Cuba, A Supreme Peace-Maker?

 Yes! No! Maybe?

    In this first week of July in the turbulent year of 2016 this photo is providing exorbitant fodder for fueling the well-funded anti-Cuban narrative in the U. S. It shows a powerful Cuban, Salvador Valdes Mesa, shaking hands with North Korean dictator Kim Jon-un in Pyongyang. Valdes is one of six Cuban Vice-Presidents. He equates his mission to North Korea with Cuba's diligent 4-year successful effort to end the bloody half-century of warfare between FARC and the U.S.-backed Colombian government. Valdes explained his Pyongyang trip this way: "Cuba supports the peaceful and independent reunification of North and South Korea and it reflects the principled position taken by Cuba in the process of normalizing relations with the United States and Cuba's leading role in trying to end a half-century of warfare between FARC and Colombia that had killed and displaced millions. International powers continually providing modern weapons to one side or the other only prolongs wars for decades. Peace, Cuba believes, is much better than war." 

        Indeed, the powerful and well-funded anti-Cuba narrative and the mainstream media in the U. S. hope Americans didn't notice the above EPA photo taken by Alejandro Ernesto last month -- June, 2016. It shows Cuban President Raul Castro orchestrating an historic handshake between Juan Manuel Santos, the President of Colombia, and Rodrigo Londono, the rebel leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by its acronym FARC. Cuba doggedly hosted four years of negotiations in Havana to bring about this handshake, which was deemed impossible by the U. S. government that has spent billions of dollars supporting the Colombian government's bloody but unsuccessful war against FARC. U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry was among those who thanked and congratulated Cuba, but the U. S. Cuban narrative and the U. S. media mostly ignored it. Yet, the international media -- BBC, The Guardian, El Pais, EPA, etc. -- heralded Cuba's peace-making efforts for "at last mercifully ending the world's longest running war." 

         The FARC rebels began fighting the Colombian government in 1948 but in 1964 it evolved into a full-scale war. Finally, in 2016 Cuba brokered an end to the fighting by hosting four years of peace talks in Havana. Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, loudly applauded Cuba's efforts.

        Some historians claim that the Korean War is the "longest war in history, from 1953 till today." It started in June of 1953 when the North invaded the South. An armistice was signed on July 27, 1953, but there has never been a peace treaty. Thus, technically North and South Korea are still at war in July of 2016.

      Most of the casualties in the Korean War, like in most wars, were innocent civilians like this Korean girl and child. The number of civilian casualties on both sides ran into the millions. From 1910 till the end of World War II in 1945, Korea was ruled by the strong-arm of imperialist Japan. Almost immediately after World War II, Korea became a prized target in the Cold War, creating the significant Korean War that is often, and unfairly, called the "Forgotten War." Many generations, including the two represented in the above photo, never forgot it. Indeed, in all wars civilians who suffer the most are the very last to forget.

        In the Korean War the U. S. and the UN supported the South while China and the Soviet Union supported the North. Thus, the world's most awesome firepower was in play on both sides of another bloody war that began within five years of the end of World War II. Bombs like these killed a lot of people, only to end in a stalemate between the world's military powers. But South Korea, backed by the West, has emerged as a capitalist economic power while the communist North is an economic basket case, evoking an image of starving people while its government spends huge sums on a nuclear-powered military.

      After the armistice in 1953, North and South Korea have been separated at the 38th Parallel by a generally effective truce but, as noted, technically the Korean War has never ended. To this day the U. S. has thousands of soldiers stationed between North and South Korea. Considering the billions of dollars the U. S. devoted to the half-century FARC-Colombia War, it could be said that Cuba did U. S. tax-payers a huge favor by finally brokering peace between those warring factions. If Cuba could possibly do the same by helping to peacefully unite North and South Korea, U. S. tax-payers would again be well rewarded.

