Obama Has Reshaped Cuba

Drastically!!

Photo credit: Valerio Berdin/REX/Shutterstock.

       This beautiful Cuban bartender has a problem, thanks to U. S. President Barack Obama. She simply doesn't have enough beer to handle the vast influx of American tourists since Obama's Dec.-2014 announcement that the U. S. is trying to normalize relations with the nearby island for the first time in over five decades. This weekend, London's The Guardian, which keeps a watchful eye on Cuba, made this revelation: "The ubiquitous fridges that dispense beer in Cuba's bars, cafes, and petrol stations are running out of the island's favorite brands of beer, Cristal and Bucanero. A surge in American tourists and the proliferation of new private watering holes put the nation's main brewery under strains. Bucanero, a joint venture between the Cuban government and Belgium's Anheuser Busch InBev, also makes the island's most widely consumed beer, Cristal. Bucanero is importing three million cases of beer from Dominica to meet the demand in Cuba." If you look closely, you may detect the worried look on this bartender's face, as if she is looking at the door hoping some cases of beer from Dominica will be added to her stocks of brew that very morning before her customers barge in.

       This weekend's article in The Guardian pointed out that, in a few days -- on May 1st -- Carnival Cruise Lines will greatly increase the influx of Americans to Cuba. That's when its Miami hub begins the first cruises from the U. S. to Cuba in over five decades. The Guardian wrote: "Beginning on May 1st Carnival cruise ships from Miami, for the very first time since 1959, will begin dropping off thousands of additional Americans in Cuba...thirsty Americans!" The London newspaper also pointed out that "U. S. visitors rose 77% in 2015 to 166,000 -- not counting hundreds of thousands of Cuban-Americans. It severely tests Cuba's hotels, rental cars and...beer."

Now you know why she is worried!!

        However, this weekend -- Saturday, April 9th -- Gene Sloan of USA Today reported that Pearl Seas Cruises in Miami is canceling its planned trips to Cuba apparently because the over-burdened island simply can't handle so many U. S. tourists.

      Pearl Sea Cruises had launched an expansive program of cruises to Cuba on its luxurious, 210-passenger Pearl Mist ship, according to USA Today. It had been taking bookings for cabins that started at a hefty $7,810 per passenger but Cuba itself has had to refuse the cruises and USA Today says, "The cancellations began."

      This is the map that Pearl Sea Cruises had advertised and sincerely hoped would reflect its cruises from Miami, all around the island of Cuba, and back to Miami. But for Cuba, President Obama's historic kindnesses are simply too much too soon.

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Fidel Enjoys Public Outing

Appears Healthy, Enegized
{Updated: Saturday, April 9th, 2016}

      89-year-old Fidel Castro...he turns 90 on August 13th...seemed to thoroughly enjoy a public outing Thursday -- April 7th, 2016. He showed up and participated fully in a ceremony at the Vilma Espin Educational Complex in the Playa municipality. The occasion was to honor the late revolutionary heroine Vilma Espin on what would have been her 86th birthday. Fidel made an enthusiastic speech in which he said, "I'm sure that this day Vilma would be very happy. She would be seeing why she sacrificed her life fighting for the revolution. If she were here today she would be seeing the energy she fought so hard for." Fidel then eagerly conversed with the students at the complex. Cuban state television featured that interaction and many of his enthusiastic comments. Shortly, a two-minute and 37-second video and audio clip appeared on YouTube and you can easily access it by using this title: "Fidel Castro rinde homenaje a Vilma Espin."

Fidel honoring Vilma Espin April 7, 2016.

Fidel with student at Vilma Espin ceremony, April 7, 2016.

Fidel at Vilma Espin ceremony on April 7th, 2016.

      Vilma Espin was born on April 7, 1930 in Santiago de Cuba. She died of cancer on June 18, 2007. She was a legendary guerrilla fighter during the Revolutionary War and married Raul Castro right after the triumph of the revolution on January 1, 1959, and remained married to him till her death. She is the mother of Raul's four children. Prior to returning to Cuba for the revolution, she was studying in the USA at MIT.

      Although married to Raul Castro, Vilma was always very close to Fidel Castro. After his soulmate, Celia Sanchez, refused the title of First Lady, Vilma accepted it. In Revolutionary Cuba, Vilma was a superstar and, among her many achievements, she founded the ultra-powerful Federation of Cuban Women.

       No matter how easily or seamlessly it is denied, this photo depicts Revolutionary Cuba's Big Four: Vilma Espin, Fidel Castro, Raul Castro, and Celia Sanchez. Celia died of cancer at 59 on January 11, 1980.

