Cuba-China-USA: Small World

Neighbors Near and Far
{Updated: Tuesday, December 29th, 2015}

           An Air China Boeing 777 took off from Beijing this week, Sunday, and landed in Havana on Monday, December 28th. The flight took 19.5 hours with a stopover in Montreal for refueling. It was an historic flight, the first one between China and Cuba. It's also the first direct flight linking China and the Caribbean. China has the world's second largest economy and is the world's top source for tourists, mostly to Europe and Southeast Asia. But in the past year Chinese tourism has increased 27% to Cuba. The two countries have had political and cultural ties for decades. Now China is hoping that Cuba can serve as a gateway for more Chinese investments in the Caribbean and Latin America. In the jet and digital age, the world is intertwined and faraway China wants to be neighborly with the Caribbean and Latin America.

Photo courtesy: Chicago Tribune.

       Rahn Emanuel, the Mayor of Chicago since 2011, was on a ten-day family vacation to Cuba when he got a dreaded phone call Christmas weekend: He was told that yet another police shooting had killed a 19-year-old college student who was brandishing a baseball bat and a 55-year-old mother of five who was a neighbor and happened to be in the home trying to help with a domestic dispute after the father called 911 saying his son was threatening him. Mr. Emanuel, President Obama's former Chief-of-Staff, needed the extended vacation in Cuba. Police shootings in Chicago, coupled with recurring gang violence, already had marred his tenure as the Mayor of Chicago, America's third largest city. His extended vacation in Cuba included his wife, Amy Rule, and their three children. They were accompanied to Cuba by a group of other families that regularly vacation with the Emanuels. When Mayor Emanuel left for Cuba, he was leaving behind demonstrations in Chicago and other cities demanding his resignation because of police shootings of black citizens, and this was compounded by the Chicago-to-Havana phone call that informed him of the latest two deaths. Cuba, as Mayor Emanuel discovered, is not all that far from Chicago.

        This photo, courtesy of Politico, shows Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel reacting briskly and angrily earlier this month when he was being interviewed by Politico's Mike Allen. Mr. Emanuel was caught off guard when Allen asked him live on-air about his upcoming trip to Cuba, which the Mayor had confided privately to Allen prior to the interview. But he blasted Allen for revealing the news "to everybody." He wasn't apologetic about visiting Cuba but he merely wanted the vacation "to be private and peaceful."

     The distance from Key West {USA} to Cuba is a mere 90 miles with the separation bridged by the Florida Straits. But geography is one thing, politics quite another. Columbus discovered both Cuba and the U. S. in 1492. The largest and most populated island in the Caribbean has never had a democratic government, unless you consider a few Spanish-friendly or American-friendly rulers that sometimes masqueraded as popularly elected Presidents. After the American Revolution loosened imperialist England's iron grip,  the United States became a world-class democracy in 1776. After the Cuban Revolution loosened America's iron grip on the first day of 1959, leading rebels Celia Sanchez and Fidel Castro, contemplating democracy, made a 12-day trip to the U. S. in April of 1959 to explore a U.S.-approved democratic possibility {and that was the only reason for such a trip so soon after shedding their guerrilla uniforms}. Their rationale was simple: For the Cuban Revolution to be viable and meaningful, they would need to be on friendly terms with the economic and military colossus just off their northern shore. Fidel, instructed by Celia, intended to tell President Eisenhower that the U. S. could closely monitor Cuba's democratic elections in the fall of 1959, and that neither Fidel nor Che nor proxies for them would be up for election. {Celia would have supported vibrant young rebel commander Camilo Cienfuegos; he accompanied Celia and Fidel on the U. S. trip in April of 1959 but died in a coastal plane crash later that fall}. But that seminal mission on the 12-day visit, to ponder U.S.-brokered democracy on the island, unraveled quickly. The promised Fidel meeting with Eisenhower, a promise that predicated the trip, never happened. Celia negotiated the trip via phone calls to the U. S. State Department and the U. S. Society of Newspaper Editors, with both institutions assuring her that Fidel, then a revolutionary hero in both countries, could have the face-to-face meeting with President Eisenhower, the famed World War II general whom she admired. However, Vice President Richard Nixon's wing of the White House maneuvered the decent but malleable Eisenhower out of town. That's when Celia discovered that more than just 90 miles separated Revolutionary Cuba from America.

