Vidal Targets THE Embargo

She Might Win!! 

       The U. S. economic embargo against Cuba...which the island calls a blockade...has been in effect since 1962. Cuba has had no problem convincing the rest of the world that it constitutes "genocide" and that it is "history's all-time longest and cruelest blockade ever imposed by a strong nation against a weak one." Each October the United Nations highlights that generally accepted fact with a stunning 191-to-2 vote supporting Cuba's position on the embargo/blockade. The problem with such near-unanimity-of-opinion is two-fold: {1} The U. S. is the strongest nation in the history of the world and it has a veto in the UN as well as, if it chooses, over world opinion; and {2} Since the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship was overthrown by the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the U. S. government and a coerced or apathetic U. S. citizenry have allowed Batistiano-Mafiosi remnants to dictate America's Cuban policy via control of Miami's and Washington's Cuban-related politics. Since 1952, when the U. S. teamed with the Mafia to support the vile Batista dictatorship in Cuba, Americans have been successfully propagandized or intimidated to keep them from even complaining about the damage such a Cuban policy has on America's democratic reputation.

       As this poster indicates, America's Cuban policy -- such as teaming with the Mafia in 1952 to ransack Cuba till the Revolution intervened in 1959 and then allowing the revengeful Batistianos to regroup and thrive on U. S. soil -- has not only served to demean the U. S. but it has also garnered considerable support for the Castro regime both on the island and on the international scale. That is what makes posters like this resonate as pugnacious little Cuba is depicted as being the quintessential David vs. Goliath by merely surviving decades of such things as...assassination attempts, unpunished terrorist acts, the military attack at the Bay of Pigs, and, of course, the embargo that Cuba successfully portrays as "the genocidal longest and cruelest blockade ever imposed by a really strong nation against a weak one."  

        And that brings us around to this very effective poster that was plastered around Havana this week -- late October of 2016. The lady shown in the upper-left at the microphone is Josefina Vidal, Cuba's brilliant Minister in charge of relations with the United States. The poster promoted an anti-blockade speech Vidal delivered at the University of Havana on October 17th, a prelude to next week's next UN vote on the blockade. Vidal is deeply respected in Cuba, Washington and around the world, and the University of Havana is brimming with well-educated students who strongly resent how their parents, grandparents,and now their siblings and themselves have been and are being unmercifully punished by the blockade.

    Havana students awaiting the arrival of Josefina Vidal.

Vidal did not disappoint those students. 

She arrived wearing an anti-blockade T-shirt!!

      Sitting on an elevated stage and utilizing a microphone and loudspeakers, Vidal unleashed a blistering assault "on the genocidal heartbreak the blockade has caused your parents all their lives and now is seeking to do the same thing to you...and to your children." Notice the attentive reaction of the Cuban students.

     Vidal, surrounded by a sea of young, well-educated Cubans who agree with her, spent an intense session in the open-air, tropical heat beseeching the students to "never forget who your prime enemies are. They are the ones behind the blockade and other uncivil acts against Cubans on the island while enriching and empowering the worst Cubans off the island to afford them unchecked and unlimited means to assault you as they seek revenge for the revolution and to enrich and empower themselves in America. If you are displeased with government officials like me on the island, you can let us know and then you can judge our reaction. But the time has come to do more to fight the anti-Cuban forces off the island...forces such as the blockade, the occupation of rightful Cuban territory at Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. tax-funded programs designed to recapture this island to, as they tell the American people, to bring you democracy...such as when they brought your forebears the Mafia in the 1950s. Only a few of the revolutionaries are still around, the ones who kicked the Mafia back to the U. S. and, despite the blockade, provide you free and good educations, free and good health care, and protect you, I believe, better than Americans are protected on their streets or in their homes or cars. But we are more survivalists than perfectionists. If there is to be democracy or socialism or whatever in your lives, you are the ones who should decide that, not the anti-Cubans in Miami and Washington. We have gained much working with the decency of President Obama in the past two years, but there is still Miami and still Congress beyond his control, and he has only days left as President. The blockade-runners are still powerful as they hide behind a superpower. You young dear Cubans are sooooo strong. You just have to be a bit stronger considering the strength of those who are trying to literally starve you with the blockade." 

      Vidal's impassioned assault on the embargo not only stressed the harm it brings to the older students but also to "your siblings in lower grades below college level. They are also made to suffer each day by cruel elements in a foreign country." The U. S. media is not in the business of presenting Cuba's side of issues such as the embargo, but 51 minutes and 27 seconds of Vidal's speech at the University of Havana was and is available online at powerful venues such as HuffPost/TheWorldPost. In that video Vidal speaks Spanish but she was just as emphatic when she later answered questions in English concerning the embargo.

