Cuba After Obama

Reversible or Irreversible??

       The BBC this week used this Reuters photo to illustrate an article entitled: "Barack Obama: 'Change Is Going To Happen In Cuba'." The article was particularly insightful because it indicated that U. S. President Barack Obama, after a private two-hour meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro, concluded that "President Castro understands that change is going to happen in Cuba." That conclusion is quite significant.

       This image of Cuba's Josefina Vidal is taken from a video interview the BBC included with the aforementioned article. Regardless of what President Castro said to President Obama in private, Vidal officially speaks for Cuba on U.S.-related issues. In the two minute, 32 second tape, you can detect that Vidal was not pleased with Obama's meeting at the U. S. embassy with Cuban dissidents. In this video she stated firmly, "Matters that are internal decisions and the sovereignty of the Cuban people will not be negotiated with the United States." Vidal has negotiated the major steps in Obama's plans to normalize relations but she is increasingly irked over what she claims is "the continuing U. S. creation of and funding of dissidence on the island. It starts with the Cubans in Congress but Obama, with his photo op, endorsed it."

       The BBC article included this graphic to illustrate that "Cuba is banking on a growth in U. S. tourists" to expand its economy. In 2015, with a sharp uptick in U. S. visitors, the BBC said Cuba had 3,524,779 tourists, including 1.3 million from Canada. The trepidacious Cubans are more distrustful of the U. S. than other nations but just this week General Electric signed Memorandums of Understanding with Cuba because GE is hoping to sell "aviation, health care, and energy equipment to Cuba as the U. S. moves to lift a 55-year-old trade embargo." All that "lifting," of course, is strictly due to President Obama accomplishing some things even in the face of the always intransigent, right-wing tilted U. S. Congress. Obama can't persuade the Republicans to end the embargo but his strategy is to slice into it with an array of irreversible commercial ties before he leaves office in January. Starwood Hotels this week announced it is "investing millions to bring three Cuban hotels up to our standards." Carnival Cruise Lines in May begins the first cruises to Cuba from the U. S. in over 50 years. Commercial airline flights to Cuba from the U. S. have been prohibited for half-a-century but Obama and Cuba have agreed to 110 daily commercial flights to ten Cuban cities. But, such things, even after they are underway, are not irreversible because the Castro Cottage Industry in the U. S. has two things Obama doesn't have -- namely, control of Congress and control of the U. S. media. 

      One of the best articles about President Obama's 3-day visit to Cuba this week was penned by Julie Hirschfeld Davis of The New York Times. She indicated that Obama was sincere and convincing when he discussed the conflicted history of American imperialism with such statements as: "I believe my visit here demonstrates that you do not need to fear a threat from the United States. Many suggested that I come here to ask the people of Cuba to tear something down. But I'm appealing to the young people of Cuba who will lift something up, build something new." So, Julie's Obama notes were accurately portrayed in The New York Times although it's his Executive Powers, not his "war powers," that he is using to craft his Cuban agenda.

      Roger Cohen was born 60 years ago in London and he has long been a superb op-ed columnist for The New York Times. His column this week was from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was entitled: "Cuba Heads For Miami." The sub-title was: "A Revolution Is Not A Bed Of Roses. Nor Is The End Of The Revolution." Mr. Cohen wrote: "Vietnam has been a remarkable success story. Annual trade with the United States has soared from a mere $220 million in 1994 to $29.6 billion in 2013. Four decades after the napalm, commerce has overcome enmity. Vietnam embarked on the opening that has fast-forwarded its economy over the past two decades. In Cuba's case...the process will almost certainly go quicker. It's located close to Miami. American hotel chains are already circling, or pouncing." With all due respect to Mr. Cohen, his politically correct attempt to compare Cuba with Vietnam is far off base. Vietnam fought a long and bloody war with the U. S., and won. That's why Mr. Cohen this week was in Ho Chi Minh City, which used to be named Saigon prior to the infamous war. But Havana is still Havana and Washington is still Washington. U.S.-Cuban relations are not remotely comparable to U. S. relations with any other country. Mr. Cohen should acknowledge that.

