Captivating, Complicated Cuba

See It to Believe It   

        This is a sight that Cuban tourists can expect to see. These are "Abby Road" performers on the edge of Havana. The photo was taken by Dr. David Boran, a physician and photographer from Brainerd, Minnesota. He is a frequent visitor to Cuba and 34 of his recent photos were featured to highlight an insightful article written by Renee Richardson this week in the Brainerd Dispatch newspaper. Her article is entitled "Captivating, Complicated Cuba." If you dial it up online you will, I think, be salivating about how captivating and complicated the nearby island of Cuba really is.

      This photo by Dr. David Boran shows a hard-working Cuban getting a delightful visit from his grand-daughter. From Dr. Boran's 34 photos, it was hard to pick my two favorites because all captured the essence of Cuba, as did the well-written article by Renee Richardson in this week's Brainerd Dispatch. With less animus due to a slight thawing of relations between the United States and Cuba, Dr. Boran hopes that all Americans will be allowed to visit the island and judge it for themselves. That singular advance would also remove a blight on America's regional and worldwide image, which is: "Americans live in the greatest democracy in the entire world, so why are everyday Americans the only people in the world without the freedom to visit Cuba?"

Here's a snapshot of Brainerd, Minnesota.

It's in Crow Wing County.

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U.S.-Cuba Detente: No Chance!!

Americans Need to Know Why
Monday,  March 23rd,  2015

      This photo was used by Fox News Latino to illustrate a major article this week written by Andrew O'Reilly. It shows American tourists on the beach at the luxurious Casa de Campo resort in the Dominican Republic. Located 70 miles east of the capital of Santo Domingo, Casa de Campo has long been one of the favorite destination for the very richest Americans, such as the billionaire Cuban-American Fanjul family that had a very rich sugar monopoly in pre-revolutionary Cuba and then a far richer sugar monopoly in the U. S. and the Dominican Republic after the revolutionary triumph in January of 1959. O'Reilly's article stressed the fact that many in the Dominican tourist industry are now worried that much of their business will go to the Pearl of the Antilles, Cuba, now that it appears the U. S. is easing its decades-old embargo against the island. O'Reilly quoted an executive who indicated he is already feeling the pinch from some of the regular Dominican tourists "who want to go to Cuba." Since the demise of Batista and Trujillo, Cuba has had far better relations with the Dominican Republic, and all other Caribbean nations, than with the U. S.

       Beyond doubt, any thawing of U.S.-Cuban relations will have a profound effect on the entire Caribbean -- especially the Bahamas, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic shares the big island of Hispaniola with Haiti just off the southeastern coast of Cuba. At 3:00 A. M. on the morning of January 1, 1959, Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista fled the charging rebels and flew his get-away airplane to Santo Domingo where Rafael Trujillo, the brutal U.S.-backed and anti-Castro dictator of the Dominican Republic, waited with open arms. Batista and his Mafia allies had invested most of their Cuban loot in the banks and properties of South Florida and the Dominican Republic. From that day to this day, that money has drastically affected both those areas -- South Florida and the Dominican Republic -- at Cuba's expense. 

      This photo shows Cuban Coast Guard troops commanding a drug stash that had washed up on their shores. This week -- Wednesday, March 18th -- the United States released its 2015 report on drug trafficking. It was entitled "International Narcotics Control Strategy Report." IN ALL THE WORLD, GUESS WHICH COUNTRY RECEIVED THE MOST LAVISH PRAISE FOR FIGHTING THE VILE SCOURGE OF DRUG TRAFFICKING? If you guessed "Cuba" you would be correct! While excoriating the usual suspects, the U. S. conclusions regarding Cuba contained only lavish positives, such as: "Cuba concentrates supply reduction efforts by preventing smuggling through its territorial waters, rapidly collecting wash-up, and conducting airport searches. The Cuban Border Guard continues to patrol Cuban waters and TGF notifications to U. S. authorities of maritime smuggling incidents are timely and detailed." In fact, the U. S. report on drug trafficking lauded Cuba more than the U. S., noting that drug smugglers try to avoid Cuba while the U. S. is the prime destination point where excess use of drugs fuels the profit motive that, in turn, devastates many countries, including Mexico along the U. S. southern border. Of course, the mainstream U. S. media will ignore this report because it is a positive related to Cuba. However, if the report had criticized Cuba, propaganda machines fueled by media-savvy anti-Cuban zealots such as the Cuban-Americans in the U. S. Congress and their well-heeled sycophants -- such as Mauricio Claver-Carone, Ana Navarro, and Fox News -- would have endlessly saturated America's television screens with their politically correct anti-Cuban salivating. Vilifying Cuba sates vengeful, economic, and political motives in America. Cuban positives are verboten. It's been that way since 1959. And thus, it's not about to end. The status-quo is too beneficial to a select few, similar to what perpetrates drug trafficking.

