America's Cuban Dissidents

A Big Hurdle for Cuba

    Today -- Sunday, January 3rd -- Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe will fly to Cuba for a 3-day visit to promote Virginia business interests on the island, just as recent visits from the governors of New York, Texas, and other states have done. Governor McAuliffe's office stated: "The purpose of the trip is to open new markets for Virginia products. The Governor believes opening trade relations is a key strategy to create new economic activity and opportunities for families in Virginia and Cuba." If the topic was not Cuba, such a sane and decent statement would be applauded by every decent and sane person on the planet. BUT THE TOPIC IS CUBA. Therefore, the vast Castro Industry in the United States immediately went ballistic to excoriate Governor McAuliffe, just as the governors of New York, Texas, and other states were excoriated for the same reason in 2015 -- JUST TRYING TO HELP PEOPLE.

     Terry McAuliffe was born 58 years ago in Syracuse, New York. He is very well known for his ties to former President Bill Clinton and 2017 presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton. With a net worth of about $30 million, McAuliffe is the former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He took over as Virginia's governor in 2014. Like President Obama in Washington, Governor McAuliffe in Richmond is often stymied by a fierce Republican-controlled conservative or right-wing legislature.

    And like President Obama in Washington, Governor McAuliffe in Richmond has fought tooth-and-nail to provide such badly needed things as more and better health care for non-rich Virginians. But, not unexpectedly, like Obama Mr. McAuliffe has been massively opposed by conservative right-wingers and Tea Party zealots who favor only the rich, and not the less fortunate. And when it comes to his trip to Cuba today, like President Obama, Governor McAuliffe is fiercely opposed by Cuban-American politicians who self-servingly fuel the vast Castro Industry in the U. S.

     Jason Miyares has just become the first Cuban-American elected to the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond. He had the obligatory support of the Tea Party, the Castro Industry in the U. S., the Bush dynasty, and all the Cuban-Americans in the U. S. Congress. And, oh yes, his bio make the obligatory claim that Miyares "came to the U. S. from Cuba in 1965 with only the clothes on his back." Of course, such bios never mention that ANY CUBAN WHO REACHES U. S. SOIL IS INSTANTLY PROVIDED PRIVILEGES AND WELFARE UNAVAILABLE TO ANY NON-CUBAN. Thus, Miyares sailed through James Madison University and the William and Mary Law School. Then, using his Cuban-Americanism, he had only to align with the Tea Party, the Bush dynasty, and the Castro Industry and he was well on his way to fame, wealth, and political power. Not surprisingly, the first and only time Miyares has made anything resembling a headline as a Virginia delegate was yesterday -- Saturday, January 2-2016 -- when he railed long and loudly in denouncing Governor McAuliffe's trip to Cuba today. Miyares strongly suggested that Governor McAuliffe in Cuba spend his time meeting with dissidents instead of trying to line up business that would benefit Virginians and Cubans. To quote part of his vitriolic statement, Miyares said that McAuliffe "should keep in mind the thousands of dissidents that are harassed, beaten and imprisoned each day in Cuba simply because they yearn for freedom." He didn't mention the Cubans who "yearn" to get to the U. S. because they are enticed by special privileges and benefits unavailable to non-Cubans.

       Cuban-American presidential contender Marco Rubio in the U. S. Senate, Cuban-American Jason Miyares in the Virginia General Assembly, or any other politically minded Cuban-American can make any statement about Cuba and know full well that the mostly incompetent and largely intimidated U. S. media will never challenge them. Newcomers like Miyares in Virginia have surely learned that valuable lesson from veterans like Rubio from Miami. However, there are two significant sides to the U.S.-Cuban conundrum. If you listen to Rubio, Miyares, etc., you will believe that the only thing actually taking place on the nearby island is "harassed" Cubans being constantly "beaten and imprisoned each day in Cuba simply because they yearn for freedom." If that statement was remotely true, the Castro Industry would make sure, in this Smart Phone digital age, that substantiating video filled every American television screen on a nightly basis. And Americans, if they were freely allowed to visit Cuba and judge things for themselves, would not be routinely force-fed such distortions. I've been to Cuba...all over it. I never saw and was never told about any such beatings. If I had, I would have been appalled and totally unafraid to mention it.

       However, if you listen to Cristina Escobar, Josefina Vidal, etc., you get an entirely different portrait of Cuba. Escobar is the young, dynamic news anchor in Cuba. Vidal is the veteran diplomat in charge of Cuba's direct relations with America. In the above photo, that's Escobar interviewing Vidal. Both women have made multiple trips to the U. S. with the clothes on their back as well as a return airplane ticket to Cuba. And both high-profile women, while in the U. S., have reportedly received huge cash-and-mansion offers to defect. Instead, they elected to use their return tickets to Cuba.

