Obama vs.Thugs

The Thugs Are Winning

Photo montage courtesy: MEDIAMATTERSforamerica

       The image above illustrates why an increasingly biased and incompetent U. S. media might be as big a threat to the U. S. democracy as any outside force.

                    Yesterday -- December 7th -- was Pearl Harbor Day. On that day in 2015, it was also A Day of Infamy for the U. S. media, chronicling a precipitous decline of an industry that Founding Fathers such as Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson considered vital to the continuing success of their brilliant but fragile democracy. On the left above is retired Lt. Colonel Ralph Peters. On the right is Stacy Dash. They are, unfortunately, typical of what now is the staple of broadcast journalism in America -- biased and incompetent Talking Head pundits. Yesterday -- Pearl Harbor Day -- Mr. Peters used prime time on Fox News to call President Barack Obama "a total pu--y." And then Ms. Dash called President Barack Obama "a sh-t." A little later Fox News, amazingly, "SUSPENDED" them for two weeks!

          But never mind, America! Fox News has dozens of other biased and incompetent Talking Head pundits to easily fill the void in the brief absence of Peters and Dash. Sadly, so do all the other broadcast "news" outfits in the United States.

       Using Talking Head pundits like Ralph Peters serves the two prime purposes of cable news: {1} It saves them money because they don't have to go to the expense of actually sending reporters out to cover the news; and {2} it allows cable outfits to propagandize gullible viewers with whatever biased rhetoric fits their purposes.

      This photo is courtesy of John Raoux/Associated Press. It was taken on Saturday, November 14, 2015, when New Jersey Governor Chris Christie spoke at the Republican Sunshine Summit in Orlando, Florida, for the purpose of furthering his presidential aspirations. In this speech, Christie called President Barack Obama "a liar" in reference to Obama's policy concerning the dire terror threat from ISIS.

       Mr. Christie, sir, with all due respect, I believe you are "the liar" for calling our two-term President "a liar." As a lifelong conservative Republican, I understand that Republican presidential hopefuls can, and should, sharply disagree with the incumbent Democratic president. However, showing total disrespect not only for Mr. Obama but for the office of President is an example of why I am saddened that my Republican Party has been taken over by right-wing extremists who are both liars and bullies. And, sir, I believe there are millions of Americans who agree with me, as evidenced by the fact that unqualified non-politicians -- Trump and Carson -- have spent so many months polling ahead of bought-and-paid-for establishment politicians like you. In a two-party, money-crazed system that allows for unlimited donations from billionaire individuals and organizations, some bought-and-paid-for Republican will yet prevail in the ongoing primary sweepstakes. But, at least, the polls show that many Americans are trying to send a message to the established liars and bullies like you, sir...with, uh, all due respect, Mr. Christie.

      As a conservative Republican, I have also been a lifelong supporter of Israel. However, this photo reminds me that I am an even bigger supporter of democracy and America. It shows presidential hopeful Chris Christie speaking at the Republican Jewish Coalition in which all Republican candidates are obliged to speak in obligatory genuflection. Christie once mentioned Israel's occupation of Palestinian land as "occupied territory" and cited it as one continuing reason for the vast terrorist Islamic backlash that is roiling much of the world. Well, most Jewish scholars agree with that assessment as did even Obama's predecessor in the White House, George W. Bush. But, when the above photo was taken and in typical obligatory genuflection, Mr. Christie apologized deeply to Jewish billionaire Sheldon Edelson, a prime purchaser of bought-and-paid-for politicians, for his "occupied territory" remark. {NOTE: It's not likely that Christie's apology will make any difference; it's been reported that Edelson favors Marco Rubio and Edelson's wife favors Ted Cruz, one indication why, eventually, the two first-term Cuban-American U. S. Senators will replace Trump and Carson as the two top Republican presidential candidates. In any case, non-bought-and-paid-for Republcians need not apply.}

       Please forgive President Obama if he takes time to wipe his brow. Faced with a biased and incompetent U. S. media, and right-wing control of the opposition Republican Party, the very decent and very smart two-term Democratic president has only about one year left in his eight years in the White House. He probably looks forward to the exit. He inherited a world torn asunder largely due to the miscalculations of the eight previous years when Republican George W. Bush ruled the White House. Republicans, of course, lambaste Obama for what they perceive as his failure in correcting all of his inherited Bush-orchestrated ordeals. Mr. Obama has also been lambasted for earnestly trying to achieve some decency in areas such as universal health care for poor people, gun control in the elite Western world's most violent nation, and normalizing relations with Cuba to comply with regional and world opinion. But such sane efforts by Mr. Obama do not compute with conservative and right-wing Republicans who control the U. S. Congress for the benefit of the billionaires who keep them in office in a skewered, money-crazed, two-party political system. After eight years as President, and after wiping his brow, a still-young Barack Obama will likely become the President of a prestigious university.