Isabel Saint Malo DE Alvarado is the very impressive Vice President of Panana.

        Born 46 years ago in Panama City, Isabel Malo is married and the mother of three children. As the Vice President of Panama, she will serve as the main hostess and has already been the prime orchestrator of the Summit of the Americas her country will host starting April 10th. Yesterday, March 19th, she was featured in a 6-minute interview on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports. Mrs. Malo said her theme for the Summit is "prosperity with equity" for all the people of the 34 nations in the Americas. She will stress that theme throughout but she is well aware that the two prime topics will center around U. S. relations with Cuba and Venezuela. She said, "It is great news what is happening between the United States and Cuba. It is great for the region." She indicated that she has arranged a table setting in which President Barack Obama and Raul Castro will meet and have dialogue. She said, "The last time the Presidents of those two nations met for a working meeting was in 1956 in Panama." {Dwight Eisenhower and Fulgencio Batista were the Presidents she referenced}. Mrs. Malo seemed to relish the opportunity for Panama next month to try to bridge the gap in the most contentious issues facing the Americas -- namely, the wide chasms separating the United States from Cuba and Venezuela. She said that harmony and cooperation are important "in dealing with the issues of security, immigration, energy, prosperity, jobs, and equity." {Note: Isabel Saint Malo DE Alvarado is an example of why women, as opposed to men, should be the Presidents of all 34 nations in the Americas. Women like her tend to care more about people and less about money and power}.

Yes, the U. S. direly needs Elizabeth Warren to be President in 2016     

     This Joshua Gunter photo shows President Obama getting off Air Force One in Cleveland Wednesday, March 18th. He made a speech at the Cleveland Convention Center. Cuba was one of the main topics.

      Cleveland's NBC television station, WKYC-3, provided live coverage {above} of that important speech. President Obama got his loudest ovation when he stated: "I hoped on Day One of my presidency to close Guantanamo Bay." The majority of people in Cleveland and the vast majority of people around the world were hoping then and are hoping now that he could accomplish that goal. But more than six years into his two-term presidency, Mr. Obama has not come close to closing the infamous U. S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, the lush port that the world understands, even if Americans don't, the U. S. stole from Cuba way back in 1903, shortly after the U. S. gained dominance over the island with the easy 1898 victory in the Spanish-American War. The Gitmo prison at Guantanamo has been labeled "the Gulag of our time" by Amnesty International, a viewpoint shared by most of the world. After his comment about Gitmo in Cleveland this week, President Obama explained why he has failed to close the prison that remains one of the many Cuban-related products of the Bush dynasty's alignment with a handful of revengeful Cuban-American zealots. The President told the Cleveland audience that Gitmo needs to be closed because it so badly "hurts the image of America around the world and harms the security of the United States." But then, the President explained that his failure to close Gitmo is because a few anti-Cuban extremists have far more control of Cuban-related issues in the United States Congress than he, the twice-elected President of the United States, has. Americans are not supposed to understand that sad fact but the President does, and so does the rest of the world as reflected year-after-year by a vote in the United Nations. Meanwhile, as Mr. Obama related in Cleveland, the U. S. image around the world and the security of the United States are not nearly as important as capitulating to a few Cuban-American extremists when it comes to crafting or changing a longstanding Cuban policy that remains a blight on America's image and on America's security in a world in which anti-American terrorists have evolved into powerful and relentless armies.

