U.S.-Cuban History Unfolded Today

Yes, Embassies Are Open!!

           This Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images photo shows the Cuban flag being added to the display of flags this morning at the U. S. State Department. It's the first such American gesture to Cuba in 54 years.

      57-year-old Bruno Rodriguez, Cuba's Foreign Minister since 2009, had never been in Washington prior to today. He and U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry held a joint news conference to herald the opening of the Cuban embassy. Next month Rodriguez will host Kerry to celebrate the new U. S. embassy in Havana.

       Senator Marco Rubio and the other three Cuban-American members of the U. S. Congress are outraged that Cuba and the U. S. today are officially resuming diplomatic relations for the first time since 1961. Rubio has vowed to block confirmation of any Cuban-U.S. ambassadors. On Sunday talk shows he said, when elected President, "I will end diplomatic relations." As Commander-in-Chief, would a Rubio presidency mean that Miami had captured the White House prior to recapturing Cuba? That, of course, is a little tougher query than the softball questions Rubio is accustomed to, but it perhaps is relevant. 

         Today -- Monday, July 20th, 2015 -- this stately building in Washington marked a very historic event in the modern and contentious history of the United States and Cuba. {AP/Jacquelyn Martin Photo}. As of this morning, a Cuban flag will fly in front of this Washington landmark to signify that, for the first time in 54 years, Cuba will have an embassy on U. S. soil. The limestone mansion was built in 1917 and it has been magnificently refurbished, inside and out, by Cuban workers since U. S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro agreed to normalize relations between the two neighboring nations, at least as normal as possible. The opening of embassies is a gigantic start and a major tribute to sanity.

        It is very fitting that Cuba's Josefina Vidal and America's Roberta Jacobson were on hand this morning in Washington when the Cuban flag was raised to mark the opening of the regal Cuban embassy.

            It has been hoped by many that these two brilliant women would emerge as ambassadors at the two embassies. But it is not to be. Josefina Vidal is too valuable in Havana as Cuba's Minister of North American Affairs and Roberta Jacobson will soon take over as the U. S. Ambassador to Mexico. It is believed Ms. Jacobson craved the historic ambassadorship in Havana but she anticipates it will increase, not decrease, the efforts of Miami Cubans to disrupt any chance of appeasement between the U. S. and Cuba. Now the leading contenders for the ambassadorships are California congresswoman Barbara Lee and Jose Ramon Cabanas, the capable head of Cuba's Interests Section in Washington since 2012. In any case, six Cuban-Americans in the U. S. Congress -- supported by a cabal of key right-wingers -- vow to prevent confirmation of any U. S. ambassador to Cuba and, indeed, a handful of anti-Castro zealots are still quite capable of provoking Cuba into a crisis that can be expected to unravel, sooner than later, the inroads President Obama has managed. Such events happened when previous Democratic presidents since 1963 have tried, in vain, to normalize relations with the nearby island. This time, the easily anticipated disruption will be a grave disservice to good people...especially Vidal and Jacobson.

        U. S. Senators such as Nancy Pelosi, Jeff Flake, and Patrick Leahy have been among the patriotic Americans who have helped U.S.-Cuban detente reach today's point when the Cuban flag was raised to officially open a Cuban embassy in Washington. In the above AP/Getty Images photo, that is Senator Pelosi shaking hands with Cuba's Josefina Vidal as Pelosi grasped the hand of Bruno Rodriguez, Cuba's Foreign Minister. Rodriguez. Vidal and 28 other Cubans flew to Washington for today's historic ceremony.

          Jose Diaz-Balart is a prime example of how extremely biased network television in the United States is regarding Cuba. Jose is the anchor of his own daily 9:00 A. M. program on MSNBC. When Americans follow his anti-Cuban bias, such as today's opening of the U. S. embassy in Washington, they should be cognizant of the fact that Jose is the son of Rafael Diaz-Balart who was a key Minister in the Batista dictatorship in Cuba and, after 1959, one of the richest and most powerful anti-Castro zealots in Miami.

         Mario Diaz-Balart is one of the four members of the U. S. Congress from Miami. They're holding multiple news conferences in Miami today to denounce the opening of the U. S. and Cuban embassies. Mario followed his older brother Lincoln as a member of the U. S. Congress from Miami. Like his brother Lincoln, like his brother Jose the broadcaster, and like his other brother Rafael the banker, Mario is a son of the former key Minister in the Batista dictatorship. Polls even in Miami reveal most Cuban-Americans favor normalizing relations with Cuba. Yet, a handful of anti-Castro zealots still dictate Miami politics.