     Josefina Vidal, Cuba's Minster of North American Affairs, in 2015 brilliantly negotiated some historic advances in U.S.-Cuban relations. First off, she got Cuba removed from the State Department's list of the Sponsors of Terrorism, which had allowed Cuban-Americans in Miami to sue Cuba for whatever they wanted to sue the unrepresented island for. Then she forged monumental advances such as the re-opening of embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time since 1961. But, heading into this New Year of 2016, Vidal has made it plain that much remains before Cuba will "in essence" normalize relations with the United States. She is willing to discuss compensation for property nationalized by Revolutionary Cuba but only if the U. S. compensates Cuba "for the sins since 1962 of the illegal blockade and for the terrorist acts that have killed and maimed so many Cubans." Further, she wants the lush port at Guantanamo Bay, which she believes "was stolen in 1903 like a bully steals lunch money from a little kid." And further, she wants the U. S. Congress to stop funding "endless regime-change programs and endless funding and encouragement of dissidence on an island that is far, far more peaceful and crime-free than countries like the United States and Mexico. A foreign country funding and creating dissidents is something no sovereign nation can tolerate unless it totally capitulates. And Cuba's history proves that Cuba will not capitulate one millimeter. I believe Cuba is much safer and more protective of its people than the U. S."

    Cristina Escobar is Cuba's multi-talented and out-spoken prime-time news anchor. She is quite influential among Cuba's restive and demanding twenty-somethings who will dictate much of what post-Castro Cuba looks like. A passionate Cuban, Escobar in December of 2014 went to California for a journalistic seminar. When asked to speak, she opined about what she called a "little known quirk in U.S.-Cuban relations. As a broadcast journalist in Cuba, I have much more freedom to tell the truth about the United States than American broadcast journalists have to tell the truth about Cuba." In 2015 Escobar made headlines in Washington when she covered the last Vidal-Jacobson diplomatic session. She became the first Cuban journalist to ask questions at a White House news conference, and she fired five pertinent, back-to-back questions at White House spokesman Josh Earnest during a bristling 14-minute span. She wanted to know if the new U. S. embassy in Havana would "respect Cuba?" She wanted to know if the U. S. would continue to fund "regime-change" and "dissident-encouraging" programs on the island. And she wanted to know if "Obama will visit Cuba in 2016," etc., etc. After she made headlines at that Washington news conference, Escobar was interviewed by the U. S. journalists, including one from Miami, and she made speeches around the U. S. capital. The main theme of those interviews and speeches was this: "The lies the U. S. media tells about Cuba hurts everyday Cubans the most." In addition to reporting the news on Cuban and regional television, Escobar steadfastly sticks to her basic themes: She believes she is more truthful about America than American news anchors are about Cuba. If she didn't honestly believe such things, she probably wouldn't have used those return plane tickets and instead would have moved into the mansion in Miami and caressed the bank account to go with it that she supposedly has been offered several times. THE MORAL OF THIS ESSAY IS: If either Josefina Vidal or Cristina Escobar defect on their next trip to the U. S, Americans should indeed believe at least much of what the Castro Industry in the U. S. says about Cuba. But if they always use their return airplane tickets, it might be good for Americans to believe what Vidal and Escobar say about Cuba.

Photo courtesy: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images.

       The above photo was used to illustrate a major article in today's Los Angeles Times written by Christi Parsons who is covering President Obama during his vacation in Hawaii. The title of the article is: "President Obama Considering Visit To Cuba To Shore Up Relations -- And His Foreign Legacy." Remember that question Cristina Escobar fired at Josh Earnest about Obama visiting Cuba in 2016? Well, after the LA Times article today, you can bet the vast Castro Industry in the U. S. will loudly demand that, IF OBAMA DOES VISIT CUBA IN 2016, he should only meet with the Castro Industry's favorite Cuban dissidents. And you know what? The feisty Cristina Escobar has anticipated that possibility, prompting this quote on her newscast: "If Mr. Obama is coerced into boosting the small but disruptive dissident community in Cuba, I would like to invite him not to come. We have exciting and positive things to do, especially with friendly nations that are not concerned with creating dissent where otherwise it wouldn't exist on this island that doesn't want or deserve the criminal element that makes American streets so terribly dangerous."

Now see...I told you there are two sides to the Cuban conundrum.

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Cuba's New Year Is Already Old

But That's Just Being Cuba!!

           This display of Cuban flags was in Santiago de Cuba yesterday -- January 1, 2016. The island celebrated the 57th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution's victory over the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship on January 1, 1959. It was an interesting celebration, so let's take a peek at what transpired. 

        This photo shows Cuba's 84-year-old President Raul Castro speaking in Santiago de Cuba yesterday. The photo reflected the soon-to-be transition in Cuba in which the elderly revolutionary leaders like Raul will relinquish control to...well, somebody. The man in the white shirt just to Raul's left is Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, a powerful revolutionary icon who is also now deep into his 80s. Right behind Machado, and partially obscured by him, is Miguel Diaz-Canel, the 55-year-old from Santa Clara that Raul has named as his successor, probably sometime in 2017. So this is a transition photo taken in Santiago de Cuba on the first day of 2016. In his speech, Raul mentioned that UNESCO, the UN branch that monitors the care of children and women worldwide, saluted Cuba in 2015 for its literary rate of 99.8 percent and the fact that "Cuba devotes an extraordinarily high percentage of its Gross National Product, 13%, to the free education for its people." He also mentioned that the World Health Organization in 2015 praised Cuba for its "exceptionally high percentage of its income devoted to free health care on the island" and he pointed out that in 2015 "we agreed for the United States to send a delegation to Cuba to study our unique pre-natal practices for pregnant women, perhaps because -- despite the deprivations of the blockade -- our infant mortality rate is better than that in the United States." One of the other speakers also pointed out that "our extremely low crime rate is the envy of our Caribbean and Latin American neighbors, and unlike our northern neighbor our policeman don't gun down unarmed people on the streets of Cuba." Of course, the Cuban narrative in the U. S., and especially in Miami and the U. S. Congress, maintains that Cuba is an oppressive basket case and that the embargo/blockade, in place since 1962, and other anti-Cuban legislation is warranted because, of course, "any dollar or peso that reaches the island goes into Castro's Swiss bank account." Perhaps, of course, the truth lies somewhere in the middle, but don't expect it to surface in this long, lovely New Year of 2016. 

