My Cuban Odyssey

It Started With A Photo

       Truth be known, this photograph started my Cuban odyssey back in the 1980s. At the time, I probably knew two things about Cuba -- "Castro" and "Havana." I then had no more interest in the island of Cuba than, say, Jamaica or the Aleutian Islands (wherever they are). I noticed this photo, quite by accident, in a bookstore in Richmond, Virginia, in 1982. It was on a postcard that was on a circular rack. I lifted it up, studied it, and then dropped it back in its slot. I purchased the hardback book that had enticed me to the store and then went out to my car, starting it up. But looking straight ahead, the image of that photo on the postcard came back at me from the windshield as if from a mirror. I turned the ignition, cutting off the car motor. I reentered the bookstore and purchased that postcard. I remember it cost me $1.06. I guess the six cents was the sales tax. The little girl clutching the block of wood...I didn't know at the time that she was Cuban...fascinated me initially and then, after taking time to study it, I succumbed to it, allowing it to grab hold of my heart and my imagination. But I still didn't know the story behind it. I just assumed that the little girl had a very special attachment to that block of wood. But why? She was, for sure, a beautiful little girl, with big eyes and an awesomely expressive face. What state did she live in? Was she poor? Was she rich? Who took the photograph? Why did she love that block of wood so much? I didn't have those answers, yet I knew the photo was natural and that the block of wood was special, not a prop. The back of the postcard, at least, revealed the photographer's name -- "Alberto Korda." The name looked Spanish to me. I guessed he was Mexican. The other answers took a few days; in 1982, you know, Google had not yet been invented.

        
        The "Alberto Korda" tip on the back of the postcard prefaced my trip to the library where a helpful librarian expedited my research. Korda was born in Cuba on September 14th, 1928. But all other references to him in the library related to a rather famous photo Korda had taken in 1960 of Che Guevara, the Argentine doctor who had become famous as a guerrilla fighter in the Cuban Revolution, which had shocked the world by beating the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship on January 1, 1959. I, in fact, had seen images of Korda's "Che" photo...on T-shirts, coffee mugs, collegiate dormitory walls, etc., but they had never interested me enough to ever take special note of them or even wonder why they were so ubiquitous. But the little girl holding the block of wood did impact me. Very much. The problem was, at least in Richmond in 1982, all my initial research on Korda led right back to "Che." Therefore, I remember spending more than a few days and nights wondering, pondering, about that little girl holding the block of wood. Why was that block of wood so special to her? The elusive answer verily challenged me.

         I distinctly remember getting irked about the ubiquity of Korda's "Che" photo every time I tried to find out about the Korda photo that really concerned me, the one of the little girl and her...block of wood.

          But gradually, as I learned more about Alberto Korda in my diligent efforts to separate him from "Che," the photo of the little girl and the block of wood came more into focus. That helpful librarian, perhaps wary of my persistence, surprised me one day with an intriguing update. She directed me to an article about Korda in the London Daily Mail. The "Che" photo had made him and his name "Korda" world famous. The significance of the article resonated strongly with me when the librarian pointed to a segment she had cordoned off with a blue magic-marker. Just past the obligatory references about "Che," there was a quotation, underlined in yellow by the librarian, that instantly quickened my heartbeat. The article quoted Korda saying these revelatory words: "But truth be known, my excitement about the Che photograph emerged only after it began to take off. Yes, it is why I can hold exhibitions in London and around the world. But apart from the money and fame, the photograph that has most affected my life...and changed my life the most...is that one over there, the one on the upper-left of that display rack." The Daily Mail reporter then said, "You mean...the little girl?" Korda, obviously showing emotion, said, "Yes, I mean...the little girl."

"Yes, I mean...the little girl."

        Alberto Korda died of a heart attack on May 25th, 2001, while holding an exhibition of his photographs in Paris, France. "Yes, I mean...the little girl." Till the day he died, of all the historic and iconic photographs he took, Korda was most famed for and will eternally be identified with "Che." But the one dearest to his heart was the one of the little Cuban girl holding the block of wood. She was not only holding it, she was loving it. She was pretending it was a doll. It was her most treasured possession. Her parents, you see, were too poor in Batista's Cuba prior to the Revolution to buy her a doll, or even buy products to make her a doll. But Korda noticed that the little girl prized her doll, the wooden block of wood, more than most rich little girls would love their expensive dolls. That little girl, and the photo he took of her clutching her doll, not only "affected" Korda's life but "changed" it. He was aware, in the Batista-Mafia dictatorship of the 1950s, enormous amounts of money were being made by the Batistianos, the Mafiosi, and rich U. S. businessmen who owned most of the so-called "legitimate" businesses and companies in Cuba.

Korda had seen poverty like this in Batista's Cuba.

And Korda also saw poverty like this in Batista's Cuba.

        And Korda saw brave marches like this in Batista's Cuba as mothers, outraged over the murders of their children, killings supposedly designed to quell dissent, actually fueled the Cuban Revolution.

       Abundantly aware of the one-sided poverty and unconscionable brutality in Batista's Cuba, Korda fervently supported the Cuban Revolution that defeated the Batista-Mafia dictatorship on January 1, 1959.

        After the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, Korda became Fidel Castro's official photographer and later said that Fidel "never told me what to photograph or what not to photograph. I chose the subjects." This Korda photo shows Fidel with Earnest Hemingway and was taken when Korda was with the newspaper Revolucion. Korda traveled with Fidel to the U. S. in April of 1959 and took many famous photos during that 12-day trip. In the next ten years he also traveled with Fidel to Venezuela, Russia, and other countries.

            Korda took this photo of Fidel Castro on April 16, 1959, in Washington, D. C. It shows Fidel looking reverently up at the Jefferson Memorial. On that day, Fidel was a heroic and very popular U. S. visitor.

        Korda took this photo of Fidel on April 18, 1959. Fidel is shown reading dispatches at the Cuban Embassy in Washington. He didn't know then that the embassy would soon be closed for half-a-century.

       Everything was fine and celebratory for Fidel, Korda, Celia Sanchez, Camilo Cienfuegos and the rest of the Cuban entourage on their 12-day trip to Cuba in April of 1959...until Vice President Richard Nixon flummoxed Fidel {above} by telling him the Cuban exiles and the U. S. would "be back in charge of Cuba within weeks." That, of course, has never happened in all the decades since, but Nixon's boastful and imperial words set the tone that has existed since April of 1959, at least till Mr. Obama tempered it.

   In the interim, the great Cuban photographer, Alberto Korda, found everlasting fame in 1960 with his iconic photo of "Che." But till the day he died in Paris on May 25th, 2001, the photo that was dearest to Korda's heart was the one he took during the Batista dictatorship, the one of the little Cuban girl clutching the block of wood and pretending it was her doll. When I first saw that heart-wrenching photo in 1982, only with the help of a diligent librarian could I discover how Korda himself had been touched by that little girl, and that hard-to-obtain information first came to me with the 1982 article in the London Daily Mail. But now here in 2016 we have Google...and even Wikipedia! So in just a matter of a few seconds a researcher can now discover what Korda thought of that little girl. In Korda's Wikipedia bio, you can see that he says: "Nearing 30, I was heading toward a frivolous life when an exceptional event transferred my life: The Cuban Revolution. It was at that time that I took this photo of the little girl who was clutching a piece of wood for a doll. I came to understand that it was worth dedicating my work to a revolution which aimed to remove these inequities."

Korda and the photo that made him rich and famous.

Korda's Little Girl...and her doll.

The "exceptional event" that changed Korda's life, and mine.

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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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