       Being a very decent two-term President of the United States and then being called "a total pu--y" by an indecent, exploitative, incompetent Talking Head pundit is something Mr. Obama, and the office he holds, doesn't deserve. I also believe it is one reason many of the most decent and most competent presidential qualifiers -- such as Elizabeth Warren -- don't bother to even run for the most powerful and most prestigious office in the world. Much of the blame, I believe, lies with Americans who put up with ubiquitous Talking Head pundits like retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters, who should have retired to a more respectable endeavor, like...tending a flower garden.

Meanwhile, big news for Cubans:

       Jose Abreu will be returning to Cuba next week as a multi-millionaire superstar American baseball player. He will be with other Major Leaguers making a good-will trip to the baseball-mad island. Abreu defected from Cuba in 2013 and signed a guaranteed $68 million, 6-year contract with the Chicago White Sox. He will be joined on the good-will trip to Cuba by two other Cubans -- 33-year-old White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez and 33-year-old catcher Brayan Pena, now with the St. Louis Cardinals. Yasiel Puig, the very talented 24-year-old Cuban with the Los Dodgers, was expected to go to Cuba but he is facing a domestic assault charge. Abreu, Ramirez, and Pena will be joined by the Dodgers Clayton Kershaw, baseball's best pitcher, and Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera, baseball's best hitter. The good-will tour will be led by two famed Hall of Famers, Joe Torre and Dave Winfield.

      Speaking of Jose Abreu's guaranteed $68 million contract that he signed right after defecting from Cuba in 2013: the Chicago White Sox think they got a huge bargain! As American League Rookie-of-the-Year in 2014, he hit .317 with 36 homers and 107 runs-batted-in; and this year he hit .290 with 30 homers and 101 runs-batted-in. Clayton Kershaw and a growing number of American baseball players are making well in excess of $30 million a year!! So, once his piddly 6-year, $68 million contract runs out, Jose Abreu expects to make some REAL money in capitalist America.

         These are the three Cubans who will be back on Cuban soil for three days -- December 15-18. Jose Abreu was born in 1987 in Cruces; Brayan Pena was born in 1982 in Havana; and Alexei Ramirez was born in 1981 in Pinar del Rio.

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Venezuela Election Hurts Cuba

Victory for Miami and Washington 

Photo courtesy: Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images

         The above photo was taken yesterday -- Sunday, December 6th, 2015, in Caracas -- and it is one that Cuba did not want to see this Monday morning. It shows opposition leaders in Venezuela's crucial National Assembly election celebrating a resounding victory over the socialist party led by President Nicolas Maduro, one of Cuba's dearest friends. The jubilant lady on the left above is Lilian Tintori, the wife of Leopoldo Lopez, a powerful opposition leader imprisoned by President Maduro. 

          This AP/Ariana Cubilos photo shows Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro right after casting his vote in Sunday's National Assembly election. His Socialist Party suffered a resounding defeat. The Democratic Unity Party won 99 of the 167 seats to only 46 for the Socialist Party with 24 additional seats undecided. In 1999 Hugo Chavez was elected President and then survived a brief coup in 2002 that he blamed on the George W. Bush White House in Washington along with rich Cuban-Americans in Miami. After the failed coup Chavez moved Venezuela more pro-Cuban and anti-American. Chavez died of cancer in 2013 at age 58 and his hand-picked successor, Maduro, won a close and fiercely contested presidential election. Maduro's term ends in 2019 but now the National Assembly will likely commence impeachment proceedings. Like Chavez, Maduro is supported by Venezuela's poor but the National Assembly election results were not surprising considering horrific problems in the oil rich but cash poor nation of 30 million people. Shortages of food and other staples, including diapers, have caused major headaches exacerbated by off-the-chart inflation. The tough-talking Maduro late Sunday surprised some by saying he would "accept" the result of the National Assembly election but he still wields considerable power as President supported by the military and a strong segment of the poorest Venezuelans. The political turmoil will continue unabated and, as always, it will pit the Socialist Party supported by the poor against the Democratic Unity Party that supposedly is supported by the rich in Venezuela as well as the rich in Miami. Indeed, both the BBC and AJAM networks reported Cuban and Venezuelan restaurants in Miami intently monitoring and then wildly cheering the election results in Venezuela. For the first time in 17 years, the rural poor in Venezuela have lost to the urban rich.