       This week Luis Almagro, Uruguay's former Foreign Minister, was elected Secretary General of the Organization of American States. The 34-member nations include the United States and Cuba although Cuba has been left out in the cold for decades because of the U. S. influence. Mr. Almagro and all the other non-U.S. forces at the OAS have finally mustered enough courage to resist the U. S. treatment of Cuba.

          Jose Miguel Insulza, a respected Chilean statesman, is the current Secretary General of the Organization of American States and he won't be replaced by Luis Almagro until May 25th. So, Miguel will be in charge of the Summit of the Americas that begins on April 10th in Panama. Jose Miguel, like his successor Luis Almagro and all other non-U.S. officials at the OAS, urgently desire Cuba's full membership.

        In the last six years, U. S. President Barack Obama has grown very, very tired of attending international gatherings and being repeatedly embarrassed when even the leaders of America's most friendly countries -- England, Australia, Canada, etc. -- criticize America's Cuban policy. The last straw for President Obama was his embarrassment at the Nelson Mandela Memorial in South Africa in 2013.

        At the Nelson Mandela Memorial Ceremony, U. S. President Barack Obama shook hands with Cuban President Raul Castro. The gesture pleased the world but outraged rich and powerful Cuban-Americans. 

         Before he died on December 5th, 2013, Nelson Mandela was the world's most-beloved Civil Rights icon. In all the years after his 27-year imprisonment in South Africa, Mr. Mandela let the world know that his "favorite world leader" was...Cuba's Fidel Castro. At the Mandela Memorial Ceremony President Obama was reminded of Mandela's everlasting affection for Castro's Cuban Revolution, an affection that Mr. Obama has learned is shared by many other democratically elected leaders, especially throughout Latin America.  

      President Obama returned from South Africa determined to change the U. S. policy regarding Cuba that a handful of Cuban-Americans have dictated since 1959 and which the entire world in 2015 opposes. Obama very bravely announced on Dec. 17-2014 that he intended to "normalize" relations with Cuba!!! 

     Since President Obama's startling December 17th announcement, America's Roberta Jacobson and Cuba's Josefina Vidal have had three mostly productive face-to-face diplomatic meetings -- two in Havana and one in Washington -- aimed at normalizing relations between the two longtime adversaries.

        These two U. S. Senators -- one from Union City and the other from Miami -- have loudly bragged that they can "block" President Obama's ongoing attempts to normalize relations with Cuba. The sad reality for the U. S. democracy is this: They can. This photo shows Senator Bob Menendez of Union City dourly staring outwardly in the chambers of the U. S. Senate as he listens to Senator Marco Rubio of Miami shamelessly assail President Obama's sane overtures regarding Cuba. It is no coincidence that Union City -- Menendez's path to the U. S. Senate -- and Miami -- Rubio's path to the U. S. Senate -- were the two Mafia havens that sent many of the leaders of the Batista-Mafia dictatorship to Cuba in 1952 and then, after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the same two U. S. cities became the primary destinations for the fleeing Batistiano-Mafiosi leadership. From 1959 into the 1980s the most ardent anti-Castro exiles dominated the feverish attempts to have the U. S. military and the U. S. treasury recapture the island for them. When that stratagem failed, the Reagan-Bush administration in the 1980s anointed anti-Castro zealot Jorge Mas Canosa as the leader of the Cuban exiles, and advised Mas Canosa to study and replicate the omnipotent Israeli lobby AIPAC. Mas Canosa took that advice and created the Cuban lobby CANF. From that day to this day, a handful of Cuban-Americans from Miami and Union City, aligned with self-serving sycophants, have quite easily controlled the U. S. Congress and its dictation of America's Cuban policy.

       In March of 2015 both U. S. Senator Marco Rubio from Miami and U. S. Senator Bob Menendez have been back in the headlines regarding fresh scandals -- Rubio because of a real estate deal with a disgraced former Cuban-American in Congress and Menendez because of alleged favors he extended to a controversial Miami doctor who is the nation's top recipient of Medicare dollars, among other things. But no one in the U. S. Congress from Miami or Union City needs to ever worry about such things; if they want it, their entrenchment in the U. S. Congress and in control of America's Cuban policy is fully ensured.