         It is interesting to note that Granma, the most important newspaper in Cuba, today did not even mention the historic opening of embassies until the fourth page. Fidel Castro is not overly enthusiastic regarding detente with the United States. He is surprisingly healthy but turns 89-years-old on August 13th.

        This huge 7-story building overlooking the famed Malecon seawall in Havana was the home of the U. S. Interests Section in Cuba since the Carter presidency in the 1970s. The U. S. embassy in Havana is now in this building as of today but the official flag-raising ceremony will be held in a few weeks when Secretary of State John Kerry will be there. Many Americans would be surprised to know that the U. S. Interests Section in Havana had over 300 diplomats, more than any American embassy in the entire world! At times, hostilities involving this building have almost boiled over into confrontations between America and Cuba. A U. S. embassy in the building will further enrage some anti-Castro zealots in Miami and in Congress.

          Jim Cason {Photo courtesy: Miami Herald} is now the Mayor of Coral Gables, Florida, in the heart of Miami-Dade County. It is a city of about 50,000 on Route 95 and home to the University of Miami.

       From September 10-2002 till September 10-2005 Jim Cason was President George W. Bush's top man in Havana as head of the U. S. Interests section. He is shown above mingling with Cubans. To this day many Cubans believe Mr. Cason tried to start either a confrontation or a war between the U. S. and Cuba. In one instance Cuba arrested 735 dissidents and charged them with accepting cash or gifts from Cason. Most have since been released; some have not. Cason also stirred Fidel Castro's wrath by erecting a huge electronic billboard across the front of the 6th floor of the U. S. Interests Section building, flashing anti-Castro notices. Fidel reacted by leading marches and erecting giant flag poles to hide the electronic messages. When President Bush sent Jim Cason to Havana, he expected fireworks and he got them.

        This was Jim Cason's expensive electronic billboard that fronted the 6th floor of the U. S. Interests building in Havana. In addition to constant denunciations of Fidel Castro, the flashed messages teased Cubans about such things as how well their former beloved baseball players were doing in the U. S.

These are the flag poles Cuba erected to hide Jim Cason's electronic billboard.

       To this day there are very influential Cubans, such as 26-year-old Cristina Escobar, who remember Jim Cason's electronic billboard as one of many examples that detente with the U. S. "will not work." Escobar -- Cuba's top journalist, interviewer, and news anchor -- says, "Hundreds of U. S. diplomats at the Interests Section were there to hurt Cuba. The embassy will be a bigger Trojan Horse, even with a decent President like Obama orchestrating it while he remains in office another year-and-a-half. Miami and the current make-up of Congress can circumvent the President, however. The American and Cuban embassies will await the next war-like Republican administration that joins with a war-like Congress. 1 plus 1 equals 2 and war, I suspect."

  Josefina Vidal:
"We come in a constructive spirit, trying to close the gap between the parties."

John Kerry, Secretary of State:
"Nothing is more futile than trying to live in the past."

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Radical Cuban-Americans

Vs. Moderate Cuban-Americans

         Hugo Cancio is a moderate Cuban-American. Therefore the mainstream U. S. media does not want you to know him. Yet in recent days he has been ubiquitously spotlighted by numerous news outlets, including: A major Reuters international article; almost a book-length article in The New Yorker written by the notable Jon Lee Anderson; a huge spotlight on the vast Voice of America network; an insightful interview by Cuba's young media superstar Cristina Escobar that reached Latin America on the Telesur network, etc., etc. The 13-minute Escobar interview is in English and readily available on YouTube via "Interviews From Havana: Cristina Escobar." Cancio is a businessman in Miami and in Havana. Among other things, Cancio told Escobar that he laments the fact that the majority of Cuban-Americans who agree with him are seldom considered by the mainstream U. S. media while the views of only extremists anti-Cuban Cuban-Americans dominate the U. S. news media and the U. S. Congress. Cancio also told Escobar that he has needed protection from the authorities in Miami because of his moderate views about U.S.-Cuban relations.

          Hugo Cancio, shown here with Johnny Pacheco, is a big promoter of Cuban and Latino music. He was born in Miami of Cuban parents who had come over in the 1980 Mariel Boatlift along with 120,000 other Cubans. As Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has referenced, and as the famed "Scarface" movie highlighted, Fidel Castro emptied his jails and included many unwanted Cubans on the Mariel Boatlift. But Cancio's parents were musicians who, like many Cubans, merely wanted a better life in Miami.

