected for decades without proper nutrients such as fertilizer. She also quickly realized that the Cuban people, well educated otherwise and buffeted by guarantees of food, health care and shelter, were sorely lacking in knowledge when it came to farming. With Cuba realizing it can't depend on the rhythms of foreign support forever, Christina has been afforded a strong hand in re-vitalizing the island's food production, which she believes starts with educating the farmers and providing them financial incentives to both learn and to produce. By all accounts, her efforts are slowly producing tangible and very positive results although she says, "After four months on the job, just as I was starting to feel like I was getting a grasp of it all, Hurricane Sandy struck the eastern end of the island, leaving behind extensive devastation. But thankfully, we have had the support of Care International, the European Union, Canada, France, and Japan." 

  As Care International's representative in Cuba, Christina Polzot is doing an outstanding job helping the island to become self-sustaining when it comes to food production. She says, "Building management capacity at the local level is vital and we are accomplishing that. The government and the people want this to happen, so it will." The collapse of the Soviet Union entering the 1990s coupled with the U. S. embargo virtually deprived Cuba of necessary equipment, pesticides and fertilizer. The Cuban government still controls 70% of the island's land -- 6.7 million hectares {1 hectare = 2.47 acres}. In 2007 40% of that land was idle. Since 2010 Cubans have been encouraged to farm in rural and even urban areas and sell produce directly to customers without having to deal with cumbersome state bureaucracy. 

   
   More and more Americans are helping Cuban farmers to become more efficient at producing food. A contingent of 18 members of the Illinois Farm Bureau spent valuable days on the island working directly with diligent Cubans on farming techniques. The Cuban government is leasing hectares of land on easy terms and, in some cases, giving the land to farmers who meet certain quotas. 

 Some outdoor Farmers Markets in Cuba now stay open 24 hours a day.

This Jim Kane/Culture Xplorers photo captures a girl skipping rope in Trinidad, Cuba.

      This AP photo shows Robert Taber of CBS News interviewing Fidel Castro on May 17, 1957 in the Sierra Maestra Mountains of eastern Cuba. A few months earlier -- back in December-1956 -- Fidel was one of 17 rebel survivors out of the 82 who had left Mexico on the old, leaky yacht Granma to rendezvous with Celia Sanchez's guerrilla unit that was intent on ousting the Batista dictatorship. But the yacht began sinking about fifteen miles from where Celia waited and a Batista reconnaissance plane had spotted the yacht and set up an ambush, which devastated the rebels, some of whom were swimming ashore without their rifles as they were being targeted by machine guns. This interview with Taber was widely shown on American television on multiple news programs and on a CBS special entitled "Rebels of the Sierra Maestra." Taber afforded Americans their first look at Fidel Castro. His venture high up into the Sierra Maestra was orchestrated by rebel leader Celia Sanchez. Batista had told Cubans and Americans that Fidel Castro had been killed along with 65 others when the Granma was ambushed. In addition to her other duties as a rebel leader and guerrilla fighter, Celia Sanchez was also the primary rebel recruiter of weapons, fighters, and supplies. She realized that Cubans and Americans who supported her revolution were, as Batista intended, holding off on their crucial support because they believed Fidel, the face of the revolution, was dead. So Celia arranged for Robert Taber of CBS News as well as Herbert L. Matthews of the New York Times to trek high up into the Sierra to interview Fidel, proving he was alive! The two great female guerrilla fighters -- Celia Sanchez and Haydee Santamaria -- personally met Taber and Mathews at a rail-head and then escorted them to the guerrilla hide-out. And, as chroniclers like to say, the rest is history.

    
   This is Herbert L. Matthews of the New York Times with his favorite revolutionary fighter, Fidel Castro. During the Revolutionary War and later in Revolutionary Cuba, Celia Sanchez took full advantage of Mr. Matthews' insatiable and unending admiration of Fidel.

     
      
      In other words, Celia Sanchez used her wits, guts, and do-or-die resolve to overthrow the powerful Batista dictatorship that was supported by the United States, the strongest nation in the world, and the Mafia, the strongest criminal organization in the world. Using Taber and Matthews to inform Cubans and Americans that Fidel Castro was still alive was merely one of her stratagems. 