       In 2015 Josefina Vidal has emerged as the new face of Cuba. She is not only representing Cuba in the futile but ongoing efforts to normalize relations with the United States, but she is the prime decision-maker on the island regarding all things American, which are, without a doubt, Cuba's most important "things."

          In 2015 Luis Posada Carriles remains the face of America when it comes to Cuba. This photo shows the 86-year-old Posada -- on December 18th, 2014 -- leading an anti-Obama demonstration on the streets of Miami the day after President Obama announced his plans to normalize relations with Cuba. Americans to this day are not supposed to comprehend why every Caribbean and every Latin American nation considers Posada to be the most notable terrorist on the North American continent. And therein lies the precise reason why neither President Obama nor anyone else can measurably alter America's Cuban policy.

        In 2015 Kathy Castor is the face of the un-afraid and un-purchased members of the U. S. Congress who strive, in vain, for a sane and decent U.S.-Cuban policy. The Miami-born Ms. Castor bravely and decently represents Florida's Tampa-St. Petersburg area in the U. S. Congress. Her views regarding Cuba, of course, are supposed to be kept from the American people and, for sure, the mainstream U. S. media -- and not just Fox News -- makes sure that is so. Congresswoman Kathy Castor is the antipathy of Bush-Rubio-Menendez-Posada when it comes to Cuba. That's why most Americans have never heard of Kathy Castor. And that helps explain why Cuba says a lot more about the United States than it says about Cuba.

         This AP/news.yahoo.com photo was taken yesterday -- Thursday, March 19th -- in Havana. A woman is jogging on the famed Malecon seawall as the huge cruise ship Thompson Dream enters Havana Harbor.

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Cuba-U.S. Talks Hit Snags

Contentious Issues Arise
Wednesday, March 18th, 2015

        The third round of diplomatic talks between America's Roberta Jacobson and Cuba's Josefina Vidal were held in Havana Monday. This session was much different than the first one held in Havana in January and the second one held in Washington in February. Unlike the first two, this one was hastily announced just hours before Jacobson flew to Havana on Sunday. For another, journalists for the first time were barred from attending the session. Also, unlike the first two meetings, neither Jacobson nor Vidal met with reporters at the end of the day for summary statements and long Q & A sessions. This time, Vidal heatedly mentioned what she considers the U. S. "sponsorship of turmoil and nascent coups in nations that are strong Cuban allies." She particularly referenced "the surging coup in our region against democratically elected Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela" and "the impeachment proceedings underway in Brazil against the two-time democratically elected Dilma Rousseff." Vidal also mentioned "U. S. support of dissidents against Cuba's friends in Argentina, Chile, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and elsewhere around the region." Vidal angered Jacobson when she said, "It seems to me that the U. S. is not ashamed that in Venezuela today it is supporting a coup against Maduro similar to the one against Chavez in 2002 and the very same Cuban-American contingent in your U. S. Congress are allowed, without restrictions, to impose sanctions, wage economic warfare, and possibly assist coups against any of Cuba's friends in the region." Beyond the sparks evoked by the Venezuelan issue, Jacobson continued her efforts to have embassies in Havana and Washington prior to the Summit of the Americas that begins in Panama on April 10th. Calmly, Jacobson told Vidal the U. S. wants more diplomats at its Havana embassy than Cuba suggests and she told Vidal that the U. S. wants its diplomats to have "unrestricted" travel around the island. Vidal then calmly told Jacobson that Cuba must be removed from the U. S. Sponsors of Terrorism list and that it is "unreasonable" to think that Cuba will open a full embassy in Washington while the U. S. bars it from having "a bank necessary for us to conduct routine business." This assessment at what transpired at yesterday's hastily called session in Havana was not confirmed by either Jacobson or Vidal and, for the first time, reporters were not allowed to closely observe. Prior to yesterday's meeting President Obama had secretly sent Mark Erwin, a former U. S. ambassador to Mauritius, to meet with Vidal. Erwin reported back that Vidal was willing to open embassies prior to April 10th. That's why the third round between Jacobson and Vidal was announced late on a Friday.