       As a moderate Cuban-American, Hugo Cancio is among the majority, including those in Miami, who advocate normal relations with Cuba. The aforementioned Voice of America/Reuters article began with this paragraph: "Hugo Cancio believes he's the new face of American style entrepreneurship in Cuba...his company's stock is public and a handful of investors say they're betting on him." A frequent visitor to the island, Cancio stresses that most Cubans and most Americans can benefit during the last 18 months of the Obama presidency with "saner attitudes" towards Cuba. He staunchly maintains that business ties "will benefit most Cubans and most Americans." He believes the next 18 months are crucial. "Beneficial business ties can be nailed down in this period that even a Republican President in 2017 would have a lot of trouble unraveling," Cancio says. He also believes, as Cuba transitions to a Vietnam-style of capitalism, "It's going to be gradual. Cuba will probably pick and choose carefully who they do business with. Especially with the new deep-water, state-of-the-art Mariel Port, Cuba will have more and more business options, including Europe."

       Joe Garcia represents an astounding mellowing of formerly vicious anti-Castro Cuban-Americans in Miami. Born in Miami 51 years ago to Cuban-born parents, Garcia represented Miami in the U. S. Congress and was also head of the anti-Castro Cuban American National Foundation. He now works for President Barack Obama and in recent interviews has, amazingly, supported Obama's peaceful Cuban overtures.

        This photo is courtesy of Florida Trend. That's Alfonso "Alfy" Fanjul on the left and his brother Jose "Pepe" Fanjul on the right. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump brags that he is worth $10 billion. Maybe so. But the Fanjul brothers could buy everything Trump owns and they would still be worth far more than a piddling $10 billion, although their billions extend through the many Fanjul families and mansions in South Florida and elsewhere. Prior to the Cuban Revolution, the Fanjul sugar monopoly in Cuba was worth many millions. The Cuban Revolution in 1959 did them a favor because, for decades, the Fanjul sugar monopoly in the U. S. and the Dominican Republic has been worth many billions. {The Fanjuls control Domino and other sugar brands and refineries}. For decades it has been known that some of the Fanjul fortune has been devoted to regime change programs in Cuba and to getting anti-Castro zealots in the U. S. Congress. However, as testimony to President Obama's remarkable attempt to normalize relations with Cuba, the Fanjul brothers now seem supportive of that turnaround. Both of them long for a return to Cuba as investors. Alfonso says, "I would love to go back to Cuba, if there is a way to do so." Wow!! The Fanjuls supporting Obama and not the Bush dynasty?? Truly hard to believe.

         The two-term George W. Bush presidency preceded the current two-term Barack Obama presidency. During his 8 years as President, in keeping with the decades-long efforts of the Bush dynasty to annihilate the Cuban Revolution, George W. Bush almost exclusively appointed only anti-Castro zealots -- such as Otto Reich, Roger Noriega, and Carlos Gutierrez {above} -- as his Cuban and Latin American decision-makers. The moment Bush put Reich and Noriega in charge of Latin American affairs, all Caribbean and Latin American leaders expected regime-change actions. Very soon, that appraisal was proved accurate with the highly embarrassing {for the U. S.} coup that briefly overthrew Hugo Chavez's pro-Cuban government in Venezuela. As his Secretary of Commerce, Bush chose Cuban-born Gutierrez. In the eyes of the world, Gutierrez grossly insulted Cuba and the entire Caribbean when back-to-back hurricanes devastated Cuba, destroying about 240,000 homes. Many countries vowed to aid Cuba. Gutierrez held news conferences to announce that the U. S. had X-amount of dollars to assist Cuba but it was a tease. He said the money would not go to the Cuban government. Cuba assumed, like other U. S. dollars, it would go to Cuban dissidents. Gutierrez held more news conferences, raising the amount of aid the U. S. was willing to provide Cuba but blaming the Cuban government for the fact he was withholding it. Meanwhile, Cuba, with help from other nations, did the best it could to recover from the devastating hurricanes. Americans were provided only Gutierrez's side of what typically was a two-sided story.