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CNN Covers Latin America, Kinda

But first...sad news from Havana:

     
     
     Melba Hernandez has died in Havana at age 92. She will remain a legend as one of the greatest heroines of the Cuban Revolution. Born on July 22, 1921, Melba graduated from the University of Havana Law School in 1943. She was one of two women who helped plan and who participated in the ill-fated attack on the Moncada Army Garrison on July 26, 1953 -- the first rebel thrust to overthrow the Batista-Mafia dictatorship. Melba was a key factor in the triumph of the revolution on January 1, 1959. She lived out her life officially listed as "A Heroine of the Cuban Revolution." She never left the island except to make numerous trips to aid women and children in Asia, particularly in Vietnam.

     Till the day she died, Melba Hernandez remained fiercely loyal to Fidel Castro and to the Cuban Revolution that she helped forge.

    

    
    The photo on the left shows Melba Hernandez {on the left} with Haydee Santamaria after they were captured during the Moncada attack on July 26th, 1953. Haydee died in 1980.

Melba and Haydee the day they were arrested.

Melba and Haydee in prison.

Melba and Haydee leaving prison for the last time.

    The photo on the right shows Fidel Castro comforting Melba Hernandez {Melba is on the left} and Haydee Santamaria as Fidel exited the Presidio Modelo prison on May 15, 1955.

Melba and Haydee: superstars in Revolutionary Cuba.

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     CNN's incomprehensible coverage of the fiery street protests in Venezuela the past three weeks has been quite interesting. Here's why: Unlike Fox News, CNN is not a right-wing propaganda machine; and unlike MSNBC, CNN is not a left-wing propaganda operation. CNN is center-left but mostly it adheres to a middle-of-the-road posture, which normally is good but CNN takes that approach to an extreme level. Trying hard not to displease anyone, CNN -- at least since founder Ted Turner was bought out and fired -- seems bent on providing its viewers only what it perceives they expect to see and hear even when CNN is fully capable of being more truthful. Take Latin America, for example. More specifically, take Venezuela. As a middle-of-the-roader in the American media, which overall is on a precipitous decline, CNN has sternly projected the turmoil in Venezuela as a popular uprising intent on overthrowing a vile, cruel dictatorship. That, of course, is a lie and CNN knows it but CNN's defense for telling the lie is...well, that's what Americans believe and if we tell the truth Americans wouldn't believe us, so we'll stick with the lie.

    Nicolas Maduro is the democratically elected President of Venezuela. He succeeded the late Hugo Chavez who was democratically elected multiple times and was overthrown by a U.S.-backed coup just once. That coup in April of 2002 lasted only a few hours before it was overturned by street protests that restored Chavez to his democratically elected Presidency. Maduro, a bus driver and member of a band, had supported the protests that returned Chavez to power. CNN was kicked out of Venezuela in the first week of this month {March, 2014} because President Maduro believed it was presenting a biased and slanted view of the protests in his troubled nation just as it and the rest of the U. S. media, Maduro believes, has lied about the 2002 coup against Chavez. But guess what? CNN informed Maduro if he would allow its reporters back in Venezuela CNN would actually interview him! In other words, CNN offered to afford him an opportunity to air his side of a two-sided story. To CNN's surprise, he accepted!

   CNN then sent its top international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, to interview President Maduro! Although Ms. Amanpour spent about a third of her time justifying the U. S. media's portrayal of Venezuela as a disgraceful, oppressive dictatorship {apparently because the U. S. hasn't selected its recent leaders}, President Maduro actually was indeed afforded ample time to express his government's views -- which represents one of the rare instances in which both sides of two-sided Latin American stories have seen transparency in the U. S. media. So, at least CNN deserves a modicum of credit regarding the ongoing crisis in Venezuela.

    After recovering from the shock of learning that CNN was actually serious about presenting the other side of the two-sided Venezuelan saga, I found the Amanpour interview with President Maduro to be quite enlightening. You probably would too. It was quite long and Ms. Amanpour prefaced many of her questions with in-depth and biased observations about how terrible the Venezuelan government is, but President Maduro maintained a calm demeanor and presented his views in a firm but, tuh, presidential manner. Democracy-loving Americans, I believe, should take advantage of this rare attempt by the U. S. media to present balanced coverage of an important and ongoing Latin American event, such as the Venezuelan crisis. Havana Times.org has every word of Amanpour's questions and Maduro's answers translated from Spanish to English.

Here are some points CNN allowed Maduro to make:

***Maduro mentioned the Venezuelan and Latin American view concerning the U. S. involvement in the 2002 coup that briefly overthrew Venezuela's democratically elected government.

