Cuba in the Catbird Seat

Courted by World Leaders!!
But first, on a sad note:
Updated: Monday, September 26, 2016 

      Americans and Cubans are massively mourning the tragic death of Cuban-born superstar Jose Fernandez of the Miami Marlins. He and two of his best friends died in a boating accident just off the shores of Miami early Sunday morning. Fernandez was born on July 31, 1992 in Santa Clara, Cuba. At age 20 in 2013 he was Rookie of the Year in the National League with a 12-6 record and a brilliant earned-run-average of 2.19. This year at age 24 he had made 29 starts for the marlins with a record of 16-8, a 2.86 ERA and 253 strikeouts in 182 innings. He was scheduled to start Sunday in Miami against the Atlanta Braves but Manager Don Mattingly had pushed back that start till today, Monday.

      As one of many Cuban-born superstars in the American Major Leagues, none had attained that super status as quickly as Jose Fernandez and none had more potential. With his next contract, it was expected that he would be earning a salary in excess of $30 million-a-year and much more in endorsements. A dedicated family man with an exuberant and beloved personality, Jose was about to become the proud father of a baby girl.

Jose became a U. S. citizen April 24th, 2015.

        All Major League baseball players were stunned when they got the news that Jose Fernandez was killed early Sunday in a boating accident in Miami. In Los Angeles Yasiel Puig, shown above with Jose three weeks ago, was the clean-up hitter Sunday for the Dodgers against the Colorado Rookies. Before the game, Puig posted this photo on his Twitter page with this comment: "You loved striking me out, and teasing me about it. I'm going to miss you bro." Puig was born in Palmira, Cuba on Dec. 7-1990. In 2013 Puig and Fernandez battled it out for Rookie of the Year in the National League, an honor that Fernandez won. He was in the running for the Cy Young Award as the league's top pitcher this year. Jose's youthful greatness will be remembered forever.

******************

      Last week the President of Iran, the top leader of Japan and the Premier of China all visited Cuba, one right after the other. {The 3 photos are courtesy of REUTERS/Enrique de la Osa}. The photo above shows Cuban President Raul Castro hosting Chinese Premier Li Kequiang at the Revolutionary Palace in Havana. Li Kequiang arrived Saturday, September 24th and will leave today --  Monday. Li Kequiang is China's #2 leader. His boss, President Xi Jinping, had visited Cuba in 2014 and since then Cuban and Chinese delegations have been working on mutually beneficial economic, cultural and political agreements.

     This photo taken Saturday, September 24-2016 in Havana shows Cuban President Raul Castro escorting Chinese Premier Li Kequiang past Cuba's Honor Guard that welcomes foreign leaders. The two men signed 32 important agreements. Li Kequiang said, "My visit is to forge new areas of economic cooperation with Cuba and to have closer ties with the region. We know Cuba is the pathway for our increasing friendship with the Caribbean and all of Latin America. China will continue to intensify the mutual political trust we have and will expand with Cuba." Li Kequiang also confirmed that "China will extend lines of credit to Cuba for certain projects," but didn't mention which ones, which leaves plenty of fodder for U. S. officials to ponder.

     This photo shows Chinese Premier Li Kequiang with Cuba's next President Miguel Diaz-Canel Saturday. The 55-year-old Diaz-Canel is slated to succeed the now 85-year-old Raul Castro no later than February of 2018. The two men above in the past two years have personally had much to do with forging the 32 significant economic and political agreements the two countries signed this weekend in Havana. Similar to statements issued this week in Cuba by Iran's President and the Prime Minister of Japan, China's Premier Li Kequiang spoke of Cuba's formidable role as the "pathway" for international powers to gain more influence in Latin America and the Caribbean. It's been that way since 1959 because of the remarkable triumph and the equally stunning longevity of the Cuban Revolution. The lone restriction preventing some nations to respond to that fact has seemingly been removed by President Obama's remarkable and stunning efforts to normalize relations with Cuba, a process that a small but powerful cabal of Cuban-Americans and their sycophants had easily prevented prior to Obama. The arrivals in Havana last week of powerful leaders from Iran, Japan and China reflect the fact that, not so unlike the Soviet Union long ago, there are powerful nations -- including foes and friends of the United States -- that today would like to compete with the United States in improving their strategic, economic and political ties with Cuba. Having such lofty choices leaves little Cuba in the Cat-Bird seat and once again demonstrates that the beautiful island plays a role on the international stage far out of proportion to its size, population or wealth. 