      That returns us to Salvador Valdes Mesa, the powerful Cuban who this week visited North Korean dictator Kim Jon-un, a visit Valdes equates with Cuba brokering the peace agreement between Colombia and FARC. He says, "Others who didn't try doing that just sat back and did nothing but promote the war for over half a century. The same with North and South Korea, again for over half-a-century. It was worth trying to end the war in Colombia and it's worth trying to end the Korean War. FARC rebels are blending back into Colombia's productive, more peaceful society. Uniting North and South Korea is a worthwhile project that would save millions of lives and free up tons of wealth that could be used for peaceful people-loving projects." 

         Salvador Valdes Mesa is shown here being hosted and courted by Zi Jinping, the ultra-powerful Chinese leader. China is both a huge military competitor and a huge economic partner of the United States, and it is far too big and powerful to dismiss or dis-engage. Little Cuba, of course, is not a world economic or military power, yet it is a player on the world stage far out of proportion to its size or population. Geographically and culturally, Cuba is far closer to the United States than to faraway China...or Korea...or Russia. But Valdes says, "We desire to be sovereign, independent. For centuries, Spain first and then the United States desired owning us. In 1959 Cuba finally won its independence and we desire to keep it. If China agrees and America disagrees, China scores points with us. We want peace...in the Caribbean but also in Colombia, Korea, and the world. Only in peace can we help our country and be helped by other countries." 

             If the words of Mr. Valdes are sincere, and there appears to be no valid reasons to doubt them, his visits this week with the leaders of North Korea and China can be afforded positive perspectives.

       However, it should be remembered that the anti-Cuba narrative in the U. S. relishes using this Manuel Guillen image of North Korea's dictator to mock Salvador Valdes Mesa's visit to Pyongyang, a visit Valdes said parallels Cuba's desire to peacefully unite North and South Korea with Cuba's desire to peacefully unite FARC and Colombia. Indeed, Cuba's determined FARC-Colombia efforts proved to be worthwhile although they too were originally mocked. Thus, those who are busy mocking Salvador Valdes Mesa's trip to North Korea this week should, perhaps, be devoting their time to peaceful, not warlike, gestures. 

 &*************************&

   

Cuba and Puerto Rico

 U. S. Piggy-banks...
and Caribbean cousins!!
{Updated for Sunday, July 3rd, 2016}

        As islands in the Caribbean Sea, Cuba and Puerto Rico are almost kissing cousins. They are separated by the island of Hispaniola, which includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Cuba, the largest Caribbean island, is much larger than Puerto Rico. Cuba's population exceeds 11 million and Puerto Rico has about 3.5 million people, all of whom are U. S. citizens. The history of Cuba and Puerto Rico converged in 1898 when the U. S. scored an easy victory against over-extended Spain in the Spanish-American War. Spain's empire lost four countries to imperialist-minded America, including Cuba and Puerto Rico. The U. S. dominance of the two Caribbean jewels diverged markedly on Jan. 1-1959 when the Cuban Revolution overthrew the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship. Doggedly, Revolutionary Cuba has thwarted many obstacles to maintain its sovereignty, such as the air, land and sea Bay of Pigs attack in 1961 and a stifling economic embargo first imposed by the U. S. in 1962 that extends to this very day although President Obama has finally sliced deeply into it. Meanwhile, Puerto Rico is a U. S. Territory populated with U. S. citizens who are represented in the U. S. Congress and can vote. In other words, in 1898 Cuba and Puerto Rico became kissing cousins after the Spanish-American War but since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 the superpower U. S. has tried to destroy Revolutionary Cuba while being obliged to support Puerto Rico. Not surprisingly, Cuba has experienced dire financial straits since 1959 but, amazingly, Puerto Rico is even more of an economic basket case than its Caribbean neighbor Cuba.

        Harry Franqui-Rivera of Hunter College is a leading authority on both Puerto Rico and Cuba. He told London's The Guardian how he sums up the U. S. relationship with the two Caribbean islands: "A successful Cuba would make the U. S. look bad and a failed Puerto Rico would make the U. S. look even worse." If you study that quote, you will begin to understand Cuba and Puerto Rico from the American perspective. One, Cuba, has been a long-time U. S. target, and the other, Puerto Rico, has been a long-time U. S. Territory. 