         Carlos Gutierrez was born 61 years ago in Havana and grew up in Miami. He is a very rich man. Prior to serving as Bush's Secretary of Commerce from 2005 till 2009, he was CEO and Chairman of Kellogg Company. Like Otto Reich, Roger Noriega, and many other Bush-connected anti-Cuban zealots, Mr. Gutierrez has taken advantage of his political ties to continue on in many lucrative conservative enterprises -- such as Citigroup, Albright Stonebridge Group, the University of Miami, etc. Also, he was Founder and Chairman of Global Political Strategies. Top political positions -- whether you are Nixon's Henry Kissinger or Bush's Carlos Gutierrez -- translate to vast wealth as future consultants. Amazingly, again in testimony to President Obama's softening U.S.-Cuba relations, Carlos Gutierrez has made speeches in the last few weeks seemingly in support of detente with Cuba, pointing out the exceptional business benefits that will accrue. However, skeptics -- such as Hugo Cancio and Cristina Escobar -- abound all around.

             Cristina Escobar was taken aback when she read aloud a synopsis of a speech in Miami in which Carlos Gutierrez appeared, at least from a business standpoint, to champion President Obama's peaceful overtures toward Cuba. At age 26, Escobar is Cuba's most ubiquitous and most influential journalist. She is the anchor of the most important news programs on Cuban state television and she is also now a star on YouTube and regional networks such as Telesur. Fluent in both English and U.S.-Cuban relations, Escobar knows about all the anti-Cuban stalwarts in the U. S., such as the Bush dynasty, Gutierrez, Reich, Noriega, Ros-Lehtinen, Rubio, the Diaz-Balarts, etc. Gutierrez's about-face intrigued her. Her conclusion: "I think it's a ruse. For six decades now, Havana-borns like Gutierrez and Ros-Lehtinen have used the might of the U. S. government to try to retake Cuba from the Revolution. They have not managed to do so. Now I believe they want to take advantage of President Obama's attempt to normalize relations. They believe it will give them more avenues, such as the new U. S. embassy in Havana, to assail Cuba. They now have over 300 so-called diplomats at the U. S. Interests Section building in Havana working with and creating dissidents. I think Gutierrez thinks that regime-change tactics can be more effective when the U. S. has an actual embassy in Havana. He probably thinks of it as a Trojan Horse because supposedly huge pouches under diplomatic immunity can enter the island without being inspected. So, that's what I think of detente with the U. S. It's a damn Trojan Horse."

Photo of the week:

          This Associated Press photo was taken Friday, July 17th, at the White House. It caught President Barack Obama turning to the cameras and lavishly bragging about the heroine in his midst. Her name is Emma Didlake. She is from Detroit. She is 110 years old, the oldest veteran of World War II. In 1942 Emma was 38-years-old, married with five children. But she feared that vile dictators in Germany, Japan, and Italy were capable of conquering the world, including her beloved United States. Emma volunteered for the U. S. Army and became an award-winning member of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. After helping to save the world, Emma returned to her family. Hours after hosting Emma in the White House Friday, President Obama was still gushing about her, tweeting very sincerely, "Emma Didlake is a true American hero."

Emma Didlake, age 110, a treasured American.
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While Fidel Still Lives

Cuba & The U. S. Try Peace

In this photo -- first week of January, 1959 -- Fidel Castro was 32.

       Today -- Saturday, July 18th, 2015 -- Fidel Castro is 88-years-old, just days shy of his 89th birthday on August 13th. Still alert mentally, and surprisingly strong at two public appearances recently, he is living out his life in his modest home in western Havana. Dalia, his wife since 1980 and the mother of five of his sons, is his prime care-taker and she also minutely dictates who gets to visit him. Their son Alexander, a professional photographer, also closely monitors and fawns over his father.

       Two days from now -- on Monday, July 20th, 2015 -- a momentous event in the contentious history of the United States and Cuba will unfold. For the first time in over half a century, on Monday a United States flag will be raised to open an embassy in Havana and a Cuban flag will be raised to open an embassy in Washington.

         Back in April -- at the Summit of the Americas in Panama -- 84-year-old Cuban President Raul Castro and 53-year-old American President Barack Obama shook hands and agreed to end almost six decades of hostility, which reached a Hot War/Cold War/regime change-type of crescendo after the Cuban Revolution overthrew the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba on the first day of 1959.