      Vidal's main theme to the University of Havana students emphasized that Cuba's revolutionary government, in "stark contrast to the Batista years of the 1950s and the intent of Cuba's enemies in Miami and Washington during these crucial modern times" provides "all its people free educations and health care and street safety." And that salient point seemed to resonate the strongest with University of Havana students such as Rosalie Contreras who told "REUTERS" that, "We have world opinion behind us and we must not allow the blockade to do to the children beneath us what it has done to us and our parents. Josefina is fighting just for us and for them, not against us and them while basking in a Miami mansion."

      This is Josefina Vidal modestly dressed in her modest Havana office. She is the indefatigable leader of Cuba's David vs. Goliath struggle against the island's prime enemies in Miami and in the United States Congress. She may lose that struggle but she is both skilled and determined enough to amazingly make it a contestable battle in which she believes her side is supported by what she calls "world opinion and by what would be justice for past and current Cubans who have fought so hard for independence and for sovereignty."

       As a world-class and nonpareil Cuban Minister, Josefina Vidal has already achieved milestones that a handful of ultra-powerful Cuban-Americans deemed impossible -- such as getting Cuba removed from the Batistiano-dictated Sponsors of Terrorism list; opening embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time since 1961; loosening a Miami-dictated rule that made everyday Americans the only people in the world without the freedom to visit Cuba; getting a friendly U. S. president in 2016 to be the first sitting president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge arrived on a warship in 1928; having U. S. cruise ships visit Cuba for the first time in over five decades; having U. S. commercial flights land in Cuba for the first time in over five decades; etc. But Vidal has three more impossible tasks testing her diplomatic skills: {1} Ending what she calls the "blockade;" {2} ending what continues as a string of U.S. tax-funded regime-change programs; and {3} getting Guantanamo Bay returned to what she calls its rightful owner, "Cuba." The odds are about a million-to-one against her regarding this unfinished business but she faced similar odds on several things she has already achieved. Thus, being underestimated works to her own advantage. 

And you know what? 

      There are four firmly entrenched Cuban-American members of Congress from Miami. Polls show that most Cuban-Americans even in Miami's Little Havana district favor normalizing relations with Cuba but...alas...it seems only anti-Castro zealots and scions of zealous anti-Castro families can get elected to Congress from Miami, which still occupies fertile U. S. soil. Another irony related to U.S.-Cuban relations is that a staunch pro-Cuban lady in Cuba, Vidal, seems more concerned about the demeaning image America's Cuban policy casts on America and democracy than do the Cuban-Americans in Congress. Now chew on that for a moment and, of course -- being in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave -- you're perfectly free to disagree, at least verbally, with such ironies and assumptions.

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Cuba's NO-WIN Situations

Tied to Foreign Interventions?
{Updated: Saturday, October 22nd, 2016}  

       If you carefully study and then comprehend this photo, you will begin to understand why the island of Cuba is in a no-win situation, sort of like a little guppie encased in a bowl with hungry, fish-eating sharks. The photo shows dedicated members of Cuba's Civil Defense Team rescuing citizens in the city of Baracoa in Guantanamo Province. This was earlier this month when Hurricane Matthew slammed into eastern Cuba with the same ferocity that had killed hundreds of people elsewhere in the Caribbean, especially the nearby island of Hispaniola. Revolutionary Cuba is renowned for its preparations and actions in defending its people with counter-measures against natural and man-made hurricanes, such as Hurricane Matthew this month of October-2016 and the Bay of Pigs military attack in April-1961. INCREDIBLY, despite the ferocious devastation of Hurricane Matthew on five eastern provinces of Cuba, not a single Cuban died thanks to the efforts of Cuba's well-trained and well-prepared Civil Defense Team. YET, that wasn't the top headline across the Caribbean, in nearby Miami or even in Cuba. It seems that the Cuban government "detained" a couple of dissident self-proclaimed "journalists" that the government felt were "interfering" with the work of the Civil Defense Team during its delicate rescue efforts. Thanks to what Cuba says are the highly sophisticated and well-funded counter-revolutionary forces, the "detained journalists in Guantanamo" was the top headline on the heels of Hurricane Matthew's devastation of eastern Cuba. Such staged and coordinated provocations are routinely successful because of receptive mainstream media and blogs anxious to exploit perceived or distorted anti-Cuban reactions. Thus, a provocation that can distract from positive actions by Cuba's government is considered a success by the island's enemies.