      Nick Miroff is a rare bird. He is a great American journalist and, uniquely, he is courageous enough to tell the truth about Cuba, be it good or bad or in between. He is the award-winning Latin American/Cuban expert for the Washington Post. His January 1-2016 article was entitled "Amid A Historic Wave of Immigration, Some Cubans are Returning Home." WHOA!! Right away it's clear Mr. Miroff didn't clear that article with the vast Castro Industry in the U. S., nor does he ever. That makes him a rare bird. Anyway, he explained why a Cuban named Mauricio Estrada left Cuba and returned, as thousands of Cubans, including Miami Cubans, have done. Americans are not supposed to know such things because the U. S. media normally prefers to remind Americans that all Cubans are anxious to risk everything to leave the decrepit, oppressive Cuban atmosphere. There are, of course, two sides to the Cuban conundrum. Nick Miroff reports on both sides. Did I say rare bird? Uh, I think I did.

      Marco Rubio, the first-term Cuban-American U. S. Senator from Miami, is a top-tier Republican presidential candidate...already. Like Miami's three other contributions to the U. S. Congress, Rubio is vehemently opposed to {and has vowed to block} every positive overture President Obama has made in trying to normalize relations with Cuba. Yet, polls show that the majority of Cuban-Americans in Rubio's Little Havana section of Miami support Obama's, not Rubio's, Cuban policy. That's interesting considering that Miami, even though it is actually located in a non-Banana Republic democracy, is incapable of sending a moderate Cuban-American to the U. S. Congress. It is also interesting that Rubio opposes one of the many, many congressional laws that massively favor and enrich Cuban-Americans and entice Cubans, and only Cubans, to get to the U. S. as quickly as possible, where special laws and privileges await them, and only them, starting the moment their front foot hits U. S. soil. Many Cubans make a beeline for the U. S., get on the welfare rolls, and then return to Cuba but still get that special welfare courtesy of unwitting U. S. taxpayers. Now, Rubio is witty when it comes to Cuban laws. He doesn't like Cubans coming to the U. S. thanks to the infamous Wet Foot/Dry Foot law, in force since 1966, and THEN RETURNING TO CUBA WHERE THEY STILL RECEIVE THOSE WELFARE CHECKS. That mitigates against Rubio's oft-stated belief that if holes in the U. S. embargo of Cuba, in force since 1962, permits any cash to get to Cuba, it will all go in Fidel Castro's bulging but non-existent Swiss bank accounts. So, Rubio...believe it or not...opposes Wet Foot/Dry Foot, but for entirely different reasons than the rest of the world, which believes that Wet Foot/Dry Foot is grossly undemocratic and discriminatory against all non-Cubans. Of course, as Rubio knows, American voters don't give a damn. I mean...they didn't care about Cubana Flight 455 and other drastically undemocratic U.S.-Cuban relationships, so why would they care about...Wet Foot/Dry Foot for heaven's sake?? But Marco Rubio does care...because he cares a whole lot about {and apparently often ponders} Fidel Castro's non-existent Swiss bank accounts. It's the same Rubio, by the way, who got all the way to the U. S. Senate with his bio still claiming his parents escaped the tyranny of Castro's Cuba when, in fact, they escaped Batista's Cuba long before Americans ever heard of Castro. But, in a money-crazed and media-distorted election process, Rubio might waltz to victory in the 2016 Republican primary race, just as Cuba's astute Josefina Vidal expects. That's why she expects another Bay of Pigs event on January 20th, 2017. 

Photo courtesy: Margo Roth/Miami Herald.

      The photo above was used to illustrate a major article in the Miami Herald on the first day of the New Year -- Friday, January 1, 2016. Shown amidst the bushes are some of the 22 Cubans who touched U. S. soil at Key West, Florida yesterday. Just by touching U. S. soil, these Cubans instantly become legal residents of the United States and are instantly eligible for welfare payments courtesy of the U. S. taxpayers. The Miami Herald correctly stated that the vast increase of Cuban migrants is due to the "fear that the Cuban Adjustment Act is going to be abolished." And the Miami Herald explained that "the Wet Foot/Dry Foot policy is a result of the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966." It surely is, but Wet Foot/Dry foot is fully protected by a U. S. Congress in 2016 that, like in 1966, will routinely legalize Cuban policies that are dictated by self-serving and hard-line anti-Castro zealots, two generations of whom now might realize how lucky they were when Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution chased them, or their parents, off the island...all the way to nearby Miami, Florida.  