         This is one of the most recent photos taken of Fidel Castro. It was at a food seminar just outside Havana two weeks ago when, seated before a microphone, he surprised everyone by speaking for four long hours on the topic of food production. It was almost reminiscent of 7-hour speeches in the hot sun he made before huge audiences in his younger days. As he closes in on 89, he is not overly enthused about Monday when Cuba and the U. S. will, at long last, reopen embassies in their respective capitals. He hasn't said much about it, but he did say this: "There are factions in the United States that can't be trusted, but peace is always better than war. What is happening is worth trying, despite those intent more on war than on peace."

Fidel Castro talking food -- Friday, July 3, 2015.

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Obama & His Cuban Legacy

Cuba, Iran & Health Care

             Bob Englehart is one of America's greatest Editorial Cartoonists. As I have expressed many times in this forum, Editorial Cartoonists are often the best sources for topical news. Mr. Englehart worked at the Dayton Journal-Herald from 1975 till 1980 and since then he has been the superstar at the Hartford Courant. His brilliant cartoons regularly appear in USA Today and hundreds of other newspapers.

        This is a Bob Engelhart gem this week. He uses 8 words to say more pertinent things about President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran than other journalists say in 8 whole pages of articles, columns, and editorials. Mr. Engelhart is reminding the world that the President will get {and is getting} assaulted by the U. S. Congress coming down on his head while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the 17 Republican presidential candidates are attacking his flanks. In other words, even when President Obama accomplishes a difficult, rare, and overall beneficial feat that most Americans and most people around the world desire, there are sure to be conservatives and right-wingers primed to unmercifully attack him.

          At this critical stage in America's history, John Boehner -- Speaker of the House and just two steps from the White House behind only the President and Vice-President -- is the top man in the U. S. Congress, which most Americans consider a dysfunctional body dominated by right-wing Republicans. Above is another gem this week from Bob Engelhart. This time he uses 13 words to show a teary-eyed, chain-smoking John Boehner reacting to President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran that sensible people consider a "Pragmatic Necessity To Avoid War" as a sub-headline in USA Today states. Of course, Boehner and other war-mongers in Congress -- Graham, McCain, Cotton, Rubio, etc. --  vow to upend President Obama's gallant efforts to avoid what would be another non-winnable, endless war. President Obama and his Secretary of State John Kerry worked tirelessly for almost two years to get the best possible Iranian deal, and they were supported by five other world powers as well as all 28 members of the European Union. Yet, Boehner and his Congress, which has an approval rating barely out of single digits, typically oppose most things most people need and desire while always promoting most things special interests greedily desire.

       As he did recently, Speaker of the House Boehner has a particular ploy to embarrass and insult both the sitting two-term President of the United States and the Office of President of the United States. Boehner again will provide more support for a foreign leader -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- than for his own country or his own President. Americans are supposed to be sufficiently programmed to accept that. But around the world, it shocks America's best friends as well as its prime enemies.

        This is U. S. Senator Tom Cotton, the youngest of America's 100 Senators. He is from Arkansas. He is 38-years-old. 2015 is his very first year in the U. S. Senate. From 2005 to 2013 he was in the U. S. Army or the U. S. Army Reserves. But he graduated from Harvard University. Then he graduated from Harvard Law School. Of the Big Four war-mongers in the U. S. Congress, Senator Cotton makes Lindsey Graham, John McCain, and Marco Rubio look like veritable peace-nicks! As a newshound, every morning from 6 to 8 A. M. I switch back-and-forth from the three main U. S. television networks and the four cable networks. By daybreak Eastern Time on the morning President Obama's Iranian nuclear deal was announced, Senator Cotton was all over the networks assaulting the President unmercifully even before anyone had even read the details of the hard-earned agreement. Most of all, Senator Cotton seemed eager to make the point that, instead of giving diplomacy a chance, the mighty U. S. military could wipe out little backward Iran in very short order. He reminded all of us that the U. S. spends "600 billion dollars a year on defense" while Iran only spends "30 billion dollars a year." I cringed when Senator Cotton told CNN's Chris Cuomo, "A war with Iran would last a few days." It seems to me that people like Senator Cotton back in the 1950s got the U. S. involved in the easy Korean War and in the 1960s in the easy Vietnam War and more recently in the easy Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. In my humble opinion and with all due respect, Senator Cotton, I believe you are a very dangerous man and I believe anyone who has children, grandchildren, and/or great-grandchildren should agree with that assessment. As President Obama understands, peace and diplomacy are preferable to war and mayhem. Arkansas, in my opinion, has done America and the world a disservice by sending you to the United States Senate. An Iran War an easy war? Really? Senator Cotton is a reminder that only great, peace-loving Commanders-in-Chiefs -- such as Abe Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and Barack Obama -- should decide when and if America should go to war, but only when all other alternatives are absent. 

