Fidel Meets Pope Francis

They Discussed World Affairs

Monday, September 21st, 2015

       Fidel Castro yesterday engaged in what the Vatican called "an informal and friendly discussion" with Pope Francis in Havana. Last week the Vatican had strongly requested the meeting if Fidel's wife, Dalia Soto del Valle, felt the 89-year-old revolutionary legend "was up to it." Dalia agreed, sending back word that, "Fidel will be much honored." Right after touching down at Jose Marti Airport Friday, Pope Francis revealed that Fidel was on his mind, telling President Raul Castro, "Give your brother my deepest respects and considerations." When they met Sunday, Pope Francis and Fidel exchanged books as gifts and then discussed "world affairs."

Fidel and Dalia share a laugh with Pope Francis yesterday.

Pope Francis making a point to Fidel as Dalia smiles her approval.

        Pope Francis, a native of Argentina, and Fidel Castro spoke in Spanish for about forty minutes yesterday at Fidel's home in Havana. All home photos released to the public are taken by Alex Castro, one of Dalia's five sons fathered by Fidel. This time Alex also took a video that was released this morning by TV Cubana and quickly picked up by television networks worldwide, especially in the United States. In the Video Fidel belies his 89 years and his long battle with a serious intestinal illness. He was very talkative and even demonstrative as he seemed to dominate his remarkable discussion with Pope Francis.

       This Juan Lopez/AFP/Getty Images photo shows Pope Francis in his Pope-mobile arriving at Revolutionary Square Sunday. {He's in the center of the above photo}

                 300,000 Cubans were enraptured by Pope Francis yesterday.       

Pope Francis at Revolutionary Square yesterday.
Pope Francis and Che Guevara were both born in Argentina.

Che Guevara and Fidel Castro on a happy day in 1959.

Pope Francis, age 14; he was born in Buenos Aires in 1936.

Pope Francis in Buenos Aires in 1966.

        This Tony Gentile/EPA photo shows Cuban President Raul Castro and Argentina President Cristina Fernandez welcoming Argentina-born Pope Francis to Revolutionary Square in Havana yesterday. He is the first Latin American pope.

      In the next two days Pope Francis will make major speeches in the southeastern Cuban cities of Holguin and Santiago de Cuba. Tomorrow he flies to the U. S.

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Pope Francis In Cuba

Greeted Enthusiastically

{Photo courtesy: AFP/Yamil Lage}

      Cuban President Raul Castro and massively enthused crowds of Cubans yesterday welcomed Pope Francis to the island for a significant four-day adventure.

 {Photo courtesy: AFP/Yamil Lage}

Pope Francis speaking in Spanish to Cuban children.

{Photo courtesy: CNN}

    After the long flight from Rome, the 78-year-old, Argentinian-born Pope Francis appeared tired when he made a short speech at Jose Marti Airport in Havana. He said, "For some months now, we have witnessed an event which fills us with hope." He was referencing the attempts by Presidents Castro and Obama to normalize relations between Cuba and the U.S., a process that Pope Francis himself instigated. He added, "The process of normalizing relations between two peoples following years of estrangement is an example of reconciliation for the entire world." He also called on Cuba "to open itself to the world." He then made a pertinent reference to Jose Marti, who died fighting Spanish imperialism in 1895. Pope Francis called Marti "a fighter against dynasties," an obvious critique of the Castro rule in Cuba since 1959.

{Photo courtesy: AP/Desmond Boylan}

Pope Francis riding down a street in Havana.

            Pope Francis will be in Cuba for four days -- till Tuesday, September 22nd. Then he will fly to the U. S. for a 5-day visit. Today -- Sunday, September 20th -- he will speak at Revolutionary Plaza in Havana. His other two major speeches in Cuba will be in Holguin and Santiago de Cuba as he travels down the coastal highway from Havana on the western end of the alligator-shaped island to the southeastern tip.