        Wet Foot/Dry Foot since 1966 has been a legal U. S. law that entices Cubans to defect to the U. S. by awarding them, and only them, vast incentives to leave Revolutionary Cuba by whatever means necessary and then the moment they touch U. S. soil they are home-free...with welfare. The law grossly discriminates against all non-Cuban would-be immigrants and it is only one of a plethora of such laws easily mandated by the U. S. Congress at the behest of a handful of hard-line Cuban-Americans and a handful of easily acquired acolytes such as the Bush political dynasty and easily acquired congressional right-wingers such as Robert Torricelli, Jesse Helms, and Dan Burton -- the infamous namesakes of discriminatory U. S. laws known as "The Torricelli Bill" and "The Helms-Burton Act." Such anti-democratic U. S. laws are indelible, essentially permanent, because only the easily bought-and-paid-for U. S. Congress can change or alter them. For example, a decent President, like Barack Obama, cannot overcome such laws although, more than any President since the 1950s, Mr. Obama has chipped away at a Cuban policy essentially concocted by two generations of the most zealous of the anti-Castro zealots booted off the island on January 1, 1959 by the Cuban Revolution. But the U. S. Castro Industry -- which lucratively sates the revenge, economic, and political thirsts of hard-line Cuban-Americans and their self-serving allies -- can perpetrate decades into the future such laws as Wet Foot/Dry Foot, in place since 1966; the embargo, in place since 1962; and a vast array of cash pipelines from Washington-to-Miami such as the lush Radio-TV Marti anti-Castro propaganda machine that has, since the 1980s, sucked an unending torrent of cash from unwitting, pusillanimous taxpayers. The embargo, the cash pipelines, Wet Foot/Dry Foot, etc., are all possible and totally legal because a handful of Cuban hard-liners within the bowels of a 535-member U. S. Congress can legislate...in virtual perpetuity...such laws. Also, the brilliance of the Founding Fathers in creating the greatest form of government ever devised was not infallible, as proven by some nuances of the United States Congress.

      The U. S. Congress is the bicameral legislative body of the U. S. government. It consists of two houses -- the 100-member Senate and the 435-member House of Representatives. Along with a Judiciary and an Executive Branch (the White House), the Founding Fathers envisioned Congress as the hallmark of their proud democracy. It still is. Yet, unforeseen nuances have left Congress very susceptible to unsavory aspects of American society. For example, democracy-lovers -- in the U. S. and around the world -- have applauded President Obama's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. He has even orchestrated the reopening of embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time since 1961, and he has greatly eased, to the best of his ability, extremely discriminatory and undemocratic laws such as those that deny everyday Americans the freedom to travel to Cuba, a privilege citizens of all other countries have. But, when it comes to Cuba, decent and democracy-loving Presidents can only go so far. President Obama, for example, also wanted to close the infamous Gitmo Prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and begin discussions with Cuba to return the plush land to its rightful owner, Cuba. However, another nuance that enables a few Cuban hard-liners to dictate Cuban laws in the U. S. Congress stands in the way of such sanity. In 2015 a so-called "must-pass" multi-billion-dollar transportation bill made its way through Congress. Fine, the nation's infrastructure badly needed those dollars. But slipped clandestinely into that bill by anti-Castro zealots was a law that prohibited the closing of the Gitmo Prison and any discussions with Cuba about the return of Guantanamo Bay to its rightful owner. President Obama's first thought was to veto the badly needed transportation bill because of that "slip-in" about Cuba. But he ended up signing the bill when he realized that Congress had enough votes to override his veto. In such manners, the vast Castro Industry in the U. S. can use Congress to enact just about any Cuban law it desires. 

      Democracy loving Americans like me have been taught all our lives to proudly revere everything the U. S. Congress stands for. But America's Cuban policy makes the all-encompassing adjective everything a highly debatable proposition. Take 1898, for example, when the USS Maine and dozens of young sailors were blown to bits in Havana Harbor and used as a pretext for the Spanish-American War. Or take 1903 when the U. S., the newly dominant imperialist power in Cuba, unabashedly claimed Cuba's prized Guantanamo Bay. Or take 1952 when the U. S. teamed with the Mafia, of all things, to support the brutal Batista dictatorship in Cuba. Or take 1959 when the U. S. allowed the overthrown Batistiano-Mafiosi leaders to reconstitute themselves on U. S. soil, mainly South Florida and New Jersey. Or take 1961 when the air, ground, and sea attack at the Bay of Pigs miserably failed to recapture Cuba. Or take 1962 when the Cuban Missile Crisis came the closest the world has ever come to a nuclear holocaust. Or take 1976 when Cuban-exile terrorists blew a child-laden Cuban civilian airplane out of the sky and then loudly proclaimed it "The biggest blow yet against Castro!" Or take, still in 1976, the car-bombing of the top Cuban-American newsman in Miami after he criticized terrorist attacks against innocent Cubans...and later the firing of a top journalist in Miami when he excoriated Miami members of the U. S. Congress for their support of the best-known Cuban-American terrorists...or the firing of the Miami Marlins baseball manager after he merely and innocently expressed admiration of Fidel Castro for surviving the world-record number of assassination attempts. 1976, the only year George H. W. Bush was CIA director, was the watershed year Miami Cubans took the firmest control of the U. S. Cuban policy. Within a few days of the terrorist bombing of Cubana Flight 455, a terrorist car-bombing within sound of the White House in Washington involved Cubans and DINA operatives from the murderous anti-Cuban, pro-U. S. Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. That terrorism killed the beautiful young American, Ronni Moffitt. On the heels of the very bloody year of 1976, the Bush-friendly Jorge Mas Canosa became the richest and most powerful anti-Castro Cuban in the U. S. and he was advised to study AIPAC, the ultra-powerful Israeli lobby, and replicate it. He did, creating the Cuban American National Foundation. From that day in the 1980s till this day in 2016, the hallowed halls of the U. S. Congress has been at the mercy of a few hard-line Cuban-Americans and a few easily acquired sycophants on matters related to Cuba. If you doubt that, there are 535 members of the U. S. Congress you can ask and, if so, I don't believe they can deny it...at least with a straight face. Uh...let's see. Wet Foot/Dry Foot. The embargo. The Washington-to-Miami cash pipeline. Americans being the only people in the world denied the freedom to visit Cuba because...Hey!...they might judge things for themselves.  Yes, all such things are undemocratic, anti-American, and extremely discriminatory. But, uh, you see...the mean Fidel Castro kicked all those nice Mother Teresa-types out of Cuba in 1959 and in all the decades since then the U. S. haven't been able to eliminate him and return those Mother Teresa-types to that island. For those reasons, uh, you understand...Americans should meekly accept the dictates of a Congress that mandates whatever laws those nice Mother Teresa-types in Miami and New Jersey want it to enact. Don't you people in Congress, uh, understand what I'm saying...sir, madam?