        In April of 1959 Vice President Richard Nixon was not yet known to Americans as "Tricky Dick." Yet, his face-to-face meeting with Fidel, so soon after the revolutionary victory over the U.S.-backed Batista dictatorship, was the last thing Celia Sanchez wanted. She was aware that three powerful right-wingers in the Eisenhower administration were Revolutionary Cuba's primary enemies. They were: Vice President Nixon, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, and CIA Director Allen Dulles. From her vantage point in Cuba, mostly as a guerrilla fighter in the foothills of the Sierra Maestra Mountains on the island's southeastern tip, Celia -- who had revolutionary contacts in Miami, Fort Benning, and Washington -- believed that Nixon and the Dulles brothers had led the Eisenhower administration astray, such as teaming with the Mafia in 1952 to support the Batista Dictatorship in Cuba and in 1953 beginning to overthrow popularly elected Latin American presidents to install U.S.-friendly dictators. So, rest assured, Celia would not have arranged for Fidel to travel to the U. S. in April of 1959 if she had known Nixon, not Eisenhower, would meet with the newly famous revolutionary hero. After the double-cross, Nixon -- instead of listening to what Fidel's thoughts at the time were -- boldly informed Fidel that the Cuban exiles and the U. S. would "be back in control of Cuba within a few weeks, a few months at the latest." The words still resonate today.

     Nixon's threat and warning hurled at Fidel mostly impacted the mindset of Celia Sanchez, whose decision-making exceeded Fidel's, with his approval, from 1957 till her death from cancer at age 59 in 1980. The photo on the right is copyrighted by Yale University and it shows Celia exiting a New York hotel room after a post-Nixon session with Fidel. Marta Rojas, the still-living legendary journalist/author who worked closely with Celia and Fidel during and after the revolution, had intimate discussions with Celia, both as a journalist and as an idol. That's how we know Celia's reaction to Nixon's threat, and hers was the reaction that counted: "Dammit to blazes, Fidel, we tried. Thank you for agreeing, finally, to come. If we discover that a man like Nixon has the power to represent the United States in its dealings with revolutionary Cuba, this trip was my mistake. We'll go home now. And just like in the Sierra Maestra, we have two choices -- surrender or die fighting. And for us, surrender will never be an option. We fought a guerrilla war that is now an upfront war."

    When Celia Sanchez led Fidel Castro back to Cuba after 12 days in the U. S. in April of 1959, she was, with his full blessing, the prime decision-maker in Revolutionary Cuba. Her first choice was to be friends with the United States. Nixon convinced her that was not possible. She knew, at the time, there were two competing world nuclear super-powers -- the U. S. and the Soviet Union. She decided to take advantage of that competition. If the nearby superpower was intent on recapturing Cuba, maybe the other superpower would believe it was in its interest to prevent it. The rest is history -- multiple assassination attempts against Fidel beginning in 1959, the Bay of Pigs attack in 1961; the closing of embassies in Havana and Washington in 1961; the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the embargo from 1962 till this very day, etc. All the while, somehow, Revolutionary Cuba survived.

      If you disagree with this synopsis that sets the stage for today's U.S.-Cuban relations, I believe it's because the Cuban narrative in the U. S. since 1959 has mostly been dictated by two generations of the Cubans and Mafiosi who fled the Cuban Revolution. They, for example, wouldn't want you to know of Celia Sanchez's significance...or Marta Rojas's...because they were female pillars of the revolution. That's Marta in the above photo introducing Fidel in December of 1959 for his very first televised address to the nation. As a top journalist in Batista's dictatorship, Marta worked in the urban underground on behalf of the rebellious Celia and Fidel. After the revolutionary triumph in 1959, Marta remained intimate with both Celia and Fidel. She also emerged as a brilliant, internationally renowned journalist, author, and historian.

      
     Marta Rojas today knows more about Celia Sanchez and Fidel Castro than any living soul. Moreover, her encyclopedic revolutionary knowledge is internationally respected from a journalistic and historic standpoint. Her documented views and experiences collide majestically with the images of the Cuban Revolution and Revolutionary Cuba as portrayed in the United States by the remnants of the Batista-Mafia dictatorship that fled the victorious revolution in January of 1959. But for the non-propagandized and un-intimidated, Marta Rojas's historic and insightful remembrances have stood the test of time.  

            In case you have trouble reading the exact quotation above by Celia Sanchez, here is precisely how she summed up the struggles of the Cuban Revolution and Revolutionary Cuba against supposedly overwhelming odds: "We rebels...get far too much credit for winning the revolution. Our enemies deserve most of the credit, for being greedy cowards and idiots." Rather strong words, but she would know.

      In 1973, in the 14th year of Revolutionary Cuba's survival, the famously gregarious Fidel Castro also uttered a pertinent and prescient quote related to the antagonistic David vs. Goliath relations between the U. S. and Cuba. As you can see above, in 1973 Fidel said: "The US will come to talk to us when they have a black president and the world has a Latin American Pope." Wow!! He said that in 1973!!

       Lo 'n behold!! In March of 2015, America's FIRST black President, Barack Obama, met at the Vatican in Rome with the world's FIRST Latin American Pope, Pope Francis from Argentina. And...lo 'n behold!!!!...the Latin American Pope and the black President discussed normalizing relations with Cuba as a top priority for both men.

 Pope Francis in 2015 visited the 89-year-old Fidel in his Havana home.

In April of 2015 President Obama actually shook hands with President Raul Castro.

