Cuba Battles Trump & COVID-19

Which Peril Is Worse?!!

{September 11th, 2020}

      Since the 1950's neither the U. S. government nor the U. S. media has told the truth to the American people about the Cuban Revolution, the historic event that has forever changed both Cuba and the United States. Tony Perrottet, the world's most acclaimed World Travel Writer/historian, is one prime exception to that lack of integrity and courage in the U. S. media. As the world's best Travel Writer/historian, Mr. Perrottet has been enamored with repeatingly visiting Cuba and meticulously studying the enormous after effects of the Cuban Revolution. Unlike lesser skilled and courageous U. S. journalists and authors, Mr. Perrottet starts the mammoth lie perpetrated by the U. S. government and the U. S. media about the year 1952 WHEN THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TEAMED WITH THE TOP ECHELON OF THE MAFIA TO SUPPORT THE BRUTAL AND THIEVING BATISTA DICTATORSHIP. From the 1950's till September of 2020, Americans have been told that it was a proper thing for the U. S. democracy to align with and support the Mafia so rich U. S. businessmen could partake in the rape and robbery of the Caribbean's largest and most beautiful island nation, a mere 90 miles from the shores of Florida.

       And after the Cuban Revolution shocked the world and altered history on January 1, 1959 when it overthrew the Mafia-led BATISTA DICTATORSHIP, chasing the Mafiosi and Batistiano to their new sanctuary in nearby Miami.

      Since January of 1959 Little Havana in the heart of Miami has thrived economically and politically while spending every hour of every day for going on seven decades to RECAPTURE Cuba. Yet, it hasn't happened despite the fact that Little Havana, since Jan.-1959 till Sept.-2020, has been massively supported by the world's strongest and richest nation, the United States. Additionally, Little Havana has greatly benefited by the mammoth apathy of the mightily propagandized American people. And that is where a truly great, brave journalist/author such as Tony Perrottet becomes so important. Being the world's top Travel Writer, Tony's expertise has been in forums like the NY Times, Smithsonian Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, etc.

        The best of Tony Perrottet's six books is "Cuba Libre". And yes, in "Cuba Libre" Tony Perrottet accurately explained how the Cuban Revolution "CHANGED WORLD HISTORY" -- especially the history of the United States of America.

       While having the talent and courage to explain the Cuban Revolution to the world, especially to propagandized Americans, Tony Perrottet years has told the truth about how Cuba has so drastically changed the United States -- starting in 1898 with the Spanish-American War when the U. S. got domination of Cuba, since 1952 when the U. S. teamed with the Mafia to support the ruthless Batista dictatorship, and since 1959 when the Cuban Revolution chased the Batistiano and Mafiosi leaders from Havana to Little Havana. And now the great Tony Perrottet in September of 2020 has penned another incredible insightful article in the Wall Street Journal entitled "CUBA IS STAYING STRONG."

         The September-2020 article by Tony Perrottet is incredibly important because Americans simply have no idea has Cuba has survived as a sovereign nation for all these decades since 1959 -- especially considering that, in 2020, Cuba is the only nation in the world battling both the COVID-19 pandemic and a genocidal Blockade by the Trump administration to appease the Counter Revolutionary zealots in Little Havana and in the U. S. Congress. So, in September-2020 the Tony Perrottet article in the Wall Street Journal is very important...as is a classic article that Tony Perrottet earlier had published in the Smithsonian Magazine, which is reviewed below. 

     I'm a subscriber to Smithsonian Magazine and my favorite television channel is also Smithsonian -- because of its quintessentially historic and topical documentaries. Smithsonian Magazine is the source of a magnificent 15-page historic & topical report on the Cuban Revolution. It was brilliantly written and researched by Tony Perrottet, the renowned Australian-born and New York-based travel writer and historian depicted above. His essay includes historic photos and is also buttressed with updated photos by Joao Pina. To understand why modern Cuba punches far above its weight in the United States and around the world, you need to read this Smithsonian update.