        "Well, no, Congressman or Congresswoman, I don't understand, with all due respect. I understand what you're saying about that mean Mr. Castro and all those Mother Teresa-types -- Batista, Luciano, Lansky, Diaz-Balart, etc. -- that he chased to Miami and New Jersey. But, with all due respect, sir...madam...I believe you are misleading me. I mean...the whole world thinks so too. Consider the UN vote -- 191-to-2. If the Cuban policy...sir, madam...dictated by the U. S. Congress angers the entire world, should you not take notice? I mean, the U. S. is the world's all-time economic and military superpower and can easily intimidate or buy-off a LOT OF NATIONS. Yet only one nation in the world supports the U. S. Cuban policy and that little nation is the only one that routinely gets congressional approval for BY FAR the most untold billions of dollars in economic and military aid EACH YEAR from the U. S. taxpayers. Surely, the U. S. Congress cannot get strong nations like England, France, Australia, Canada, Norway, etc., to support its Cuban policy but...sir, madam...can you explain why at least one  other small, needy country won't kiss-up to the U. S. Congress and, uh, support your Cuban policy? I mean...sir, madam...the U. S. is still a democracy, right? A 191-to-2 vote SHOULD AT LEAST impress a democracy, don't you think? I kinda think Thomas Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers wouldn't ignore a 191-to-2 vote nor would they have been cowered by terrorists shouting 'The biggest blow yet against Castro.' I've noticed Congress has an approval rating in the single digits. I've noticed polls even in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood show strong support for Obama's plan to normalize relations with Cuba, yet all four Miami members of Congress  -- Ros-Lehtinen, Rubio, Diaz-Balart, and Curbelo -- vehemently support any legislation that strangles Cubans on the island and also lures them with discriminatory incentives to defect or, prior to that, to engage in dissidence. I mean...sir, madam...why can't Miami send a moderate to Congress, one that represents the Cuban views of most citizens in Little Havana? The U. S. Congress justifies its Cuban laws and its apparent goals of returning those sweet Mother Teresa's, or at least their offspring, to the island any day now. But 'any day now' is six decades old! You have punished two generations of Cubans and Americans in the guise of 'punishing Castro.' Have you no mercy or decency...sir, madam...as you prepare to impose your extremes upon a third generation that will consist of our grandchildren and great-grandchildren? You ignored the world's 191-to-2 opinion again in 2015. Will you ignore 191-to-2 in 2016...and beyond? Uh, just wondering. Don't hold it against me. And thanks, sir...madam. I, uh, know ya'll mean well."  

191-to-2!!

In Banana Republics, 2 wins!!

Viva! Let's toast Banana Republics!
{Are these two men Mother Teresa-types?}
{Are they 2 against 191? Just asking, you understand.}

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Cuba: 2016 and Beyond

Survival Rate: About 50-50!?!
{For an island hanging on in a turbulent sea}

Photo courtesy: Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press.

       The photo above shows U. S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack on his recent four-day trip to Cuba. It reflects the historic and courageous efforts of President Barack Obama in 2015 as he tried to normalize relations with Cuba. After the visit by Mr. Vilsack, Florida Produce, a major exporting company in Tampa, Florida, said it will ask Cuba in late January, 2016, if it can open a warehouse operation in the Mariel Special Economic Zone. Mariel is the famous port 28 miles southwest of Havana and due south of Key West, Florida. A billion-dollar refurbishing and deepening of the port, largely funded by Brazil, has created a state-of-the-art area that is vital to Cuba's economic future, with foreign investments critical to its success. Anti-Castro hardliners continue to dictate Cuban policy in the U. S. Congress and may yet thwart or turn-back Mr. Obama's herculean efforts but, almost in unanimity, everyone from Mr. Vilsack to Pope Francis to the U. S. Chamber of Commerce to the United Nations enter the New Year of 2016 hoping that Mr. Obama's brave plans to normalize relations with Cuba reach fruition in a sane manner.