In other words: 

Thanks to Obama, Revolutionary Cuba might survive another year,

at least!!

  &*************************& 

U. S. Girl Discovers Cuba

 Enthralled with Cuban Ballet 

        This weekend CNN has an excellent report on 18-year-old American Catherine Conley spending a year in Cuba to train at the island's famed School of Ballet. She arrived the day after the U. S. last month resumed commercial airplane traffic to Cuba for the first time since 1961. If you missed the report on CNN you can dial it up on the network's website. It has splendid video of Ms. Conley practicing her ballet moves on a crowded street in Havana. She says, "I feel incredibly honored to be the first American ballerina to come here and symbolize the two countries coming together. I love the culture here and the Cuban School of Ballet is one of the best in the world." The report points out that the revolutionary Cuban government since 1959 has steadfastly funded its national ballet program that has produced many of the world's most famed ballet stars as well as many of the world's leading heads of ballet programs, such as the Washington School of Ballet whose Cuban leader is featured in the CNN report. Ms. Conley said she knew "very little" about Cuba, other than its fame for turning out ballet stars, before her arrival on the island that she now "loves."

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

Fidel's Fame Grows

World Leaders Awed!! 
{Updated: Saturday, September 24th, 2016}

        This photo is courtesy of Alex Castro/AFP. It shows the powerful Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, listening intently as an animated Fidel Castro makes a point this week -- Thursday, September 22nd, 2016. Just two days earlier Iran's President also had an important meeting in Fidel's living room. Later asked about Fidel's health, Abe said, "When I am 90-years-old, I hope to be as alert and sharp as he is." Abe told the media, "Japan wants to open a new page with Cuba. Both Fidel and his revolution are powerful influences in the region especially but also around the world." No previous Japanese leader had ever visited Cuba.

      This photo is courtesy of REUTERS /Alexandre Meneghini. It shows Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife in Havana Thursday. This week Japan restructured Cuba's debt and deposited $249 million as an investment fund for Japanese businesses on the island. Mr. Abe said, "Cuba is a good investment." 

       This is the Japanese airplane that brought Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Cuba this week. Note the Cuban and Japanese flags proudly flying atop the huge plane. Since the historic victory of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Cuba has played a role on the world stage far out of proportion to its size, population or wealth...as Mr. Abe stated Thursday. This photo attests to that fact in September of 2016 as the leaders of the world's most important nations feel more inclined to seek relationships with Cuba thanks to the bold attempts of U. S. President Obama to normalize relations with the island in brave defiance of anti-Castro zealots in Miami and Washington. Prior to Obama, this Japanese airplane would not have flown to Cuba.

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

  

"Let Us Live In Peace"

A Plea from Cuba

Updated Friday, Sept. 23, 2016

       Ponder for a moment this now historic AP/Ramon Espinosa photo. It was taken on August 14th, 2015 and it shows a young American girl looking out the window of the newly opened U. S. Embassy in Havana as the U. S. flag was raised to reopen the embassy for the first time since 1961. It officially heralded the restoration of America's diplomatic relations with Cuba, a herculean and brave accomplishment for President Barack Obama. And now I ask you to ponder this plaintive, pitiful plea: "All we want is to be left in peace." That searing comment...that plea...was made to the Associated Press this week in Havana by an everyday Cuban woman, not by a Syrian woman in war-ravaged Aleppo or an American woman living in crime-infested Chicago. That Cuban woman has a name: Heidi Picot. And she, like all those women in war-torn, crime-infested regions, has ample reason to make her plea from Havana, a plea begging the Batistiano-directed U. S. Cuban policy to finally let her live in peace, a peace that neither she nor her mother has been allowed to have since the 1950s.  Yes, her name is Heidi Picot. Her plea was to the United States. 

       The photo of the little American girl watching the flag-raising and this image of Donald Trump were used to illustrate a major Associated Press article Wednesday, the one that quoted Heidi Picot. This Trump photo was taken by Evan Vucci of the AP and it shows the Republican presidential contender the moment in South Florida he made that gutless promise to anti-Castro zealots that he would change President Obama's peaceful overtures to Cuba...and Heidi Picot. Prior to that not-surprising capitulation in front of anti-Castro extremists, Trump had said he was "fine" with Obama trying to normalize relations with Cuba. Trump had said, "Fifty years of a failed policy is enough." Indeed, 50 years of punishing innocent Cubans like Heidi Picot in Cuba are far MORE than enough, for Heidi and for the U. S. democracy. Yet if the U. S. democracy, at its highest level, can only produce leaders such as the gutless turncoat Trump or bought-and-paid-for Trump opponents, than U. S. democracy and Heidi Picot in Cuba are both in deep trouble.   