        The montage above proves that U.S.-Cuban relations are totally unique. The U. S. indeed has supported ruthless dictatorships -- Mobutu in the Congo, Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, Pinochet in Chile, Samosa in Nicaragua, Videla in Argentina, etc., etc. But only in Cuba did the U. S., beginning in 1952, team with the top Mafia thugs -- Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky -- to support the vile Batista dictatorship. And that alone -- the unique Mafia aspect -- separates U.S.-Cuban relations from all other relationships.

And so does the following montage:

      In 1959 the Cuban Revolution became the first and only revolution in history to overthrow a U.S.-backed dictatorship. Even more significantly, it created the first time in history that an overthrown dictatorship fled to U. S. soil and, in essence, reconstituted an even richer and more powerful situation than they had enjoyed in Cuba from 1952 till 1959. So, yes, Mr. Cohen, those two things seperate Cuba from Vietnam and all other nations. Cuba on the international stage in 2016 still punches far above its weight because it is still Revolutionary Cuba, a "sovereign" country as both Obama and Vidal said this week.

        This photo -- courtesy of Orlando Barria/European Pressphoto Agency -- shows Cuban President Raul Castro escorting President Obama and his two daughters to Air Force One at the conclusion of this week's 3-day visit to Cuba by the first sitting American President since 1928. The presidents ended up laughing.

        This photo -- courtesy of Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press -- shows President Obama on his last day in Cuba taking a moment, perhaps, to ponder his Cuban legacy. Because of his unique bravery, astuteness, and decency in regards to Cuba -- against imposing odds -- his Cuban legacy should forever stand very tall on the pantheon of great American leaders. Yet, most of what he has forged on behalf of the Cuban people and on behalf of America's image around the world will be reversed. That is so because of what the two above montages depicted -- the Batista-Mafia rule in Cuba followed by the reconstitution of that rule on U. S. soil, particularly its influence in the U. S. Congress. Put simply, too many revenge, economic and political offshoots of the 1952-to-1959 and the 1959-to-today U.S.-Cuban relations dictate the ultimate failure of Obama's remarkable overtures. But that's simply a factor of the imposing odds he faced, and should not distract from the courage and skill his efforts entailed. In the end his enemies will have been proven to have grown too strong and his support from the American people has been too weak.

And one more note:

       Last night -- Wednesday night -- Ana Navarro closed out a prime-time news-hour on CNN with a long, shameful, and blistering verbal assault against President Obama regarding his trip to Cuba. Navarro is a Miami-based, highly paid propagandist for #1 Jeb Bush and #2 Marco Rubio and, now that Jeb and Marco have been ousted as presidential contenders, #3 Ted Cruz. The ubiquitous and obnoxious right-wing Navarro is presented as a "Political Analyst" by CNN and that is an insult to Americans and is a vivid reflection of how the precipitous decline of broadcast journalism in the United States has reached new depths. In promoting her right-wing agendas, Navarro not only regularly demeans President Obama but she also demeans the Office of President. With that being said, Navarro is a career publicist and promoter, not a journalist. Thus, the fault lies with CNN for displaying such disrespect for both journalism and its viewers. Any tape-review of Navarro's vitriolic tirade against the President last night should shame CNN. 

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Obama Leaves; Cuba Stays

Dissidents Win

Photo courtesy: Rolanda Pujol/EPA.

       The iconic and quixotic image of America's presidential airplane, Air Force One, flying low over Havana lingers and now becomes a part of the historic and still-troubled relationship between two enemies.

       This Steven Crowley/New York Times photo shows Cuban President Castro escorting U. S. President Obama past an Honor Guard at Cuba's Palace of the Revolution.

       This Desmond Boylan/AP photo shows the highlight of President Obama's visit to Cuba -- his 50-minute speech at Havana's Grand Theater. Cuban President Raul Castro was in attendance and the speech was carried live on Cuban television. Mr. Obama said: "I affirm that Cuba's destiny will not be decided by the United States or any other nation. Cuba is sovereign and rightly has great pride, and the future of Cuba will be decided by Cubans, not by anyone else." That would be so if Mr. Obama, most Americans, most Cubans, most Cuban-Americans, and most citizens of the world had their way. But that's not the way it is, nor the way it will be. And that's a fact.