       The Letters from Cuba blog by Fernando Ravsberg has long been considered one of the most respected sources for unbiased journalism from inside Cuba, with international giants like the BBC utilizing his insights. But things have a way of changing...from osmosis, incentives, nudging or whatever. This week -- Oct. 20-2016 -- Fernando Ravsberg's article "The Cuban Government's Communication 'Strategies'" unfairly downplayed Cuba's emphasis on keeping Hurricane Matthew from killing Cubans to excoriating the government for "detaining several" dissident journalists in the devastated area. He wrote: "The detention of several journalists is the latest of the slip-ups. The price of the clumsy action was to put the persecution of journalists 'on the front-page' while the Civil Defense troops' huge success to prevent Cuban deaths during the time that Hurricane Matthew struck has been put aside in the background." Fernando Ravsberg didn't mention why the detention of the journalists and not the Civil Defense heroics made the front-pages of what he called "alternative media platforms" that he said "are steaming ahead." Fernando said, "New blogs are created everyday that inform Cuba, from Cuba, about a country that doesn't appear in government media." He doesn't mention that many of those "new blogs" and "alternative media platforms" are promoted and financed by foreign enterprises that Cuba and independent sources claim include U. S. government-backed "democracy" programs and other visceral Cuban-exile regime-change programs. 

      While Fernando Ravsberg and others were railing about several detained journalists that Cuba claimed were interfering with helping Cubans like these coping with rubble left behind by Hurricane Matthew in the city of Baracoa, the Cuban government apparently was doing all it could to deal earnestly with the situation. But provoking Cuba to "detain" them garnered the "headlines," as Fernando Ravsberg admitted. 

     Cuba's most out-spoken and highest-profile news anchor, Cristina Escobar, reacted differently than Fernando Ravsberg and the counter-revolutionary journalists regarding Hurricane Matthew's visit to eastern Cuba. The talented 28-year-old Escobar said, "The Cuban government is not above criticism but that does not mean that foreign-backed distortions should be permitted to run amok across this sovereign island or that foreign-backed agents should not be monitored closely. As a broadcast journalist with the state media, if I believed the detainment of two anti-government provocateurs in Baracoa was the big story, I would have reported it. But I believed the big story was trying to protect those Cuban citizens from the ravages of a powerful storm and then help them recover. That's the simple, plain truth but too often it competes with staged provocations designed to distort the truth and shine a well-funded and well-scripted bad light on Cuba." 

And speaking of no-win situations: 

        Meet notable anti-Cuban dissident Tania Bruguera. Tania is a well-known U.S.-based artist, mostly well-known for getting arrested or detained in Cuba. The photo is courtesy of Tim Knox/The Guardian. It was taken when Tania announced that she is running for President of Cuba when Raul Castro steps down, which he says will be in early 2018. She says she will use the election to "build a different Cuba where we are in charge and not just the few." She admitted her bid for the presidency is Utopian but she aims "to change the culture of fear." Tania has succeeded in being arrested and detained in Cuba, with even her passport briefly taken. She has described to the media how Cuba's secret police surrounded her Havana residence "like I was Osama bin Laden." Cuba never mistook her for bin Laden but it does consider her "a CIA operative, and a well-funded one seeking to get arrested and publicized by it to hurt Cuba and help her."    

       This photo of Tania Bruguera, with an image of Fidel Castro as an ominous backdrop, is courtesy of TEDGlobal/James Duncan Davidson. Her efforts in Cuba haven't started a revolution yet or touched off a coup and her bid to be elected President of Cuba in 2018 will probably fail too. But it will be well-publicized, just as the "detainment" of the dissident journalists who supposedly hindered the Cuban effort to deal with the powerful Hurricane Matthew in Guantanamo Province was well-publicized, apparently to offset coverage of the miraculously successful rescue operations. Fernando Ravsberg's lavish promotion of dissident journalists this week and Tania Bruguera's ongoing bid to be elected President of Cuba in 2018 are just two examples of the many no-win situations facing an island nation that will always be susceptible to foreign interventions -- uh, always for nice and sweet democratic and humanitarian reasons, of course!!

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Cuba: Surviving or Thriving?

Well, A Bit of Both!!

      Two weeks ago in the first week of October-2016 the powerful Hurricane Matthew pounded eastern Cuba and left much of Baracoa, an historic coastal city of 85,000, in rubble although excellent preparedness orchestrated by the Cuban government helped prevent deaths. The Cuban government as usual got high marks from numerous unbiased sources for protecting its citizens, but not in the U. S. media and certainly not nearby Miami where many, as usual, blamed 90-year-old Fidel Castro.