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Cuba, USA

Or Cuba & the USA

Photo courtesy: Tampa Bay Times.

      Fabiola Santiago is a prime example of why many people wish Cuba and America were separate sovereign countries as opposed to partly being Cuba, USA since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution on January 1, 1959. And that rationale is not just because that was the day the revolution chased the leaders of the Batista-Mafia dictatorship off the island only to have them quickly resettle on U. S. soil, mostly in the vicinity of Miami, Florida. On the heels of that phenomenon, it wasn't long before exiled Cubans controlled the U. S. media and dominated the U. S. Congress whenever the issues pertained to either Cuba or Cuban-exiles. Thus, Miami predictably began sprouting billionaires like tropical mushrooms...not to mention a steady stream of anti-Castro zealots in the U. S. Congress and in the U. S. media.

       Fabiola Santiago was born in Matanzas, Cuba. She came to the U. S. in 1969 as part of the historic Freedom Flights {above} from Cuba to Miami. Between 1965 and 1973, the so-called Pedro Pan flights brought 265,000 Cubans to the U. S. where special economic, residence, and citizenship privileges awaited them. By 1980 Fabiola Santiago was working for The Miami Herald and soon became that newspaper's editorial editor. From 1980 till today, what she writes is supposed to never be challenged in the U. S. although it never fails to reek of anti-Castro venom, which spills over into being typical anti-Cuban propaganda. Regarding President Obama's recent trip to Cuba, she blared this headline: "IF ENGAGEMENT GIVES FIDEL CASTRO A HEART ATTACK, IT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME." Then she added, "After the elegant speech by President Obama and the free concert by the Rolling Stones, we didn't have to wait long for..." And then she waxed eloquently and, of course, without bias, about Fidel Castro's written reaction to the President's visit.

       And that brings us around to Fabiola Santiago's huge editorial in The Miami Herald yesterday, April 7th. It's title was: "CARNIVAL CRUISE TO CUBA DISCRIMINATES AGAINST A CLASS OF AMERICANS." With not a scintilla of biased logic, she wrote: "Imagine a cruise line that won't take African Americans on sailings to Africa. Or won't take bookings from American Jews to Israel. One class of U. S. citizens banned while others get access. No company in contemporary America would ever survive such blunt discriminatory business practices. But that's exactly what Carnival Corporation is doing in cohorts with the Cuban government and with the endorsement of the U. S. Treasury -- barring Cuban Americans from upcoming cruises to the island starting May 1." After that somewhat one-sided bit of journalism, Ms. Santiago added, "Forty-seven years in this country, 36 as a U. S. citizen, a voter -- and I cannot sail on an American cruise ship because Cuba says so."

       Carnival Cruise Lines begins it cruises to Cuba on May 1, 2016. On its website it says: "Be the first to cruise to Cuba in over 50 years. Visit our sister Fathom Travel and reserve your spot now." There is no reference to discriminating against Cuban-Americans, as Fabiola Santiago states. But Ms. Santiago also mocked the prices: $3,115 per passenger; $7,350 for suites; and $283 for port fees. After mentioning those prices, Ms. Santiago wrote: "Carnival and Cuba are making a nice profit. Discrimination seems to be working for them." To be fair, anything that resembles a positive for Cuba would most likely irk Fabiola Santiago and other Miami hardliners. 

         Fabiola Santiago, the Cuban-born editorial editor for the Miami Herald, is well aware of the aforementioned historic photo depicting the Freedom Flights but I believe she should also be cognizant of other historic U.S.-Cuban photos, such as the one above. It shows a Cuban mother and daughter who were waiting at Jose Marti Airport for their son and brother to arrive from Caracas, where he and other teenage Cubans had won Gold Medals in the Central American Championships. When this photo was taken, they had just gotten the news that the airplane, known to history as Cubana Flight 455, had been blown into the ocean by a terrorist bomb and all 73 on board had perished. That historic day was October 6, 1976. From that day to this day, because it was a Cuban civilian airplane, it's been a non-factor in U. S. history books and in the U. S. media. The one Cuban-American newsman in Miami who complained about such things, Emilio Milian, was himself car-bombed. The one Miami Herald columnist, Jim DeFede, who wrote a scathing article excoriating Miami members of the U. S. Congress such as Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balart brothers for supporting the well-known terrorists, was himself fired. Cuba to this day blames the demise of Cubana Flight 455 on the two most famed CIA-connected Cuban-American anti-Castro zealots Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles. Bosch, after being pardoned by President George H. W. Bush at the pleadings of his ambitious son Jeb, lived out a heralded life in Miami. Posada, after being surreptitiously freed from two Latin American prisons, is today a heralded citizen of Miami. In other words, the U.S.-Cuban history concerning the Freedom Flights that brought Fabiola Santiago and 265,000 other Cubans to the U. S. is one thing, but so is Cubana Flight 455. Perhaps, in 2016, it is time for even the Miami Herald to acknowledge two sides of a two-sided story. And while doing so, an editorial on April 7th about Cuban-Americans being "discriminated against" could possibly spawn an editorial on April 8th about a plethora of U. S. laws that discriminate in favor of Cuban-Americans, such as The Torricelli Bill, The Helms-Burton Act, Wet Foot/Dry Foot, Radio-TV Marti, Cuban Adjustment Act, etc., etc., etc.