     If President Obama in 2016 can build on the progress with Cuba that he started in 2015, it will markedly benefit most Cubans and most Americans. {The graphic is courtesy of The Packer}. However, many hurdles remain even as U. S. and Cuban flags now fly at embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time since 1961, highlighting one of Mr. Obama's monumental successes in the past year. The vast Castro Industry in the U. S. -- fueled by revenge, greed, and hubris -- has largely dictated America's Cuban policy since 1959 and, thanks to its control of the U. S. Congress, that will likely continue in 2016, the final year of Mr. Obama's term.

    Yet, President Obama's Cuban policy is supported by most Americans, most Cubans, and most Cuban-Americans...not to mention almost every nation in the entire world as registered each October with a resounding vote in the United Nations. Of the last eleven U. S. Presidents, Barack Obama has displayed the most guts, the most decency, and the most patriotism in dealing with Cuba. It will likely crown his political legacy, but that is no assurance his efforts to normalize relations with Cuba will succeed. His sternly entrenched opponents deep within the bowels of America's Castro Industry, while clearly a minority, can easily continue their dictation of a Cuban policy that propagandized Americans have insouciantly permitted to exist since the 1950s.

      Mike Mauricio is a very brave man. He is the President and CEO of Florida Produce, the Tampa-based company that in this month of January-2016 will try to get permission from Cuba and the United States to open a major warehouse in the Mariel Port Economic Zone in Cuba. Mike says, "If we find success, we will help the Cuban people." WOW! He means the Cuban people ON THE ISLAND! The U. S. Congress, to appease Cuban hardliners, has passed and maintained an array of U. S. laws designed to help and enrich Cuban-Americans and entice Cubans in Cuba to defect. So, any American who seeks "to help the Cuban people" on the island is defying the U. S. Congress because helping Cubans on the island might...heavens forbid!!...persuade Cubans to remain in Cuba! So, yes, Mike Mauricio is a very brave man.

     
     And...Kathy Castor is a very brave woman. She was born 49 years ago in Miami, Florida! Since 2007 she has courageously represented the Tampa, Florida area in the U. S. Congress! She is the first Florida member of the U. S. Congress to call for an end to the U. S. embargo of Cuba, and she has made that call loudly and consistently in utter defiance of the four members of the U. S. Congress from her hometown of Miami! Congresswoman Kathy Castor should be elevated to the White House where her courage and decency could parallel and continue that of the brave Mr. Obama!!!

     David Seleski is a very, very, very, brave man. He is the President/CEO of Stonegate Bank in Pompano Beach, Florida, which is in shouting distance of Miami, which is the headquarters of America's ultra-powerful Castro Industry. But guess what David Seleski accomplished in 2015? David's Stonegate Bank made it possible for American visitors to Cuba to use Debit Cards on the island!! He said, "This is the first step in relieving the burden of U. S. travelers carrying cash when traveling to Cuba and it is another step in normalizing commercial relations between the two countries." WOW!! Some 10,000 Cuban hotels, restaurants, and other businesses are using Stonegate Bank debit cards and in 2016 Stonegate plans to make them usable in ATM machines in Cuba. Yes indeed. David Seleski is a brave man!!

        Saul Berenthal {on the left above} and Horace Clemmons are very brave Americans. They own Cleber LLC in Alabama and they are asking Cuba and the United States for permission to build a plant in the Mariel Economic Zone in Cuba to build small tractors, like the one they are displaying here. The U. S. embargo since 1962 has largely blocked the use of tractors on Cuban farms and thus those of us who have been to the island have seen oxen pulling plows. Small tractors actually built on the island would constitute a drastic bit of modernity for Cubans. Mr. Clemmons says, "I think we can pull it off, and it'll be good for everyone." He means, with President Obama's support, he can help Cubans and Americans in defiance of the hardliners in the U. S. Congress who are concerned only with helping the lucrative U. S. Castro Industry. Yes, Mr. Berenthal and Mr. Clemmons are very, very brave men in the state of Alabama. America needs many more just like them.

       And the question is, as 2016 replaces 2015, how many more brave Americans will step up to support President Obama's decent and courageous overtures to Cuba? {It's a very pertinent question considering the adverse image America's Cuban policy casts on both America and democracy in the eyes of the world}.

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Cuba's Pivotal New Year

Massive Changes In 2016

     

         For a couple of decades now, Robin Wright has been the best and most honored American writer as an astute and incisive Foreign Affairs analyst. She has reported from 140 countries for a plethora of the most respected news organizations in the U. S. and UK. A brilliant journalist and author, Robin Wright is a must-read for both her analyses and her extraordinarily adept use of the English language. Robin Wright recently visited Cuba to observe how the island's geriatric revolutionary government, aged but not ageless, and its increasingly restive citizenry are preparing for the pivotal New Year of 2016!!

      The esoteric New Yorker is one of America's most influential media sources, especially among those who admire brilliant writing. Yesterday, December 30th, the top article in the New Yorker was penned by Robin Wright. It was entitled "CUBA AND IRAN: MELANCHOLY TWINS." If you missed it, be sure to check it out online. 

Photo courtesy: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

     Robin Wright's article in yesterday's New Yorker was illustrated by the above photo. Her update was clearly anti-Cuba but it was also fair and insightful. This was her first paragraph:

                         "The first thing that struck me during a trip to Cuba this month was how much it reminds me of Iran. Despite divergent ideologies -- Communist, Islamic -- the aging revolutions emit the same cranky melancholia. Rhetoric is still defiant, but public zealotry has atrophied. The graffiti of rebellion, once vibrant, has faded."