     Interestingly enough, Jen Psaki -- the chief spokesperson for the U. S. State Department -- ended up this week saddled with recapping the Jacobson-Vidal session in Havana. Psaki was asked about allegations that the U. S. is supporting "another coup in Venezuela," presumably on behalf of a few powerful Cuban-Americans in the U. S. Congress. Psaki's exact answer was: "As a matter of long-standing policy, the United States does not support political transitions by non-constitutional means." Her statements solicited laughs from reporters who reminded her of U.S.-backed Latin American coups, including the 2002 coup that briefly overthrew Hugo Chavez in Venezuela to make way for a anti-Cuban Venezuelan government which the Bush administration, on behalf of anti-Castro zealots Otto Reich and Roger Noriega, quickly recognized only to create a huge U. S. embarrassment when a popular uprising restored Chavez to power within hours. Psaki faced that rebuke from journalists as best she could. If you want to see Psaki's exchange with those dubious journalists, you can view the video on Amy Goodman's "Democracy Now" website as it was featured on Democracy Now's News Hour this week. The mainstream U. S. media, unlike Amy Goodman, is too afraid to report on such things because to do so might upset some powerful Cuban-Americans in Congress. Also, after her news conference yesterday, the very competent Jen Psaki was heard, when she didn't think her mike was live, "smirking about alleged U. S. coups." That "smirk" was covered, you'll note, by the mainstream U. S. media that usually covers only anti-Cuban Cuban news.

     This Wikipedia photo shows Cuban college students...all well-educated and healthy. These deserving young women are keenly interested in the ongoing attempts to normalize relations with their superpower neighbor, the United States. From such standpoints as education, health, and safety, Cuban females have fared far better in Revolutionary Cuba than the females in the thieving, brutal Batista-Mafia dictatorship. If Americans are not supposed to understand that, it reflects direly on the fact that the Cuban Revolution says a lot more about the United States than it says about Cuba. Young women like these should not continually be punished by domestic revolutionary mistakes nor should they continually be punished because a mere handful of two generations of Cuban-Americans still seek revenge, not to mention economic and political power, from their safe and prosperous sanctuaries on U. S. soil. Cuba has 11.2 million innocent people on the island. There are about 5.59 million females and 5.57 million males. Cuba has 7.2 million whites, 1.5 million blacks, and just under 3.0 million mulattoes or mestizos. They deserve the opportunity to shape their own futures without imperialist or revengeful interference from foreign entities.

          As things now stand on the island of Cuba, Josefina Vidal has the intelligence, the courage, the power, and the decency to shape what could be a happy and prosperous future for the Cubans on the island. A few self-serving Cuban-Americans and their self-serving sycophants will, as always, try to prevent that from happening. Sadly, they will probably succeed. Since the 1950s, two generations of Americans have not cared what happened to Cubans on the island, which is also an obvious hint that the last two generations of Americans have cared less and less about their democracy. And that's how a U. S. policy towards Cuba, one that is opposed by the region and the world, can exist...decade after decade!!

By the way....................

        .................this is an absolutely amazing photo. It shows Ted Cruz -- the Cuban-American Senator by way of Canada and Texas -- campaigning in New Hampshire this week to become President of the United States in 2016. In this photo he is trying to calm down a 3-year-old girl name Julie Trant. In speaking to a crowd of supporters, Cruz ranted about how President Obama and Democratic Presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton "has set the world on fire!" Lo 'n behold, off to Cruz's left, Julie, sitting on her mother's lap, said softly "The world is on fire?" Cruz heard her and stepped over to her, telling her, "The world is on fire, yes. Your world is on fire." Later, Julie's mother explained that Cruz's rant did not, in fact, scare Julie and that both the mother and child believe Cruz is the one who can "put out the fire." In any case, Julie's headline-making question is a reminder that if either Mr. Cruz or Mr. Rubio becomes President of the United States in 2016, it will crown this fact: The resurrected Cuban-Americans will have captured the U. S. before they recaptured Cuba!!!