      This Reuters photo shows President Obama meeting with selected Cuban dissidents. The lady on the left in white covering the obligatory event is Cuba's most famed dissident, Yoani Sanchez. The Huffington Post and much of the Western media used Yoani Sanchez's bylines to depict Obama's visit to Cuba, meaning the dissidents very easily triumphed. She called President Obama "Saint Obama."

      50,000 Cubans gave Obama a standing ovation when he showed up for the baseball game at Latin American Stadium in Havana. Behind ace left-handed pitcher Matt Moore, the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cuban National Team 4-to-1. Veteran Tampa Bay first baseman James Loney belted a two-run homer and drove in 3 of the 4 runs for the Rays. A 9th inning homer by Cuba's Rudy Reyes averted a shut-out.

      Derek Jeter, upper-right, was among the notable American baseball legends who eased through the crowd to greet Obama at his last public appearance in Havana.

Presidents Obama and Castro at the baseball game.

        Mr. Obama's 3-day trip to Cuba is now over. Many of his brave and positive overtures to Cuba will try to coexist with lingering impediments from a few Miami Cubans and the U. S. Congress that they control. The President and Cuba will lose.

And yet:

        This AP photo shows the pride of the Carnival Cruise line, the Adonia. On May 1, 2016, the Adonia, which can carry 704 passengers, will begin sailing from Miami to Cuba. It will mark the first time in 50 years that a cruise ship has been allowed to sail from the U. S. to Cuba, giving President Obama another talismanic achievement. 

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Obama's Cuban Speech

3 Historic Days!!

        President Barack Obama tonight ends his historic three-day trip to Cuba, the first by a sitting U. S. President since 1928. First off, he was awakened prior to daylight to be informed and updated about the deadly terrorist attacks at the airport and metro station in Brussels, Belgium. The rest of the day has been quite crowded for the President, highlighted by his major 50-minute speech at Havana's Grand Theater, which was filled and had Raul Castro looking on and occasionally clapping from a balcony. The speech was televised live by Cuban state television. At times President Obama's admonition to the Cuban people and references to the Cuban Revolution were tough, but fair and hopeful. He reiterated that Cuba's future should be determined by the Cuban people themselves, not the United States. He acknowledged that the U. S. embargo, in place since 1962, continues to harm everyday Cubans and he believes the U. S. Congress should end it, which both he and Cuba realize Congress will not do. Again he noted "the differences" the U. S. government has with the Cuban government while extolling the virtues of America's democracy and urging "young Cubans" to create an elective government.
          After his 10:00 A. M. speech, President Obama met with Cuban dissidents at the U. S. Embassy, which was reopened in Havana in 2015 for the first time since 1961. The President's last major appearance in Havana will take place at Latin American Stadium tonight when he watches an American Major League team, the Tampa Bay Rays, take on a Cuban national team. Then Air Force One flies him to Argentina.

       This Desmond Boylan/AP photo shows President Obama delivering his important speech today before a packed crowd at the Grand Theater in Havana with Raul Castro in attendance and with millions of Cubans watching on television. President Obama said: "I have come to bury the last remnant of the Cold War. It's time for us to leave the past behind." It was one of the best-written and best-delivered speeches of his career although he devoted the first of the 50-minutes to the latest terrorist attacks in Brussels, Belgium.

     Josefina Vidal, Cuba's Minister of North American Affairs and the island's top negotiator on all things related to the United States of America, was among the Cuban delegation that welcomed President Obama to Cuba Sunday afternoon. She earnestly appreciates his visit and his efforts to normalize relations with the island, which she considers "part-way there." She told CNN in a long interview, "We are neighbors. Although we might have profound differences, we have many values we share. It is beneficial for Cuba and the United States to have normal relations. Normal relations means you are ready to respect the other party's differences and have a peaceful co-existence."