         The triumphs of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 and the Iranian Revolution in 1979 have always intrigued Robin Wright. And that's good because her intrigue has resulted in the best analysis of how the two mind-boggling, anti-American revolutions have so mightily affected the United States and the world, especially after overthrowing U.S.-friendly dictators -- Batista in Cuba and the Shaw in Iran. Ms. Wright's musings about what the New Year portends for Cuba in 2016 were particularly interesting. She wrote:

                  "In Cuba, the ailing Fidel Castro will be ninety in the new year; his brother Raul...is eighty-four. Speculation about successors include Raul's outspoken daughter Mariela...and First Vice-President Miguel Diaz-Canel. But few have a clue about what's likely to happen."

       Ummmm? Coming from Robin Wright, highlighting Mariela and Miguel as post-Castro leaders of Cuba is a prognostication that is well worth pondering.

        During the Cuban Revolution, two of the prime guerrilla fighters -- Raul Castro and Vilma Espin -- fell madly in love even as they fought Batista's soldiers.

        In 1959, right after the Cuban Revolution shocked the world by overthrowing the Batista-Mafia dictatorship, two weddings paired four of the prime guerrilla fighters. Raul Castro married Vilma Espin and Che Guevara married Aleida March.

     
    Aleida Guevara was born 79 years ago in Santa Clara, Cuba. She is the mother of Che's four children and still a very prolific supporter of the Cuban Revolution. In this Wikipedia photo, she was with Che in 1961. Aleida's biography -- "Remembering Che" -- remains one of the best first-hand accounts of the Cuban Revolution.

       In Revolutionary Cuba beginning in 1959, this was the Big Four as far as power and decision-making was concerned. Left to right is Vilma Espin, Fidel Castro, Raul Castro, and Celia Sanchez. With Fidel's concurrence, the prime decision-maker was Celia Sanchez till she died of cancer in 1980 at age 59. Vilma died of cancer in 2007 at age 77. Fidel turns 90 on August 13, 2016, and Raul turns 85 on June 3, 2016. While this listing of Revolutionary Cuba's Big Four is conveniently disputed in the U. S., it nevertheless is known to be accurate by revolutionary insiders on the island. And that, in fact, is one reason the Big Four posed for the epic photo listed above.

       Vilma Espin and Raul Castro had four children: Mariela, Alejandro, Deborah, and Nilsa. The rebellious Mariela, twice-married and a devoted mother, is the most famous of the quartet because of her high-profile advocacy of homosexual rights. It is interesting that Robin Wright, in yesterday's insightful New Yorker article, listed Mariela, along with Miguel Diaz-Canel, as a likely potential future leader of Cuba.

       Mariela Castro is well-liked on the island of Cuba and she also has a large international following because of her defiant and provocative support of Civil Rights. Now 53-years-old, Mariela Castro Espin is an effective and passionate speaker but she has no desire to succeed her father Raul as the President of Cuba.

     This montage shows Mariela on the left and her sister Deborah Castro Espin. Of the two, the lesser known Deborah is far more likely to be a future leader of Cuba.

       Deborah is extremely close to her father Raul. Also, both Deborah and her husband have long been key advisers to Raul, especially on economic matters. If the Fidel-Raul successor is another Castro, the best bet is...Deborah Castro Espin!!

       But don't count out Alejandro Castro Espin, the 50-year-old son of Raul and Vilma. Alejandro is ambitious and he has a distinguished military rank as well as a strong influence on the economy. Moreover, recently Alejandro has represented Cuba on important international missions, as if foreshadowing his future leadership.

       In addition to Mariela Castro Espin, the 55-year-old Miguel Diaz-Canel was the only other Cuban mentioned by Robin Wright as a likely potential leader of Cuba.

      President Raul Castro, in fact, has already named Miguel Diaz-Canel as his successor. If the next leader of Cuba is a non-Castro, it will be Miguel Diaz-Canel.

     But with all due respect to the predictions this week by the sage Robin Wright, I believe Deborah Castro Espin will emerge as the leader of Cuba succeeding her uncle Fidel and her father Raul. In late 2017 or early 2018, Miguel Diaz-Canel will likely be the upfront leader of Cuba. But, I believe, Deborah and her husband Luis Alberto Rodriguez will be the two powers behind the throne for a time before the mantle is officially bestowed unto them. The post-Castro transition in Cuba will result in some jockeying at the top involving non-Castros such as Miguel Diaz-Canel and Josefina Vidal pitted against Castros like Alejandro and Deborah Castro Espin. I think Deborah will win because of two things: {1} Her closeness to her father Raul; and {2} her ultra-powerful husband Luis Alberto.

       Cuban President Raul Castro is extremely close to his oldest daughter, Deborah. Vilmita, named for her grandmother Vilma and shown above with her grandfather Raul, is Deborah's beautiful daughter, whom Raul verily adores. Vilmita, who relishes visits to the U. S., is now easily the most Americanized of  the fourteen children of Fidel and Raul -- except for Fidel's two daughters, both of whom live in Miami.