      Henrique Capriles is the big winner from Sunday's National Assembly elections in Venezuela. Capriles is the 43-year-old Governor of Miranda, a powerful state. Capriles barely lost the presidential election to Maduro in 2013. Capriles is considered an American-aligned capitalist. He attended Columbia University; his father had connections to Kraft Foods, Nabisco, etc. Capriles represents the rich U.S.-connected Venezuelan capitalists who promise, when they replace Maduro, that they will take care of the rural poor who benefited the last 16 years from Chavez-Maduro programs, but they also promise to tie Venezuela's economy to America's and put an end to Venezuela's massive deal with Cuba that involves such things as oil for Cuba in exchange for thousands of Cuban medical workers in poor areas.

        This photo is courtesy of Federico Parra/AFP/Getty Images. It shows Maria Corina Machado, one of the happiest people in Caracas today -- Monday, December 7th. A powerful ally of Henrique Capriles, the 48-year-old Machado has spent the last 16 years in fierce opposition to a Chavez-Maduro socialist movement in Venezuela. She is shown above campaigning for the National Assembly election that handed Maduro a huge congressional defeat Sunday. Both the late Hugo Chazez and President Maduro have accused Machado of being aligned with the Cuban-Venezuelan faction in Miami as well as the Bush dynasty. In fact, Chavez...as well as historians...accused Machado of being involved with the George W. Bush administration in 2002 when Chavez was briefly overthrown in a coup. Indeed, as late as May of 2014, Maduro has accused Machado of plotting to overthrow him. Now, after Sunday's National Assembly triumph, Venezuela's U.S.-connected Capriles-Machado combine is primed to unseat Maduro by impeachment or by election.

           For sure, as a prime opponent of President Chavez, Maria Corina Machado was always welcome at the White House during the George W. Bush administration.

Maria Corina Machado and President George W. Bush, a photo that resonates in Venezuela to this very day.

        Maria Corina Machado and the U.S.-friendly capitalists are now in control of Venezuela's powerful National Assembly. How, or if, they care for the poor people remains to be seen.   

Photo courtesy: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

         For sure, Cuba has no reason to rejoice about this photo that shows opposition forces in Venezuela celebrating their triumph in the country's National Assembly election yesterday. Similar celebrations resounded in Miami and Washington.  

       Posters like this -- featuring images of Hugo Chavez, Simon Bolivar and President Nicolas Maduro -- are ubiquitous in the poorest areas of Venezuela. But the rich elite now in control of the country's National Assembly can now begin the alignment of Venezuela with Miami and Washington. Bolivar's image is still safe but posters like this in Venezuela might soon fall victim to the shifting political winds.

        These three women are great admirers of Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution and they have each twice been democratically elected as Presidents of extremely important, Cuban-friendly Latin American nations. That's President Cristina Fernandez of Argentina on the left; President Michelle Bachelet of Chile in the middle; and President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil. But Fernandez is term-limited and last month her hand-picked successor lost an election to a U.S.-friendly capitalist named Mauricio Macri. Bachelet in Chile is facing anti-government street protests. And impeachment proceedings are now marring Dilma Rousseff's second term.

      This Vestei Marcelino/Reuters photo shows a harassed Dilma Rousseff fighting back against impeachment proceedings in her second term as President of Brazil, Latin America's richest and most powerful nation. This photo, coupled with the recent elections in Venezuela and Argentina, is emblematic of the winds of change in Latin America that are adversely affecting Cuba at a very inopportune time.