Michael Weissenstein is the chief AP reporter in Cuba.

Andrea Rodriguez is an excellent AP reporter in Cuba.

      This week -- Wednesday, Sept. 21-2016 -- Weissenstein and Rodriguez teamed to write a major AP article entitled: "Trump's New Cuba Position Provokes Anxiety on the Island." Back on Saturday in my Cubaninsider essay I assailed Trump as a coward for his "new Cuba position designed to appease a handful of powerful anti-Castro zealots in Miami. It represents Trump following in the wake of what other U. S. politicians have been doing for five decades. Meanwhile, such cruelty and cowardice hasn't hurt the now 90-year-old Fidel Castro...who, in fact, looked healthy as he hosted the President of Iran in his Havana home this week. But in the gutless guise of hurting, assassinating, or overthrowing Fidel Castro, America's Cuban policy -- dictated since 1959 by remnants of the ousted Batista dictatorship -- has ruled supreme in its nefarious and asinine assaults on millions of innocent Cubans and on the U. S. democracy. In the meantime, the utter stupidity and ineffectiveness of the U. S. policy relating to Cuba has given Fidel Castro a 191-to-2 favorable vote in the United Nations each October and will make sure that his legacy as revolutionary icon will live far beyond his mortal passing. So, read the aforementioned AP article and take note of the plea by a decent, everyday Cuban named Heidi Picot: "All we want is to be left in peace." She remembers when the U. S. and the Mafia backed the malicious Batista dictatorship, the transfer of the fleeing Batistianos to U. S. soil, the assassination attempts against Castro, the military attack at the Bay of Pigs, the strafing of coastal fishing cabins by speedboats and airplanes, the fatal terrorist bombing of a Havana hotel, the fatal terrorist bombing of a child-laden Cuban civilian airplane, and every single day of her life Heidi Picot has been harmed by the longest and cruelest embargo ever imposed by a strong country against a weak one. And Wednesday Heidi Picot told the AP in Havana: "All we want is to be left in peace." The fact that not enough Americans care about Heidi Picot or about the American democracy probably means that Heidi and the generation that follows her generation will not be "left in peace." 

       The U. S. Senator from Miami, Marco Rubio, created sycophantic headlines this week by calling Obama administration officials "liars" for implementing aspects...namely the historic commercial flights to Cuba...of the President's bold and decent Cuban policy that is trying real hard to help Cubans like Heidi Picot while also trying to repair the damage the Batistiano tar-baby problems continue to do to America's and democracy's image. According to Rubio and his normally unchallenged ilk, anyone who doesn't meekly capitulate to a few self-serving hardliners' self-imposed right to dictate America's Cuban policy is "a liar" or...worse. "Liar?" Did he say that? Rubio of all people calling other people "Liars?" Yes, he did. HE DID!!

      A decent Cuban on the island, Cristina Escobar, has spent her entire adult life identifying with everyday Cubans like Heidi Picot. At the age of 28, Cristina is the best news anchor in Cuba and the region. Well educated, furiously Cuban, and fluent in Spanish and English, Cristina has studied broadcast journalism and U. S. culture in California and she brilliantly covered the last Vidal-Jacobson diplomatic session in Washington. On YouTube and other online venues you can study and critique her journalistic expertise and hear such statements, in either English or Spanish, as: "Cuba's fate is up to Cubans on the island, not Cubans in Miami and Washington;" "Yes, we are underdogs; that's part of being Cubans on an island so close to defectors hiding behind the imperial power of a superpower;" "Before and after the victory of the 1959 Revolution, Cubans put their lives on the line for sovereignty; as tenuous as it may be considering our enemies, it is still worth fighting for and dying for;" "We Cubans on the island want peace first, prosperity later; that means we want normal relations and normal trade with the U. S.;" "I know so many decent Americans who don't want to hurt us; I only wish they had a say regarding how the U. S. government treats us;" etc., etc.