         There are two Cuban-American Senators -- Marco Rubio from Florida and Ted Cruz from Texas -- who are now campaigning hard to get the Republican presidential nomination. Considering the prime problems of other Republican contenders -- Bush, Christie, Perry, etc. -- Rubio and Cruz have legitimate shots. And considering Hillary Clinton's problems -- secret emails, foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation, Wall Street ties, etc. -- the Republican nominee might well win the Presidency in 2016. Of the two anti-Castro Cuban-American zealots, Rubio has the best chance by far because of the support he has from the Bush dynasty {if Jeb backs out}, the Tea Party, Fox News, and a host of right-wing billionaires. Cruz is considered too extreme for many of the conservative and even right-wing Rubio supporters. But Cruz is much smarter than Rubio and doesn't have nearly as many background problems in Texas as Rubio has in Florida -- such as revelations this week about yet another shady Rubio real estate deal, this one in Tallahassee where a home co-owned with a disgraced Cuban-American politician, Rubio's best friend, made headlines. Also, Cruz is a far more brilliant orator and extemporaneous speaker than Rubio. But, yes, Cruz is even more radical than Rubio -- as 3-year-old Julie Trant discovered yesterday in New Hampshire! From the mouths of babes wisdom sprouts...or at least a pertinent sentence tagged with an appropriate question mark.

Is the world on fire, Julie?

Well, even if it is...Ted Cruz can put it out!!
And by the way....................

......this Baltimore Oriole loves Oranges!!
{Photo courtesy: Rebecca Granger & Birds & Blooms Magazine}

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"Vidal" Now The Key Cuban Name

Josefina Vidal & Pavel Vidal
Tuesday, March 17th, 2015

    This AP photo shows Roberta Jacobson, the U. S. Assistant Secretary of State in charge of Western Hemisphere Affairs, arriving in Havana Sunday -- March 15th.

Cuba's Josefina Vidal. {Photo courtesy: Reuters/Gary Cameron}

      Starting Monday -- March 16th, 2015 -- America's Roberta Jacobson will go head-to-head across an amicable table with Josefina Vidal, Cuba's Minister of North American Affairs. This is the third such session between the two diplomats as they seek to re-establish diplomatic relations between their two nations. The first session was held in Havana, the second in Washington, and now the third is back in Havana. As I will explain later, all this diplomacy got a kick-start in October of 2013 when U. S. President Barack Obama watched a video of a speech Josefina Vidal made at Colombia University. The brilliant Ms. Vidal is a quintessential peace-maker but if she can pull this one off she will deserve the next five Nobel Peace Prizes -- at least!

      Next week, because of the ground-breaking overtures Josefina Vidal has made with President Obama, this very important lady will be Havana for key discussions on March 23rd and 24th. This is Federica Mogherini. She was born 41 years ago in Rome and she is now the European Union's Chief of Foreign Relations. Ms. Mogherini hopes the 28-nation EU can sharply increase trade relations with Cuba. When she announced her trip to Havana, Ms. Mogherini said, "Cuba is facing a very interesting period and the European Union is keen to see how we can take the relationship forward with strong momentum." The very significant reason "Cuba is facing a very interesting period" is because of the diligence and brilliance of one person -- Josefina Vidal.

        French President Francois Hollande, encouraged by U.S.-Cuban detente, will arrive in Cuba on May 11th. No previous French head of state has visited the island.

       Josefina Vidal, Cuba's Minister of North American Affairs, has emerged as arguably the most important person on the island in 2015. She has virtual unrestricted decision-making power in the ongoing negotiations with the United States to normalize relations with Cuba. In her prime, the awesomely capable Cuban has stepped into the limelight as the 88-year-old unwell Fidel Castro and the 83-year-old tired Raul Castro engage in the process of transitioning power to non-Castros.

   Josefina Vidal's brilliant, heart-wrenching speech at the Kennedy Library in Boston in 2002 stunned Caroline Kennedy and some of America's top historians. This photo shows Ms. Vidal moments before she stood up and delivered a brilliant, heart-wrenching speech at Columbia University in New York on September 26, 2013. This entire speech is available on YouTube and you may want to check it out. Why? The speech was shown to President Obama and it encouraged him to begin serious negotiations with Ms. Vidal about normalizing relations with Cuba. 

    Pavel Vidal...note the last name...is a brilliant, young Economics Professor who is being trusted with guiding the long-moribund Cuban economy into the 21st Century.