        At age 53 and in the homestretch of his two-term presidency, Barack Obama is a very decent and brilliant man. As a lifelong conservative Republican, he is the first Democrat I have ever strongly supported although I now deeply admire the assassinated John Kennedy and 90-year-old Jimmy Carter. Mr. Obama has more than lived up to my very careful assessment of him. In the last 8 months he has greatly enhanced his legacy with at least four major actions: {1} His bold and historic efforts to normalize relations with Cuba; {2} his bold and historic Universal Health Plan; {3} his bold and historic efforts to keep Iran from getting a nuclear bomb; and {4} this week, July 16th, becoming the first American president to visit a prison to highlight his 43 pardons of drug-related criminals that he believed were over-sentenced and helped account for the fact that the U. S., with 5% of the world's population, has 25% of the world's prison population, costing taxpayers over $80 billion a year but still leaving them vulnerable in crime-infested cities. Indeed, some unbiased historians have already opined that Obama's Universal Health Plan may one day be equated with FDR's 1935 Social Security Bill and LBJ's 1965 Civil Rights Act. His overtures to Cuba, in the judgment of the world, are bent on correcting what has been one of the all-time greatest scars on America's image.

          This brilliant Editorial Cartoon was created by Steve Sack, the Pulitzer Prize-winning genius at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune who is nationally syndicated by Creators Syndicate. Study this gem.  It shows President Obama trying to explain his Cuban overtures to some right-wing idiot who is busily driving a chase car, which has its two left-side wheels raised on jacks. The right-wing idiot, as has been the case for 50 years, is telling President Obama not to bother him because, hey!, he's going to catch, recapture, and destroy Cuba any day now! Meanwhile, poor little Cuba, while trying to escape, is also totally minus functional wheels and its driver, Fidel, appears to be an 89-year-old white-bearded geezer. On December 17, 2014, as he announced his plans to normalize relations with Cuba, a sane and decent President Obama said, "When you have tried something for 50 years and it hasn't worked, it might be time to try something different." The Cuban exiles and their right-wing sycophants, meanwhile, are bound and determined to keep America's odious Cuban policy in place for another 50 years -- you know, so it can also punish our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Study the above gem; the driver of the chase car is typical of the self-serving minority that oppose President Obama's pro-democracy positions -- Cuba, Iran, Health Care, a Judicial System that unfairly and in some cases eternally imprisons the innocent or the not-so-bad people, etc., etc. Eventually, the majority of Americans might realize that they must protect their democracy or it will be hijacked forever by those similar to the driver of the chase car that Editorial Cartoonist Steve Sack depicts above. If you study this cartoon, you'll be observing a masterpiece.

      This is Steve Sack holding the bottle of champagne. He is being congratulated at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune shortly after he captured the Pulitzer Prize For Editorial Cartooning in 2013. He deserved it. 

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Q: How Does Cuba Survive?

A: Ingenuity

     
      Ever since the pivotal World War Two year of 1942, the U. S. government's Voice of America has been one of the world's best and most respected media sources -- radio, television, print, and online. It's an excellent source of information regarding international events and nuances that affect the U. S. government and its citizens. This week I thought the Voice of America helped answer my question: How in the world has Revolutionary Cuba survived against overwhelming odds since 1959? 

      Greece, the world's Cradle of Democracy, has about the same amount of people as Cuba -- 11.2 million. Greece is a cherished member of the 28-nation European Union. Greece has enjoyed decades of peace and decades of having total access to the world's export-import commerce and full access to the world's crucial banking and lending giants. Yet, Greece has gone totally broke and is begging the world for hand-outs. Puerto Rico, like Cuba, is a Caribbean nation that the U. S. gained dominance over after the easy victory over Spain in the Spanish-American War of 1898. In fact, Puerto Rico is a U. S. Territory with all the support that designation entails. Yet, Puerto Rico has gone bankrupt and is wreaked with crime and unemployment. Cuba, on the other hand, since 1962 has faced from the U. S. the world's longest and cruelest economic embargo, not to mention the military attack at the Bay of Pigs, the unchallenged terrorist bombing of its Cubana Flight 455 civilian airplane, and other enmity. Yet, Revolutionary Cuba has survived all that hubris from a neighbor that happens to be the world's economic and military superpower. How is that possible? I believe the answer is: Cuban grit and, especially, Cuban ingenuity. I believe a major report on Voice of America this week agrees.

