Revenge and Money Fuel Cuban Policy

Americans Are Too Timid to Complain
Friday, December 5th, 2014

       Meet Yasmany Tomas. He's a young Cuban who turned 24-years-old on November 14, 2014. Recently he signed a guaranteed $68.5 million dollar contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks, which had a record of 64-98 last season, the worst of America's 30 Major League teams, all of whom are very rich because of massive television contracts, corporate sponsorships, and huge tax breaks. The Deamondbacks can thus easily afford guaranteeing Yasmany Tomas $68.5 million. If he turns out to be a good Major Leaguer, he'll earn much more than that.

       But Yasmany Tomas is merely the latest in a long and continuing line of Cuban baseball players anxious to defect from the island for a very logical reason: Huge, guaranteed contracts that await them in the U. S., especially after a multitude of Cuban players such as Jose Abreu, Yasiel Puig, and many others have become instant superstars in the American Major Leagues. But these baseball signings, like the wholesale recruitment of Cuban doctors serving in foreign nations, reflects how Cubans are treated differently than any other people because of very special U. S. laws that pertain only to Cubans, laws enacted at the behest of a few powerful Cuban exiles and their easily procured sycophants. If Tomas was a non-Cuban his very first baseball contract in the U. S. would not have been for $68.5 million. An American or any player from any other country with comparable talent would have commanded about $3 million in a similar contract. Why? Well, a U. S. player with similar talent would have had to undergo a draft and only the team that drafted him could sign him. But being Cuban, Tomas' agents could negotiate with all 30 major league teams that would be required to bid against each other if they wanted to sign Tomas. Competitive bidding naturally and acutely drives up the money. Therefore, you have the difference between, say, $3 million and, say, $68.5 million. Of course, because of the Cuban exile-fueled Wet Foot/Dry Foot law, Cubans are the only immigrants in the world who are home free in the U. S. merely by touching U. S. soil. Americans are supposed to accept or certainly not question such U. S. laws and policies that pertain only to Cubans although it has been ingrained within us the proposition that the masses of people should not be punished to sate the whims of a few. Such special U. S. laws related only to Cubans produce vast sums of money to many Cubans as well as their lawyers, agents, traffickers, etc. Also, such special Cuban laws punish Cuba, stoking the massive revenge motives against Revolutionary Cuba, which ousted the Batista-Mafia dictatorship. The vast cottage industry in the U. S. that facilitates the defection of Cuban baseball players, Cuban ballet performers, Cuban doctors, etc., to the U. S. has two prime motivations: {1} Money; and {2} Revenge. Those ware the two prime motivations that created the Torricelli Bill and the Helms-Burton Act as cornerstones of America's Cuban policy, a policy that the rest of the world, and millions of democracy-loving Americans, verily deplore. Additionally, pusillanimous U. S. taxpayers pay for such U. S. policies that recruits/traffics Cuban doctors serving in foreign countries to defect to the U. S., not for altruistic purposes but simply to make money for traffickers or to exact revenge and punishment on Cuba. 

       The United States embargo against Cuba dates back to 1960, the year after the Cuban Revolution overturned the U.S.-and-Mafia-backed Batista dictatorship in Cuba. Many of the leaders in the Batista dictatorship, of course, quickly found safe havens on U. S. soil, especially South Florida and Union City from whence many of them had ventured to Batista's Cuba in the first place. In 1962 -- after many failed assassination attempts against Fidel Castro and the failed Bay of Pigs attack against Cuba -- the United States officially codified the embargo against Cuba. De-classified U. S. documents from 1962 reveal that the purpose of the embargo was to starve and deprive Cubans on the island for the purpose of inspiring them to rise up against Castro and the revolutionary government. Then in the 1980s the Reagan-Bush presidency anointed one of the most visceral anti-Castro exiles, the Fort Benning-trained Jorge Mas Canosa, the leader of the Cuban exiles. Canosa, riding the coattails of the emerging Bush dynasty, soon emerged as one of the richest and most powerful citizens of Miami. As minutely explained in notable books by Ann Louise Bardach and Julia E. Sweig, Canosa was advised to study the Jewish AIPAC lobby and then create a similar one related to Cuba. Canosa took that advice and created CANF, the Cuban American National Foundation. To many observers of the U. S. democracy, AIPAC and CANF essentially created a 3-headed U. S. government -- American, Israeli, and Cuban. {Note: Julia E. Sweig in her brilliant book "CUBA: What Everyone Needs To Know" best explains how that 3-headed U. S. government became a reality}. In any case, Canosa and CANF in the 1980s and 1990s were able to greatly strengthen the U. S. embargo against Cuba via the Torricelli Bill and the Helms-Burton Act. As great investigative journalists-authors -- Bardach, Sweig, Peter Kornbluh, James Bamford, etc. -- have minutely documented, getting the support of right-wingers in the U. S. Congress -- such as Robert Torricelli, Jesse Helms, and Dan Burton -- to support their Cuban laws was incredibly easy. Also, the CANF quickly amassed huge amounts of money to assist its lobbying interests and, as Americans have learned, telling members of Congress you will support their Bridges to Nowhere if they support your Cuban policy was also, shall we say, incredibly easy.  