      Pavel Vidal is internationally respected as an economist. He is currently negotiating with the Paris Club of Nations that claim Cuba owes them $22 billion or so in past debt, with France claiming that Cuba owes it $5 billion. But France and the others are talking with Pavel Vidal on restructuring the debts into a fashion that Cuba can handle. Pavel Vidal believes Cuba needs to become a part of the international monetary system that it has been excluded from for decades because of the U. S. embargo, an embargo that many economists and historians believe would have long-since doomed any other nation in the world, including much larger nations than Cuba.

Cuba needs to resurrect its economy.

Pavel Vidal plans to accomplish that.

Cuba needs normal relations with the U. S.

Josefina Vidal plans to accomplish that.

Moral: "Vidal" is now the key name in Cuba.

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Anti-Castroism & U.S. Politics

It Can Get You Rich Quickly
Meanwhile, Cuban tourism is booming!!
Tuesday, March 10th, 2015

       Tourism in Cuba is exploding since the December 17th announcement that the U. S. is trying to normalize relations with the island. This photo is used in promotional ads by The Pestana Group and Blowestravel.com to promote the plush Pestana hotel and beach resort at Cayo Coco. It is typical of what's happening on the island as travel agencies and resort builders seek to take advantage of a gorgeous island that finally, it seems, might cease to be embargoed by its superpower neighbor, the United States. Pestana Hotels & Resorts is a Portuguese company that is sharply increasing its investment in Cuba.

         The Miami Herald Monday -- March 9th -- used this Joe Raedle/Getty Images photo to illustrate a major article about the startling boom in Cuban tourism since President Obama announced plans to normalize relations with the island on December 17th. The article stated: "Foreign visitors are coming to Cuba in droves this winter. That comes on the heels of a record-setting year in 2014 when 3.003 million international visitors arrived in Cuba. And that's not counting hundreds of thousands of Cuban-Americans who travel to the island to visit family. Canada led the way with 182,101 visitors in January for a 15% increase but Germany with 15,832 and England with 14,526 visitors showed the largest percentage increases. Visitors arrivals for those countries were up 37.8 percent and 32.2 percent, respectively." The article written by Mimi Whitefield pointed out that travel agencies in Canada are suggesting that Canadians visit the island "before it is overrun by American travelers." It also stated: "A Chinese company, Beijing Enterprises Holdings, was in talks with the Cuban state company Palmares to form a joint venture to develop a resort complex with a five-star hotel and golf course in Bellomonte, east of Havana." Chinese, Portuguese, and Brazilian companies are among the most eager investors in Cuba as they perceive American companies will soon join the competition.

      This Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times photo shows the Mariel Port, which is 28 miles southwest of Havana and now much deeper and much more modern than other Caribbean ports, including the famed one in Havana. Mariel Port has been undergoing a huge billion-dollar upgrade mostly funded by Brazil. 

       This Carolyn Cole/Los AngelesTimes photo shows 34-year-old Yolexeis Abat Duanes. Like many other Cubans, Yolexeis now has a well-paying job at the refurbished deep-water Mariel Port, which is the hub for an ambitious Industrial Complex that is expected to provide many other well-paying jobs for Cubans.

       Later this month Jose Marti Airport in Havana will begin getting a major renovation. The work will be done by Odebrecht, the Brazilian Construction Conglomerate. Such projects reflect the long-overdue modernization of the island's infrastructure. Whether or not President Obama's dream of normalizing relations with Cuba materializes, his impetus has sparked interest from many other foreign investors. 