      Danny Ortega, the Cuban-friendly President of Nicaragua, is pointing his finger directly at Miami and Washington "as the prime instigators of the constant pressure democratically elected Presidents trying to help the poor people throughout Latin America are being subjected to by the Cubans in Miami and in the U. S. Congress. They are hell-bent and unchecked in targeting the legitimate governments of my country, Nicaragua, as well as Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and all the nations in the region friendly to Cuba. If they get their way, it will be like in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s when the U. S. dictated governments throughout Latin America, even if the CIA had to overthrow democratically elected governments, like in Guatemala in 1953, in Chile in 1973, and so forth. Only now it's not the CIA so much. It's Miami Cubans and congressional Cubans. Cuba's revolution in the 1950s and Nicaragua's in the 1970s changed things, but it's happening again." In the last couple of weeks, Ortega has been irked as Nicaragua's military blocked thousands of Cubans at the Costa Rican border, slowing their efforts to reach U. S. soil at the Mexican border.

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A Very Special Cuban

She's Quite A Woman!!
{Updated for Monday, December 7th, 2015}
UFirst:

        Today -- December 7th -- is a reminder of the Day of Infamy for America back in 1941. A surprise Japanese attack ushered America into World War II. The graphic above depicts the U. S. ships sunk, damaged or destroyed. That day, 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were severely wounded. My Uncle Ritchie, a proud member of the U. S. Navy and the man I was named for, was at Pearl Harbor that day. 

Photo courtesy: Cita con Angeles

       This lady, in my opinion, is the most interesting person in Cuba today. See if you agree. Maria Antonia Puyol Bravo was born 88 years ago in Biran, Cuba. She spent most of her youth fishing, riding horses, and mingling with three lifelong friends -- Ramon, Fidel, and Raul Castro. She never married and has no children. Today Maria owns and works the El Alcazar ranch in the foothills of the Sierra Maestra Mountains in southeastern Cuba. It's not just any ranch. In a book-length article about Florida billionaire John Parke Wright IV trying to revitalize the cattle industry in Cuba, Newsweek Magazine described Maria's pristine, 1500-acre ranch "One of the best cattle ranches in the Western Hemisphere." Not just Cuba, mind you, but THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE! El Alcazar means "the castle" or "the fortress" and it is both of those things thanks to Maria and, perhaps, thanks to her bond with the three Castro brothers -- 91-year-old Ramon, 89-year-old Fidel, and 84-year-old Raul. Maria told Newsweek she is not surprised the Castro brothers became the leaders of Cuba. She said, "Today they run all of Cuba the way they used to run Biran." At age 88, Maria still runs one of the BEST RANCHES IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE on 1500 pristine acres of gorgeous Cuban land. 

One of Maria's prized bulls at El Alcazar.

Some of Maria's prized cattle at El Alcazar.

One of Maria's prized horses at El Alcazar.

        This photo shows the Castro brothers in 1941 when Maria was growing up with them in Biran, Cuba. Fidel and Raul, of course, need no introduction but their reclusive older brother Ramon Castro is not nearly as well known.

         Ramon Castro, on the left above, is shown here with friend John Parke Wright IV, the billionaire from Naples, Florida. It was Mr. Wright who reminded Newsweek Magazine of Maria Puyol's exquisite El Alcazar ranch. Because of Ramon's age, his son Angel now often accompanies Mr. Wright in Cuba.

        Ramon turned 91 on October 14th; Fidel turned 89 on August 13th; and Raul turns 85 on June 3rd, 2016. Ramon is shown here again with his billionaire friend John Parke Wright IV of Tampa, Florida. 

      John Parke Wright IV is a billionaire legend in South Florida like friend Maria Antonia Puyol is a very wealthy legend in southeastern Cuba. Mr. Wright's imperial, intriguing relationship with Cuba, especially Ramon Castro, has made him a few enemies -- especially in Miami and the U. S. Congress. Newsweek asked him if he's worried about Congress's reaction to his current efforts to improve the cattle industry in Cuba. He replied brusquely, "If Congress...wants to throw me in jail, let them try." 