          The Helms-Burton Act was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on March 12, 1996. Notice above President Clinton's right shoulder are two visceral anti-Castro Cuban-Americans -- Robert Menendez of Union City and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Miami. Mr. Menendez is now entrenched in the U. S. Senate and the Chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee. Ms. Ros-Lentinen has been entrenched in the U. S. Congress since 1989 and she recently served as Chair of the House's Foreign Relations Committee. Cuba is still a foreign country and thus the Menendez and Ros-Lehtinen Chairs took on magnanimous proportions. Democratic Presidents like Bill Clinton are shamed by the anti-democratic tenets of the Helms-Burton Act, especially the fact that the Act severely punishes other sovereign nations, including America's best friends, if they have the temerity to interact economically or otherwise with Cuba. So, why did President Clinton sign the Helms-Burton Act? Americans concerned with their democracy should do some Goggling and get their answers from unbiased experts such as Ann Louise Bardach, Julia E. Sweig, Peter Kornbluh, Wayne S. Smith, etc. President Clinton in 1995, like democratic Presidents before and after him, wanted to ease the punitive U. S. sanctions against Cuba. Aware of that, well-known anti-Castro zealots in Miami began more flagrantly than ever to taunt Cuba via their Brothers to the Rescue program, apparently for the purpose of soliciting a reaction from Cuba that they could use to exacerbate the punishment of Cuba by the U. S. government. Miami airplanes repeatedly invaded Cuban airspace, even dropping anti-Castro leaflets over Havana. The Miami news media was used to further taunt Cuba. Cuba begged the U. S. and the UN to stop the overflights. To no avail. The U. S. has a UN veto. Cuba then said it would, like any other sovereign nation, be forced to do something on its own. In the Miami media, the taunts increased, saying Cuba had neither the means nor the courage to do anything about the intrusions. On February 24, 1996, two Brothers to the Rescue planes were shot down by two Cuban jets, killing four people aboard the planes although the lead plane, piloted by lifelong anti-Castro zealot Jose Basulto, turned back safely to Miami. That episode, and its one-sided portrayal in the U. S. media, usurped President Clinton's plans to ease the sanctions against Cuba, inducing him to sign the Helms Burton Act that greatly, to this day, increased the U. S. government's punishment of Cuba as well as sharply punishing other countries that might wish to have certain relations with Cuba. Americans are not supposed to Google such drastically significant aspects of the U. S. democracy as the infamous Helms-Burton Act or the Brothers shoot-downs. But all other nations around the world are not so ignorant or intimidated. Thus, each October in the United Nations a vote is taken that shows the world, via a 182-to-2 vote, strongly opposes the U. S. embargo of Cuba, especially the provisions added by the Helms-Burton Law. In all the world, only Israel votes in the United Nations to support the U. S. policy regarding Cuba and the world is aware that Israel depends mightily on billions of dollars each year on U. S. economic and military aid, not to mention Israel's dependency on the U. S. veto power in the UN Security Council that, at times, severely admonishes Israel. I am a strong supporter of Israel but an even stronger supporter of the U. S. democracy, which I think has taken enough hits since the 1950s from a Cuban policy that the rest of the world disagrees with and which many Americans are too proselytized or too intimidated to challenge.

       Most democracy lovers -- including, I believe, Executive Director Sarah Stephens at the Washington-based Center for Democracy in the Americas -- are not pleased that Americans, most of them, are not concerned enough about their democracy to even weigh in on anti-democratic aspects of the U. S. policy related to Cuba. And that is precisely why it has continued to plague democracy for all these decades. 

       Peter Kornbluh's Washington-based National Security Archive is a prime source for definitive and pertinent data regarding U.S.-Cuban relations since the 1950s. Mr. Kornbluh is America's best and most persistent investigative journalist when it comes to unveiling long-classified U. S. documents that, for many decades, hid nefarious right-wing American/Cuban American plots against Cuba -- its government and its people. Googling "Peter Kornbluh" or "National Security Archive" is rather easy in 2014 but perhaps too hard or too time-consuming for many Americans who should be defenders of their democracy.

      In the grossly overcrowded blogosphere, there are too many self-serving, revengeful, and economically motivated Cuban blogs. But the best Cuban blog is "Cartas Desde Cuba" {"Letters From Cuba"} by Fernando Ravsberg. {Note: If you are looking for the best blog that blends a nexus of topical Cuban events with historic Cuban events, your current location, Cubaninsider, is probably your best bet}. Mr. Ravsberg is the best and bravest blogger concerning current Cuban affairs. His recent blog entitled "Leaving Cuba Alone A Sound Policy" garnered international attention, and deservedly so, from the BBC and other media giants. He wrote: "Cuban-American Senator Bob Menendez recommends that the administration should confront all of the countries in the region to keep Cuba from attending next year's Summit of the Americas."  In other words, Mr. Ravsberg believes very sanely that the entrenched Cuban-Americans in the U. S. Congress from Miami and Union City should devote more time to American issues than to assailing foreign sovereign countries that, in their minds, do not do enough to assail Cuba. And Mr. Ravsberg added: "Anti-Castroists outside and inside Cuba want foreign governments, particularly the United States, to do their job for them. It is a policy they have maintained since 1959, when opponents of the government left for Miami, to wait for Americans to overthrow Castro. In the Bay of Pigs invasion, they received training, weapons, ships, and planes from the United States. Despite this, they blamed their defeat on President Kennedy, despite the fact it was the anti-Castro Cubans who surrendered en masse in less than 72 hours. Half a century later, very few things have changed." Mr Ravsberg is unique. He has the insight and the courage to state such absolute truths in an atmosphere that is greedily toxic and vehemently misrepresented.

        Take, for example, this image of Antony John Blinken. You may note that this image, courtesy of C-SPAN, shows Mr. Blinken acutely embarrassed, scared, and humiliated. That should never have happened recently, especially not in the hallowed halls of the U. S. Senate, but it is a frequent happening perpetrated by Cuban-American members of the U. S. Congress. Mr. Blinken is a decent member of President Barack Obama's administration and he has input regarding America's relations with Cuba. Thus, Mr. Blinken was unmercifully grilled recently by U. S. Senator Marco Rubio from Miami in a manner that many other innocent souls have been grilled in the U. S. Congress by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen from Miami, Mario Diaz-Balart from Miami, Robert Menendez from Union City, etc. Mr. Blinken was assailed by Senator Rubio apparently because Mr. Rubio did not like hearing rumors that President Obama was considering easing sanctions against Cuba in his final two lame-duck years as President. Four times...four times...Senator Rubio asked the same question of Mr. Blinken before he apparently got the answer or assurance he was seeking...uh, no sir, Senator Rubio, sir, President Obama will not even th...think about Cuba wi...without your permission!

         Senator Marco Rubio is now campaigning hard to be President of the United States in 2016. He might succeed. At least, it is for sure there is nothing he can do in his zealotry regarding Cuba that would cost him votes from a proselytized or intimidated U. S. citizenry, which also likely would not object too much if a President Rubio in 2016 named Ted Cruz his Secretary of State, Robert Menendez his Secretary of Defense, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen the head of Homeland Security. Of course, in that event other pressing needs of the United States of America would take a backseat to the Cuban issue, but who the heck would care? Surely, the many problems that need addressing in the United States are not nearly as important as regaining control of Cuba or, at least, continuing to severely punish Cuba for another six decades or so!