  It was Josefina Vidal, in four high-profile diplomatic sessions with America's Roberta Jacobson, who hammered out remarkable advances in U.S.-Cuban relations, starting with her insistence that Cuba be removed from the U. S. list of Sponsors of Terrorism. After that, other overtures included the opening of embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time since 1961. Since then, President Obama has defied Miami Cubans and the U. S. Congress by greatly opening up travel and commerce with the island. Yet, Vidal says, "We are not there yet, not close, really. The continuation of the blockade from 1962 till today is a major blockage. The U. S. Congress still routinely funds regime-change schemes. The U. S. Congress still routinely funds and encourages dissidents in Cuba. The U. S. must be willing to discuss the return of Guantanamo Bay to Cuba. If those issues are addressed, we can normalize relations. If not, we can't. If a few hateful members of Congress can dictate an American Cuban policy that the entire rest of the world opposes, that is a problem for Cuba. But it is probably a bigger problem for America."

     Some journalists in America have provided Americans with fair and unbiased coverage of President Obama's trip to Cuba, but that is the exception and not the rule. Julie Pace of the Associated Press has filed the best reports from Havana this week. Ms. Pace began one dispatch with these words: "Stepping into history, President Obama opened an extraordinary visit to Cuba on Sunday, eager to push decades of acrimony deeper into the past and forge irreversible ties with America's former adversary." While most U. S. journalists adhere to the politically correct mantra of emphasizing the few U.S.-backed Cuban dissidents, competent reporters emphasize the opinions of everyday Cubans. Julie Pace interviewed Cubans like 79-year-old Odilia Collazo who told her, "Obama wanted to come to Cuba with all his heart. Let God will that this is good for the Cubans. It seems to me that Obama wants to do something good before he leaves office."

      Rich, powerful, and revengeful Cuban-Americans like Ted Cruz have, unfortunately, punished Cubans like 79-year-old Odilia Collazo all of her adult life. Cruz, a first-term Senator and leading right-wing Republican presidential contender, was asked by CNN's Wolf Blitzer about President Obama's Cuban trip. As usual, Cruz showed zero respect for the President and for the office of President. Blitzer asked Cruz about Obama's overtures to Cuba and about whether Congress should ease the embargo, follow Obama's lead regarding travel and commerce to and with the island, and maybe even discuss the return of Guantanamo Bay to Cuba. Using his best Harvard lawyer two-faced countenance {above}, Cruz, as always, answered each question from Blitzer with the cruel, nonsensical claim that "Obama is breaking federal law in dealing with Cuba." When he harps on the ease with which hard-line Cuban-Americans can punish Cubans on the island with whatever laws they want the U. S. Congress to mandate, Cruz is assuming that the American people are either too stupid or too intimidated to question whatever he says. The Founding Fathers instituted Checks-and-Balances within the fabric of their democracy, including Executive Privileges for Presidents that Obama has used more astutely and more decently than anyone to try to reign in the cruel assaults on innocent Cubans dictated in Congress by self-serving, Batistiano-like Cuban-Americans and their sycophants, such as Jesse Helms and Dan Burton of Helms-Burton fame.

      This photo of U. S. Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart in Miami is courtesy of Fox News. During Obama's trip to Cuba, Congressman Mario has been all over the cable networks and right-wing radio demeaning the President regarding anything that remotely bespeaks of helping Cubans on the island. Like Cruz, Congressman Mario's comments assume the American people are either too stupid or too intimidated to object...and, for sure, there are no broadcast journalists in the U. S. with the courage to challenge them.

       Mario Diaz-Balart is one of the four sons of Rafael Diaz-Balart. Rafael, in the middle in the above Washington Post photo, was an important Minister in the Batista dictatorship that was overthrown by the Cuban Revolution on the first of January in 1959. Rafael, like many others, quickly became one of the richest and most powerful anti-Castro zealots in Miami. His four sons include Mario on the far right and Rafael Jr., a rich banker, on the far left. At his father's immediate left is Jose, an anchor on three major networks -- MSNBC, NBC, and NBC-owned Telemundo. On his father's immediate right is the Havana-born Lincoln, who preceded Mario as a fiercely anti-Castro member of the United States Congress from Miami.

       The above quotation by United States Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart of Miami sounds democratic. But, of course, he never has to explain why only anti-Castro zealots -- Ros-Lehtinen, the Diaz-Balarts, Rubio, Curbelo -- can get elected to Congress from Miami although most of America's 2 million Cuban-Americans, including those in Miami, support President Obama's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba.