      This image of Cristina Escobar came during the historic moment she was asking Press Secretary Josh Earnest a question at a White House news conference, the first Cuban journalist ever afforded that honor. She didn't disappoint. She asked six pertinent questions, one of which produced headline-grabbing confirmation from Josh Earnest that President Obama was planning to visit Cuba. But perhaps her most pertinent question was when she asked Earnest if the United States, despite the peaceful overtures from Mr. Obama, would continue "its regime-change programs?" That was the toughest one for Josh Earnest, but he tried. The answer, of course, is...yes, the regime-change programs have continued unabated and will likely continue forever because a handful of hardliners in Congress and a handful of important benefactors in Miami, generation-to-generation -- can easily dictate both their lavish funding and their startling legality. A 14-minute YouTube video, by the way, captures Cristina Escobar's key questioning of Josh Earnest.

       Informed sources in Miami and Havana are well aware that Cristina Escobar has lush offers...reportedly $3 million in cash plus a paid-for mansion from just one source...when and if she defects from Cuba; such a high-profile defection, even without denouncing Fidel, would presumably be worth such enticement to some well-heeled hardliners. Also, either in English or Spanish, she could instantly be a first-tier, highly paid broadcaster on U. S. soil. The problem with that scenario is...neither defecting nor selling-her-soul seems to be a part of Cristina's DNA. She's a Cuban-Cuban, not a defecting Cuban. And...she wants Cubans like Heidi Picot to be "left in peace." In other words, Cristina Escobar disagrees with Marco Rubio. 

&*************************&   

Fidel Hosts Iran's President

Seemed Fit at Age 90!!

       The President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, visited 90-year-old Fidel Castro in the revolutionary icon's Havana home yesterday -- September 20th, 2016. The photo was taken by Fidel's son Alex Castro and distributed by the Associated Press. President Rouhani said, "For a legend of his advanced age, Fidel appeared healthy enough. His mind is still strong and his main two topics...or interests...were food production and world peace."  

       With an interpreter in the middle, this Alex Castro photo shows Fidel Castro animatedly making a point yesterday in his Havana living room to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. All topical photos of Fidel are scrutinized internationally to ascertain the status of his health, which seems amazingly good at age 90.

        This AFP photo shows a pro-Cuban demonstration taking place in front of the Town Hall in Sydney, Australia. The signs and words of the demonstrators protested "The endless effects of the U. S. embargo against the sovereignty of Cuba that adversely affects all sovereign nations, including Australia. The U. S. fines nations that might do business with Cuba. That includes a U. S. company...PayPal...fined $7,658,200 for minor transactions related to Cuba. Does the U. S. send all that money and lots of other loot to Miami crooks? Germany, Mexico...all of us...must we put up with this another half-century or longer?"  

       This AFP photo was taken yesterday in Tampere, Finland. It shows Cuban volleyball star Luis Sosa Sierra glancing back at his lawyer after he was sentenced to 3-and-a-half years in prison for his part in a hotel rape of a Finnish woman back in July at the World League Volleyball Tournament. Four other members of the Cuban team were convicted and received five-year sentences.

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

Electing Trump President

The Media Might Do It!!

      Hey, stay tuned. You're at the right place. This is Cubaninsider, not American-insider. The confusion, though, is understandable because they are so intertwined and interchangeable. Therefore the Trump vs. Clinton presidential race in the U. S. means as much to Cubans as it does to Americans, maybe more. You see, a Republican in the White House aligned with a Republican Congress might mean war for Cuba or at least starvation. That's serious stuff, even more serious perhaps than what the various parameters will mean for Americans depending on whether the unpopular Mr. Trump or unpopular Mrs. Clinton wins.

    No, Trump vs. Clinton is not exactly a "Celebrity Death-match.

But it's surely not a Dream Match either. 

         And Trump vs. Clinton is not nearly as civil or democratic as this pastoral montage on Fox News would have you believe. They are vicious, cut-throat opponents with no-holds barred, to say the very least.

     Donald {The Billionaire Boss} or Hillary {For Prison} Clinton is certainly not what the Founding Fathers had in mind for the great American democracy they so skillfully crafted. They never envisioned their two-party system presenting U. S. voters with a lessor-of-two-evils proposition. Both Trump and Clinton have loud disapproval ratings. If Americans are beside themselves as they ponder the diabolical development, just think how the Cubans must feel. War, you see, from the shores of a nearby superpower is not a pretty prospect for an island. And neither is starvation that might yet embroil the island thanks to the Republican/Cuban exile embargo that continues to this very day and was first enacted in 1962 for the stated purpose, according to declassified U. S. documents, of starving and depriving Cubans on the island to induce them to rise up and overthrow Fidel Castro. That policy has starved and deprived the U. S. democracy but not the now 90-year-old Castro. Nor has it starved the Cuban people, but it has deprived them as well as the vastly weakened U. S. democracy,  which is seemingly incapable of correcting the self-mutilating humiliation and may yet starve the Cuban people with the continuation of what already is the longest and cruelest embargo ever imposed by a powerful nation against a weak one.