    Tony Perrottet's Smithsonian article is entitled: "VIVA LA REVOLUTION." It's sub-titles include: "Journey Into Cuba's Rebel Heart," The long article begins with the writer and his photographer taking the arduous trip to visit the historic cabin hideaway used by Fidel Castro and Celia Sanchez from April-1958 till December-1958 as they devised the strategy that shocked the world by overthrowing the U.S.-and-Mafia-backed Batista dictatorship. This is Perrottet's first paragraph: "It's not hard to see why Fidel Castro's guerrilla headquarters during the Cuban revolutionary war was never found by the army. Even today, getting to the command post feels live a covert operation. Known as Comandancia La Plata, the remote hide-out was built in the spring of 1958 in the succulent rain- forest of the Sierra Maestra at Cuba's eastern tip, and it still lies at the end of steep, treacherous, unpaved roads. There are no road signs in the Sierra, so photographer Joao Pina and I had to stop our vehicle and ask for directions from passing campesinos on horseback while zigzagging between enormous potholes and wandering livestock. In the hamlet of Santo Domingo, we filled our paperwork in quadruplicate to secure access permits, before an official government guide ushered us into a creaky state-owned four-wheel drive vehicle. This proceeded to wheeze its way up into one of the Caribbean's last wilderness areas, with breathtaking views of rugged green peaks at every turn." Perrottet then added, "In any other country, the Comandancia would make an excellent eco-lodge, but in Cuba it remains one of the revolution's most intimate historical shrines."  

       This and the next five photos are courtesy of the excellent travel website jennyfaraway.com. This is a view of the Sierra Maestra Mountains where Fidel Castro's rebel hide-out was located. When people like Tony Perrottet venture there, they have to go deep and high into this rugged terrain, but in the 1950s it served the rebels well, especially in guerrilla fighting and protecting them from Batista's warplanes.

Signs point hearty hikers to the "Home of Fidel."

Just make sure you follow the right sign.

Then you are on a path to Fidel's old rebel cabin.

      This is an updated side-view of the famed rebel cabin. Notice the ladder and the long pole propping open a wooden window to let in a tropical breeze. There was also a trap-door near the bed that, if necessary, provided a quick exit to slide down a cliff into a rambling creek. The cabin's creation and design -- like most other key aspects of the revolution -- were orchestrated by Celia Sanchez. Americans are not supposed to know that but Tony Perrottet, in his Smithsonian article, was brave enough and astute enough to write: "Perched on a ledge above a gurgling stream, with large windows propped open by poles to let in a cooling breeze, it's a refuge that would suit a Cuban John Muir. The spacious two-room hut was designed by Fidel's resourceful secretary, rural organizer and lover, Celia Sanchez. Celia also thought it important for visitors to see the rebel leader well established and comfortable -- acting, in fact, as if the war were already won and he was president of Cuba. Celia even managed to get a cake to the hut packed in dry ice via mule train for Fidel's 32nd birthday." Perrottet's recognition of Celia Sanchez's definitive role parallels what all Cuban insiders have always known. For example, the highly respected photographer Roberto Salas, an intimate of both Fidel and Celia for decades, wrote in his seminal book, "Celia made all the decisions for Cuba, the big ones and the small ones." Because the Batistianos she chased to the U. S. have dictated the Cuban narrative in the U. S. since 1959, Americans are not supposed to know such facts. It would, you see, interfere with their portrayal of Fidel as the evil one and mess up their machismo, which holds that big, mean macho Fidel beat them but the petite doctor's daughter had nothing to do with it, NOTHING AT ALL.     

The bed where Fidel and Celia Sanchez slept in the cabin.

       Celia and Fidel were the only rebels allowed inside the cabin at La Plata. Celia -- before and after Fidel spent two years in a Batista prison and then another year in Miami, New York and Mexico before joining her rebel army -- was the prime recruiter of rebel fighters, supplies and weapons. She kept a strongbox with up to a million dollars in cash either in the cabin or stashed at strategic locations. Thus, when she and Fidel were away from the cabin it was guarded by selected rebels. She worried about Batista planes spotting and bombing campsites but was careful with campfires and she purchased five BARs, Browning Automatic Rifles, from her key Venezuelan contacts and they downed two bombers and dissuaded others from dipping into the mountain valleys and then trying to ascend back out. At night, the wooden window was closed so Celia and Fidel, both night-owls and insatiable readers, could study by candlelight, like the candle Celia is holding in this photo. Celia was the decision-maker, so it can be assumed that she is reading battle reports or the last-known positions of Batista soldiers. Fidel was probably reading a book. In the updated Smithsonian article, Tony Perrottet mentioned that Fidel in his idle time read books like Ernest Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls." For Celia, there was no idle time apart from the next battle.