       Curt Anderson {above} is one of the best and most knowledgeable journalists when it comes to writing fairly and without bias or fear when it comes to the complex vagaries and foibles of U.S.-Cuban relations. He is not a lone wolf. There are other U. S. journalists/authors/bloggers that also report fairly and bravely on the U.S.-Cuban conundrum, such as: Ann Louise Bardach, Julia E. Sweig, Peter Kornbluh, Tracey Eaton, Sarah Stephens, Wayne S. Smith, etc. However, they are in the minority because many otherwise fair-minded U. S. journalists are simply afraid to be unbiased when it comes to Cuba, ever mindful of such things as the mysterious death of ABC-TV anchorwoman Lisa Howard for standing up to the Johnson administration's Miami-based policies; the anti-Cuban car-bombing of newsman Emilio Milian in Miami when he complained about Cuban-American terrorists; and the firing of the Miami Herald's Jim DeFede when he had the temerity to excoriate Miami-based members of the U. S. Congress -- namely Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balart brothers -- because of their support of the best known Cuban-American terrorists, including Luis Posada Carriles. Even more significantly than the fear factor, since 1959 when the Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba was overthrown, there has been a vast, well-funded Cuban exile-fueled industry that insists on controlling the Cuban narrative in two vital components of the U. S. democracy -- the media and the U. S. Congress. For example, the Radio-TV Marti boondoggle in Miami has siphoned off billions of tax dollars since the 1980s because of the Cuban-exile alignment with the Bush dynasty and other key political sycophants -- Richard Nixon, Jesse Helms, Robert Torricelli, Dan Burton, etc. During the George W. Bush presidency, for example, tax dollars were sent to Miami to pay 'journalists" with the so-called mainstream media, including the Miami Herald, to write and publish anti-Castro, anti-Cuban articles. Thomas Jefferson and other Founding Fathers would have cringed in disbelief over such things. Jefferson famously once said if there was a choice between having a government or free newspapers, he would take the free newspapers. But sadly, a presidential administration paying for biased, anti-Cuban articles in major newspapers did not worry this generation of Americans who, it appears, have neither the intelligence nor the courage to defend their democracy. That being said, decent and courageous journalists such as Emilio Milian, Jim DeFede, Lisa Howard, etc., are badly needed in the modern era when democracy, as Mr. Jefferson would define it, is more endangered than ever. That's why today's best journalists, such as Curt Anderson, should be appreciated by democracy lovers. On November 23, 2014, Mr. Anderson penned an Associated Press article from Miami entitled: "Bay of Pigs Vet, Families Seek Billions From Cuba." The article revealed how, since 1959, the Cuban conundrum has done more than just about anything else to make the sacrosanct U. S. democracy resemble a Banana Republic-type governance, with most Americans too timid or ignorant to defend their democracy as judgments in Florida courtrooms against unrepresented Cuba reach into bank vaults from New York to Spain. Two generations of the most vicious anti-Castro Cuban-Americans have been allowed to hide behind the huge skirts of the U. S. military and the U. S. treasury to sate their two prime motives -- Revenge and Money. 

     For these reasons, fair-minded journalists like Curt Anderson are more vital to the U. S. democracy than ever before because, since the 1950s, the Cuban conundrum has done more than just about anything else to make the sacrosanct U. S. democracy resemble, in the eyes of the rest of the world, a Banana Republic-type governance. 

         The aforementioned 11-23-2014 AP article by Curt Anderson started with this photo of 78-year-old CIA/Cuban-exile and Bay of Pigs veteran Gustavo Villoldo. Mr. Villoldo flew an American warplane to bomb Cuba prior to the land invasion at the Bay of Pigs in April, 1959. But neither that infamous attack or any other carefully calculated scheme eliminated Fidel Castro or his Cuban Revolution. In fact, affording Castro such triumphs on silver platters have helped embellish and entrench Castro as well as his revolution and his soon-to-be legacy. However, two generations of Cuban-Americans since 1959, transplanted to the U. S., have been permitted to grow rich and powerful with the support of the U. S. government and the non-interference of intimidated or uncaring American citizens. Cuban exile-fueled laws -- Torricelli and Helms-Burton -- rammed through the U. S. Congress have given a relative handful of Cuban-Americans -- mostly from Miami and Union City -- free reigns to punish Cuba and use it as a gravy train in an ongoing parade of almost unlimited tax dollars coupled with legal U. S. laws designed to punish Cuba. For example, by keeping Cuba on the U. S. Sponsors of Terrorism list, something that no unbiased observer could currently justify, Cuban-Americans, even in Miami courts in which Cuba is not represented, can sue Cuba for...well, for whatever they want to sue Cuba for. Yes, many multi-millionaires in Miami have resulted from such nuances. Such lawsuits against another sovereign nation would not be allowed if Cuba was not on that Sponsors of Terrorism list, so judge for yourself why Cuba remains on it. Mr. Villoldo, shown above talking in his lawyer's office, won a $2.8 billion judgment in Florida against Cuba in 2011. According to Curt Anderson's article, there are still several billion {billions with a "B"} dollars of so-called frozen Cuban money in New York and Spanish banks and that money is subject to lawsuits in Miami with the U. S. government, as many times before, bound by law to make sure any money won in such lawsuits is sent to the victorious lawyers and their clients. Such easy victories in U. S. courtrooms, indeed, plague Cubans on the island as well as the U. S. democracy but who cares as long as it sates the money and revenge appetites of a few Cuban-Americans, their lawyers, and their acolytes??? Mr. Villoldo's lawyers also have angered Spain by claiming they have the rights to any Cuban money or assets in Spanish banks! Curt Anderson's insightful Associated Press article from Miami also reported that the lawyer for Mr. Villoldo expects the Cuban money frozen in the New York banks to start reaching Miami shortly.

        This is the very beautiful Ana Margarita Martinez. She was born in Cuba but made her mark in Miami where she was married for several years to another Cuban, the very handsome Juan Pablo Roque. 

But...Juan Pablo Roque left Ana Margarita in Miami and moved back to Cuba.

The very beautiful Ana Margarita was furious at Juan and decided to sue.

       But Ana Margarita realized there was no need to sue Juan. After all, he was back in Cuba and, anyway, the only thing he owned of any value was his beloved Jeep and Ana Margarita already had possession of that in Miami. But...here in Little Havana...there must be...some way..........................................................

          ................................to get reimbursed for what Juan did to her, especially considering that the Miami media was saying he was in Miami not because he loved her but because he loved Cuba so much he was spying for Cuba while using her to ingratiate himself among Miami's seething anti-Castro zealots. Ummmmmm....everyone in Miami knew that Cuba was still on the U. S. Sponsors of Terrorism list and that meant Cuba could be sued in Miami courts in which Cuba would not even bother to defend itself. Moreover, it was well known that the U. S. government would abide by such lawsuits and make sure wads of so-called frozen Cuban assets, meaning bundles of cash, went from Washington to Miami pronto!  And, of course, there were lawyers all over Miami waiting for phone calls from Cuban-Americans wanting to sue Cuba for...something, anything! Yes, Ana Margarita put through one such call, and sued Cuba. It was said that the lawyer answered on the first ring. And guess what? She won! $27.3 million tax-free dollars.