       John Parke Wright IV is a very interesting figure in the U.S.-Cuban equation. He is a 5th generation member of Tampa's Lykes family that owned thousands of acres in pre-revolutionary Cuba and still owns countless thousands of acres in the U. S. today. Mr. Wright says when he was a youth in Tampa his uncle told him, "If you behave we'll send you to Cuba to run the Lykes cattle ranch. If you are bad, we will send you to work at our steamship line in China." In 1959 the victorious Cuban Revolution nationalized the Lykeses' 15,000-acre Cuban ranch. Yet, Wright became Cuba's, Ramon's, and Maria's dear friend, apparently because he believed...and apparently still does...that the sheer brutality and thievery of the Batista dictatorship in the 1950s made a revolution...uh...necessary.

Fidel and Raul {kneeling} as underdog rebels.

Fidel Castro when he was no longer the underdog.

        Fidel Castro, now 89, is unwell but still has an inquisitive mind and loves to read biographies. Is this one about President Barack Obama? Uh, yes!

Taylor J. Wofford, Newsweek

           The excellent and balanced Newsweek article on Dec. 2-2015 written by Taylor J. Wofford was entitled: "Cows, Capitalism and the Future of Cuba." It focused on Florida billionaire John Parke Wright IV and his continuing efforts to improve the cattle industry in Cuba. It also introduced Americans to a Cuban legend, 88-year-old cattle rancher Maria Antonia Puyol. But Mr. Wofford also expertly updated Cuba's ongoing struggle to feed its people, correctly pointing out that a combination of the U. S. embargo and flaws in its Socialist system have left 11.2 million Cubans struggling today. Wofford referenced the "thaw" in U.S.-Cuban relations being engineered by President Obama. He wrote: "Most Cubans welcome this development but few want things to go back how they were before the revolution, when Cuba was a de facto colony of Washington and Havana a decadent playpen for wealthy gringos." That sentence showed guts and insight about Cuba that the mainstream U. S. media doesn't have the courage to mention. The "decadent playpen for wealthy gringos" in pre-revolutionary Cuba was run by the top echelon of the Mafia -- Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Santo Trafficante, etc. A democracy teaming with the Mafia seemed unseemly.

          From 1952 till the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictators were overthrown on January 1, 1959, Americans flocked to Cuba because, indeed, it was as Taylor J. Wofford described it -- "a decadent playpen for wealthy gringos." This photo shows A-list American movie stars Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck at a bar in Batista's Cuba when Havana superseded Las Vegas as the Mafia's top prize.

Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner honeymooned in Cuba.

     The interesting, nostalgic image above is courtesy of the Tampa Tribune. It shows a huge ship, the S.S. Florida, returning to Miami after one of its regular visits to Havana during the Batista dictatorship. In the 1950s the legal and indomitable sea and air traffic to Cuba massively fueled what Newsweek's Taylor Wofford this week called "the decadent playpen for wealthy gringos."  

      The photo on the right was used by the BBC to illustrate an article about Maria Antonia Puyol Bravo, the 88-year-old lifetime friend of the three Castro brothers. That's Maria showing the BBC one of her prized bulls on her El Alcazar ranch, which Newsweek the first week of Dec.-2015 called, "One of the best cattle ranches in the Western Hemisphere." How Maria Antonia Puyol and El Alcazar both survived and thrived in Batista's Cuba and Castro's Cuba makes for very, very interesting reading!!

Meanwhile:

     This is Olga Tanon, the superstar singer/entertainer from Puerto Rico. As a United States citizen from that efficacious United States Territory, Olga is shown here inviting Americans to visit and "understand" the Cuba that she knows...and loves. Olga understands that, despite the efforts of President Obama to deal with a U. S. Congress dictated to by America's lush Castro Industry, everyday Americans still cannot visit one place on this earth -- Cuba. Saturday -- December. 5th -- Olga gave a free concert in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba's second largest city and former capital on the southeastern tip of the island. On December 12th she'll be back to give a free concert in the capital city of Havana. Olga seems intent on making up to the Cubans for what the Castro Industry in the United States has done to them since 1959.

An emotional Cuban listening to Olga sing.

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Blocking U.S.-Cuban Thaw

It's Easy As Pie, Really
{Monday, November 30th, 2015}

       With the exception of The Tampa Tribune, there are very few news outlets in the United States that have the necessary combination of courage-competence-integrity to tell the truth about U.S.-Cuban relations, a nexus that has drastically affected both nations since the USS Maine mysteriously exploded in Havana Harbor in 1898, giving the U. S. the pretext to gain control of Cuba from Spain in the Spanish-American War. On November 27th, 2015, an article in The Tampa Tribune written by excellent journalist Paul Guzzo expertly updated those ramifications. The article was illustrated by the Associated Press photo above that depicts Cuban fishermen. Guzzo's first sentence was: "It has been six months since the United States removed Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, but the legacy of the past designation has lingered on, hurting attempts to finally normalize relations between the two nations."