          Pope Francis hopes to meet with Fidel Castro today, Sunday. That has been confirmed by the Vatican's chief spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi. The request was extended to Fidel's wife, Dalia Soto del Valle, who will determine if the 89-year-old revolutionary legend is healthy enough to meet Pope Francis. Fidel had warm meetings with Pope John Paul II in 1998 and with Pope Benedict XVI in 1998.  

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Obama Calls Havana With Good News

Obama Phones Castro Again

           Starting today -- Saturday, September 19th -- Pope Francis will spend four days in Cuba and then five days in the United States. In Cuba he will make major speeches in Havana, Holguin, and Santiago de Cuba. In the U. S. he will make major speeches in Washington, New York, and Philadelphia, starting with an address before both houses of the U. S. Congress. Pope Francis played a monumental role as intermediary between Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro leading to the historic rapprochement between the two neighboring nations. Both publicly and in private on his key visit, Pope Francis will call for an end to the U. s. embargo against Cuba, which he believes has hurt everyday Cubans every day since 1962. Not coincidentally, yesterday -- the day before Pope Francis arrived in Cuba -- President Obama in Washington made a very significant phone call to President Castro in Havana.

       Yesterday -- Friday, September 18th -- President Obama placed a very important and very brave phone call to Havana. He informed President Raul Castro that, starting on Monday, the island will notice another array of advancements on his administration's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. Using his courage and his executive power, President Obama has, beginning Monday, made it easier for Americans to travel to the island. But, even more importantly, President Obama has taken new strides in allowing U. S. companies to conduct business in Cuba. Reuters summed it up with this paragraph: "Under the new rules released by the U. S. Treasury and Commerce Department, certain companies can establish subsidiaries on joint ventures as well as open offices, stores, and warehouses in Cuba. They also allow for telecommunications and Internet service between the nations." Mr. Obama personally phoned Raul Castro to tell him the new rules will be effective starting Monday.

        The rapport between Presidents Raul Castro and Barack Obama is truly historic. Friday marked the second time Obama had telephoned Castro, the first being last December to tell him that the U. S. was "deadly serious" about normalizing relations with Cuba. On December 17th, 2014, the two men went live simultaneously on television to inform their people of their plans to work toward rapprochement. Tedious diplomatic negotiations since then have proved how serious the two men have tried, culminating this summer with the opening of embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time since 1961. Yet, obstacles remain, primarily a U. S. Congress that fashions its Cuban policy purely on the dictates it receives from a handful of the most visceral anti-Castro zealots. Yesterday, after thanking President Obama for the good news, Raul Castro reminded him that "much more needs to be done" to confront Congress's belligerence "not against me but against common Cubans."  Mr. Castro specifically took the surprise opportunity to remind Mr. Obama that "The embargo must go, we must have dialogue about the return of our Guantanamo Bay, and we can't ever be mutually beneficial friends as long as Congress funds about fifty regime-change programs." Mr. Obama's White House released this official statement about Friday's phone call: "The leaders discussed steps that the United States and Cuba can take together and individually to advance bilateral cooperation, even as we will continue to have differences on important issues and will address those differences candidly." Mr. Obama yesterday had Cuba and the Pope on his mind.

       Senator Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, loudly applauded President Obama's friendly phone call to President Castro yesterday. Senator Jeff Flake said, "Anything that makes it easier to do business in Cuba and to assist Cubans who are trying to work outside the state structure is a good thing." Senator Flake has long advocated a sane and decent U. S. policy regarding Cuba. That means that Senator Jeff Flake, a Republican in a Batistiano-controlled Republican Congress, is a very, very, very brave...and decent...man.

         But as a moderate Republican in a U. S. Senate dominated by extremist Republicans, Jeff Flake is grossly out-numbered. In the above photo Senator Flake is listening to a harangue from Marco Rubio, the first-term Senator from Miami who epitomizes the political and financial advantages of being a high-profile member of the lucrative Castro industry that richly rewards Cuban-Americans and their sycophants. Rubio is Chairman of the Senate's Western Hemisphere Committee and has vowed to block or turn back any progress President Obama and patriotic politicians like Jeff Flake make regarding Cuba. After hearing about President Obama's phone call to President Castro yesterday, Rubio blasted out this exact statement: "President Obama's eagerness to please the Castro regime knows no bounds." Actually, what knows no bounds is Rubio's spineless and endless eagerness to use the U. S. Congress to punish 11.2 million innocent Cubans on the island to further his economic and political career as well as his limitless ego.