       The Miami New Times did the best job of covering the love-story-gone-sour involving Ana Margarita Martinez and Juan Pablo Roque, one of the many fascinating chapters within the endless U.S.-Cuban saga -- one that, as the title to this essay indicates, is fueled by Revenge and Money. It was the Miami New Times that put through a phone call to Juan after his return to Cuba. The Q and A I liked best was this: Question: "Juan, now that you are back in Cuba, what do you miss most about Miami?" Answer: "My jeep!"

And by the way...................

      ...............................the best source to comprehend how Miami-based Cuban exiles managed to pull off dominance of America's Cuban policy via such tactics as the self-serving Torricelli Bill and the Helms-Burton Act is the brilliant book "Cuba Confidential: Love and Vengeance in Miami and Havana" by Ann Louise Bardach. Not to know Ann Louise Bardach is to not know U.S.-Cuban relations since 1959.

          Because of photos like this, my favorite magazine is Birds and Blooms. This little guy is a Chipping Sparrow. The ice-cycles remind me that in wintertime our fabulous flying friends need help with seeds because ample food fuels their warmth in winter. This photo is courtesy of Steve and Dave Maslowski. 

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Cuban-American Advantages

That All Others Do Not Have
Tuesday, December 2,  2014

       Ernesto Londono is a very important and influential man. He was born in Bogota, Colombia, but emerged quickly as an excellent reporter for the Dallas Morning News. He had extensive overseas work in places like Baghdad and Cairo for the Washington Post where he also excelled as a Pentagon correspondent. He is now on the Editorial Board of the New York Times, America's most important and most influential newspaper. Ernesto Londono is the man behind six...yes, six!...very important, very influential, and very recent Editorials in the New York Times that urged President Barack Obama to do all in his power to ease the decades-long sanctions against Cuba that harm everyone except a few ultra-rich and ultra-powerful Cuban-Americans and their parasitic sycophants. Mr. Londono spent this past week in Cuba where he gave CNN's top international correspondent Christiane Amanpour a long interview that was aired beginning on Thursday, November 27th. Londono reminded Amanpour that even the younger generation of Cuban-Americans in Miami favor ending the "failed" Cuban policy that exists for going on six decades merely to sate the revenge, economic, and political appetites of the first generation of Cubans that fled the overthrow of the vile U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship way, way back on January 1, 1959.

       Ernesto Longono is a very smart, democracy-loving man. As a key member of the Editorial Board at the New York Times, he believes it is time...in fact, way past time...for the U. S. democracy to reflect a sane and democratic policy towards Cuba, not one that makes laws in the U. S. Congress that favor and enrich only Cuban exiles at the expense of everyone else, angering every nation in the Caribbean and Latin America as well as all of America's best friends around the entire world, as reflected by the yearly UN vote.

        This was the front page of The Times of Havana English-language newspaper on the first day of January, 1959. It announced that Dictator Fulgencio Batista, as well as all of the top Batistiano and Mafia leaders, had fled Havana in their cash-filled...even gold-filled...ships, boats, and airplanes -- presumably to hook back up with many millions of dollars they had already sent ahead to bank accounts in Switzerland, Miami, Union City, etc. January 1, 1959, was a long, long time ago. Unfortunately, the remnants of that long-ago "Batista Flees" headline fled mostly to Miami and Union City with tentacles that soon encapsulated Washington with entrenched members of the U. S. Congress as well as legions of lobbyists. Thus, for going on six decades now the U. S. has been saddled with a bevy of laws -- Wet Foot/Dry Foot, Torricelli Bill, Helms-Burton Act, Radio-TV Marti, etc. -- that greatly favor and enrich Cuban-exiles at the expense of everyone else in the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the world. An extremely smart and brave journalist and Editorialist like Ernesto Londono clearly understands how undemocratic and harmful the archaic American Cuban policy is to the image of America and to democracy. However, there are many Cuban-American journalists who disagree. Take, for example...Alicia Menendez and Jose Diaz-Balart. 

      This photo is courtesy of Stian Roenning and it was used to highlight an article in the Miami New Times on November 25, 2014. The article was entitled "Alicia Menendez: Fusion's Breakout Star." Alicia is the beautiful and talented 31-year-old daughter of U. S. Senator Robert Menendez. Fusion is the very influential media outlet that has a huge audience, especially among young adults. It is based in Doral, Florida -- a suburb of Miami. Alicia grew up rich and privileged in Union City, New Jersey. In the article, she says she loves living in Doral because it reminds her of Union City. It should. Doral-Miami and Union City were the two prime areas that leaders of the overthrown Batista dictatorship in Cuba flocked to in the early hours of January, 1959. Contrary to what Americans have been told about that flight, many of the Batista leaders did not flee to the U. S. "with only the clothes on their backs." Any diligent study of the Cuban Revolution will reveal magazine and newspaper articles from the 1950s that reported such things as, "The top 21 leaders of the Batista dictatorship in Cuba each have numbered Swiss bank accounts in excess of $1 million." Such acute revelations also indicated that the Batistianos and their Mafia co-dictators had also "practically filled the vaults of Mafia-affiliated banks in the Mafia havens of Miami and Union City." Also, famed journalists such as Herbert L. Mathews and Carlos Franqui -- both of whom were intimately involved in the Cuban Revolution before and after January 1, 1959 -- routinely suggested that one reason the Batista-Mafia leaders did not stay in Havana to fight Castro's advancing rebels in the early hours of New Year's Day in 1959 was their desire to quickly hook back up with all that money in the Swiss, Miami, and Union City banks. For sure, those two American cities were over-whelmed by the sudden influx of Cubans as a whole and especially by the few who had all that money awaiting them from the halcyon days of fleecing the island of Cuba from 1952 till 1959. It was an opportune time for the Cubans to flock to the U. S. because, by the 1960s, the sacrosanct U. S. democracy was more and more becoming susceptible to being purchased by rich people with special interests -- such as rich Cubans with a burning desire to recapture Cuba from the Castro regime. Of course, that quest has not being realized in the past 55 years despite the backing of the U. S. government and the U. S. treasury, the strongest and richest entities in the history of the world. While all that Cuban wealth in the hands of a few in Miami and Union City has not been able to purchase all presidential administrations since the 1960s, it has been able to easily obtain solid alignments with the Bush dynasty as well as the U. S. Congress. But also dramatically significant is the fact that the first generation of Cuban exiles who exited the Batista dictatorship have had the wherewithal, meaning money, to afford the second generation of post-Batista exiles advantages far exceeding that of their American peers. Alicia Menendez personifies that fact. She is Harvard-educated and, unlike many Americans, she didn't have to worry about such little tidbits as repaying student loans once she graduated. Also, right-wing news organizations -- especially Bill O'Reilly at Fox -- immediately began gifting Alicia with reams of airtime, as did less right-wing powers such as the Huffington Post. Then along came Fusion and its prized 9:00 P. M. anchor chair. To her credit, Alicia Menendez has taken full advantage of advantages available to her because she grew up very privileged in Union City where her father was a rich and politically powerful Cuban-American. Also, Cubans benefit mightily from U. S. laws that only benefit Cubans as opposed to Americans or anyone else. For example, only Cuban immigrants are home free in the U. S. merely by touching U. S. soil...you know, the sensational Wet Foot/Dry Foot rule. Recently it was revealed that the U. S. government, which must unceasingly cater to rich and powerful Cuban exiles, has an expensive tax-paid program designed to entice Cubans working as doctors in foreign countries to defect to the U. S., supposedly with a nice bonus and an easy path to benefits and citizenship. Recently it was revealed that the U. S. government, unceasingly catering to rich and powerful Cuban exiles, had an expensive program that recruited Spanish-speaking young people in Latin American countries to go to Cuba to stir up dissent against the Cuban government. And so forth and so on, endlessly and unceasingly since 1959! Despite all those anti-democracy U. S. offshoots, Fidel Castro at age 88 is still alive and, at age 55, so is his Cuban Revolution. Another salient product of the U.S.-Cuban conundrum is Alicia Menendez taking full advantage of all the advantages being a Cuban-American entails.