        Guzzo mentions that "There are over $8 billion dollars outstanding in property claims against Cuba." Those claims, of course, date back to January 1, 1959, when the Cuban Revolution overthrew the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship, chasing the leaders to safer havens, mostly nearby Miami. Guzzo added, "Under U. S. law, the Cuban embargo can only be lifted after the two nations settle the property claims."

             In other words, there is zero chance that the U. S. embargo of Cuba, first imposed in 1962, can "be lifted" despite the optimism following the announcements on Dec. 19-2014 by Presidents Obama and Castro they they had agreed to "normalize relations." The abnormally bellicose relations between Cuba and the U. S. since 1959 have simply enriched and empowered too many Cuban exiles, especially in Miami. From 1959 till 1962, all-out efforts by the U. S. and the Cuban exiles to recapture Cuba included...assassination attempts against Cuba's revolutionary leaders, the Bay of Pigs military attack, and the U. S. embargo of Cuba that exists to this very day. And then by 1966 the U. S. Congress had come under the total control of anti-Castro extremists as far as America's Cuban policy was/is concerned. Thus in 1966 the infamous Cuban Adjustment Act began an endless stream of "legal" U. S. laws powered by two purposes: {1} Hurt Cuba, and {2} enrich and empower the Cuban exile anti-Castro leaders. Both purposes have been infinitely realized, thanks to unchallenged post-1966 laws such as The Torricelli Bill, Helms-Burton Act, etc. In that milieu, overwhelmed by fear or political correctness, American politicians and jounalists, with few exceptions, were persuaded to either support or at least not object to even excesses of the U.S. Cuban policy. That has particularly been true since 1976 when anti-Castro terrorists bombed the civilian airliner Cubana Flight 455, killing all 73 on board, and loudly proclaiming in the Miami media that it was "the biggest blow yet against Castro!" The top Cuban-American newsman in Miami, Emilio Milian, voiced opposition to such things, and he was car-bombed. Since 1976 very few U. S. politicians or journalists have taken up for people like Emilio Milian -- or former Miami Herald columnist Jim DeFede who denounced terrorism against Cuba -- but a lot have supported an American Cuban policy that the rest of the world, as indicated by a yearly United Nations vote each October, opposes as extremely partisan and an affront to the supposed pillars of the U. S. democracy. Along the way, propagandized Americans don't much care.

            Paul Guzzo's Nov. 27-2015 article in The Tampa Tribune discussed ramifications of a U. S. Cuban policy designed to hurt Cuba and enrich/empower Cuban-Americans. He wrote: "6 months ago the U. S. removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism." It had been on the books for 33 years as a prime excuse for the Cubans in Miami, backed by the U. S. government, to sue Cuba in Miami courts without Cuba being represented to defend itself. The verdicts, of course, in the Miami courtrooms were pre-ordained. Guzzo wrote: "In 2003, when a Cuban plane was hijacked and flown to Key West, for instance, Cuba demanded the plane's return, but it was instead auctioned. The money was used to settle part of a $27 million judgment won by a Cuban-American woman who said she had unwittingly married a Cuban spy as part of his cover." Guzzo referenced other successful anti-Cuban lawsuits: "...one granting $2.8 billion that, with interest, is now $3.2 billion." Yes, billion with a "b." He also mentioned "another for $49.3 million and another for $454 million" awarded to Miami families for men allegedly killed or executed on missions to Cuba. Guzzo added, "In each of the lawsuits the plaintiffs won by default when Cuba chose not to defend itself in court." 
            Paul Guzzo's Nov. 27-2015 article in the The Tampa Tribune indicated that the U. S., even with Cuba off the terrorist list, can still "freeze" Cuban assets. He mentioned the "over $200 million in Cuban assets the U. S. government has frozen" relating to Cuba's share of money from U.S.-Cuban phone calls. Guzzo pointed out the George W. Bush administration, tightly aligned with the Miami Cubans, "seized more than $100 million in long-distance fees in 2002 to pay some of those judgments" that were routinely made.
            Remember what Guzzo wrote: "Under U. S. law, the Cuban embargo can only be lifted after the two nations settle the property claims." Guzzo says there are "$8 billion" worth of claims outstanding. Even if Cuba had that much loose change lying around in Havana, it wouldn't pay such U. S. claims even though, indeed, it has settled property claims with other countries. But against the U. S., Cuba has claims of its own that it would love to have arbitrated by international courts. Cuba has minutely made the case about the untold billions of dollars the U. S. embargo has cost it since 1962 and Cuba believes an international court would rule the embargo illegal. Moreover, Cuba can easily document numerous terrorist acts against innocent Cubans that have been victims of coastal airplane and speed-boat strafings, hotel bombings, and, of course, the bombing of Cubana Flight 455 that killed 73 civilians including teenage athletes.