        The significance of this quote by Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart is self-evident. To the chagrin of democracy-lovers, a handful of Cuban-Americans have easily forged an array of laws in the U. S. Congress that grossly favor Cuban-Americans and grossly discriminate against all non-Cuban Americans, particularly Cubans still on the island. Those laws include Helms-Burton, Torricelli, The Cuban Adjustment Act, Wet Foot/Dry Foot, etc., etc. Cubans and only Cubans are encouraged to defect to the U. S. where Cubans and only Cubans are immediately home free once they touch U. S. soil and are immediate recipients of financial and other benefits not available to anyone else, including those with more legitimate reasons to immigrate to the United States. Yet, Americans are not supposed to questions such laws, nor question whatever Congressmen like Diaz-Balart say about a U. S. President who is rightly trying to correct such things.

       As mentioned, President Obama concludes his scheduled events in Havana tonight when he attends the baseball game at Latin American Stadium. It pits the American Major League Tampa Bay Rays against a young Cuban national team. Just in the last few years, over a hundred of the best baseball players in Cuba have defected and signed with the 30 U. S. Major League teams. The Major Leagues and baseball-rich Cuba are currently trying to work out a plan for Cubans to sign with U. S. teams without having to defect.

        President Obama invited 93-year-old Rachel Robinson to fly with him to Cuba. Rachel is the beloved widow of baseball legend Jackie Robinson who broke the color barrier in Major League baseball in 1947. President Obama wanted Rachel to be with him at tonight's game in Havana featuring the Tampa Bay Rays.

       This AP/Getty Images photo was taken at Latin American Stadium in Havana in 1946. On the left is Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher. Leo is shaking hands with Jackie Robinson who was then with the Brooklyn Dodgers' Triple-A farm team, the Montreal Royals. The Dodgers in those days played exhibitions and took spring training in Havana. The year after this photo was taken, 1947, Jackie broke the Major League color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers and he was the National League Rookie of the Year.

        This photo shows Jackie Robinson and his beautiful bride Rachel the year they were married, in 1946, the year before he became the most talked-about athlete in America as the star player for the famed Brooklyn Dodgers. Jackie, before he broke the color barrier, played some of his best baseball in the Negro League and in the Dodgers' farm system. But he was Rookie of the Year in 1947, Most Valuable Player in 1952, and in 1955 he helped the Brooklyn Dodgers beat the mighty New York Yankees in the World Series. Rachel, at age 93, is with President Obama in Cuba and tonight they will be at Latin American Stadium in Havana where emotions will fill her heart because she knows Jackie once played in that very stadium.

        Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia, in 1919. He was a four-star athlete at UCLA before turning pro as a baseball player. He was married to the love of his life, Rachel, from 1946 till he died in 1972. His most famous quotation was: "A life is not important except for the impact it has on other lives." By that definition, Jackie Robinson is one of the all-time most impactful and most important Americans. Rachel's memories of him tonight in Havana will be precious treasures for her and President Barack Obama.

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Obama's Full Cuban Day

Pomp & Pageantry

Photos courtesy: EPA.

        Along with pomp, pageantry, and protocol, U. S. President Barack Obama had a long meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro today, his first full day in Cuba. Mr. Obama attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the Jose Marti monument and heard an excellent version of the American National Anthem played by a robust Cuban band. Monday afternoon both Presidents stood side-by-side and made televised statements. President Castro thanked President Obama for his "positive" efforts to normalize relations but added, "The blockade still stands as an obstacle to full relations." Mr. Obama said, "The future of Cuba will be decided by Cubans, no one else." And Mr. Obama pointed out that, with new economic changes in Cuba, more and more Cuban-Americans are "returning to the island to stay." After the statements by Obama and Castro, they opened up to questions from the press. Obama gave Jim Acosta the opportunity to ask the first questions.

      Jim Acosta is a Cuban-American who graduated from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. In the U. S., with few exceptions, only anti-Castro Cuban-Americans are allowed to dictate media coverage of Cuba. Acosta asked not one but a plethora of questions, which upset President Castro and then subsequent replies from both Presidents consumed almost the entire Q & A session. Only one other journalist, the fair-minded NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell, got to ask Obama and Castro questions.