       President Obama deserves a third term in office based on the unique courage, guts and skill he has displayed in at least trying to bring a modicum of democracy and decency to America's Cuban policy, which for over half-a-century has greatly enhanced little Cuba's standing on the world stage while vastly diminishing the images of both America and democracy. The chest-pumping propagandists will tell you that is not so but they have also told you that the Oct.-1976 terrorist bombing of the child-laden Cuban civilian airplane was "the biggest blow yet against Castro" and they have told you that the 191-to-2 yearly pro-Cuba/anti-U. S. vote in the UN each October is "a huge positive for America and democracy." And you are supposed to believe such lies because those chest-pumpers believe you are either stupid or scared. In a rarity for two-term and grossly-targeted Presidents, Obama is finishing up with a positive approval rating. As the graphic above indicates, Hillary Clinton -- in Obama's shadow -- is trying to essentially provide the 3rd term to his legacy. Cuba would like that but, even though her opponent is the unqualified Mr. Trump, Cuba is likely to be disappointed, meaning it might have to prepare yet again for...war or starvation.

       Even after Donald Trump eliminated 16 contenders and captured the Republican nomination for President at the convention in Cleveland, no one actually thought he could possibly beat his highly financed, politically established Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. Yet, in these waning days of September it appears he might well become the leader of the free world. Understand, I am not an expert on U. S. politics, but I am also not a propagandist. I'm just an everyday American...and voter. I don't think Donald Trump is qualified to be President of the United States. But I will vote for him despite concern for Cuba. An extremely biased and self-serving U. S. media -- the highly financed broadcast, print and online industries -- have combined to make my decision for me, and I believe millions of others agree with me.

     Study this photo montage: Donald Trump on the left, Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough on his right. Mika and Joe host the "Morning Joe" program on MSNBC each weekday morning 6 to 8 A. M. It is strictly a politically oriented program that is watched by diehard political aficionados. With all of its other extreme left-wing "news" programs, MSNBC and its billionaire NBC owners apparently insist that "Morning Joe" be nothing more and nothing less than an anti-Trump propaganda machine. Mika was born in New York City 49 years ago. Her dad, 88-year-old Zbigniew Brzezinski, served the Johnson and Carter administrations well and, as a political scientist, still serves democracy well. Joe is a former Republican U. S. Congressman from Florida. Each morning...hour after hour, day after day...on what is supposed to be a news program they excoriate Trump, like all the other MSNBC anchors do. In doing so, Mika particularly is hilarious -- spitting out endless streams of anti-Trump vitriol literally with fire and sometimes with tears in her eyes. When I watch the odd spectacle, it's for show or general observation and certainly not for its political news content.

      In the early going, as this graphic indicates, Donald Trump regularly phoned in to "Morning Joe" and both Mika and Joe seemed to relish the fact that the calls increased their ratings. During this period, Mika and Joe even seemed to forget their mission, which is to destroy Trump politically. Even if I agreed philosophically with them, as a democracy-lover I do not think the media should be a propaganda machine.

       Being media-savvy, Trump early-on used Mika and Joe as unwitting tools to get free publicity via his phone calls to "Morning Joe." But otherwise their anti-trump vitriol and shenanigans soured him and he not only ceased the call-ins but punched back...viciously and effectively. Mika and Joe, like much of the mainstream media, actually seem to think that the mainstream media is highly regarded by Americans. Trump takes advantage of the fact that it is lightly regarded with approval ratings in the single digits.

     Trump is also a natural-born heavyweight counter-puncher. As this graphic notes, after taking a barrage of assaults each morning from Mika and Joe, Trump used the Trump-friendly media to punch back, along with his favorite tool or weapon -- Twitter. Trump can identify left-wing, right-wing, middle-of-the-road, extreme or moderate media. He thus knows which to ride and which one to jump off. For sure, Trump jumped off Mika & Joe on MSNBC but not without looking around carefully to find better horses to ride.