***Maduro was able to remind Amanpour that Venezuela and other Latin American nations are aware of the U. S. tendency to overthrow democratically elected Latin American governments to install U.S.-backed dictators. He said it was "the very same policy against Salvador Allende in the 70's in Chile." Maduro specifically mentioned "Nixon and Kissinger" as orchestrators of the Chilean coup. {Allende's very popular democratically elected government was over-turned in a U.S.-backed coup to install for 17 bloody years the murderous Pinochet dictatorship. Latin Americans understand that; Americans are not supposed to.}

***Maduro told Amanpour: "With the U. S. government, it is well known via the Pentagon papers, Wikileaks and Snowden's papers...there is sufficient evidence you have conspired to put an end to the Bolivarian Revolution. This is not news. This is well known. Financial power is at the helm in the United States. We want a new relationship based on respect. These elites cannot continue to make South America like a backyard. I am certain that the American people who can hear us today can agree with these ideas that we respect each other. We must stop these conspiracies of the NSA, the Pentagon to reconquering Latin America."

       Amanpour took exception to that last sentence in the above paragraph. Incredulously, she asked: "Do you really believe that? They want to reconquer Latin America?" Maduro began his long answer with a 4-word sentence: "Of course, I do." 

In other words.......

......Maduro knew how and why Chilean President Allende died on September 11, 1973.
Christiane Amanpour pretended that she didn't.
But at least CNN permitted President Maduro to mention President Allende.
So, thanks CNN and congratulations.

      23-year-old shortstop Aledmys Diaz is the latest from Cuba's unending supply of baseball talent to become an instant American millionaire. On Sunday he signed a 4-year, $20 million contract with St. Louis and reported to the Cardinals' Major League Spring Training camp Monday {March 10th}. The almost instant Major League super-stardom of Cubans like Joenis Cespedes, Yasiel Puig, Aroldis Chapman, etc., has created a virtual pipeline of covetous American teams trying, with success, to lure Cuban talent.

    

    Yarisley Silva won't become an instant millionairess, but Sunday {March 9th} this AP photo shows her seconds after she had won the gold medal for Cuba in the women's pole vault at the World Championships in Sopot, Poland. 

    While much of the world's attention focused on the crisis in Crimea and the Ukraine, this Russian warship very quietly docked in Havana Harbor.

      This is the latest contingent of Cuban doctors arriving in Brazil to join the 7,400 already there. Brazil's pro-Cuban President Dilma Rousseff plans to hire a total of 11,000 Cuban doctors needed to service poor regions of Brazil not served by other doctors. The Brazilian Ministry of Health says areas already benefiting from the Cuban doctors include Sao Paulo, Fortaleza, Porto Alegre, Guarapari, Gravata, and Brasilia. Brazil pays the Cuban government and both governments this week announced that the Cuban doctors in Brazil have been given substantial pay increases. Cuba has the world's largest medical school and the world's highest per capita number of doctors. Thousands are working throughout Latin America.

       The 2014 Cigar Festival in Havana was a huge success. {Photo: AFP/Adolberto Roque} Cuban cigars experienced an 8% growth in 2013, worth $447 million to the economy.

Cubans preparing a tobacco field. {AFP/Roque photo}

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Miami Is Batista's Havana

A Gluttonous, Revengeful Playpen Like 1950s Havana
{Monday, March 10th, 2014}

    Last week {March 4, 2014} the New York Times used the photo on the left {Photo courtesy: Luke Sharrett/NY Times} to illustrate a long article written by Damien Cave entitled: "Miami Congressman Adamantly Defends Isolating Cuba." Because this article defines much of how the most vicious Cuban-exile zealots have dictated America's Cuban policy since January of 1959, I believe Americans should go online and read it. On the left is Mario Diaz-Balart, who followed his brother Lincoln Diaz-Balart into the U. S. Congress from Miami. Once there, they have no problem finding other right-wing Republicans {such as the Virginia congressman Eric Cantor on the right} to support their gluttonous, revengeful Cuban agenda that, since January of 1959, has harmed everyone but a handful of the richest and most powerful Cuban-exiles and their self-serving acolytes such as the Bush dynasty, Torricelli, Helms, Burton, Cantor, etc. But as Damien Cave's topical article in the New York Times indicates, the biggest support that has empowered a few insatiable Cuban-exiles through the past two generations is the simple fact that the last two generations of Americans have not cared enough about their democracy to defend it against such a cancerous blight. But, for what it's worth, here is how Damien Cave began this interesting, insightful and illuminating article:

      "As more Cuban-Americans find ways to engage with Cuba -- through travel, helping families with new businesses, and now business training -- they have increasingly come into conflict with Cuban-America law makers who insist that isolation, through the United States trade embargo, is the best and only acceptable approach when dealing with Cuba. Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, the Republican congressman from Miami, has been a leader among the pro-embargo constituency for years, serving in Congress since 2003. His aunt, Mirta, was Fidel Castro's first wife, leading many to argue that the divide between Cuba and the United States over the embargo is, at its roots, a family dispute. But Mr. Diaz-Balart argues that his position is steeped in principle..." {Excerpt from New York Times article by Damien Cave, March 4-2014}

          The Damien Cave article in the New York Times this week continues on for many paragraphs and includes a long Q & A segment with Mario Diaz-Balart. "Steeped in principle!" He had the gall to use those three words to describe to Mr. Cave the Cuban policy that he and the other richest and most powerful Cuban-exiles have dictated in Miami and in Washington since they were booted off the island, with reason, on January 1, 1959. In the 55 years since then, the United States, the world, and democracy have been severely punished by what Damien Cave calls "a family dispute." Because lavish foreign money, like lavish domestic money, is capable of purchasing large chunks of America's democracy, gluttony-minded and revenge-minded Cuban exiles from the island's overthrown brutal/thieving Batista-Mafia dictatorship have faced few obstacles in crafting what has amounted to a Batistiano government-in-exile on U. S. soil. 

                 Since the overthrow of the Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba in 1959, two generations of the most extremist Cuban-exiles -- such as Mario Diaz-Balart, his brother Lincoln Diaz-Balart, and their father Rafael Diaz-Balart -- have not only dictated America's Cuban policy -- such as the embargo, the Torricelli Act, the Helms-Burton Bill, etc. -- they have also controlled the narrative by intimidating or colluding with the media. In that manner the majority of Americans have either been too scared to resist the Cuban-exile assault on their democracy or they have simply been too propagandized/proselytized by the intimidated or colluding media. Mario Diaz-Balart this week told Damien Cage that his Cuban agenda is "steeped in principle." What a joke! Here are some points to contradict Mario Diaz-Balart:

    The New York Times article referenced Mirta Diaz-Balart, Fidel Castro's first wife, as an example of the "family dispute" that has played out between Havana and Miami since January of 1959 -- at great expense to decent Cubans and decent Americans as well as to democracy. As the sister of Rafael Diaz-Balart, Mirta is the aunt of his sons Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart. As Fidel Castro's wife and the mother of his son Fidelito, Mirta knows Fidel a heck of a lot better than her brother and her nephews who, after all, basically only know that Fidel chased them to Miami. And Mirta has never used Fidel to gain wealth and she has never used the family dispute to self-servingly distort either Havana or Miami. To this day, Mirta still has her own home in Havana and she stays there on her frequent visits to the island to visit her son Fidelito {see photo} as well as Fidel and his second wife Dalia. As far as I know, Mirta, now 85, avoids Miami.

      After fleeing the triumphant Cuban Revolution in January of 1959, Rafael Diaz-Balart became one of the most zealous, richest and powerful Cuban-exiles in Miami, rivaled in zealotry, wealth and power only by Jorge Mas Canosa. In Batista's U.S.-backed Cuban dictatorship, Rafael Diaz-Balart, a law school classmate of Fidel Castro, was a powerful minister. Rafael's son Lincoln, a former member of the U. S. Congress, was born in Havana; Rafael's son Mario, a present member of the U. S. Congress, was born in Miami. 

  As a key minister in the Batista dictatorship, Rafael Diaz-Balart {left} was one of Batista's biggest and most vocal supporters. Thus, it is no wonder that he would become the prime antagonist on the island for Fidel Castro, his former law school classmate who hated Batista's rule. And until he died in Key Biscayne, Florida on May 6-2005, Rafael had out-lived Jorge Mas Canosa {who died Sept. 21-1997 in Miami} and was thus Fidel's prime antagonist in the U. S., a role he bequeathed to Lincoln and Mario, a role the two brothers are zestfully fulfilling.

     In the photo on the right, that is Rafael Diaz-Balart in the middle with the holstered pistol flanked by the infamous Masferrer brothers, Rodolfo on the left and Rolando on the right. In this photo they are holding a pro-Batista rally in 1958 in Chivirico, Sierra Maestra, Cuba. Americans need to comprehend just how infamous the Masferrer brothers were as the prime enforcers for Batista. That comprehension can, of course, begin by simply Googling "Rolando Masferrer," which you should do because to be unfamiliar with Rolando Masferrer is to be unfamiliar with the U.S.-Cuban nexus, especially what spawned Fidel Castro. 