      Yesterday's blistering article in the Miami Herald by editorial editor Fabiola Santiago reminded me of Katie Sizemore, a brilliant young journalist who believes that the U. S. media should report the news, not propaganda, even if the topic is Cuba. Katie has already carved out credentials as a Latin American expert and as a talented and unbiased journalist. In a major article published this week by, among others, The Huffington Post & The World Post, Katie Sizemore very bravely wrote these exact words: "While President Obama was keeping his eyes on the ball during his recent trip to Cuba and Argentina, most of the U. S. media severely missed the point of this pivotal moment for U.S.-Latin American relations. Instead of focusing on the monumental significance and opportunity by both a historic opening of ties with Cuba, and a warming of political and economic cooperation with Argentina for the first time in a decade, media outlets nationwide narrowed in on criticizing Obama and his family's activities. This oversimplification of the way international political leaders develop relationships, find common areas of interest, and appreciate cultural symbols only serves as a distraction and insults the intelligence of the American people. This opportunity for re-engagement is important not only for economic reasons...but also because it opens the door to great collaborations in areas of science, education, terrorism, and drug and human trafficking. We would do well to focus on how our leaders can continue important engagements, rather than focusing on trivialities that are easier to criticize than the complexities of international political relationships." If you want to Google the entire article by Katie Sizemore, it first appeared April 3-2016 and is entitled: "MISSING THE POINT OF PRESIDENT OBAMA'S TRIPS TO CUBA AND ARGENTINA." And I think you should Google it. Katie Sizemore, I think, epitomizes the young-adult generation of Americans that appears to be totally fed-up with the incompetent, biased U. S. media and with the bought-and-paid-for, corrupt aspects of the U. S. government. Such incompetence, propaganda, and rampant corruption, to precisely quote Katie Sizemore, "serve as a distraction and insults the intelligence of the American people." Beyond any shadow of any doubt, as Katie Sizemore understands, two generations of Americans since the 1950s have had their intelligence insulted. It is hoped that Katie's generation will correct those insults to the U. S. democracy.

        Katie Sizemore understands that it was very wrong for the U. S. government to team with the Mafia to support the thieving and brutal Batista dictatorship in Cuba.

        Katie Sizemore understands that from 1959 till 2016 it has been wrong for the United States to punish innocent Cubans in the guise of "hurting Fidel Castro."

        Katie Sizemore understands that declassified U. S. documents dating from November of 1976 clearly show that the U. S. government knew the terrorists who repeatedly terrorized innocent Cubans, but they were/are never held accountable.

      Katie Sizemore understands why angry demonstrations awaited Mr. Obama after he left Cuba and landed in Argentina last month. The angry signs blared "OBAMA GET OUT OF ARGENTINA!" The Argentineans, of course, were blaming an innocent Mr. Obama for what the U. S. government did in Argentina throughout the 1970s.

       Katie Sizemore understands what inflames the passions of Argentine mothers and grandmothers like these. Mothers of the Plaza still march in Argentina and have chapters in cities around the world as they protest the murders by U.S.-backed dictators of their loved ones in the 1970s. {"Ninos" means "Children."}. They should not have taken their grief out on Mr. Obama but the still-living Americans they hold responsible will not visit Argentina, so Obama was unfortunately their scrape-goat.

Katie Sizemore.

         As a journalist and as a Latin American expert, Katie does not believe that either the U. S. media or the U. S. government should "insult the intelligence of the American people." In that regard, her article this week indicates she thinks Cuba and Argentina would be good places to start regarding both history and current events.