         After that ground-breaking, earth-shaking handshake in Panama, Presidents Castro and Obama have continued talking, both in person and on the phone. Of the last eleven U. S. presidents, Mr. Obama is the only one to display such guts. And most Cubans, most Americans, and most citizens of the world genuinely appreciate his courage, WHICH WILL BE ENGRAVED FOR ETERNITY ON HIS PRESIDENTIAL LEGACY.

Celia in Revolutionary Cuba and Celia in the Cuban Revolution.

Because of her, the revolution lives on in Cuba.

      Of course, in these closing days of 2015, U.S.-Cuban relations are not nearly as rosy as the cheeks of this little Cuban girl. The embargo remains, as do other nefarious aspects mandated by a Batistiano-dictated U. S. Congress. But, thanks to Obama, little Cuban girls on the island have a brighter future. That would please Celia Sanchez. She detested Richard Nixon. She would like Barack Obama. She fought a revolution to brighten the futures of little Cuban girls on the island...like this one.

       Or this one. Famed Cuban photographer Alberto Korda took this photo of the little Cuban girl lovingly clutching a block of wood, pretending it was a doll. Alberto Korda and millions of other caring people believed this little girl deserved a real doll.

     Penny Pritzker is a caring person. An American billionaire, she is President Obama's Secretary of Commerce. This photo is courtesy of Ramon Espinosa/AP. It shows Secretary Pritzker, in the left-front, in Cuba back in October. She went out of her way to show Cuban children that, as an American, she cared about them.

Celia Sanchez, the child-loving doctor's daughter.

         These Cuban schoolgirls were on hand to celebrate Celia Sanchez's birthday, which was May 9th. Celia's revolutionary fervor was based on a simple belief that Cuban children were more important than dictators, politicians, or greedy business moguls. Of course, there were many who disagreed with her, then and now.

           As the pivotal year of 2015 dwindles down to a few days, Cubans who have lived under the yoke of the U. S. embargo since 1962 have hope thanks to good people like President Barack Obama and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker resisting dictates of a recalcitrant U. S. Congress. This photo, courtesy of Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images, perhaps serves as a metaphor for the upcoming year of 2016. From a balcony that shows side-by-side U. S. and Cuban flags, this Cuban offers a thumbs up to the New Year.

         Yesterday -- Monday-Dec. 28 -- Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel continued his extended 10-day family vacation to Cuba even as demonstrators back home called for his ouster after even more controversial police murders in his city. It's a reminder that all major cities...Chicago, Havana, etc....have problems.

         Monday, Mayor Emanuel's spokeswoman, Kelley Quinn, said that he will return to Chicago Tuesday, Dec. 29th, and cut short his family vacation in Cuba. She said, "He will continue the ongoing work of restoring accountability and trust in the Chicago Police Department." He had planned a ten-day stay in Cuba.

****************************************

Fighting The Cuban Embargo

More Brave Souls Step Up
{Updated: Sunday, December 27th, 2015}

{Photo courtesy: Walter Horishnyk/Minneapolis Star-Tribune}

          The Minneapolis Star-Tribune is one of America's biggest and best newspapers. Its biggest and best article yesterday {Dec. 26th} was entitled: "MINNESOTA ARTS GROUPS LEAD A NEW CHARGE INTO CUBA TO CONNECT." The sub-title was: "Minnesotans Are at the Forefront of the Rush to Cuba After Obama's Diplomatic Thaw." The article, written by Kristin Tillotson, said: "Artists often use their work to open doors of understanding. Zenon Dance Company of Minneapolis plans to leap right through such doors when it travels to Cuba next month, January of 2016." The article explained that: "Zenon is joining a wave of arts groups from the Twin Cities {Minneapolis-St. Paul} that is embracing a culture as artistically fertile as Cuba's soil." 

           This Walter Horishnyk photo was also used to illustrate the article by Kristin Tillotson in yesterday's Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The caption read: "The St. Paul-based American Composers Forum -- 10 composers and six instrumentalists -- in Cuba in November at a prestigious music festival." Those six musicians also {above} livened up the streets of Havana prior to the festival. While anti-Castro extremists from Miami and New Jersey have viciously dictated America's hostile Cuban policy since 1959, yesterday's article in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune is another reminder that a lot of good people -- especially in the state of Minnesota -- are now following the lead of President Obama and trying desperately to correct what has been a six-decade injustice to both everyday Cubans on the island and the U. S. democracy.

Other Minnesota positives: 

         David Frederickson is the Agricultural Commissioner for the state of Minnesota. This Christmas week, 2015, he led a 17-member entourage to Cuba that conducted an extensive survey of the island's farms, markets, workers, and officials. He now believes there are "pertinent trade opportunities" for Minnesota farmers if President Obama manages to further ease the 1961 embargo, or if "enough businesses can persuade the U. S. Congress to get off...uh, to repeal the embargo." Mr. Frederickson told the Minnesota Star Tribune on December 24th, "Trade is a two-way street and we explored some of the future ways we can work together with Cuba to create the biggest benefit to both of our agricultural economies."