      Yesterday -- Oct. 19-2016 -- the Miami Herald used the above graphic to illustrate an article still attacking Cuba regarding Hurricane Matthew. The headline: "Rebuilding Efforts Underway in Eastern Cuba But U. S. Hurricane Aid Rebuffed." The article pointed out that schools were back in session and efforts were continuing to clear roads, restore electricity and communications, and Cubana de Aviacion will resume flights to Baracoa today -- October 20th. The article mentioned that Cuba is receiving help from countries like Venezuela and Japan and added this sentence: "But despite offers from U. S. charities to send food and other relief, shipments from the United States has been rebuffed. thus far." The implication was that the Cuban government has "rebuffed" help from the U. S., especially Miami, because it is not interested in helping its people. That is a bald-faced lie, one that reflects far more badly on the U. S. than on Cuba. Cuba trusts aid from countries like Venezuela, Japan, etc. -- none of which have ever mauled Cuba with military, terrorism, assassination, congressional or embargo attacks. If the U. S., especially Miami, could say the same thing, it is presumed Cuba would readily accept help from the U. S., even Miami's Little Havana area.

      This photo is courtesy of Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket/Getty Images and it was used yesterday -- Oct. 19-2016 -- to illustrate a major NPR article written by Carrie Kahn. The title of the article is: "Amid A Struggling Economy, Cuba Real Estate Is Booming." The boom is particularly occurring in the area of Havana, shown above, fronted by the famed Malecon seawall. Ms. Kahn wrote: "About 100 miles off the tip of Florida, it's boom time. The real estate market in Havana, Cuba, is roaring. Apartments are selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Add a Caribbean sea view or a prized spot in a pre-revolution exclusive neighborhood and the price can be a million dollars. Cubans are on a wild ride. Five years ago, President Raul Castro began letting homeowners buy and sell property. But its only in the last year and a half, with warmer relations between the U. S. and Cuba, that the rush on real estate really started. The U. S. trade embargo prohibits Americans from buying property on the island and Cuban law allows only residents to purchase homes. But that hasn't stopped foreigners from finding loopholes and fueling the frenzy." In Revolutionary Cuba, Cubans are provided excellent free educations and health care as well as guarantees of food and shelter. Many own their own modest homes or apartments. This NPR article references modest places -- because of "location, location, location" -- being priced at upwards of $250,000 in "roaring" Havana. 

     No one knows more than Peter Kornbluh when it comes to U.S.-Cuban relations. Moreover, unlike the mainstream media in the U. S., he has both the guts and the integrity to tell the truth about a subject that reflects mightily on America's international image. Peter is the highly respected Cuban expert at the Washington-based U. S. National Security Archive. In a long, major article yesterday -- Oct. 19-2016 -- Mr. Kornbluh provides the best up-to-date summary of President Obama's drastic influence on U.S.-Cuban relations. The article is entitled: "Normalization of Relations With Cuba Is All But Irreversible Now." 

     Peter Kornbluh's must-read article yesterday included these words: "With just under 100 days remaining in office, President Obama has launched a final offensive to assure that his administration's effort to normalize relations with Cuba will outlast his presidency and be recorded as one of the most dramatic breakthroughs in the annals of U. S. foreign policy." Americans, propagandized derogatorily about Cuba every day since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, should study that topical sentence from America's top Cuban expert. His article includes sub-topics such as "An Irreversible Policy Shift" and "We Will Not Pursue Regime-Change in Cuba, Obama Declared." Mr. Kornbluh's explanations of those titles are the best explanations U. S. citizens will get. He also explains that Republicans in Miami and in the U. S. Congress will continue to doggedly try to block and/or overturn each and every Obama advancement in U.S.-Cuban relations. And Mr. Kornbluh worries...as all democracy-loving Americans should worry...that another Bush-like Republican will one-day capture the White House. Mr. Kornbluh, as this lifelong Republican understands, believes that Republicans in charge of Congress are enemies of Cuba and democracy while also believing that Republicans in the White House would be the same. In his insightful article, Mr. Kornbluh wrote, "Donald Trump is one such enemy." Even Republicans who cringe the severest about the prospects of another Clinton presidency should agree with his conclusion while also hoping that the U. S. democracy can soon return to having major presidential candidates with at least favorable, not grossly unfavorable, personal ratings. Kornbluh's comments yesterday about Trump referenced the Republican's cowardly, undemocratic promise back in September in Miami to "reverse" Obama's Cuban overtures.

      Since the 1950s US-Cuba Relations have been predicated in the United States by how much revenge, money and political power that an unsavory few could exact at the expense of the majority and democracy. With unparalleled boldness and intelligence, President Obama has finally sliced markedly into that derogatory reflection on America. As Peter Kornbluh, America's top Cuban expert said in his major article yesterday, Mr. Obama's efforts have already produced "one of the most dramatic breakthroughs in the annals of U. S. foreign policy." And hopefully, the people Mr. Kornbluh called "the enemies" of Obama and democracy will never be able to "erase" the corrections Mr. Obama has made in US-Cuba Relations.  