        This composite by Almy/Getty Images was used by The Guardian to illustrate an article written by Alan Yuhas entitled "Caribbean Neighbors Cuba and Puerto Rico Wonder Who Really Won." The photo on the left shows a crumbled building in Havana due in large part to the U. S. embargo. The Photo on the left shows a crumbled building in San Juan, the U. S. Territory of Puerto Rico. Inspired by discriminatory U. S. laws designed to hurt Cuba, millions of Cubans live in the U. S. after being lured by laws that provide them financial and other incentives beginning the moment they touch U. S. soil, privileges provided no other immigrants. But more millions of Puerto Ricans live in the U. S. because, as U. S. citizens, they can easily flee poverty and crime on their island. So, the question posed by The Guardian is appropriate. While Cuba staged a successful revolution to get shed of a U.S.-backed dictatorship, Puerto Rico has considered and is still considering getting shed of being a U. S. Territory. Puerto Rico, it seems, hates the inequality of U. S. capitalism as much as Cuba does...or did. A recent Puerto Rican documentary by Aljazeera America went to the island to discover that it is so broke it can't pay its $72 billion debt, including a $1.9 billion payment that was due Friday, July 1st, 2016. But, as Professor Franqui-Rivera predicted, the U. S. Congress with a bill signed Friday by President Obama bailed out Puerto Rico, as for now. The aforementioned documentary pointed out that most of that bail-out tax fund will go to U. S. hedge fund operatives that most Puerto Ricans blame for their financial problems. The documentary showed one hedge funder showing off "our new 6-star hotel" and the "biggest collection of luxury yachts in the world." The hedge funder was asked how he justified such things when the Puerto Rican government couldn't provide health care or safe environs for its people and was closing down one school after the other. The hedge funder pleaded ignorance to that but they have banded together to make sure they get their money...from U. S. taxpayers, of course.

      This Reuters photo shows Puerto Rican Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla in Havana a few weeks ago in June. Puerto Rico has generally had friendlier relations with Cuba than with the United States. A New York Times article this week, on June 30th, hinted that Governor Padilla is siding with the independence movement that has always been strong and at times violent. But as of this month of July in the year 2016 the U. S. Congress and President Obama have joined forces to ease Puerto Rico's financial doldrums.

        On June 4th, 2016, Puerto Rico's Governor Padilla announced plans to open a major commercial office in Havana. He told Marc Frank of Reuters that he considers Puerto Rico as independent as Cuba. His exact words were: "The future of Puerto Rico depends on Puerto Ricans, just like Cuba's future depends on what Cubans on the island decide." Mr. Padilla's new office in Cuba is derived from President Obama's detente.

            The demonstration depicted above by this AP photo shows that many Puerto Ricans on the island and in the U. S. are "FED UP" with Wall Street and hedge fund billionaires preying on Puerto Rico.

       Cuba can commiserate with Puerto Rico about being overwhelmed by U. S. policies designed to enrich already rich Americans who have more than enough money to lobby necessary members of Congress.

       This photo shows President John Kennedy signing the embargo against Cuba. From the Eisenhower-Nixon administration, he had inherited the Bay of Pigs plans to recapture Cuba. Kennedy in the first two years of his administration that started in January of 1960 followed up dutifully on those plans as well as fully supporting the CIA-Mafia-Cuban exile plans to assassinate Fidel Castro. In 1962, Kennedy's last full year in office, a declassified U. S. document confirmed that the embargo was designed to starve and deprive Cubans to entice them to overthrow Castro after the 1961 Bay of Pigs attack failed quite dismally. Yet, in the first two weeks of November, 1963, Kennedy told his staff that his top priority after he returned from Dallas was to normalize relations with Cuba. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on Nov. 22-1963.

    The U. S. embargo against Cuba has been in effect since 1962.