         The above photo was taken on May 10th when Cuban President Raul Castro was in Rome. On his visit to the Vatican, Mr. Castro thanked Pope Francis for his help in trying to normalize relations between Cuba and the United States. With the arrival of Pope Francis in Cuba today, the 84-year-old Castro has said he will attend all three of the Pope's major speeches -- in Havana, Holguin, and Santiago de Cuba. Pope Francis has also requested permission to visit 89-year-old Fidel Castro, which will likely happen.

"Amo a Cuba"

       Pope Francis, an Argentinian, can express his love for Cuba in Spanish. 

"Gracias"

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Cuba Names U. S. Ambassador

The Appointment Was Expected

           Jose Cabanos yesterday {Sept. 17th} presented his credentials to President Barack Obama as Cuba's newly appointed Ambassador to the United States.

          Jose Cabanas has served as Cuba's chief at the U. S. Interests Section in Washington since 2012. He has been a highly respected diplomat since 1984 and was formerly Cuba's Ambassador to Austria.

       Jose Cabanas is now the first Cuban appointed as Ambassador to the U. S. since 1959, the year the Cuban Revolution overthrew the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship. In 1959 the U. S. ordered Cuban Ambassador Ernesto Dihijo Lopez to leave his post and then in 1961, the year of the unsuccessful U.S./CIA/Cuban exile Bay of Pigs attack, U. S. and Cuban embassies were closed in Havana and Washington. During the Jimmy Carter presidency in the 1970s, the two nations opened "Interests Sections" in the two capitals. In the last three years, Mr. Cabanas, as chief of Cuba's Interests Section, has been a very skilled diplomat. He has, for example, made several very successful speeches in Washington and Miami to convince important business people how the U. S. can also benefit from normal relations with Cuba.

         Cuba in recent years has very wisely left its ticklish relations with the United States in the talented hands of Josefina Vidal, the island's Minister of North American Affairs, and Jose Cabanas, the head of its Interests Section/embassy in Washington. This photo shows Vidal and Cabanas during one of the four diplomatic sessions this year that moved the U. S. and Cuba closer to normalizing relations than at anytime since 1959 or since 1961 when the embassies in Havana and Washington were closed. In those delicate negotiations, not only were Vidal and Cabanas key diplomats, they were also, importantly, Cuba's top decision-makers along the way. It's been assumed that the key decision about Cuba's U. S. Ambassador would be theirs, too, and no one is surprised that Josefina Vidal's preference would be Jose Cabanas.

            President Obama has not appointed a U. S. Ambassador to Cuba yet but it is expected to be Jeffrey DeLaurentis. He worked for President Obama at the United Nations from 2011 till 2014 and then, since August of 2014, has been chief of first the U. S. Interests Section in Havana and now is the acting U. S. Ambassador, or charge d'affaires, in Havana. Jeffrey DeLaurentis is a very talented and decent man.

       This photo shows Jeffrey DeLaurentis chatting with America's Roberta Jacobson and Cuba's Josefina Vidal prior to one of the four diplomatic sessions this year that led to the re-opening of embassies in Havana and Washington. During the George W. Bush administration, Vidal has admitted that the "shocking belligerence" of James Cason, Bush's top diplomat in Havana, almost "caused another Bay of Pigs attack, which I think he wanted." But Vidal is a great admirer of Mr. DeLaurentis, President Obama's likely choice as U. S. Ambassador to Cuba. "Jeffrey," Vidal says, "is a skilled, fair diplomat that understands Cuba."