       Amy Klobuchar is the senior U. S. Senator from Minnesota. She is one of the bravest souls in the U. S. Congress fighting to bring sanity and decency to America's Cuban policy. This year she introduced The Freedom To Export To Cuba Act in an effort to repeal the congressionally-mandated embargo of Cuba.

         Tom Emmer is a Republican member of the U. S. House of Representatives from Minnesota. Like Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, Congressman Emmer is brave enough to take on the pro-embargo Cuban-Americans in the U. S. Congress. Tom Emmer introduced the Cuba Trade Act of 2015 and challenged "the efficacy and decency of an embargo that hurts Cubans, Americans, and the very pillar of our democracy."

        Sarah Stephens is the democracy-loving head of the Washington-based Center for Democracy in the Americas. She is America's leading expert on U.S.-Cuban relations and she stands firmly at the forefront as a fierce opponent of the meretricious Cuban embargo, which has been in place since 1962. Last week she wrote, "As support among Cuban-Americans for the President's policy has gone up, the fear-factor...emanating from Miami and New Jersey...has subsided substantially." It is interesting to note, in this last week of 2015, that the "feat-factor" in the United States regarding Cuba does not scare-off or buy-off all members of the United States Congress -- such as Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota and Congressman Tom Emmer from Minnesota. And, of course, Sarah Stephens wouldn't have founded the Center for Democracy in the Americas if the "fear-factor" regarding important topics such as Cuba frightened her.

        The University of Richmond baseball team is shown above on its pre-Christmas trip to Cuba in December, 2015. The Spiders are coached by Tracy Woodson, a former star for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and led by pre-season All-American outfielder Michael Moorman. They played three games in Cuba, posting a 3-1 record. But a Christmas day release by the University of Richmond said the mere experience of visiting Cuba was the highlight. The release said: "The traveling party also got to experience the culture of the capital city of Havana. They experienced a walking tour of the city, including important churches and cultural sites denoting the history of the great city, with visits to forts, museums, the main square, old Havana, the city's Malecon seawall, and the Artisans Market." Such visits help bridge the U.S.-Cuban cultural gaps.

****************************************

Trumpeting U.S.-Cuba Ties

As Businesses Battle U. S. Congress
{Updated: Christmas Day, December 25th, 2015}

Photo courtesy: Yamil Lage/The Houston Chronicle.

            This week -- Dec. 22-2015 -- the Houston Chronicle published a long Editorial. It was entitled: "END EMBARGO AGAINST CUBA: Even A Majority Of Cuban-Americans Believe It Is Time To Resume Trade With The Island." The Editorial used the above photo of a Cuban trumpeting U.S.-Cuba ties to illustrate its pertinent message aimed at the U. S. Congress, which callously defies sanity, decency, and world opinion to keep in place a hideous embargo first imposed in 1962 for {according to declassified U. S. documents} the stated reason of depriving and starving Cubans on the island for the purpose of inspiring them to overthrow Cuba's revolutionary government. Both the embargo and its premise have failed miserably, except to punish millions of innocent Cubans on the island as well as smearing the image of the U. S. and democracy in the eyes of the world. Such U. S. laws, essentially dictated by revengeful elements of the ousted Batista-Mafia dictatorship, have used nuances within the U. S. Congress to codify and legalize a bevy of U. S. laws designed to sate the revenge, financial, and political motives of a few while harming all others in a discriminating condescension that is totally unprecedented in the annals of the American democracy.

        Cuba, dominating the Caribbean, is due south of Florida. Its strategic location has vast implications for America, the world's dominant nation and democracy. The efficacy of working with Cuba vastly outweighs hostility. It's proximity to the United States commands that, in the Global Warming era, the two neighbors cooperate extensively concerning environmental issues. The Dec. 22-2015 Houston Chronicle Editorial stated: "Texas A & M's Corpus Christi campus is embarking on new research endeavors with Cuba as the United States works to ease relations with the country. The Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, one of the few organizations authorized to work in Cuba, is launching new cooperative research work with Cuban scientists and students, focusing on environmental protection. Harte researchers have worked with the Cuban scientific community since 2002, but plan to expand their work now that the U. S. is re-establishing diplomatic ties with the island. Working with Cuba can help provide a better understanding of environmental change in the Gulf, including water quality, sea level rise, and ocean acidification."

       The Dec. 22-2015 Houston Chronicle Editorial, which pleaded for normalizing relations between Cuba and the United States, also stated: "The two largest airlines that carry the most traffic in Houston -- Southwest and United -- want to start regular commercial flights to Cuba." Houston is now the fourth most populace city in the United States.

       Earlier in this month of December, 2015, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, on the left in the above photo, led a huge contingent of Texas officials and businesses to Cuba. The photo is courtesy of Desmond Boylan/Associated Press and it shows Governor Abbott making his case to Cuban officials to consider Texas, with one of the largest economies in the world, as a prime future trade partner. The Cuban officials were cordial during Governor Abbott's three-day visit, but the island is leery of such overtures form the U. S. because, historically speaking, it does not trust its motives.