      The Cuban Revolution says more about the U. S. than Cuba.

       Allowing the overthrown Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba to reconstitute itself stronger than ever on U. S. soil says more about the U. S. than it says about Cuba.

       This iconic photo shows three of the most powerful members of the Batista dictatorship at the height of their power. On the left is Rodolfo Masferrer. In the center is Rafael Diaz-Balart. On the right is Rolando Masferrer. All three, of course, fled the Cuban Revolution to create paramilitary units in South Florida designed to quickly regain control of Cuba. The Wikipedia and other informative accounts confirm that Rafael Diaz-Balart's "La Rosa Blanco" {"The White Rose"} was the first of many unchecked anti-Castro paramilitary groups formed in South Florida in January of 1959.

       Rafael Diaz-Balart emerged in South Florida as one of the richest and most powerful Cuban exiles {exceeded in wealth and power only by the Bush-ordained Jorge Mas Canosa}. As with Canosa and other omnipotent Cuban exiles, Rafael Diaz-Balart's children were extremely well educated and privileged. Rafael's four sons included two anti-Castro zealots from Miami elected to the U. S. Congress, Lincoln and Mario; another of Rafael's sons, Rafael Jr., is a very wealthy investment banker. And yet another of Rafael's sons, Jose Diaz-Balart, is America's most influential television anchor, a cherished position that Alicia Menendez and others can only aspire to. This attests to the unique advantages that the second generational offspring of elite Cuban exiles from the Cuban Revolution have over their American peers.

{Note: Admittedly, talent melded with opportunity helps}

      Jose Diaz-Balart, on the left above, is far more powerful that the other three sons of Rafael Diaz-Balart, who was a key Minister in the Batista dictatorship back in the 1950s. That's saying a lot considering that Rafael Jr. is a rich investment banker and both Lincoln and Mario were elected to the U. S. Congress from Miami. Jose was born in 1960 in Fort Lauderdale, the Florida city that actually has far more Cuban-American mansions than Miami has or Havana ever had. In the 1980s Jose emerged as the top news anchor at WTVJ-TV in Miami. Since then for years he has been the top anchor at Telemundo, the most powerful Spanish network in America. Since June of 2014 he has been a key anchor at NBC, the most viewed news organization in America. Speaking in Spanish on one powerful network and speaking in English on another powerful one, Jose Diaz-Balart is easily America's most powerful media superstar.

     Politically powerful Americans, like President Barack Obama above, can often just ignore anti-Castro zealots such as U. S. Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart from Miami. But neither President Obama nor anyone else can ignore Jose Diaz-Balart, the most powerful media superstar in America. Like Alicia Menendez and many, many others, Jose Diaz-Balart has taken full advantage of the many unique advantages bestowed upon him for merely being a Cuban-American in the United States of America.

     In 2016 or soon thereafter Marco Rubio or some other very privileged second generational Cuban-American may be elected President of the United States. When that happens some pundit...not me, of course!...will make the claim that the Batistianos have captured the United States before they re-captured Cuba. Of course, with a tad of punditry, I remain a bit amused that Mr. Rubio made it all the way to the U. S. Senate with his obligatory bio claiming his parents escaped the Castro tyranny in Cuba for the freedom of Miami. Considering the entrenched aspects of PAC-dominated U. S. politics, real facts really don't matter. But Senator Rubio has been gently reminded that his parents escaped the Batista tyranny in Cuba for the freedom of Miami long before Castro chased the Batistianos off the island...all the way to Miami, Doral, Fort Lauderdale, and Union City. However, truth be known, I'll probably vote for Mr. Rubio in 2016 because I've been greatly influenced by watching Alicia Menendez on Fusion and Jose Diaz-Balart on Telemundo and NBC. Of course, in America's two-party democracy these days, it is often a question of voting for the lesser of two evils.

Thus, Mr. Rubio still has a shot at my 2016 vote.

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Fidel Castro and the Kennedys

Eternally Entwined by History 
***Essay updated: Friday, November 28th, 2014***

       Spain's leading newspaper, El Pais, is reporting that the United States this week asked Spain's Foreign Minister, Juan Manuel Garcia-Margallo, to deliver a special overture or message on behalf of the United States to Cuba's designated post-Castro leader Miguel Diaz-Canel. The request was reportedly made prior to Garcia-Margallo's trip to Cuba this week. Presumably, the U. S. wanted to convey to Cuba, specifically Mr. Diaz-Canel, that President Barack Obama plans to ease sanctions against the island prior to the Summit of the Americas that will be held in Panama next April. Cuban-Americans in the U. S. Congress, especially Senator Marco Rubio from Miami, have reacted viciously to mere rumors of President Obama's plans, and that was before the leading European newspaper, El Pais, indicated that the Spanish Foreign Minister, Mr. Garcia-Margallo, was delivering a very special and important U. S. message to Cuba this week.