       James Cason was President George W. Bush's chief at the U. S. Interests Section in Havana from 2002 till 2005, the diplomat Vidal and others believed tried to provoke a war. Recently in the Miami Herald it was opined that the only Ambassador to Cuba that President Obama could get approved by the U. S. Senate is...James Cason. Since 2011, utilizing his hard-line Cuban credentials to the fullest, Cason has been the Mayor of Coral Gables just outside Miami. That opinion about Cason and the Senate is probably correct.

        All three Cuban-American U. S. Senators -- Ted Cruz, Robert Menendez, and Marco Rubio -- have vowed to block any Ambassadors to or from Cuba as well as destroy all of President Obama's sane and peaceful overtures to the island. {Presumably, however, they would approve of James Cason being the next U. S. Ambassador in Havana}. Cruz and Rubio are first-term Senators who are both already running for President with the strong backing of at last five prime right-wing/Jewish billionaires. Menendez, the longtime Senator from New Jersey, is being investigated for allegedly taking brides from a rich Miamian. Cruz, Menendez, and Rubio are all very strongly positioned on the Senate's Foreign Relations and Western Hemisphere committees, apparently because Cuba is a foreign nation in the Western Hemisphere.

          And, of course, Miami is well represented in the United States Congress with, in addition to Marco Rubio in the Senate, three vicious anti-Castro zealots in the House of Representatives -- Carlos Curbelo, Mario Diaz-Balart, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Since the 1980s when the Bush dynasty first began anointing selected Miami and Union City politicians, the U. S. Congress litany of anti-Cuban laws -- Torricelli Bill, Helms-Burton Law, Cuban Adjustment Act, Wet Foot/Dry Foot, Radio-TV Marti, etc., etc. -- have repeatedly been codified as an extremely controversial but also extremely lucrative and punitive policy regarding Cuba. That, unfortunately, will continue even as Cuba and the United States try to name Ambassadors to Washington and Havana for the first time since 1961. America's Cuban policy has been dictated since 1959 by the remnants of the ousted Batista-Mafia dictatorship that has easily acquired the necessary sycophants -- Robert Torricelli, Jesse Helms, Dan Burton, the Bush dynasty, the Tea Party, etc., etc.

         The Cuban-exile control of the U. S. Congress on all things Cuban began in the 1980s when the Bush dynasty anointed Jorge Mas Canosa as the leader of the Miami-based Cubans. If you disagree with that, it's perhaps because of one of three things: {1} You don't know how to use Google as a research tool; {2} you've never read Julie E. Sweig's "What Everyone Needs To Know About Cuba;" and {3} you've never read Anne Louise Bardach's "Cuba Confidential." At least one of those three sources, I believe, is essential to understand U.S.-Cuban relations since the 1950s when right-wingers in Washington decided the three things Cuba most needed were sweet Mother Teresa-types...Batista, the Mafia, and U. S. businessmen.

        Yet, through it all, the Cuban flag in September of 2015 is flying in front of its embassy in Washington for the first time since 1961. And, through it all, Cuba on September 17th had the audacity to name a new Ambassador to the United States.

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The Embargo Makes Headlines

Obama Agrees It Harms U. S.

       This Reuters photo shows Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez holding a news conference in Havana yesterday -- Wednesday, September 16th. His topic was the 53-year-old U. S. embargo against Cuba, which Cuba calls a blockade. Rodriguez pointed out that "77% of Cubans today have lived their entire lives under the blockade and the humanitarian impact and damage is extreme and cannot be measured with numbers." The timing of Rodriguez's news conference, just before Pope Francis arrives in Cuba, might relate to the fact that the Vatican in Rome has long railed against the embargo. Indeed, yesterday the Vatican repeated its denunciation of "the hardships that have endured under the embargo." Rodriguez said the embargo has cost Cuba "833.7 billion dollars" since 1962. Rodriguez was informed that President Barack Obama in Washington earlier Wednesday also expressed opposition to the embargo. Reuters said Rodriguez responded, "We appreciate and recognize President Obama's policy change regarding the blockade. He understands that the claim by the international community to lift the blockdade is indispensable."