       In his article for the October edition of Smithsonian Magazine, Perrottet goes into detail about why and how the Cuban Revolution did the impossible by beating the powerful Batista dictatorship that was backed by the strongest criminal organization in the world, the Mafia, and the strongest nation in the world, the United States. The brutality of Batista's forces included, as Perrottet pointed out, the gruesome murders of even "children." That meant that every Cuban not tied to Batista, the Mafia or the U. S. supported the rebels. Cuban women, never leading factors in other revolutions, were the leading factors in this one...starting with the street marches that, as Perrottet stated, demanded that the U. S. "STOP THE MURDERS" of their children. Everyday Cubans, the campesinos, supported those pleas and Perrottet wrote that even some rich Cubans did too: "One of those was the young law graduate Fidel Castro," Perrottet said. The updated Smithsonian article points out the incredibly excessive brutality of the Batista regime. Perrottet included a photo of 78-year-old Uvaldo Pena Mas who explained how, when he was a child, his father was murdered. The photo above shows Celia introducing Fidel to some of the campesinos risking their lives to help her. To prevent that, Batista increased the murders, using what Perrottet called "psychopaths" to carry them out. Perrottet correctly mentioned that Batista used his control of the state media to announce that Fidel Castro, the hero to all the peasants, was dead. Celia quite brilliantly used New York Times reporter Herbert L. Matthews to prove he was still alive so her recruiting would not suffer.

        In the Smithsonian article, Tony Perrottet wrote that the utter despair of the everyday Cubans manifested itself mostly in the courage and outrage of women like Celia Sanchez. Perrottet wrote:  "Delusion had already been tapped by Celia Sanchez, a fearless young activist for the 26th of July Movement who was at the top of  Batista's most-wanted list in the Oriente province. A brilliant organizer, Sanchez would soon become Fidel's closest confidante and effective second in command." Long before anyone thought Batista could be toppled, Celia risked her life every day recruiting rebels and supplies to fight the Batistianos, prompting Cuba's best historian, Pedro Alvarez Tabio, to write, "If Batista had managed to kill Celia Sanchez anytime between 1953 and 1957, there would have been no viable Cuban revolution and no revolution for Fidel and Che to join." Perrottet wrote, "Young farmhands swelled the rebel ranks as soldiers. Girls carried rebel missives folded into tiny squares and hidden (as Celia mischievously explained) in a place where no one can find it. The campesinos also risked the savage reprisals of Batista's soldiers who beat, raped or executed peasants they suspected of having rebel sympathies." Indeed, two of Celia's closest female friends were unmercifully tortured to death as was the young school-teacher Frank Pais and his teenage brother Jesus because Frank was a vital rebel recruiter and organizer. In the Smithsonian article, Tony Perrottet wrote, "Batista's rule was marked by blatant corruption and a savage level of political repressions." Much of that savagery was directed at Cuban children and women, as Perrottet pointed out. That milieu produced history's all-time greatest, most determined and most effective female revolutionary fighters. 

       Tony Perrottet in the Smithsonian Cuban Revolution update said that "80" rebels beat a much larger Batista army to win the first big battle against Batista -- May 28th, 1957 near the "drowsy coastal village of El Uvero." Perrottet also recounted how 250 rebels beat 10,000 much better armed Batista soldiers. And the two most fiercely effective rebel fighters were not macho men like Fidel Castro and Che Guevara; they were the two beautiful women shown above -- Haydee Santamaria and Celia Sanchez. The Perrottet article points out that Batista goons gouged out the eyes of Haydee's brother Abel and presented them to her. Other reliable sources, including Haydee, have said that Batista goons cut off the testicles of her fiance and rubbed them over her face and chest. Celia, the petite doctor's daughter, also got her unmatched inspiration from unspeakable brutality -- the rape-murder of a 10-year-old peasant girl named Maria Ochoa.

           The fact that the Cuban Revolution was largely a female enterprise is aptly documented by The Woman Project.Org. Thus, it is appropriate that Celia Sanchez, who died of cancer in 1980, is responsible for the two quotations that best define it, starting with the one depicted above: "We rebels...get far too much credit for winning the Revolution. Our enemies deserve most of the credit, for being greedy cowards and idiots." Incredibly, after she drove those "greedy cowards and idiots" off the island, they regrouped on U. S. soil and, with rare exceptions, have been allowed to dictate the Cuban narrative and America's Cuban policy ever since. In other words, Celia realized that if her enemies had merely thrown the peasants some crumbs and not so viciously brutalized them, her recruiting would not have been so successful. Then after the amazing triumph of her revolution, her second definitive quotation resonates to this very day: "The Batistianos will never regain control of Cuba as long as I live or as long as Fidel lives." In this last week of September, 2016, Fidel is 90-years-old but he still lives and the Batistianos have still not regained "control of Cuba" despite the support from the U. S. Congress, the U. S. Treasury, the U. S. military and the CIA.