         This AP/Ramon Espinosa photo was taken Tuesday {Nov. 25-2014} in Havana and it shows Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, in the white Guayabera shirt, greeting Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, who is on a three-day visit. Garcia-Margallo is urging Cuba to accelerate its economic reforms by emphasizing private enterprise and foreign investment and he asked Cuba to allow former political prisoners to leave the island. Cuba, Garcia-Margallo noted, is paying attention to such suggestions. However, the nearby United States, still shackled by a Cuban policy dictated by a second generation of visceral Cuban-exiles, remains the one nation in the world that has no positive influence in Cuba although it is the nation that should be exercising the most influence. Garcia-Margallo this week urged Cuba to attend the Ibero-American Summit of Spanish and Portuguese-speaking nations to be held in Veracruz, Mexico in December. The AP reported that soon after Garcia-Margallo arrived in Havana Tuesday, the Spaniard understandably asked to meet with Miguel Diaz-Canel. The request was granted.

        The 54-year-old Miguel Diaz-Canel, not someone named Castro, has already been designated as Cuba's post-Castro leader. Fidel Castro turned 88 in August; Raul Castro turns 84 in June. Major countries, like Spain this week, are thus anxious to get a feel for Miguel Diaz-Canel and also judge Cuba's ongoing economic reforms. Of course, a rich and powerful contingent of Cuban-Americans will not permit the United States of America to have such freedom to check out Diaz-Canel or Cuban reforms. Sadly, it has been that way in the United States since the Kennedy administration way, way back in the early 1960s.

       The saga of America's Kennedy brothers, Robert and John, will for eternity be tightly entwined with Fidel Castro, Cuba's legendary rebel. John Kennedy is America's most famous and most beloved President. During the truncated JFK presidency (1960 till 1963}, his Attorney General and primary adviser was his younger brother Robert. John was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963, barely a thousand days into what would have been two presidential terms. Robert was assassinated in Los Angeles in June, 1968 as he was waging a very serious campaign to become President of the United States. When the Kennedy brothers took over the White House in January of 1960, they inherited from the Eisenhower-Nixon administration a powerful, no-holds-barred CIA and State Department program that called for both the overthrow and the assassination of Cuba's Fidel Castro, whose Cuban Revolution had amazingly overthrown the U. S. and Mafia-backed Batista dictatorship in Cuba a year earlier. The Kennedy brothers carried through with that anti-Castro program with excessive vigor and unabashed exuberance. Robert himself directed repeated attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro, often utilizing Cuban exile-CIA agents who were, beginning in January of 1959, sent to the secretive Army of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia where they were explicitly trained in the use of weapons, explosives, and sabotage. Those anti-Castro Cuban exiles who graduated from the Army of the Americas as Second Lieutenants included the infamous assassin-terrorist Luis Posada Carriles who, thanks to his powerful friends in Miami and Washington, was freed from a Venezuelan prison where he was charged with blowing up the civilian Cubana Flight 455 airplane killing all 73 on board and he was later, thanks again to his powerful friends in Miami and Washington, freed from a Panamanian prison where he had been sentenced for a botched assassination attempt against Fidel Castro on Panamanian soil. Today at age 86 Posada is a very free man in Miami, much to the chagrin of all Caribbean and Latin American countries; and at age 88 Fidel Castro is still alive in Havana, much to the chagrin of two generations of visceral Cuban exiles. While Robert Kennedy was orchestrating assassination attempts against Fidel, President John Kennedy was signing off on the Bay of Pigs military attack in April of 1961, all of which turned out to be counter-intuitive because they didn't kill or overthrow Fidel and, in fact, greatly enhanced both his long life and his legacy as a revolutionary, anti-imperialist icon. The Fidel-Posada nexus is an indelible part of the history of Cuba and the United States, as is the synergy or lack thereof between Fidel and the Kennedy brothers. As you reflect on the photo at the top of this essay, perhaps the most important element in the Castro-Kennedy saga is this coda: Just days before his assassination in November of 1963 President Kennedy told several of his closest associates, including Pierre Salinger, that the biggest mistake of his life was his "treatment"  of Cuba; and just days before his assassination in June of 1968 Robert Kennedy told several of his closest associates, including his wife Ethel, that the biggest mistake of his political life was his "treatment" of Cuba. Robert Kennedy also confirmed that President Kennedy, in the first two weeks of November, 1963 just prior to his fateful trip to Dallas, had told all of his closest aides that his "top priority" was to normalize relations with Cuba. When President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on Nov. 22-1963 early suspicion focused on assassin Lee Harvey Oswald being an agent for Fidel Castro coupled with stark reminders that JFK had ordered Fidel's assassination and it was logical that Fidel would respond in kind. Robert, the man most intent on unraveling the intimate details of the assassination, called Havana and spoke directly to Fidel, who invited Robert to send "your best investigators to Havana to interrogate me." Robert did. Fidel provided the investigators insightful, documented evidence uncovered by Cuba's well-respected intelligence operatives who, quite naturally, had kept keen eyes on the most zealous anti-Castro Cuban exiles -- such as Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch -- and the most zealous anti-Castro Mafia figures, such as Carlos Marcello in New Orleans and Santo Trafficante in Tampa. Additionally, as Robert's interrogators took written and audio notes, Fidel said, "If I was totally stupid I would have been eliminated long ago. I would have been totally stupid if I in any way had been involved in the assassination of John Kennedy. I never communicated with him directly but in recent weeks I had daily reports from Celia Sanchez and American newscaster Lisa Howard who had reached agreements with President Kennedy about establishing friendly relations between our two countries." Robert Kennedy himself corroborated Fidel's statements and the intelligence Fidel provided. Robert came to believe that Oswald did not act alone and Robert concluded that various elements -- the CIA, Cuban exiles, the Mafia, and even key associates of Lyndon Johnson -- had all targeted his brother, the President, for assassination. But, yes, he exonerated Fidel Castro.

       The life and death of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, America's 35th President {1960-1963}, are the two most recorded and publicized events in American history. He was born on May 29, 1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts, and was assassinated a thousand days into his presidency on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. To this day, the saga of John Kennedy is known worldwide and his initials, JFK, are America's best known initials, surpassing all others including Franklin Delano Roosevelt's FDR, America's only 4-time President. As with many other major events related to both American history and topicality since the 1950s, Cuba's Fidel Castro happens to be indelibly tied to both the life and the death of John Fitzgerald Kennedy whose assassination in 1963 still evokes massive coverage. For example, last weekend -- November 22-23, 2014 -- CNN showed worldwide a one-hour documentary entitled: "The Sixties: The Assassination of President Kennedy." As with most other accounts, the CNN documentary referenceed Revolutionary Cuba's dominance of the Kennedy presidency, including the fact that JFK authorized multiple assassination attempts against Fidel Castro and that JFK authorized the Bay of Pigs attack on Cuba in April of 1961. Also, of course, many right-wing politicians and journalists instantly blamed Fidel Castro, as a logical form of retaliation, for the assassination of John Kennedy...and many still make that claim. However, history as well as the Kennedy family itself have long-since absolved Fidel Castro of that connection to JFK, although Cuba's highly respected intelligence operatives maintained close tabs on the prime enemies of both Fidel Castro and John Kennedy. Those enemies were easily defined and interconnected, such as the Cuban exiles and Mafia kingpins from the Batista dictatorship and the CIA.