      Trump then jumped on the biggest and fastest horse -- at least as far as influential, passionate network news operations are concerned -- and that meant Fox News. With rare exceptions, Fox is now the only network you will see Trump personally visit, as above on the set with Trump-supporter Sean Hannity.

         Sean Hannity is so unabashedly for Trump he campaigns for him -- on his Fox prime-time program and his much-listened-to nationally syndicated radio program. In the above poster you can see that Hannity hosted Trump at an extravaganza in Las Vegas. Hannity is also one of America's richest broadcasters. He has used and paid for expensive jets to fly Trump surrogates to functions around the nation. Sure, Hannity is not from the Walter Cronkite or Edward R. Murrow School of Broadcast Journalism, but as a propaganda machine he epitomizes exactly what broadcast journalism has evolved into. While neither Trump nor the Republican Party will match Clinton and the Democrats by spending up to a billion dollars in expensive and strategic ads, Trump's better comprehension of the media offsets that financial disadvantage. Also, the Mika-like anti-Trump propaganda tirades benefit Trump while the Hannity-like pro-Trump crusades at least appear more sincere and more transparent. Mika's obfuscation in dispensing left-wing propaganda is more offensive than Sean Hannity's unhidden, obvious right-wing propaganda.

So, that brings us to this image from CNN, which -- as you can see -- juxtaposes a photo of Fox's Sean Hannity with Donald Trump above the glaring critique: "HANNITY DIDN'T QUESTION TRUMP'S 'RIGGED' CLAIM." What have we here? Well, it's typical...really. An anti-Trump propaganda network criticizing a pro-Trump propaganda network. If I want left-wing propaganda, I go to MSNBC. If I want right-wing propaganda, I go to Fox. If I just want politically and socially correct middle-of-the-road propaganda, I go to CNN.

      If I want BREAKING NEWS apart from propaganda or politics, I go to CNN. In its regular news coverage, even CNN is fixated on propaganda dispensed ad nauseam via one obnoxious Talking Head pundit after the other, exactly what its visionary founder Ted Turner detested. At the same time, CNN possesses the best worldwide connections and broadcast journalists. Amazingly, that is most apparent only on BREAKING NEWS and in the wee hours...like 4:00 A. M. Eastern...when it utilizes truly great journalists such as Arwa Damon, Atika Shubert, Zain Asher, Max Foster, Matthew Chance, Jim Bittermann, etc., on non-breaking but vitally important stories. Any of those great and true broadcast journalists are worth more than the total of all of television's Talking Head pundits and propagandists. News should be news, not propaganda. 

And guess what??

       As a newshound and night-owl, I checked CNN at my favorite time, 4:00 A. M., this very morning as I was finishing this essay about how a propaganda-fueled, money-crazed, and Talking Head-saturated broadcast media might make Donald Trump the next President of the United States because many Americans see through self-serving, distorted mazes. I used the slants of "Morning Joe's" insipid and persistent anti-Trump rants to illustrate my point. Then I was hit with the above CNN photos of Joe Scarborough and Donald Trump illustrating a report by Dylan Byers entitled: "Scarborough, Trump Look to Repair Relations" with the sub-title: "Joe Scarborough Wants to Make Nice with Donald Trump." Does that surprise me? Not in the least. Joe wants the ratings and Donald wants the publicity. That defines "news" in 2016.

        And remember when America's brave and decent President, Mr. Obama, earlier this year became the first sitting U. S. President to visit Cuba since Herbert Hoover arrived on a warship in 1928?? While in Cuba President Obama felt it was necessary to assure the Cuban people that: "Cuba does not need to fear a threat from the United States." But Obama is a Democrat and at the time he believed that another Democrat, Hillary Clinton, would succeed him as President and as Commander-in-Chief. Would Obama have made that statement in Cuba if he felt a Republican would succeed him? I don't think so. And now, perhaps, understand why I said that my Cubaninsider.com essays would be the same if they were Americaninsider.com essays. Cuba, you see, says more about the United States than it says about Cuba.

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

    

A Caribbean Struggle

That Includes Cuba 

        Back in September of 1961, as this Wikipedia graphic notes, the first Summit of Non-Aligned Nations was held in Belgrade. Developing nations not wanting to be caught in the vice between the two superpowers -- the U. S. and the Soviet Union -- created an alignment designed to protect individual nations by enhancing their collective assets and power. More or less, it has had an impact in the decades since 1961. In recent years there have been 120 member nations with 15 observer nations. India was a key founder and Cuba, given a huge boost on the international stage by the startling victory of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, has remained a major player in advocating for developing and non-aligned nations.