   Tete Puebla, for example, is today a General in the Cuban army. Barely in her teens, she joined Celia Sanchez's guerrilla army in the Sierra Maestra and became a teenage legend fighting and defeating Batista soldiers while Fidel Castro was in prison. In her biography -- "Tete Puebla and the Mariano Grajales Brigade" -- Tete explained what motivated her: The Masferrer Tigers had come to her little village and burned friends and relatives to death in locked sheds and gunny sacks as a warning not to resist. The teenage Tete didn't heed that warning and she'll tell you today that neither did the bulk of the similarly motivated female half of the population, a fact that tipped the incalculable odds against Fidel Castro into his favor. Study this photo of General Tete Puebla. Do you think she still remembers Masferrer?

   Beyond any shadow of a doubt, Batista's Cuba displayed no respect for teenage girls like Tete Puebla or for mothers like these who began the Cuban Revolution with brave marches like this. If Batista, the Mafia and the U. S. had shown just a tad of respect for the non-elite female half of the Cuban population, there is no way either Havana or Miami would ever have had to deal with Fidel Castro. But study the stoic photo of Tete Puebla in her General's uniform. Then study this and other photos of mothers outraged by the murders of their children, and then you can understand why everyone has heard of Fidel Castro. There is no way a dictatorship backed by the strongest nation in the world, the U. S., and by the strongest criminal organization in the world, the Mafia, could have been overthrown by Fidel Castro if he had not recognized and utilized the outrage of Cuba's female population. If you disagree with that, study Tete's and the Marching Mothers' photos a little longer.

     Linda Pressly {Photo on the right} is the top senior producer at the BBC in London. Via emails and phone calls, Linda contacted me when she was doing a documentary on Celia Sanchez. She said she was going to Cuba to research it and asked me who I thought she should contact. I immediately said, "General Tete Puebla, Marta Rojas, and Melba Hernandez. Those three remarkable Cuban women are still living and they have indelible memories of fighting beside and working beside Celia Sanchez. Celia played the biggest role in defeating Batista and then defending the revolution...just ahead of the still-living Tete, Marta, and Melba and the late Haydee Santamaria and Vilma Espin."

  Celia Sanchez was a 99-pound doctor's daughter from the little Cuban town of Media Luna and she adored Cuban children. She became outraged when she learned that peasant girls as young as ten were being kidnapped and used as lures in Mafia-run hotel-casinos to entice pedophiles to Cuba. The fate of a beautiful ten-year-old Cuban girl named Maria Ochoa was the last straw for Celia and the biggest mistake Batista, the Mafia, and the United States ever made on the island of Cuba.

   That's because the fate of little Maria Ochoa transformed the petite doctor's daughter into history's all-time greatest female guerrilla fighter and revolutionary leader as well as the prime reason the Batistianos today dominate Miami but not Havana. Celia died of cancer at age 59 in 1980 but way back in 1959 she had boldly proclaimed: "The Batistianos will never regain control of Cuba as long as I live or as long as Fidel lives." Of course, Americans are not supposed to know Celia Sanchez because such knowledge might conflict with America's Cuban policy since 1959.

    The photo on the left shows Rafael Diaz-Balart the way he looked when he made a long and impassioned speech before the Cuban parliament that rubber-stamped Batista's rule. An incredible series of brutal acts against Cuban women and children had induced the United States to persuade Batista to free Fidel Castro from prison where he had spent two years following his ill-fated July 26-1953 attack on the Moncada Army Garrison. Batista offered to free other prisoners but not Fidel but the U. S. told him that the only way to appease the masses and the pro-Fidel New York Times reporter Herbert L. Mathews was to free the rebel hero Fidel. Batista, beholden to the U. S. for vast financial and military assistance, had to listen to that ultimatum from the U. S., which only wanted to pacify the outraged majority of Cubans who admired Fidel. But Rafael Diaz-Balart -- in that long and impassioned speech -- still pleaded for Fidel to be kept in prison. Rafael said: "I think this amnesty, so imprudently adopted, will bring days, many days, of mourning, pain, blood and misery to the Cuban people...because Fidel Castro is nothing more than a fascist psychopath." Still, Batista ignored his minister and capitulated to the U. S. order. Fidel was freed. The rest is history, including Rafael's powerful emergence in Miami where he and Masferrer were among the first to form paramilitary units to strike back at Revolutionary Cuba. So, Celia's proclamation has been severely tested each day since 1959 but it has yet to be punctured.