             Of course, in 1962 during the second year of the Kennedy presidency, by far the three most famous people in the world were Cuba's Fidel Castro, the Soviet Union's Nikita Khrushchev, and America's John Kennedy. Eight days in October of 1962 are still remembered as the closest the world has ever come to a total nuclear holocaust, caused when the U. S. discovered that the Soviet Union had installed deadly nuclear missiles in Cuba, barely a hundred miles from the coast of Florida. At the time Sergei Khrushchev was an aide to his father Nikita and at his side during those eight historic days. Later Sergei became an American citizen, a respected historian, and an American professor. Sergei wrote that of the three catalysts as the world held its collective breath, Fidel Castro was the most dominant. Why? Because Sergei said his father and Kennedy were "shaking in their boots" and anxious for the standoff to end while Fidel, in Havana, wanted to fight while Cuba had nuclear missiles to offset America's nuclear arsenal. Sergei, who would know, said Nikita Khrushchev ordered his commanders in Cuba not to fire on U. S. spy planes flying over the island because that might precipitate the holocaust. But, as Sergei and other historians well know, a spy plane piloted by Rudy Anderson was shot out of the sky by a SAM missile, killing Anderson. That was the moment, Sergei says, when his father and Kennedy were in contact with each other via cables and "shaking in their boots." In recent years de-classified Russian documents as well as the Russian submarine commander confirm that the submarine came within seconds of firing a nuclear missile at an American ship during a crucial day when President Kennedy was holding back war-mongers in his administration and in Congress who were insisting that he initiate a nuclear attack against Cuba. Such revelations, supported by de-classified data, still credit John Kennedy with preventing a nuclear disaster with urgent negotiations with Moscow, including the secretive promise that the U. S. would never attack Cuba and that U. S. nuclear missiles in Turkey aimed at Russia would be dismantled if the Cuban missiles were also removed. The assassination attempts against Castro, repeated coastal terrorist attacks on Cuba by Miami-based planes and speed-boats, the Bay of Pigs military attack in 1961, the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, etc., totally dominated John Kennedy's first two years as President. By his third year in office, 1963, President Kennedy had come to believe that elements inside the CIA and the Mafia, as well as Cuban exiles in Miami and their acolytes in the U. S. Congress, superseded Fidel Castro and Revolutionary Cuba as his prime enemies. It is believed those were President Kennedy's thoughts as he deplaned in Dallas.

       Photos of President Kennedy and his beautiful wife Jacqueline in Dallas on November 22, 1963 remain indelibly engraved in the psyche of Americans. Most historians agree that President Kennedy's monumental assassination was indeed tied to U.S.-Cuban relations, specifically JFK being blamed by Cuban exiles, the Mafia, and the CIA for the disastrous Bay of Pigs attack on Cuba in April of 1961, an ill-conceived and cowardly attack that, instead of killing/overthrowing Castro, greatly enhanced his statue and legacy. Famed Mafia lawyer Frank Ragano confirmed that his prime clients -- Mafia kingpins Carlos Marcello and Santo Trafficante Jr. -- had targeted both Kennedy Brothers -- John and Robert -- for assassinations and that, indeed, Jimmy Hoffa had sent $50,000 in cash from Detroit to Miami to help cover the expenses. These were the Kennedy brothers that, in the last weeks of their lives before John's assassination in 1963 and Robert's assassination in 1968, had lamented to intimates that their biggest political mistake was following up on the Eisenhower-Nixon programs designed to assassinate Castro.

          This photo is a tip-off on how the Kennedy family, the most famous and most beloved family in American history, ended up thinking about Fidel Castro and Cuba. On the left in the middle you will recognize Fidel Castro, often called the most recognizable person in the world. Sitting directly across from Fidel, and engaging in a conversation with the Cuban icon, is John Kennedy Jr., the awesomely handsome and popular son of the late President John Kennedy. John Jr. had talked on the phone several times with Fidel, assuring Fidel that no one in the Kennedy family, including his uncle Robert, blamed him "for what happened" in Dallas because "we came to realize that your association with it was crafted by more sinister people in my father's world." It was registered at this dinner table in Havana that Fidel replied with these words spoken in English: "It is so nice of you to come to my country and say those words to me, John. My admiration of your father has increased over the years and I will never forget, in the last weeks of his young life, what he was trying to do for Cuba even though he was aware of the people it would infuriate."

         On his trip to Cuba to meet Fidel Castro, John Kennedy Jr. brought along several friends, including Inigo Thomas, the Editor of John Jr.'s magazine "George" that was named after George Washington. Out in the hallway before dinner John Jr. introduced Thomas to Fidel, as depicted in the above photo. On Nov. 22-2013 {on the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination} Inigo Thomas wrote a long article that is still readily available Online with the above photo that Mr. Thomas still cherishes. Thomas began that article with these words: "From the summer of 1996 until he died in July of 1999, I worked for John Kennedy Jr. at his monthly glossy magazine George." Thomas' article led with the above photo and, decades after it was taken, he seems still mesmerized by Fidel Castro's warmth and candidness. At one point, for example, Fidel mentioned to Thomas that, "Lee Harvey Oswald tried to get to Cuba." Thomas will also always remember that, on that trip to Cuba, John Kennedy Jr. asked Fidel Castro if he would take him to the Bay of Pigs site, the place so indelible in the historic lives of both Fidel Castro and John Kennedy. Fidel readily agreed. The Bay of Pigs military attack on Cuba in April of 1961, most historians believe, figured prominently in the assassination of John Kennedy and in the longevity of Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution.

  This map shows the location of the Bay of Pigs, which Cuba calls Playa Giron.

Fidel, by request, took John Jr. to this very spot at the Bay of Pigs.

       This is how the Bay of Pigs {Playa Giron} looks today {Photo courtesy: www.moxon.net}. On his visit to Cuba to see Fidel Castro, John Kennedy Jr. took an invigorating half-hour swim at this very spot.