   Cristina Escobar -- Cuba's young, dynamic, and influential news anchor -- has grudgingly supported rapprochement with the U. S., at least up to this point. But going forward she says, "As long as the U. S. Congress funds regime-change programs that the American people are unaware of, this island should emphasize business and diplomatic dealings with our friends, not with a nation that is still trying to impose its will on us. We are not lacking for friends and, in fact, the whole world supports our positions on the blockade, Guantanamo Bay and other assaults on our sovereignty. If the U. S. ends the blockade, ends the regime-change programs, and returns our port at Guantanamo Bay, then we should go forward with the normalization process with America, but not till those things are earnestly discussed. The USA has unique power and wealth to influence every nation, yet it can acquire the support of just one nation in the world to support its Cuban policy. What does that say about the USA? And about Cuba?"

        Sarah Stephens, the democracy-loving founder and director of the Washington-based Center for Democracy in the Americas, has -- along with President Obama -- led the fight to normalize relations with Cuba. Her Cuba Central segment on the Center for Democracy in the Americas blog each Friday is the best weekly update on U.S.-Cuban relations. In her last posting, she mentioned that yet another poll out of Miami shows a strong majority of Cuban-Americans now support President Obama's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. She wrote: "As support among Cuban-Americans for the President's policy has gone up, the fear-factor -- by which we mean the old style, scorching hot opinion emanating from Miami and New Jersey which exerted relentless pressure on policymakers to keep the old policies in place -- has subsided substantially." I believe Americans should re-read that long, pertinent sentence by the democracy-loving Sarah Stephens. Sure, the mainstream U. S. media  -- especially the Talking Head-saturated Cable News channels -- does not have enough guts to air Ms. Stephens' definitive statements regarding Cuba. But "...the fear-factor...emanating from Miami and New Jersey..." has, for sure, dictated America's Cuban policy since the 1950s. Sarah Stephens believes democracy deserves a reprieve. Ms. Stephens ended her last CDA comment with these words: "TEARS OF JOY CELEBRATING DECEMBER 17TH." December 17th, 2014, was the day President Obama went on television to inform the world that he was trying to normalize relations with Cuba. "...the fear-factor...emanating from Miami and New Jersey..." It took courage for Sarah Stephens to write that exact sentence.

        Peter Kornbluh is the democracy-loving Cuban expert at the Washington-based National Security Archive. On December 17th, 2015, Mr. Kornbluh penned an article entitled: "WHY US-CUBA NORMALIZATION IS ACCELERATING." He wrote: "One year after the historic breakthrough, rapprochement has overwhelming support -- including from the business community. More than 70% of Americans support lifting the embargo -- and they're voting with their feet, by traveling there." You can go online and read Peter Kornbluh's entire December 17th article.

        Peter Kornbluh's insightful article included this Ramon Espinosa/AP photo that shows a Cuban flag side-by-side with an American flag in a barbershop on the island. These Cubans in Cuba are America's friends, not enemies. 

         Peter Kornbluh's incisive December 17th article also used this Editorial Cartoon to illustrate three of the hard-line Cuban-American members of Congress from Miami and New Jersey furiously trying to block President Obama's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. But in essence, they are blocking the will of many innocent people.

Most Americans approve this brave handshake.

 ****************************************

   

Cuban-U.S. Normalcy: No Chance

Abnormalcy Benefits Too Many
{Updated: Wednesday, December 23rd, 2015}

Photo courtesy: Bryan Anselm/New York Times.

      The photo above was used by the The New York Times to illustrate a major article on Dec. 19-2015. It was entitled: "U. S. and Cuba At Odds Over Exodus of the Island's Doctors." The photo shows a 29-year-old Cuban, Dr. Jose Angel Sanchez, in his new hometown of Paterson, New Jersey. He is one of thousands of Cuban doctors, educated for free in Cuba, who have defected to the U. S. via one of the many regime-change programs funded and legalized with the help of the Bush dynasty. Specifically in Dr. Sanchez's case, the George W. Bush administration in 2006 devised a regime-change program entitled "The Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program." It uses tax dollars to entice Cuban doctors working in foreign countries to defect, with incentives, to the U. S. It was not a scheme to replenish a doctor shortage in the U. S., but rather yet another Bush-directed program to hurt Cuba. It has worked so well that, despite the many advances by President Obama to normalize relations with Cuba, such ongoing roadblocks will totally blunt and roll-back all of the Obama overtures. Americans, left out of the U.S.-Cuban loop by a mostly incompetent or intimidated media, are not supposed to comprehend such facts even as they hear about such things as the opening of embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time since 1961, the resumption of direct mail service and direct commercial airplane flights for the first time in over five decades, etc.