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      This Flickr photo shows U. S. Senator Marco Rubio and his wife Jeanette, a former cheerleader for the Miami Dolphins, presumably arriving for a fund-raiser. The photo was used to illustrate a March 6-2015 article entitled "Marco Rubio Has A 'Big Money' Problem." The article -- an extremely long and well-documented and well-researched one -- was written by highly respected business journalist Leslie Larson and it appeared initially on the Business Insider website, one of the world's most viewed online sites. Despite the length of the article, I believe it is worthwhile for democracy-loving Americans to read and study every word of it. Ms. Larson dutifully reveals how the nexus of America's money-crazed political world with anti-Castro zealotry can get you very rich very fast...and if you happen to be from Miami it can also get you entrenched in the U. S. Senate and quickly establish you as a Presidential candidate!! Still in his 20s in Miami, Rubio had all of those things going for him. Then when he reached out and grabbed the obligatory coattails of the Bush dynasty, the Tea Party, and Fox News, he was off to the races on a fact-track from Miami to Washington. Rubio quickly, as Ms. Larson details, went from broke to rich in Miami with some, huh,  highly questionable use of credit cards and political donations. He quickly zipped all the way to the U. S. Senate with the obligatory reminder in his bio stating that his parents had escaped the tyranny of Castro's Cuba for the freedom of Miami. Of course, soon the Washington Post and the St. Petersburg Times had revealed that, huh, Rubio's parents had actually escaped the Batista tyranny in Cuba for the freedom {to get rich?} in Miami. But, hey, Rubio has never had to worry about little missteps with either money or facts because he surely can afford a powerful publicity staff, including CNN's "Cuban expert" Ana Navarro, to easily overwhelm both the U. S. media and the unwitting and mostly uninformed American citizens.

        This is Leslie Larson, the brilliant business journalist who wrote the March 6-2015 article "Marco Rubio Has A 'Big Money' Problem." Better than any article I've read, Ms. Larson explains how the business of American politics has evolved into a get-rich-quick scheme because of unlimited and often unaccounted-for campaign donations that, in effect, purchase the political acumen of politicians even before they get elected. The Founding Fathers envisioned politics as a Public Service contribution by decent people to their cherished democracy. It is perhaps merciful that they are not around to witness modern-day politics transforming into primarily a plethora of money-making enterprises. Such politicians are willing to beg for money and sell their souls to the highest bidders. And then, with their cherished PACS stuffed with cash, they can advance from one small location -- such as the Little Havana section of Miami -- all the way to the U. S. Congress and even the White House where they can then influence the lives of all Americans, not just the lives of people in, say, the Little Havana neighborhood from whence they came. Therefore...I suggest, if you are interested in democracy, that you google "Leslie Lawson, Business Insider, Marco Rubio Has A 'Big Money' Problem." If earlier you had studied Rubio's career from Miami-to-the-U. S. Senate-to-presidential contender and determined he was a one-trick pony -- "Anti-Castro"  -- I believe Ms. Lawson's penultimate article would convince you that Mr. Rubio actually has two ponies, the other one being "Big Money." He merely rode his little pony "Anti-Castro" from Miami to the U. S. Senate. Now he is riding his big pony "Big Money" on the short, well-greased journey from the U. S. Senate to the White House...he hopes!

Wow!!

       Marco Rubio, in essence, is a product of the Cuban Revolution that ousted the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship in 1959 and to this day says a lot more about the United States than it says about Cuba. It says that Marco Rubio is now a very, very rich young man from Miami and is willing to give up his lush seat in the U. S. Senate for a serious presidential bid. It also says precisely what the above photo shows. The photo was taken by Carolyn Cole for the Los Angeles Times and was featured in the LA Times outstanding gallery of photos by Ms. Cole entitled "Portraits of Cuba." The LA Times used this exact caption below this photo: "Men playing a game of dominoes on the side of the road in Havana. More than 50 years after the Cuban Revolution ended, some things have changed in the country, but due to the U. S. embargo, much remains the same." For over 50 years, Marco Rubio and other now rich and powerful Cuban-Americans have benefited greatly from using the incomparable power and resources of the United States to maintain such revengeful dictations to Cuba as the embargo, which was put in place in 1962 for what de-classified U. S. documents reveal was for the purpose of starving and depriving Cubans on the island for the purpose of inspiring them to rise up and overthrow Fidel Castro. Fidel Castro at age 88 is still there and un-thrown. But, yes, the Cuban people for all these years have been starved and deprived -- largely because of that anachronistic embargo as the LA Times photo and caption opined. And, yes, such punishments as the embargo have enormously enriched and empowered two generations of transplanted Cuban-Americans, such as Rubio the Presidential Contender. The fact that Americans are not supposed to react to such infringements on the basic fabric of the U. S. democracy reflects that other U.S.-Cuban fact: The Cuban Revolution says a lot more about the United States than it says about Cuba. One thing it says is that the last two generations of Americans have had neither the courage nor the patriotism to do anything about it.

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