         Even Cuba's brilliant, influential, and highly respected news anchor, 27-year-old Cristina Escobar -- on air via Cuban and regional newscasts and while covering the U.S.-Cuban diplomatic sessions in Washington earlier this year -- has referenced the Miami court decisions against Cuba that Paul Guzzo himself referenced on November 27th in The Tampa Tribune. Escobar frames it this way: "Miami courts make outrageous and successful lawsuits against Cuba when Cuba it is not even represented. So, I wonder if the U. S. would be so kind as to allow Cuba to be represented in an unbiased international courtroom, like in the Hague, when Cuba would be allowed to defend itself and then present its lawsuits against the U. S. for such things as the theft and continued illegal occupation of Guantanamo Bay since 1903 and the illegal embargo/blockade since 1962, not to mention the long and deadly lists of terrorist acts against us." 

         Even if Americans dismiss the facts respected journalist Paul Guzzo referenced in his Nov. 27-2015 article in The Tampa Tribune or conveniently dispute the points raised by Cuba's superstar news anchor Cristina Escobar, no one can deny that there are two sides to the U.S.-Cuban conundrum. Moreover, perhaps it is time for both sides to be fairly aired in both nations. In the U. S., that would mean my democracy would have to cease allowing just a handful of revengeful Cuban-Americans to mandate, decade after decade, biased and undemocratic U. S. laws that harm everyone but them.

Meanwhile:

             This beautiful little Cuban girl is a reminder of the uniquely and long-standing enigmatic nature of U.S.-Cuban relations. Her name is Gema Hernandez Perez.

        Famed American actor Danny Glover kicked off the Thanksgiving-Christmas holiday season by flying to Cuba to meet Gema. Her parents -- Gerardo Hernandez and Adriana Perez -- were glad to oblige. Danny had visited Gerardo when it was believed he would spend the rest of his life in prison in Victorville, California. As the most famed member of the famed Cuba 5, Gerardo had been sentenced to life in prison by a Miami court for being an alleged Cuban spy. The Cuba 5 gained international fame as many tried to prove they were in Miami trying to prevent terrorist acts against innocent Cubans. After serving almost 15 years of their sentences, the Cuba 5 are back in Cuba as heroes. Gerardo arrived back in Cuba in December of 2014 in the famous swap for the imprisoned American Alan Gross, a stunning exchange that allowed for Presidents Obama and Castro to announce plans for a thaw in U.S.-Cuban relations. Adriana, badly wanting a baby by her beloved husband Gerardo, was not allowed to visit him in his U. S. prison. Also, she was convinced he would never be released. That's when, amazingly, a lot of friendly people -- including Danny Glover and a powerful U. S. Senator {you can google that information} arranged for Gerardo's sperm to be flown from California to Cuba to impregnate Adriana!!!!!!!!!! Sorry for all the exclamation points, but neither I nor a great novelist could make this up. Shortly after Gerardo was freed, he was there when Adriana gave birth to Gema in a Cuban hospital. On his trip to Cuba to see the little girl that owes him so much, Danny Glover told the press: "When I joined the liberation committee for the Cuba Five and studied the men, I saw in them a bridge to the world of justice and equality that we want to build."

Gema and her proud parents, Adriana and Gerardo.

Danny Glover saying and waving good-bye to Gema Hernandez Perez.

Uh, did I say amazing?

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