      In all the decades since the Kennedy assassination, only America's current President, Mr. Obama, has seriously attempted to end the embargo against Cuba. But the vast Castro lobby in the United States since 1959 has simply been too lucrative and too strong for even Mr. Obama to "lift the embargo" of Cuba.

       The anti-Castro lobby easily dictates the embargo and other unpopular Cuban issues to the U. S. Congress despite the massive inroads made by President Obama to normalize relations with Cuba.

       In July of 2016 as you try to understand the Obama-orchestrated "U.S.-Cuba Reboot" take note of the headlines about the U. S. bailing out the economic doldrums of the U. S. Territory of Puerto Rico. As Caribbean islands, Cuba and Puerto Rico have a lot in common -- including the 1898 Spanish-American War when the U. S. snatched away much of Spain's imperialist treasures. While a lot of rich Americans have feasted on the spoils of the Spanish-American War, both Cuba and Puerto Rico to this day are in dire need of a "reboot" that will benefit everyday Cubans and Puerto Ricans, not just a few greedy miscreants.

Caribbean cousins: Puerto Rico & Cuba.

        This photo was taken in Havana by Kamilia Lahrichi and it is used this weekend to highlight a June 2-2016 article in USA Today written by Kamilia Lahrichi. The surprising article states that Islam is "thriving" in Cuba with a population of "about 10,000." A focal point in Old Havana, it says, "is a mosque that was inaugurated in June of 2015 thanks to funding from Turkey's president, Recep Erdogan." Yes, a very surprising and interesting article.  

And by the way:

       A magnificent website -- first-americans.com -- has posted 36 gorgeous photos of teenage Indian girls in the 1800s. This is a Kiowa girl. Her name is "O. O. Be" and the photo was taken in 1884. All the 36 photos are gripping.

        This is an Arapaho girl. She was the only child that survived the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado, one of the most shameful episodes in U. S. history. Albert S. McKinney took this stupendous photo.

A beautiful Comanche girl.

Two beautiful Comanche girls.

Lizzie starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.

  &*************************&

Obama Rebuilds Cuba

 With Irreversible Improvements 

       The new era in U.S.-Cuba relations ushered in boldly and dramatically by President Obama will be tested when he leaves office in January, especially if Republicans claim the White House or if they maintain their majority in both houses of Congress. Yet...the revenge, economic and political motives that have dictated America's Cuban policy since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 will have trouble reversing or turning back Obama's fresh and popular imprimatur on the highly promising and nearby island. While a handful of self-serving Cuban exiles aligned with a handful of right-wing sycophants have benefited from using Cuba as a punching bag and piggy-bank for over half-a-century, Obama has sliced through their propagandized rationale and imposed a measure of sanity and decency to America's Cuban relations that will now be supported by an American pillar known as capitalism. Intimidation coupled with a media dominance of the Cuban narrative will now be confronted by U. S. businesses demanding to partake in the island's commercialism. Among the collateral benefactors, Mr. Obama hopes, will be the Cuban people who have long been punished by the world's superpower in the guise of overthrowing or just hurting Fidel Castro, that old anti-Mafia revolutionary icon who is just a few weeks shy of his 90th birthday.

       This photo helps explain why a few anti-Castro zealots will have trouble, even in post-Obama America, dictating a Cuban policy designed to suit their revenge, economic and political motives. This is the Four Points Havana Hotel in the upscale Miramar section of Havana. This week -- the last week in June of 2016 -- it became the first U. S. Hotel to open in Cuba in 60 years. It's where the old Quinta Avenida hotel was located. With a lot of Yankee dollars, Four Points has already been updated into a jewel and America's Starwood Hotel and Resorts will close it for another couple months to continue the expensive refurbishing process. It will then open with a charge of only $249 per night for each of its 186 magnificent rooms.

           This photo provides a peek inside the entrance to Havana's Four Points Hotel. It's the first of three Cuban hotels to be upgraded and operated by the world-renowned Starwood Hotel and Resorts brand. 