       This week, on July 14th, Voice of America highlighted a major Associated Press article entitled: "Cuba's Mariel Port, Economic Zone Lure 1st Foreign Firms." The photo above shows a worker at the Mariel Port located 28 miles southwest of Havana and a mere 90 miles due southwest of Key West, Florida. The article began this way: "At Cuba's new mega-port project west of Havana, shipping containers are stacked five-deep the length of its 2,300-foot dock alongside four massive China-built off-loading cranes." Another recent Voice of America report across its vast network was entitled: "Europeans Rush To Seek Cuba Deals In Light Of U.S.-Cuba Thaw." Mariel is now a world-class deep-water port after a billion-dollar refurbishment with the help of Brazil. The "Special Economic Zone" within the sprawling complex is seeking and getting investments from international companies. It is a key to Cuba's ingenuity and economic survival. Cuba has already built a new road and a new railroad line between Havana and Mariel to enhance the port.

      Ana Teresa Igarza is the Director of Cuba's Mariel Port and its Special Economic Zone. That's means she is one of the most important people on the island, along with other women such as Josefina Vidal, Cuba's Minister of North American Affairs, and 26-year-old Cristina Escobar, Cuba's most ubiquitous and most influential journalist. Women such as Celia Sanchez, Haydee Santamaria, and Vilma Espin -- after all -- were vital to the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. Ms. Igarza is busy these days handling requests from foreign companies interested in investing in the Mariel complex. For example, Alabama-based Cleber, LLC is trying to get permission from the U. S. government to build a factory at Mariel that would build tractors, which are badly needed on the island to increase its food production. Ms. Igarza says that she has accepted five bids in recent months from foreign companies -- two from Mexico, two from Belgium, and one from Spain. She thinks that is a good start, especially with other major nations such as China, Russia, Vietnam, and France interested in Mariel. Ms. Igarza told the AP, "The first ones are the trickiest," and she already has the first five. A brilliant economist and an excellent promoter, Ms. Igarza touts three prime reasons foreign companies should consider Mariel: {1} Cuba's well-educated, healthy population; {2} eager workers and low labor costs; and {3} its enticing strategic location and dominance of the entire Caribbean.

       This www.stratfor.com map shows just how "strategic" the Port of Mariel is, just 90 miles from the Florida Keys. But Cuba itself is extremely "strategic" as the largest and most dominant country in the Caribbean, due south of the United States and west of Mexico. It has eleven million well-educated and healthy citizens; there is very little crime on the island; and the U. S. government has confirmed that Cuba routinely cooperates with the U. S. Coast Guard in the ongoing battle against drug and human trafficking. The ultra-modern Mariel Port is 59-feet deep and able to accommodate deeper-draft ships than other regional ports, including the Port of Havana. In other words, Ana Teresa Igarza seems to have reason to expect the Special Economic Zone at the Mariel Port to be a key to Cuba's economic survival.

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The Evolution of a Revolution

Major Changes In Cuba
Thursday, July 16th, 2015

           This photo is courtesy of Quartz/Tim Fernholz. It is used to highlight an insightful article yesterday -- July 15th -- by Tim Fernholz. It is his second of four updates from Cuba this week. His series is entitled "Evolution of the Revolution" and yesterday's segment was entitled "How Cuba Is Using Capitalism To Save Socialism." It is excellent journalism, neither pro-Cuban nor anti-Cuban. Much of what Americans know about Cuba comes from people, including Cuban-Americans, who have never been on the island. Mr. Fernholz this week is on the island. All four of his articles are pertinent and palpable. Also, he is a great writer in case you just like excellent writing. The first paragraph in yesterday's second of four articles by Tim Fernholz is: "If you are fantasizing about your first trip to Cuba, that fantasy presumably includes cruising down the Malecon, Havana's seaside promenade, in an open-topped 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air, with the tropical light playing over the decrepit buildings and the warm sea breeze tickling your scalp. Cigars are probably involved, and rum." If you like great writing, and desire reading a fair and balanced update on what it's like to be in fast-changing Cuba, then dial up all four of Tim Fernholz's articles, especially these first two.

Tim Fernholz

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