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Israel Seeks Cuban Ties

Surprises Cuba
{Updated: Thursday, April 7th, 2016}

      Modi Ephraim is the head of the Latin American and Caribbean Division of Israel's Foreign Ministry.  This week {April 5th} a major article in The Jerusalem Post led with this paragraph: "Israel looks favorably on the recent U.S.-Cuba reconciliation and hopes that in the future it, too, will re-establish ties with the Caribbean country, the head of the Foreign Ministry's Latin American and Caribbean Division said on Tuesday." Mr. Ephraim noted that Cuba "has influence on Latin American countries because of its revolutionary elan." He also said that Cuba is a tourist destination for Israeli citizens and that Israel has maintained relations with Cuba in the medical, cultural and environmental areas. According to The Jerusalem Post, Israel does not have formal diplomatic relations with Cuba and with three of Cuba's best friends -- Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Bolivia. Left unsaid is the fact that lack of diplomatic relations with those four nations might simply be a capitulation to the United States; Israel is the recipient of by far the biggest yearly chunk of America's $38 billion in foreign aid.

      Cuba this week is left to ponder the surprise overture from Israel. In recent years, the yearly vote in the United Nations against the U. S. embargo of Cuba has been a resounding 191-to-2 with not a single abstaining nation, despite the unmatched economic and military influence the U. S. has around the world. In all the world, only Israel joins the United States in the United Nations in support of the embargo. As Cuba ponders Israel's kind words yesterday, it also ponders that vote, which Cuba has very sharply criticized.

        This photo reflects the fact that not only the entire world -- except for the U. S. and Israeli governments -- oppose the embargo of Cuba, but most Cuban-Americans, even in Miami, also oppose it. The above demonstration illustrates that many Miami Cuban-Americans were not pleased that their Cuban-American in the U. S. Senate, Marco Rubio, had, they believed, sold-out to Jewish billionaires in his fervent bid for the Republican presidential nomination. Rubio, the favorite of the media and the Republican establishment, quit the race when he was wiped out by Donald Trump in his own home-state of Florida.

     Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is the high-profile Mayor of Baltimore, Maryland. She is also the President of the U. S. Congress of Mayors. She will visit Cuba May 23rd-29th. The week-long trip by Ms. Rawlings-Blake and her staff is seeking business with Cuba, and it will be paid for by the U. S. Congress of Mayors.

      Leo Rodriguez was born in Cuba but he has worked for over quarter-of-a-century for American Airlines in Miami. In fact, Leo -- exactly 25 years ago this week -- was the Tower Planner in Miami that coordinated American's very first charter flight to Cuba on April 5th, 1991. He has been doing it ever since and says, "Back then, going to Cuba was like going to the moon. It was not like it is today. We were pioneers." 

        This is Leo Rodriguez today. As a Cuban-American in Miami, Leo is "very proud that my company's charter flights to Cuba, which I helped start 25 years ago this week, has evolved into commercial flights from the U. S., just like from any other country. We have had our differences but we are neighbors and good people on both sides of the Florida Straits are finally taking charge of the situation. I am proud of being a part of something new for American, America, and Cuba." Leo doesn't yet know how his charter flights will be affected but he is glad that, back in February, President Obama skirted the U. S. Congress and agreed with Cuba to begin up to 110 commercial flights to Cuba daily, the first such flights in over half-a-Century.

       American Airlines has a major hub in Miami and it has applied for more than half of the limit of 20 upcoming commercial flights to Havana plus it is bidding for flights to five other Cuban cities. The U.S.-Cuban agreements calls for 120 daily flights from the U. S. to Cuba -- 20 to Havana and up to another hundred to nine other Cuban cities. The commercial tickets are expected to be priced from $150 to $250 from Miami or Tampa to Havana while the charter tickets are running from $439 to $459. It is estimated the first commercial flights from the U. S. to Cuba in half-a-century could begin in September, and up to 7,300 U. S. commercial flights could land in Cuba in a coming year. Currently there are 12 charter flights a day connecting the U. S. to Cuba but on April 25th Tampa will add four more, pushing its overall total to 11.

       This epic photograph shows waves breaking on and over Havana's famed Malecon seawall. The photo was taken by Ernesto Mastrascusa/EPA. It was first used to illustrate an article written by Oliver Wainwright in London's The Guardian newspaper. The article is entitled: "CUBA FOR SALE: Havana Is Now the Big Cake and Everyone Is Trying to Get a Slice." Wainwright shows dilapidated buildings that are suddenly very valuable because real estate brokers love their locations in what, yet again, may be a thriving Cuba.