        The Cuban flag flying in front of its embassy in Washington for the first time since 1961, coupled with the American flag doing the same at its embassy in Havana, is an Obama trademark that might herald his legacy for decades and generations to come. Starwood Hotel and Resorts, American Airlines, Carnival Cruise Lines, MasterCard, and many other American businesses doing business in Cuba is now a trend with a brisk Caribbean wind at its back providing a momentum that will be hard to blunt in a capitalist society.

      Yesterday USA Today reported that this luxurious Cyprus-based Celestyal Cruises ship will begin year-round trips to Cuba starting in 2017. The 25,000-ton vessel has been sailing to Cuba during winter months from Montego Bay, Jamaica, for the past three years but only with non-American passengers because of the embargo. But because of Obama, Americans will now be allowed to book passage and thus the company has added year-around cruises to Cuba. Earlier this year Carnival Cruises lines out of Miami began making twice-monthly cruises to Cuba in defiance of a five-decades-old ban due to the embargo.

Obama eased Cuba's "fear" of the United States.

And that was his starting point.

 &*************************&

  

Re-Americanizing Cuba

 Step by Step  
{Updated: Wednesday, June 29th, 2016}

       This REUTERS/Enrique De La Osa photo is less than 24 hours old but it is already historic. It shows the Gaviota 5th Avenue Hotel in Havana and it's the first hotel in Cuba since the 1959 Revolution to be operated in Cuba under a U. S. brand. The Gaviota flag on the left signifies the Cuban government's Hospitality Company and that flag flies higher than the U. S. flag in the lower right. This hotel is the first of two that will be managed by America's Starwoods Hotels & Resorts. Starwoods has set the price per room at $249. The Gaviota's inauguration and indoctrination into a fast-changing Cuba will be held today -- June 28th, 2016. But then it will close for another few months while undergoing a total refurbishment. Nancy Sarabia, the hotel's P. R. Director, said, "This is a historic moment. It's a symbol of brotherhood and collaboration." 

        This Ramon Espinosa/AP photo shows the magnificent Gaviota Hotel in Havana that is now operated under Sheraton's Four Points and Starwoods Hotels & Resorts brands. The company will begin operating Cuba's Gran Caribe Inglaterra Hotel on August 31st. It marks the largest investment by an American company in Cuba since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution over the Batista dictatorship in 1959.

    Florida's Stonegate Bank will begin issuing credit cards in Cuba.

        This, too, is a recent but historic REUTERS photo. It shows a Cuban girl on the Malecon seawall wrapping herself in an American flag as she watches The Adonia, a gorgeous Carnival Cruise Lines ship, enter Havana Harbor. It was the first time in five decades such U. S. cruises to Cuba have been legal.

        Beginning in September, American Airlines and other U. S. carriers, for the first time in five decades, will begin making commercial flights to ten Cuban cities. Since the early 1960s, only charter flights from the U.S.-to-Cuba have been allowed. A man named Barack Obama smashed such ridiculous laws to bits. 

         President Obama's bold and audacious efforts to normalize relations with Cuba have, incredibly, been forged with Republicans in charge of both houses of Congress and anti-Castro Cuban-American zealots in charge of the Congress-mandated Cuban policy. In the dwindling months of his two-term presidency, Mr. Obama's startling revelations relative to Cuba may well stand as his greatest legacy. His overall approval ratings are, amazingly, now positive and his refreshingly sane and decent overtures to Cuba are supported by the vast majority of people around the world including most Americans and most Cuban-Americans.

        This photo taken by the Associated Press's Ramon Espinosa shows Cubans at sunset enjoying themselves on Havana's famed Malecon seawall. The photo is used today to highlight an article in the Miami Herald written by Nora Gamez Torres entitled: "U. S. Policy for Credit Cards in Cuba Too Lenient, Critics Say." The article is a joke. While Cubans in Miami have legalized advantages and incentives that are available to no one else, the same imperialist-minded discriminatory-type laws for over a half-century have punished Cubans on the island unmercifully. Thus, it is no surprise that the Miami Herald opposes any and all efforts by President Obama to bring sanity and decency to a Cuban policy that shames democracy.