Rebel leaders Haydee and Celia with new rebel Fidel.

              Above Celia and Haydee are showing Fidel some of the money that they had recruited to sustain their Revolutionary War against Batista. If Batista and his prime supporters -- the Mafia and the U. S. -- had not outraged Celia and Haydee, the Batistianos and the Mafiosi would likely still be in charge of Cuba.

         Fidel Castro has never failed -- from age 32 till age 90 -- to give "most of the credit for winning our necessary revolution to the female half of our population." He especially meant the two flanking him above -- Celia Sanchez on his right and Haydee Santamaria on his left. When the above photo was taken as revolutionary rule was re-shaping the island, this trio was listening after they had stopped off to ask Cubans what they most wanted from the revolution. The repetitive answer they received at such stops was: "Good and free educations, and good and free health care." From 1959 till today, in stark contrast to pre-revolutionary Cuba, those two items have been hallmarks of the Revolution -- come hell, hurricanes, the Bay of Pigs, the embargo, Cuban-exile/Batistiano control of America's Cuban policy, and the apathy and cowardice of two generations of Americans allowing a Cuban policy to usurp their democracy.

              This was Celia Sanchez's favorite photo of Fidel Castro. As she was dying of cancer, she asked Vilma Espin to bring it to her and it was with Celia the day she died of cancer -- January 11th, 1980.

            The doctor's daughter that engineered the Cuban Revolution's victory over the U.S.-backed Batistianos and Mafiosi had no problem with Fidel getting the lion's share of the credit. In fact, along with other aspects of her revolution, she made sure that Fidel got the upfront credit even as she, behind the scenes with his full support, called the shots -- literally. The reason Tony Perrottet's incisive article in the current edition of Smithsonian Magazine stands out is the fact that he had the research and the guts to tell truths about the revolution that has been rare in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave since 1959. Perrottet stressed the extreme "decadence" of the Batista fiends that turned Celia Sanchez into history's all-time greatest female revolutionary. And Perrottet even backed up Celia's famed quote about "our enemies" being more responsible for the rebel victory than the rebels themselves because her enemies concentrated too much on being "greedy cowards and idiots." Celia was extremely disappointed the Batistiano and Mafiosi leaders didn't hang around Havana to fight the oncoming rebels. Perrottet wrote: "Batista was escaping with his cronies on a private plane loaded with gold bullion." What Batista and his cronies left behind, according to Perrottet, was "a symbol of decadence, a seedy enclave." And the greed was matched by the cowardice. Perrottet wrote about "the spectacle of 20,000 soldiers submitting to a few hundred rebels," a spectacle that was "enough to make you burst out laughing," to quote the article. 

         The BBC says this was "The first photo ever taken of Fidel Castro and Celia Sanchez together." It was taken in February of 1957 shortly after Fidel had joined her revolution in the Sierra Maestra Mountains.

      The outstanding article by Tony Perrottet in the Oct. 3-2016 edition of Smithsonian Magazine recounted Fidel's and Celia's trek from Santiago de Cuba to Havana to take over Cuba in the first week of January, 1959. Perrottet wrote: "Fidel rode his tank to the doors of the brand-new Hilton Hotel and took the presidential suite for himself and Celia." Perrottet described the Cuban Revolution with these exact words: "The campaign that would, in a little over two years, bring down the Cuban government and reshape world politics." 

Personal Observation:

      If Celia Sanchez's revolution "RESHAPED WORLD POLITICS" how can the Batistiano dominance of the Cuban narrative in the U. S. still maintain that she is an historical nonentity and that they, the fleeing Batistianos, were and are the good guys, not the "greedy cowards and idiots" Celia Sanchez called them.

       Because the Batistianos for decades have dictated America's Cuban policy, everyday Americans are the only people in the world without the freedom to visit Cuba. Is that so Americans can continue to be lied to about the Revolution that Tony Perrottet in Smithsonian Magazine says "reshaped world politics?" President Obama has finally loosened the Batistiano grip on America's Cuban policy but most everyday Americans are still banned from visiting the nearby island. If they did so, they wouldn't find a single statue of the now 90-year-old Fidel Castro. But they would see some beautiful statues honoring Celia Sanchez, such as the one above. Should...uh...the strongest nation in the world have a democracy that would allow its citizens to judge Cuba...and Celia Sanchez...for themselves? Uh, just asking.

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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.

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      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!!

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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."

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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.

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"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. 

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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.

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