        Robert Muse is a Washington-based lawyer and the world's top expert on U. S. laws relating to Cuba. Thus, Mr. Muse knows something that everyday Americans are not supposed to know. He knows that Bush-era laws, such as "The Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program," are undemocratic, discriminatory, and probably illegal. The aforementioned December 19th New York Times article quoted Mr. Muse as saying, "No country is going to welcome engineered defections of its nationals. The medical defection law is an exploding cigar left over by the Bush administration." Those two sentences from America's top expert on the legality of U. S. laws related to Cuba are, unfortunately, meaningless. That's because since 1959 the Cuban narrative in the U. S. has been dictated by extremist elements of the ousted Batista dictatorship and their self-serving sycophants, such as the Bush dynasty. As long as the American people in general do not react to such things as the terrorist bombing of a child-laden Cuban civilian airplane or the legalization of such laws as the medical parole program, the Cuban extremists and benefactors like the Bush dynasty will feel free to continue using an easily purchased Congress to enact laws, regulations, and actions supposedly designed "to hurt Castro" while, in fact, enriching and empowering a few at the expense of the many. The aftereffects, such as shaming America's democratic pillars, are of no apparent concern to those who benefit revengefully, economically or politically. All the while, as the Bush-era Cuban dictations remain in place, Americans are supposed to sense that...hey!...the U. S. is normalizing relations with Cuba. Good luck! Ask America's top legal expert, Robert Muse. Or, better yet, ask Cuba's top expert on such U.S.-Cuban matters.

         Josefina Vidal, Cuba's Minister for North American Affairs, has brilliantly negotiated with the Obama administration a remarkable series of advancements in relations with the United States, most notably the re-opening of embassies for the first time since 1961. But she is abundantly aware, in the closing days of 2015 as Mr. Obama enters the final year of his two-term presidency, "We are, to be honest, at the mercy of an unmerciful group in the U. S. Congress that sets U. S. policy regarding Cuba." By "We" she apparently means herself and President Obama. And she is right. She believes the ignorance or apathy of the American people remains the primary strength of "the unmerciful group" that dictates America's Cuban policy. However, parameters to rein in the excesses don't exist.

         This is the image of the United States that the rest of the world has regarding America's Cuban policy. That fact is headlined each October by a vote in the United Nations. It is also true that most Americans don't give a damn. 

       The sheer ease in which a handful of Cuban-Americans aligned with the Bush dynasty have set America's Cuban policy since the 1980s to benefit them revengefully, economically, and politically at everyone else's expense is, actually, quite simple. First off, not taking a chance on a decent Democratic President, such as Obama, having the Executive Power to change the policy, they codified the most severe Cuban laws in an easily controllable U. S. Congress. That took place in three steps, which are:

{1} The Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 {"Torricelli"}.

{2} The Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996 {"Helms-Burton"}.

and {3} The Trade Sanctions and Reform Act of 2000 ("George W. Bush"}.

      With the above three acts in the U. S. Congress, the Batistianos, aligned tightly with the Bush dynasty, had codified the severest Cuban policy, such as the embargo, solely in the hands of Congress, not taking a chance that a U. S. President would interfere with it. Getting a small but requisite amount of right-wing members of Congress -- Bob Torricelli, Jesse Helms, Dan Burton, etc. -- has never been a problem, a fact that shames democracy even more than it has punished two generations of innocent Cubans on the island, all in the guise of "hurting Fidel Castro," who is now 89-years-old and has only been "hurt" by old age and ill health.

     As if making fun of the world's greatest democracy, the Cuban narrative or propaganda in the U. S. since 1959 has successfully caused the American people to ignore the 191-to-2 vote in the United Nations on October 28th that emphatically supported Cuba's plea to end the U. S. embargo. It has been in effect since 1962 as the longest and cruelest embargo, which Cuba calls a blockade, imposed by a huge, strong country against a much smaller and weaker country. In all the world, when the 193 member nations voted, the U. S., the world's most influential economic and military power, could only purchase or persuade one nation to support its Cuban embargo. And the world understands that Israel is dependent on billions of U. S. dollars yearly as by far the biggest recipient of U. S. foreign aid. But even so, a 191-to-2 worldwide vote should make an impact on anybody!! The fact that it doesn't reflects poorly on the intelligence and courage of the American people who were bequeathed the greatest government in history, which maybe we don't deserve.

It also reflects poorly on Israel, even in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood {above}.

          This USA Today photo informed Americans on Nov. 17-2015 that Nicaraguan police and soldiers, at their border with Costa Rica, stopped hundreds of Cubans who were trying to make their way to the Mexican border. That was over a month ago. Now up to 6,000 Cubans are blocked on the Costa Rican side of the border, with Nicaragua being supported by Guatemala, Belize, and other Latin American nations. The Cubans, mistakenly worried that President Obama has the power to end Wet Foot/Dry Foot, have reportedly paid human traffickers up to $15,000 each to get them to the Mexican border. Once there when their front foot touches U. S. soil they are instantly home-free with instant benefits. Wet Foot/Dry Foot is one of many U. S. laws that powerfully favor Cubans and only Cubans. While it is abundantly clear that Americans will accept such Cuban laws forever, much of the rest of the world -- as indicated by the yearly and implacable UN vote and by the turmoil at the Nicaraguan-Costa Rican border -- is tired of it.