           Rodolfo Reyes, Cuba's Ambassador to the United Nations, yesterday -- Wednesday, April 6th -- joined 118 other nations in voting to ban the use of so-called cluster weapons that particularly harm civilians.

     Cuba's UN Ambassador Rodolfo Reyes, third from the right, was congratulated yesterday for voting to ban cluster weapons. He is standing next to Steve Goose, who is holding the brown book. Mr. Goose, the Arms Director of Human Rights Watch and Chairman of the Cluster Munitions Coalition, said, "Cuba is showing others that it is wrong to cling to cluster munitions that invariably cause harm to civilians."

      The New York Times used this photo of a Cuban living room to illustrate an article entitled: "CUBA ON THE EDGE OF CHANGE." The subtitle was: "Yet After All These Decades, an Uncanny Openness Among the Cuban People Remains." That NY Times article explains why President Obama and so many other people, after all these decades, support the Cuban people -- except, of course, the U. S. Congress and Israel.

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Cuba's Obama Growing Pains

Just Trying to Cope

      As Cuba tries to cope with its Obama-inspired tourist boom, there are bound to be bumps along the way. The Jamaica Observer used the above photo to illustrate an horrendous bus crash that took two lives and seriously injured six passengers. Cuba's Escambray newspaper reported that the bus carried 27 German and Austrian tourists on a 7-day trek around the island when a truck-and-trailer carrying television sets in a container hit a bridge abutment and then careened into the bus, killing the bus driver and a German passenger. Because of the influx of tourists since U. S. President Obama announced his normalization plans in December of 2014, Cuban state media have urged caution. The bus was in Santi Spiritus and was on its way from Santiago de Cuba to Trinidad. Both accidents and crime are rare in Cuba.

        Tourism in Cuba is up 14% for March 2016 compared to March 2015. Cuba's Minister of Tourism, Alexis Trujillo, says he expects an additional 175,000 foreign visitors this year after the island attracted 3,524,000 in 2015. He said new construction of hotels will add 3,700 hotel rooms and 5,677 rooms are being upgraded with an emphasis at the moment on Havana, Varadero, and the cays off the northern coast of the island.

         Carnival Cruise Lines has reached agreement with Cuba and the U. S. to begin travel to Cuba. Carnival will launch a 7-night cruise to Cuba from Miami leaving every other week beginning next month.

        Havana's legendary Hotel Nacional has been refurbished. Not counting Cuban-Americans, 161,233 people from the United States visited Cuba in 2015, an increase of 79%. Many more Americans have booked-out many overflowing Cuban hotels for the rest of 2016. The Obama administration has paved the way for commercial airline flights to the island for the first time in five decades, and six major U. S. airlines are fighting for those rights, especially to fill the limit of 20 such new flights to Havana. But Cuba already is connected with 60 cities worldwide and 54 international airlines that serve main resorts such as Cayo Santa Maria, Jardines del Rey, Holguin, and Santiago de Cuba. {Cays are islands off Cuba's main island}.

This is the beautiful beach at Cayo Santa Maria.

This is Cayo Royalton Santa Maria resort.

       Cayo Santa Maria is just off the north-central coast of Cuba. A bridge actually connects it to the town of Caibarien. In addition to its beauty, Cayo Santa Maria is one of the world's favorite bird-watching sites.

The bridge from Caibarien to Cayo Santa Maria.

       Starwood Hotels and Resorts has signed the first U. S. contract with Cuba since the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Starwood is converting two Cuban hotels to its high standards and is negotiating a third hotel.

       Luckily, AIRBNB has discovered Cuba just in time for Obama's innovations and kindnesses. AIRBNB now makes it much easier to rent private rooms in Cuba and also help everyday Cubans economically.

      Many visitors to Cuba prefer to eat in paladares, the restaurants in private homes, and rent rooms in private homes like the one depicted above, a process now made easy by airbnb. American travelers to Cuba in 2015 came from all 50 U. S. states, with a whopping 27.8 percent from California. Some 13,000 overall tourists in 2015 stayed with private hosts and now there are over 4,000 eager to serve tourists.

        Melissa Santana {in the brown hat in this NAU photo} is an Assistant Professor at Northern Arizona University. She took a dozen of her students on a joyful spring vacation to Cuba {above} from March 12-18.

        This photo is courtesy of Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post. It shows happy students at Maryland International Day School. They arrived in Havana Friday. The entourage to Cuba included 26 children 5 to 13 years of age. They have studied Cuba and are taking classes with Cuban students.

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