      This past weekend -- September 17 & 18, 2016 -- Venezuela was the host nation for the 2016 Non-Aligned Summit. It was held in the city of Porlamar on Venezuela's Caribbean island, Margarita. In the photo above that is Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro flanked on his left by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and on his right by Iran's Prime Minister Hassan Rouhani. In past Summits, the heads of many nations attended, especially Cuba's Fidel Castro and the various leaders of India, which was a co-founder of the Non-Aligned Summit. This past weekend the member and observer nations were represented but only twelve top leaders were on hand -- including the three aforementioned heads of state as well as Cuba's Raul Castro. This and the next five photos from the Summit are courtesy of REUTERS and Marco Bello.

       This past weekend's Non-Aligned Summit was dominated by Cuba's Raul Castro and Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, shown above on Margarita Island. For only the second time since 1961, the top leader of India, the world's most populated democracy, was not on hand and India's Prime Minister Narenda Modi was a glaring no-show. Maduro -- precariously hanging on as Venezuela's leader as the country experiences grave economic problems, runaway inflation and crime -- set the tone with statements such as this: "Venezuela is facing an onslaught that is against all Latin American and Caribbean nations." He accused the United States of "trying to re-impose and re-colonize the politics, economy, cultures and life of our countries." Despite the historic thaw in the U.S.-Cuban relations orchestrated via negotiations with President Obama's administration, President Castro at the Margarita summit echoed Maduro's charge: "Obama seems trustworthy but he will soon be replaced while Miami still controls Congress as far as we -- the Caribbean and Latin American nations -- are concerned." Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Rafael Correa of Ecuador were among those who strongly supported the viewpoints of Maduro and Castro. All of them agreed that the recent impeachment of two-term President Dilma Rousseff in Brazil was "foreign-influenced." Morales in particular noted that "the foreign, meaning U. S., problems former Argentina President Cristina Fernandez experienced is now being visited on me, and others." Meanwhile, Castro confirmed that Cuba's economy is "currently precarious" because of "the U. S. embargo that has persisted since 1962 and now because actions against our friends in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina and elsewhere impact Cuba so much. The U. S. embargo against us, you all should know, also includes continuous punitive measures against our best friends." 

      This photo taken Saturday shows leaders at the Non-Aligned Summit on Venezuela's Caribbean island. But there were only 12 heads of state at this 17th Summit as compared to 35 at the previous one. Venezuela's dire economic and political problems are cited as the cause for the diminished participation.

      This is Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on the right greeting Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa. They made sure oil prices were a key topic at this Non-Aligned Summit. Venezuela remains a very powerful OPEC member and has the world's largest known oil reserves, which Maduro said "Makes us an imperialist target." Ecuador is OPEC's smallest member nation. Today -- Monday, September 19th -- a major REUTERS article said, "Oil prices rose in Asian trade markets Monday after Venezuelan President Maduro said over the weekend that OPEC and non-OPEC countries were close to reaching an output stabilizing deal."  

  President Maduro with Iran's President Rouhani.

  Presidents Castro and Maduro at the Summit.

      Born 44-years-ago in Caracas, Henriques Capriles is widely viewed as the next President of Venezuela when Maduro leaves office or is ousted. Capriles made fun of Maduro after only 12 heads of state attended this past weekend's Non-Aligned Summit on Venezuela's Margarita Island. REUTERS quoted Capriles as saying, "Millions of dollars of Venezuelans' money was spent for the government's ego, and many of the countries didn't come to the show." After the death from cancer of President Hugo Chavez, Capriles lost a narrow presidential election to Maduro on April 14, 2013. Capriles has been the powerful Governor of Miranda state since 2008. Both Chavez and Maduro have accused Capriles of being encouraged by Miami and the George W. Bush administration to support the 2002 coup that briefly overthrew Chavez. While Maduro, like Chavez, will always be strongly pro-Cuba, observers agree that a Capriles presidency in oil-rich Venezuela would be strongly anti-Cuban and strongly pro-American. So what happens in Venezuela -- especially now that pro-Cuban presidents Cristina Fernandez in Argentina and Dilma Rousseff in Brazil have recently been replaced by pro-U. S. leaders, is very important to the island of Cuba...and to the U. S.

Margarita Island is northeast of Caracas {see above}.

Cuban Friends.

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