       This photo reveals that other nations are following President Obama's lead in opening up to Cuba with mutually beneficial business deals. On the left is Portugal's Foreign Minister Augusto Ernesto Santos Silva being hosted in Havana this week by Cuba's First Vice President {future President} Miguel Diaz-Canel. 

       Johana Tablada is one of Cuba's most important diplomats. She is now Cuba's Ambassador to Portugal and has also served admirably as the island's Deputy Director for North America. She is responsible for Portugal's closer ties to Cuba. This week as Portugal's Foreign Minister, Mr. Santos Silva, visited the island, Ms. Tablada said, "We are pleased to announce that, in the first six months of 2016, our economy is encouraging and it is poised to continue a growth spurt. Our friendship with Portugal is especially good."

  &*************************&

Bad-Mouthing Cuba

 A Republican Pastime 
{Monday, June 27th, 2016}

       This AP photo shows Representative Michael McCaul, a Republican from Texas who is Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. He has spent a few days blasting Cuba. Back on Friday, Congressman McCaul planned to fly to Cuba at the head of a five-person congressional delegation but the Cuban government denied them visas. McCaul said, "We wanted to look at their airport security, so I attempted to go down there to just look at them. There were five of us." While Cuba has allowed a plethora of U. S. officials to visit the island, it remains leery of some, especially Republicans it feels are intent on turning back President Obama's efforts to ease the congressional hostility towards the very vulnerable Caribbean nation. Perhaps Republican Congressman McCaul from Texas should comprehend that.

      The Washington Examiner used this graphic to highlight Congressman Michael McCaul's intense anger at Cuba for denying him permission to fly to the island. The sentence at the bottom says, "It is easier for Cubans to come to the U. S. than for the Homeland Security Committee to get to Cuba." That, of course, is a fact. Thanks to Republicans like Mr. McCaul in the U. S. Congress, Cubans are the only people in the world who have very special Wet Foot/Dry Foot financial and residence incentives to come to the United States. And thanks to Republicans like Mr. McCaul, everyday Cubans on the island have been severely punished for the past half-century in the guise of hurting the soon-to-be 90-year-old Fidel Castro. While Mr. McCaul is bad-mouthing Cuba, Cuba says it has both a sovereign right and a civic duty to try to control it borders.

        Cuba's powerful diplomat, Josefina Vidal, says, "In earnestly trying to normalize relations with the United States in the remaining months that the Democrat Barack Obama is President, Cuba has bent over backwards to be fair in negotiating this new frontier. We have allowed a vast array of American government officials to visit our country so they can meet with our officials or with the regular Cuban citizens. We also are aware of some who have harmed our people...been unkind to us...in the past and probably seek to do the same in the future. If Cuba brought peace to the entire world and also cured cancer in the same day, there are those in the United States Congress who would ignore all that while finding or manufacturing things to use against us. We...I myself...trust almost all Americans. But there are some that we have reason not to fully trust. Even if some people don't agree with that assessment, I believe everyone should be able to easily understand it."

       America's 7-foot-1 basketball legend, Shaquille O'Neal, is not in Cuba to bad-mouth Cubans or the Cuban government. The U. S. State Department has appointed Shaquille O'Neal as its first-ever Sports Envoy to Cuba. He will lead basketball workshops and clinics on the island. The State Department release said he will visit historical sites in Havana and "encourage positive ties between the United States and the Cuban people" in keeping with President Barack Obama's historic efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. After giving a clinic in Havana, Shaquille O'Neal said, "We share a lot of things in common. We just want to come over here and extend our friendly hand and just start smoothing things out. It was great for President Obama to reopen the door and make these strides to regain a better relationship with this beautiful island." 

Shaq O'Neal -- U. S. Sports Envoy to Cuba!! 

Cuba's capitol building.

&*************************&