         In American history, this is one of the most memorable and saddest images that will forever be engraved in the hearts of Americans. It shows the two-year-old John Kennedy Jr. saluting the caisson-drawn casket that carried his father, President John Kennedy, to Arlington National Cemetery.

        John Kennedy Jr. is shown here with his wife Carolyn Bessette. Both of them, along with Carolyn's older sister Lauren, were killed in 1999 when the airplane John Jr. was piloting crashed off the Massachusetts coast. In Cuba, Fidel Castro often talked to the Cuban people on the island's most popular television program, "The Roundtable," which is hosted by Randy Alonso. When he got confirmation of the fatal plane crash, a distraught Fidel Castro told The Roundtable viewers: "I have sad news to tell you tonight. A fine young American, along with his wife and her sister, has died in a plane crash into the ocean above New York. His name is John Kennedy Jr., the promising son of the former President." Fidel then held a photo of him and John Jr. together in Cuba. "John Jr. was my friend, and Cuba's friend," he said. "I will miss him. And I will always wonder about what greatness we have lost but will never realize. I don't cry but I cried in 1980 and I cried today." Cubans watching that telecast in 1999 well knew that Fidel Castro's reference to "1980" pertained to the day Celia Sanchez died of cancer; but he spent the bulk of that program telling the Cubans about his friend, John Kennedy Jr. That friendship is just one of the many interesting aspects in the history of both Cuba and the United States, and it is an aspect that Americans generally do not consider. 

          John Kennedy Jr. was born on November 25, 1960 in Washington and died on July 16, 1999 in the Atlantic Ocean near the Kennedy compound at Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. So, if he were alive today he would be 53-years-old and, perhaps, the President of the United States of America. John Kennedy Jr. was even better looking and just as charismatic as his father. He would have probably been a good, maybe great, President. But fate, specifically the crash of a small airplane, unkindly intervened.

       Kathleen Kennedy Townsend was the very first of Bobby and Ethel Kennedy's 11 children. She was born in Greenwich, Connecticut 63 years ago -- on July 4th, 1956. Kathleen Kennedy, a lawyer, was the Lt. Governor of Maryland from 1995 till 2003 and she was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Maryland in 2002. In 2009 she wrote an impassioned Op-Ed column in the Washington Post asking President Barack Obama to ease all of the sanctions against Cuba. Fidel Castro, a voracious newshound, was touched by the article when he read it in Mexico's La Jornada newspaper. The next day -- April 24, 2009 -- Fidel penned a long article that was published in the top two Cuban newspapers and is still available online at globalresearch.org. In that article he mentioned that other Kennedy family members, including John Kennedy Jr., had also reached out kindly to him, and he was appreciative of the Kathleen Kennedy Op-Ed in the Washington Post. Fidel added: "I confess that many times I have meditated on the dramatic story of John F. Kennedy. It was my fate to live through the era when he was the greatest and most dangerous adversary of the Revolution. He saw himself as the representative of a new generation of Americans who were confronting the old-style dirty politicians, men of the sort of Nixon whom he had defeated with a tremendous display of political talent. Because he was over-confident, he was dragged into the Bay of Pigs adventure by his predecessors." Fidel ended that article with these exact words: "A worthy article by Kathleen Kennedy."

          JFK Jr.'s father, President John Kennedy, was Fidel Castro's bitter enemy, at least until the final weeks of his life when he concluded that his and America's primary enemies were all around him in America, not on the nearby island of Cuba. President Kennedy, in fact, one day famously exclaimed: "If I could I would blow the CIA to smithereens!" Before and after the all-too-brief Kennedy presidency, it was the practice of Republican administrations to give vicious anti-Castro Cubans in Miami access to the Oval Office in the White House. One day, President Kennedy greeted and shook hands with a line of visitors. Later he was told that one of them was Rolando Masferrer, the infamously cruel enforcer for the ousted Batista dictatorship and one of many Batista leaders that regrouped in South Florida and formed anti-Castro paramilitary units. When an aide later told President Kennedy he had just shaken hands with Rolando Masferrer, he went ballistic according to several of his key aides, including famed historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. It was around that time that President Kennedy began telling his top aides -- Pierre Salinger, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., etc. -- that, upon his return from Dallas, his and their primary goal would be to "normalize relations with Cuba." That decision was well know to his enemies -- the Cuban exiles, the Mafia, the CIA, and some of Vice President Lyndon Johnson's top aides. Also, the scheduled stops on his southern trip that culminated in Dallas were well known. Moreover, it was well known, to the FBI and others, that President Kennedy's plans to normalize relations with Cuba greatly exacerbated the plans to kill him. It is almost certain that if the Cuban issue did not directly predicate the murder of President Kennedy, it is only because killers with other motives accomplished the deed first. And perhaps most significant of all, since the assassination of President John Kennedy on November 22, 1963, no American president has had the courage to diligently try to normalize relations with Cuba in the face of the opposition that President Kennedy so bravely confronted just prior to his final trip, the one to Dallas.

Fidel Castro and John Kennedy
Entwined Titans of Cuban and American History 
By the way...............

.............................this is a recent photo of Tete Puebla, a General in the Cuban army. Sitting in the middle is Tete's best friend Nidia Sarabia, a distinguished Cuban researcher and historian. On the left is Cuba's Culture Minister Julian Gonzalez.

        By the time she was 15-years-old Tete Puebla was a superstar guerrilla fighter in the all-female "Mariana Grajales Platoon" that played a major role in Cuba's Revolutionary War against the Batista dictatorship. This book tells their story, including Tete's graphic explanation of how the extreme brutality of Batista's dreaded Masferrer Tigers turned her into a do-or-die teenage female guerrilla fighter.

Fidel Castro has always been a great admirer of General Tete Puebla.

General Tete Puebla is still revered by Cuban citizens and journalists.

       This is General Tete Puebla's favorite photo. That's her on the left the day she and other members of the Mariana Grajales Platoon arrived in Havana in the first week of January, 1959, after they helped defeat the Batista-Mafia dictatorship. Celia Sanchez, Haydee Santamaria, Vilma Espin, Melba Hernandez, Marta Rojas, Tete Puebla, Eloisa Ballester, Lilia Rielo...in all of history there has never been a female-powered revolution to match the Cuban Revolution. General Tete Puebla personifies that historic fact. General Tete Puebla said, "When this photograph was taken, my only regret was that Batista, the Mafia, and especially the Masferrer Tigers had not stayed in Havana long enough to fight us. That would have been fun, like kicking their asses in the Sierra Maestra was fun." Well, as a key Cuban General, she is still around in case they return.

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