   
    The photo on the left shows Fidel Castro on May 15, 1955 just as he was released from the Isle of Pines prison. Celia Sanchez, whom he had yet to meet, had sent a note to him prior to the amnesty telling him of the safe houses to use before he regrouped in the U. S. and Mexico prior to joining her in the Sierra Maestra. He missed his rendezvous point where Celia waited with a force that could have protected him and the other 81 rebels on the old, leaky yacht Granma. Only 17 of the rebels survived a coastal ambush but the Castro brothers and Che Guevara were among the 17 survivors.

    
    By he way, in 1955 Marta Rojas {right} was a young, talented news reporter that Batista trusted. Thus, she had access to Fidel Castro in his Isle of Pines prison. Marta, however, was a part of the urban underground loyal to Celia Sanchez and Frank Pais, the two most vital anti-Batista rebels. Marta carried notes from Celia in her bra to Fidel in his prison cell. Marta exited the prison with notes in her bra from Fidel to Celia. That was the beginning of the Celia-Fidel nexus that eventually spelled doom for the Batista-Mafia dictatorship.

    The photo on the left shows Marta Rojas interviewing two of the greatest heroines of the Cuban Revolution -- Haydee Santamaria and Melba Hernandez. Haydee and Melba participated in the attack on the Moncada garrison on July 26, 1953 and they, like Fidel, were freed from prison in May of 1955 by that U.S.-brokered amnesty.

    Haydee Santamaria left that interview with Marta Rojas to join Celia Sanchez's guerrilla unit in the Sierra Maestra. The photo on the left shows Haydee and Celia leading a well-armed unit of guerrilla fighters in the Sierra Maestra Mountains. The two incomparable rebels formed a life-long bond. In Revolutionary Cuba Celia died of cancer on January 11, 1980. Haydee was so distraught over Celia's death that she committed suicide, a fact documented in Haydee's biography "Rebel Lives" and also by Haydee's daughter Celia Hart who was named, of course, for Celia Sanchez. {Celia Hart was a prolific Latin American writer till both she and her brother died in a car wreck as they were driving to help Cubans devastated by back-to-back hurricanes}

   
    Marta Rojas {Photo by Tracey Eaton} is now 83-years-old and a legendary heroine of the Cuban Revolution. She is also a renowned Latin American journalist/author. Her best book, I think, was "Tania: The Unforgettable Guerrilla." It was first published in English in the 1970s by Random House. When I was researching my biography of Celia Sanchez, Marta was gracious enough to provide first-hand information including email attachments of personal notes to and from Celia Sanchez.

Hey, I deterred a bit but back to the Diaz-Balarts!

   Of course, the extraordinary power of the Diaz-Balarts -- and other Cuban-exile extremists -- is directly linked in Miami and Washington to their tight alignment with the Bush dynasty, both economically and politically. From both an economic and political standpoint, that alliance, of course, has been extremely beneficial to the Bushes, the Diaz-Balarts, and the rest of the Cuban-exile elite while being extremely detrimental to everyone else.

    The reason Mario Diaz-Balart this week tried to pull the wool over the eyes of one of the New York Times' most renowned reporters, Damien Cave, is the fact that he obviously -- like the other Cuban-exile extremists from Miami -- was reacting to a recent poll that shows even the vast majority of Cuban-Americans in Miami now desire an end to the embargo and other vile hostilities against the Cubans on the island. Mario is also abundantly aware that the entire world, for the 22nd consecutive year, has voted in near unanimity in the United Nations to end the embargo. {Only Israel, which likes the billions of dollars in military and economic aid it receives from the U.S. each year, supports the U. S. on that UN vote}. Mario is also aware that Alfy Fanjol -- the billionaire Cuban-born sugar magnet who has bank-rolled anti-Castro politicians and anti-Castro acts for decades, has suddenly declared that he has been visiting Cuba with thoughts of investing on the island that now is encouraging foreign investments. And Mario is also aware that the 28-nation European Union has called for re-establishing ties with Cuba and that includes the two EU nations -- Poland and the Czech Republic -- that have long capitulated to U. S. pressure to assail Cuba. So no wonder this week we see Senator Marco Rubio from Miami stoking the fires of protests in Venezuela, a close Cuban ally, and Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart rushing to the New York Times to explain how and why the vicious Cuban exile-fueled U. S. Cuban policy is "STEEPED IN PRINCIPLE." 

The "principle," of course, is to 

enrich and empower

more generations of....

the Cuban-exile elite!

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