        America's First Lady Michelle Obama spent a long time meeting with female Cuban students. Cuba has one of the world's highest literacy rates and education as well as health care are free to all students. One of the students asked Mrs. Obama, "We have problems here, the embargo and such, but we don't understand the problems American students have with student loans and American people have with too expensive medical care and we don't understand how Americans allow so many gun shootings. So, if we get excellent and total eudcations and health care, and none of us ever hear about anyone getting shot, is it fair to preach to us and is it fair to fund and support most of the best-known dissidents here?" Mrs. Obama listened politely and then said, "You make valid points. We too have problems in America. My husband is not here to preach to you. And he is impressed that young Cubans like you will chart a good and prosperous course for your Cuba."

     Everyday Cubans like these are not nearly as enthralled with President Obama's trip as they were with the visit to the island by Pope Francis. While very appreciative of President Obama, Cubans pragmatically realize that a Republican-controlled U. S. Congress and the possibility of a Republican president in less than a year will most likely turn back the normalization that Obama has tried so hard to accomplish. An everyday Cuban, Jesus Diaz Cabrera, said, "We need to deal with nations we can trust. How can we trust America when a few rich and revengeful Miami Cubans can punish us with a blockade and other laws just by controlling Congress? The Miami Cubans know the Castro brothers are very old and they want to finally take advantage of their age to rule Cuba again, while Cubans in Cuba need to prevent that, one way or the other."

        Because of tight security, Cubans trying to get upfront views of President Obama often have to contend with just watching live television broadcasts of various events or using their Smart Phones.

      Throughout Obama's three days and three nights in Cuba, well-organized dissidents, like this one being escorted by female soldiers, will try to steal the headlines. U. S. television networks prefer such photo ops and videos but usually refuse to point out that such dissidence is also always met on Cuban streets by pro-government everyday Cubans. While the U. S. President is in Cuba, NBC and other U. S. networks have crews in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood to cover anti-Obama demonstrations. NBC's Monday coverage from Little Havana, as usual, didn't point out that even most Cuban-Americans in Miami support Obama's Cuban policy, not Congress's Cuban policy. Also, most everyday Cubans and most unbiased Americans are aware that the U. S. Congress continues to lushly fund regime-change schemes and Cuban dissidents, policies that will continue to create distrust of the United States despite Obama's decency.

       The Tampa Bay Rays arrived in Cuba Monday afternoon and they will play a Cuban national team tomorrow night at Havana's Latin American Stadium. President Obama will attend the game. Major League Baseball in the United States is very embarrassed about the human trafficking of Cuban baseball stars to the 30 U. S. Major League teams and, to its credit, MLB officials are trying to make it possible for Cuban players to sign U. S. contracts without having to defect. But, just in recent years, over 100 top Cuban baseball prospects have defected and signed with U. S. teams, including players as young as sixteen-years-old. So, unlike in the past, tomorrow night Cuba is not likely to be competitive against Tampa Bay.

      This MLB photo was taken shortly after the Tampa Bay Rays arrived in Havana Monday. On the right is Tampa Bay's ace pitcher Chris Archer playing catch at Latin American Stadium with young Cuban Diego Lopez. Before leaving Tampa Bay, Archer said, "I can't wait to get to Havana ...I am truly EXCITED...because I want to play catch with Cuban children. I admire their love for baseball so much. I support them totally."

       On Sunday -- the day President Obama arrived in Cuba -- Bill Weir hosted an hour program on CNN that actually presented a fair appraisal of the Cuba that awaited the historic visit from the American president. The image above shows Bill Weir engaging with Cuban architect Yoandy Rizo Fiallo who was explaining why he has returned to the island from the U. S. The program featured Weir meeting with a plethora of everyday Cubans on the island. At one point, Weir admitted that he was surprised that most randomly chosen Cubans strongly support their government, not Cuban dissidents and not hardline Miami Cubans.

    Bill Weir, a rare bird, as a U S. journalist fair about Cuba.