      And speaking of Fidel, when Cuba is the topic -- past, present, or future -- it all comes back to him. And, via his legacy, it will always be that way. Yes, he is ill. Yes, he turns 90 in 2016...if he survives till August 13th. Regarding the post-Castro leader of Cuba, Fidel prefers that it not be a Castro. In addition to his two daughters in Miami, Fidel has eight sons, all of whom are very loyal to him but have no desires to be future leaders. Fidel would like for Cuba's next leader to be a woman, and his choice is Josefina Vidal because she reminds him of...Celia Sanchez, his revolutionary soul-mate. But regardless of how it shakes out, the Cuban Revolution, Revolutionary Cuba, and post-Revolutionary Cuba will always be Fidel Castro's.

      And speaking of Josefina Vidal, she indeed would be the ideal post-Castro leader of Cuba. Yet, it's an island where things are always intriguing but seldom ideal. And anyway, she is Cuba's greatest defender but has no desire to be its next leader.

And by the way:

         This photograph was taken by Tomas Murita for the New York Times. The New York Times wisely selected it as "one of the year's most riveting photographs" for 2015. The girl in this photograph loved the little baby she is holding. And the rest of the world should too. But 2015 taught us much of the world doesn't...love babies.

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The Lure of Cuba

Reaching New Heights
{Updated: Wednesday, December 30th, 2015}

        The London Daily Mail -- one of the digital world's best and most visited sites -- used the above photo to highlight an insightful article on Dec. 28th-2015 on tourist destinations for Brits in 2016. The caption for this photo read: "Next year Spain will reign as the number one holiday spot for Britons. But other countries are increasing in popularity, with Cuba, Colombia and Iran all tempting bucket-list additions."

          Monday's London Daily Mail article used this photo of the Havana Cathedral to illustrate the renewed lure for Brits to travel to Cuba in the New Year -- 2016!! The caption stated: "Cuba comes in from the cold: It's now easier for Americans to visit Cuba and the country is allowing its population to run private restaurants for the first time ever, which is good news. Cuba is increasingly popular with all travelers at the moment, to the extent that many hotels and tours are already sold out for 2016." Tourism in Cuba boomed following President Obama's Dec. 17-2014 announcement that he hoped to normalize relations with Cuba.

       Throughout 2015 Cuba used money generated by increased tourism to renovate many buildings in Old Havana, including El Capitolito. This famous capital building, modeled after the one in Washington, was closed for months while the renovations were taking place. Visitors to Cuba in the promising New Year of 2016 will notice the improvements made to El Capitolito and other historic structures around Havana.

And speaking of the Lure of Cuba:

      The U. S. Congress has mandated a plethora of laws designed to lure Cubans to emigrate to the United States. The purpose of the infamous Wet Foot/Dry Foot law, which dates back to 1966, is to hurt Cuba and sate the revenge motives of extremists Cuban-Americans. It is one of many discriminatory, undemocratic U. S. laws that favor Cubans at the expense of all non-Cubans. Any Cuban who touches U. S. soil is home-free, with instant benefits courtesy of the U. S. tax-payers. Fearful that President Obama's normalization plans might end Wet Foot/Dry Foot {which Congress will keep in place}, a tsunami of Cubans headed to the Mexican border on their way to touch U. S. soil has resulted in chaos. The above photo shows some of the 8,000 Cubans stranded for weeks at the Nicaraguan-Costa Rican border because Nicaragua has blocked their passage. At the moment, Costa Rica, Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, etc., are frantically trying to solve the dilemma and get these Cubans on their way to the U. S. where, beginning when their front foot touches U. S. soil, they instantly become legal residents with instant financial benefits. All others -- including children from crime-infested areas of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador -- would instantly be subject to incarceration and deportation. In other words, President Obama, in this fast-fading year of 2015, has created two gigantic lures: {1} to visit a fast-changing Cuba; and {2} to encourage Cubans to migrate quickly to U. S. soil JUST IN CASE Wet Foot/Dry Foot Cuban-only incentives end. Panama, by the way, is complaining about 1,000 Cubans in its country trying to join the 8,000 stuck in Costa Rica!!

       In this OLD year of 2015 and in the NEW year of 2016, your best source for getting accurate and insightful news from inside Cuba is Marc Frank. He is the great journalist for Reuters. His year-ending article yesterday updated Cuba's economy, which expanded by 4% in 2015 but the projection for 2016 has been halved to 2%. Frank reports that tourism is booming but the island's four main exports -- nickel, sugar, oil, and service professionals in other countries -- "have all fallen significantly." The newly attained and very firm control of the Venezuelan Congress by anti-Cuban, pro-U. S. politicians sharply impacts Cuba, which receives over 100,000 barrels of oil each day from oil-rich, cash-poor, inflation-roiled, and crime-infested Venezuela. According to Frank, Cuba in return has "30,000 doctors and nurses, plus another 10,000 professionals" working in Venezuela. Frank says the Venezuelan oil is vital to Cuba, "some of which it refines and sells." Also, Venezuela in addition to the oil pays Cuba cash for those 40,000 professionals but that "is tied to the oil prices," which are drastically low. Venezuela's Cuba-friendly President, Nicolas Maduro, is barely holding on against powerful U.S.-friendly opposition forces. Frank reports that is why Cuban President Raul Castro yesterday {Dec. 29th} told the year-end-session of the Cuban National Assembly that the island in 2016, despite the boom in tourism, will be faced with "financial limitations associated with the fall in earnings of traditional exports." So, in 2016 just like in 2015, Cuban-watchers can depend on Marc Frank of Reuters for the most accurate news emanating day-by-day from the island.  

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