        President Barack Obama yesterday -- September 16th -- spoke in Washington at the Business Roundtable on a myriad of economic issues important to the corporate executives in attendance. Cuba was not the prime topic but it was a topic. The President made it clear that he thinks the embargo against Cuba is not only out-dated but injurious to the United States. He said, "My biggest suggestion would be for the Business Roundtable just to start having conversations on a bipartisan basis on lifting the embargo."

        In the last two years of his two-term presidency, Mr. Obama has clearly made Cuba a linchpin of his legacy. Back on January 20th, during his State of the Union message, he asked Congress to lift the embargo, clearly recognizing that for decades it has made the U. S. look like a cruel, imperialist bully in the eyes of the entire world. Each October for the past 24 years a vote in the United Nations has made that point abundantly clear. In the last two years the UN vote has been 188-to-2 against the U. S. embargo with only Israel, a U. S. economic and military dependent, supporting the U. S. position. The 2015 vote at the UN will be held October 27th. Meanwhile, in this month of September Pope Francis, President Obama, and Cuban President Raul Castro will speak at the United Nations in New York. President Obama and President Castro will speak at the UN the same day -- September 28th -- and they may even shake hands...again!

          Back in April at the Summit of the Americas in Panama City, President Obama made history by shaking hands with Cuba's 84-year-old President Raul Castro, after which the two leaders had a long and cordial private meeting. A few months later, trying to move all the way from hostility to the cusp of friendship, the U. S. and Cuba reopened embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time since 1961.

"Nuestros Hermanos Cubanos" = "Our Cuban Brothers."

       Considering the brutal hold a cabal of Miami Cubans, Mafiosi,  and right-wingers in the U. S. Congress have had on America's Cuban policy since the 1950s, merely having the courage to attempt to normalize relations with Cuba should stand as an everlasting hallmark of President Obama's legacy, regardless of the closing coda.

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Fidel Awaits The Pope

Pope Francis Arrives Saturday

           The Vatican in Rome has confirmed that Pope Francis is anxious to meet Fidel Castro when his trip to Cuba and the United States begins Saturday. {Photos courtesy Associated press}. A native of Argentina, the 78-year-old Pope Francis will speak to the Cubans, including Fidel, in Spanish. In Cuba he will make speeches in Havana, Holguin, and Santiago de Cuba. In the U. S. he will visit Washington, where he will address both houses of Congress, New York City, and Philadelphia. Pope Francis, an exceptional advocate for poor people, was instrumental in persuading Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro to begin the tedious process of normalizing relations between the United States and Cuba for the first time in decades.

          The Popemobile has already arrived in Cuba. {Courtesy: Ramon Espinosa/AP}. This photo shows the Popemobile taking a test drive around Havana prior to the arrival of the Pope Saturday, September 19th.

            Anyone desiring to meet Fidel Castro must ask and get permission from his wife, Dalia Soto del Valle. She married Fidel in 1980 shortly after the death of his revolutionary soul-mate Celia Sanchez, who had requested that her friend Dalia marry Fidel and "watch over him." She's done that meticulously, especially since his near-fatal illness in 2006. Dalia and Fidel are the parents of five very devoted sons. 

         Dalia carefully orchestrated Fidel's 89th birthday {above} on August 13th. President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela and President Evo Morales of Bolivia were among the guests. Dalia has also approved recent visits from the Presidents of China, Russia, and France. She believes his favorite guests in recent years have been the three Latin American female Presidents -- Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, Cristina Fernandez of Argentina, and Michelle Bachelet of Chile. The Vatican has already let Dalia know that Pope Francis will await her decision as to if, when, and where he can visit Fidel. The meeting will likely be at Fidel's home.

In 2012 Fidel warmly welcomed Pope Benedict to Havana.

In 1998 Fidel warmly welcomed Pope John Paul to Havana.

          This Associated Press photo shows a Cuban entrepreneur driving a couple of tourists around in his classic American convertible. They are driving past a billboard welcoming Pope Francis to the island.

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