       Tomorrow will be the third and final day of President Obama's trip to Cuba. He will conclude the historic visit with a major speech to the Cuban people that will be carried live on Cuban television. He will also have the obligatory meeting with Cuban dissidents that will include Yoani Sanchez, the famed anti-Castro blogger. Tomorrow night President Obama will attend the baseball game featuring the Tampa Bay Rays. He is expected to depart in the 5th inning, by which time Tampa Bay figures to have a safe lead. Then Air Force One will fly to Argentina, which now has a pro-U. S. President, Mauricio Macri, who replaced Cristina Fernandez, one of Cuba's best friends. Argentina's shift from a strongly pro-Cuban to a strongly pro-U.S. President will likely soon be replicated in Venezuela and Brazil, complicating the future for Cuba. But, as President Obama flies between Cuba and Argentina, the Caribbean island is still afloat and still sovereign.

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Cuba Welcomes Obama

Havana Has High Hopes

       At 4:30 P. M. Eastern Time on Sunday afternoon, March 20th, 2016, this IBT photo showed Air Force One in its descent over Havana, Cuba. On board was the President of the United States Barack Obama along with First Lady Michelle Obama, daughters Malia and Sasha, and Michelle's mother. Also on board were 39 members of the U. S. Congress and 11 top business executives.

       This epic Joe Raedle/Getty Images photo shows United States President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama getting off Air Force One during a fairly heavy rainstorm in Havana Sunday afternoon.

       This Carlos Barria/Reuters photo shows President Obama and First Lady Michelle touching the pavement at Jose Marti Airport in Havana, marking the first time since Calvin Coolidge in 1928 that a sitting United States President has been in Cuba. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, on the far left, led the Cuban delegation that welcomed President Obama to Cuba.

Photo courtesy: Jack Gruber/USA Today.

       The photo above shows a Cuban lady hastily dusting off the entrance to her home just hours before the arrival of U. S. President Obama Sunday.

       This Jack Gruber/USA Today photo shows a sight that tourists see on the streets of Havana. Cuban poet Orlando LaGuardia has just sold a poem and a keepsake to a tourist. Note that Orlando updated his commercial stand with a type-written note fronted by colorful Cuban and U. S. flags. The note reflected his appreciation of President Obama's visit and it thanked the President for "the respect you have shown the Cuban people. We have waited a very long time for someone exactly like you."

     President Obama is the only American president since the 1950s to have the guts, the intelligence, and the patriotism to seriously attempt to forge a truly decent, non-imperialistic relationship with Cuba. Although the remnants of the ousted Batista-Mafia dictatorship, which ruled Cuba from 1952 till 1959, still cruelly dictate most of America's Cuban policy and most of America's Cuban narrative, Mr. Obama has, with uncommon bravery and astuteness, sliced into that affront to democracy, at least to the extent he can. Because of him, the U. S. has an embassy in Havana for the first time since 1961; because of him Cubans on the island and the citizens all across the Caribbean and Latin America have a more favorable opinion of America and democracy. But on his historic three-day trip to Cuba -- from Sunday afternoon till Tuesday night -- Mr. Obama has no illusions. He is aware that this generation of Americans, like the one that preceded it, is not courageous enough nor patriotic enough to support his sane and decent Cuban policy. By the time Air Force One touched down in Havana, Havana-born U. S. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen had assailed him for supporting a "thug and a killer," referencing the Castro brothers. And just as Mr. Obama was arriving in Cuba Sunday, Cuban-American U. S. Senator and presidential contender Ted Cruz was also typically demeaning the President and his Office by accusing him of "legitimizing a brutal regime." Such comments are designed to legitimize the thuggish killers in the Batista-Mafia regime, first in Cuba and then in the U. S., while also perpetrating a Cuban policy that sates the revenge, economic, and political appetites of a few. While most Americans, most Cuban-Americans, most Latin Americans, and almost all citizens of the world approve of Mr. Obama's Cuban overtures, they are doomed to failure, for two reasons: {1} This generation of Americans lacks the courage to support Mr. Obama; and {2} punishing Cubans on the island and enriching a handful of Cuban-Americans is now deeply ingrained in both the American democracy and the American psyche.

So, forget what Obama says in Cuba.

Just let Cruz and Ros-Lehtinen dictate the Cuban narrative.

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