       This Marco Ruiz/Miami Herald graphic was compiled over a month ago to illustrate an ongoing situation that is one of countless problems caused by a handful of Batistianos and their easily acquired sycophants in the U. S. Congress having the power to craft and maintain U. S. laws that favor a self-serving few while discriminating against everyone else. Human traffickers and other benefactors of the vast Castro Industry in the U. S. appear to love it.

         From 2000 through 2008 the George W. Bush presidential administration was populated with dozens of Cuban-born, anti-Castro zealots, such as Mike Gonzalez who was born in Cuba and came to the U. S. in 1972 at age twelve. As the Obama two-term presidency replaced the last of the Bush presidencies on Jan. 20th, 2009, many of the dozens of Cuban-born, anti-Castro zealots went on to lucrative anti-Castro positions as lobbyists or with rich and powerful right-wing organizations, such as The Heritage Foundation. In 2009 Mike Gonzales became a Senior Fellow at the Heritage Foundation. On Dec. 21-2015 he wrote a well-funded international article entitled: "Proof That Obama Was Wrong About Cuba." Actually, in my opinion, Mike Gonzalez's article proves Obama was/is right about Cuba.

        This handshake in 2015 spawned a vast resurgence of vitriol from the enormously lucrative Castro Industry in the United States. If sanity and peace between the U. S. and Cuba was allowed to take hold, it would mitigate against the powerful rewards a handful of benefactors have reaped via the U.S.-based Castro Industry since 1959. And that is precisely why the Castro Industry will trump democracy as people like Mr. Obama and Pope Francis wage a very commendable but futile effort to normalize relations between the two neighboring countries.

          At 12:04 P. M. on the afternoon of Dec. 17-2014 President Obama told the American people of his plans to "normalize relations" between the U. S. and Cuba. In the year since, he has done all he can do to live up to that promise. The problem is...a right-wing element in the U. S. Congress can thwart the President's will as well as the hope of the rest of the world, including the majority of Cuban-Americans in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood. It reveals, I think, a gnawing weakness of America's democracy created by a lack of true American patriotism and courage.

  ****************************************

   

   

Cuba's Baseball Superstar

His Name Is...Tony Castro!!

Photo courtesy: Desmond Boylan/Associated Press.

        This week Major League Baseball gifted the baseball-mad island of Cuba with a highly successful three-day goodwill tour. Led by famed Hall of Famers Joe Torre and Dave Winfield, both of whom are now top MLB executives, the visit included 8 current Major League stars. That included lefty pitcher Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball's best pitcher, and Miguel Cabrera, the Venezuelan superstar with the Detroit Tigers and baseball's best hitter. But it was the return of four Cuban Major League stars -- Jose Abreu, Yasiel Puig, Brayan Pena, and Alexei Ramirez -- that dominated the media coverage of the event, which was an offshoot of President Obama's remarkable efforts, against overwhelming odds, to normalize relations with the nearby island. The photo above shows Alexei Ramirez, the veteran shortstop for the Chicago White Sox, back in his native country instructing young Cuban baseball players at a clinic in Matanzas, Cuba. Such clinics were conducted for three days across the island.

     In addition to the numerous clinics, the mere presence of the baseball superstars from America massively thrilled the appreciative Cuban people. At times, emotions simply bubbled over. This photo by Desmond Boylan/AP was taken at the Hotel Nacional in Havana. It shows Brayan Pena, the veteran Major League catcher, greeting his 85-year-old grandmother, Rosa de las Nives, for the first time in seventeen years. The four Cubans who highlighted the goodwill tour back in their home country are all millionaires many times over and they have helped their relatives back in Cuba financially. But prior to President Obama, the strained relations between the two neighboring countries that has persisted since the 1950s prevented such things as this very classic, touching moment captured by photographer Desmond Boylan.

          Of the thousands of photos taken this week during Major League Baseball's 3-day goodwill trip to Cuba, the one above courtesy of Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images is among the most significant. It shows Alexei Ramirez conducting a clinic for Cuban youngsters. The man in the grey T-shirt is the man who made it all happen and is, in fact, the man determined to make a lot more happen, using baseball as the peaceful wedge, to help normalize relations between Cuba and the United States. His name is Tony Castro, one of Fidel's eight sons. A doctor, Tony is by far the most ubiquitous baseball promoter on the island and he is highly respected internationally, including by Major League Baseball in the United States. MLB's goodwill mission to Cuba this week was well-covered by the sports media in the United States, and for good reason. The goodwill mission itself was unique. Now there is talk of the Cincinnati Reds playing two exhibition games in Cuba this coming March. There is even talk, not revived since the 1950s, of Havana in the next decade having its own Major League team. And there is talk that Cuba can be persuaded to allow its cornucopia of baseball talent to reach the U. S. normally and not via the defection process. And there is even talk that in the 2017 World Baseball Classic Cuban superstars in the Majors will be allowed to play for Cuba, which would readily be expected to return the island back to the top rung of international baseball competition. ALL BECAUSE OF PRESIDENT OBAMA...AND NOW TONY CASTRO! That's right: OBAMA and CASTRO!

      Tony Castro shares one thing in common with his legendary, 89-year-old father Fidel: A mutual love of baseball. Tony thinks it can meld Cuba and America together.

      Tony Castro, a medical doctor, is shown here visiting his ailing and now 89-year-old father Fidel, who seems to be holding a replica of the famed yacht Gramna that took him and 81 other rebels on the perilous journey from Mexico to hook-up with Celia Sanchez's revolution against Batista. All eight of Fidel's son, including Tony, remain very devoted and loyal to their father. He, of course, also has two daughters, both of whom live in the Miami area -- one very flagrantly and one very quietly.

    

   Dr. Tony Castro, like all four of his brothers, is also very devoted to his mother, Dalia Soto del Valle. Dalia married Fidel in 1980 shortly after the death from cancer of his revolutionary soul-mate Celia Sanchez. Dalia is the mother of Fidel's last five sons. 

        Tony Castro is the best known of Fidel Castro's eight sons. That's because he has been seen as the team doctor and leading cheerleader for Cuban teams in televised international competitions such as the Pan Am Games, the World Baseball Classic, and the Olympics. And this week Tony hosted U. S. superstars in Cuba.

         In fact, Tony Castro is upfront in leading the push for both baseball and softball to return as Olympic sports. That has made him many friends in the United States.

       And in fact, this week even with 8 U. S. superstars and 2 Hall of Famers making headline visits to Cuba, the media still swarmed around Tony Castro for interviews. In the above photo, ESPN's Paula Lavigne is interviewing Tony. USA Today sent a top team, including its best sports columnist Nancy Armour, to the island to cover the goodwill MLB visit. One of her screaming headlines was: "CASTRO'S SON KEY TO CUBA THAW." From Matanzas, Cuba, Ms. Armour wrote: 

                      "The symbolism was striking. Exactly one year after President Obama announced the normalization of relations with Cuba, the two countries flags flew side by side atop the scoreboard of Estadio Victoria de Giron. Castro's youngest son, Antonio, has a passion for baseball rather than the family business of politics. But he is well aware -- more than ever after the last three days -- of how baseball could be a catalyst to help repair five decades of bitterness and distrust between the U. S. and Cuban governments." Nancy Armour, in America's largest newspaper, quoted Tony Castro as saying, "We've conscious of what baseball means. What we've experienced today, and what we've experienced these last couple of days, is very exciting." Yes, exciting for baseball and for U.S.-Cuban relations.

    

     Like his father Fidel, Tony Castro was a baseball star in his youth. But now as a doctor and an international ambassador for baseball, Tony's love for golf is also paramount, and he's quite good at the sport. In this photo, Tony is being awarded a trophy for winning a golf tournament. He joked, "Being Fidel's son was a non-factor today, please believe me!"

        David Haugh is the top Sports Columnist for the Chicago Tribune. He was in Cuba this week to cover Major League Baseball's goodwill tour of the island. On Saturday, Dec. 19th-2015, the title of his column was: "A Castro Offers Hope For A U.S.-Cuba Future In Baseball." He wrote:

                              "As Antonio Castro charismatically worked the crowd like a trained politician, wearing Under Armour sunglasses and a Nike T-shirt, he would have blended in at any corporate-fueled baseball stadium in America. In a week full of symbolism, Castro connected as the handsome face of Cuba baseball, a lively voice that offered hope that this landmark trip meant more than just a getaway to a warm climate." David Haugh wrote about Tony Castro "warmly mingling with Jose Abreu and Yasiel Puig, two Cuban and now American superstars who defected from his country in the dead of night in a small boat." But coolly and positively, Tony Castro told David Haugh, "We're working on a new relationship, one based on respect where baseball is the language spoken." Haugh's entire article is worth reading.

      And so, this stupefying week in Cuba revealed anew that Dr. Tony Castro's two main passions and focuses right now are {1} baseball and {2} using baseball to help President Obama's long-shot goal of normalizing relations between Cuba and the United States. If Tony gets his way, Cubans will be playing baseball in the U. S. without having to defect. If Tony gets his way, Cuban superstars in the U. S. will be playing for Cuba in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. If Tony gets his way, Havana will be the 31st Major League Baseball city in North America within the next decade. If Tony has his way, both baseball and softball will return to the Olympics. And if Tony gets his way, Cuba and the United States will have normal relations within five years. All of that, of course, sounds good for both Cuba and America. The only problem is, it doesn't sound good for two generations of Cubans and Americans who have feasted -- revengefully, economically, and politically -- from the rancor that has existed between the two neighbors for six long and costly decades. So while Tony Castro may have the majority of Cubans, Americans, and the world's citizens behind him, he still might lose in his overall baseball diplomacy. But, his goals and amity are worthwhile.

****************************************