Mr. Obama has reasons to applaud himself.

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Cuba Is Arriving

Obama Opened the Door!!

       This photo is courtesy of Ramon Espinosa/AP and it reflects changes on the island of Cuba wrought by U. S. President Obama's herculean normalization efforts. In the center is Cuban fashion designer Analu proudly walking one of her models down the catwalk at this week's Havana Fashion Week. It's vibes and vibrations seemed to flow out from the Alicia Alonso Grand Theater, revealing the island's love of beauty and aesthetics as unleashed talent and creativity emerge amidst the lingering, archaic U. S. embargo.

       According to the AP's Andrea Rodriguez, the highly successful Havana Fashion Week was created only in 2015 as key elements of President Obama's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba began to be implemented. Rodriguez wrote, "It began in 2015 with 30 designers. This year's edition had twice as many." 

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Cuba's New Day TODAY

Monday, October 17th, 2016!!

       This Global Times image of Lady Liberty lighting up a Cuban cigar takes on added meaning today -- Oct. 17-2016. Starting today -- after a new Executive Order issued by President Obama -- there are no limits on the amount of rum and cigars that Americans can bring home from Cuba for their personal use.

      Susan Rice is the 24th U. S. National Security Advisor. Behind the scenes, she has been instrumental in advising President Obama on his monumental efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. This past weekend she was very much upfront when she addressed a Washington think tank and laid out a plethora of new presidential orders designed to further the process of normalizing relations with Cuba. Both she and the President used the same word -- "irreversible" -- in their belief that future U. S. governments will not be able to turn-back such advances, as brave and dangerous as they may be, because they will help the vast majority of Cubans, Americans, and Cuban-Americans. Ms. Rice concluded her remarks with this quip apparently meant to prick Cuban hardliners in Congress: "You can now celebrate these advances with Cuban rum and Cuban cigars." Many indeed will celebrate, but others will not. Representing the hardliners in Miami and Congress, Senator Marco Rubio, for example, railed about Obama catering to the "Castro bandits" although Susan Rice and most Americans realize that the banditry related to Cuba involves other nouns -- such as the Batistianos and the Mafiosi, just to name two.

     After months of delicate and secretive discussions, some taking place in Canada and the Vatican, President Obama announced to the world on Dec. 17-2014 that he was going to normalize relations with Cuba, the first such serious announcement since November of 1963 when President Kennedy, just prior to his ill-fated trip to Dallas, told his staff that his "priority" upon his return to Washington would be normalizing relations with Cuba. In the past two years, Obama incredibly has opened embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time since 1961; allowed commercial airplanes and cruise ships to travel to Cuba for the first time since 1962; removed Cuba from the Sponsors of Terrorism list to the utter chagrin of hardliners who relished the designation; made it easier for everyday Americans to have the freedom to travel to Cuba; and otherwise sliced deeply into the embargo of Cuba that the U. S. Congress has mandated or enhanced since 1962 when it was crafted to starve and deprive Cubans on the island to induce them to rise up and overthrow the now 90-year-old Fidel Castro. Then this past weekend President Obama backed up Susan Rice's revelations with this statement; "I approved a Presidential Policy Directive that takes another major step forward in our efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. My goal is to make our opening to Cuba irreversible." As of today, President Obama's new series of orders allows Cubans to be able to buy certain U. S. products online. Also, Cuban pharmaceutical companies can now do business in the U. S., and joint medical research by Cubans and Americans will now be permitted...among a host of other new initiatives.

     Cuba's top Minister on issues related to the United States, Josefina Vidal, very carefully studied the entire text of President Obama's new overtures to Cuba, ones he hoped would help make his "opening to Cuba irreversible." In her diplomatic mode, Ms. Vidal expressed her "approval" of the President's newly official directives toward Cuba. But beyond that tacit comment, she was -- to the surprise of some -- keenly disappointed that he did not go further in combating the Batista-Mafia "fringe elements" that, to her mind, still dictate "a Cuban policy despised by the entire world, especially those who love democracy, and a policy that shames America far more than it shames Cuba although it leaves everyday Cubans on the island to bear the brunt of the unfair punishment handed out practically unchecked by the revengeful profiteers who are allowed to gradually usurp, decade after decade, so much of the enormous prestige the U. S. had following World War II before dark elements put it in bed with dictators like Batista, Trujillo, Somoza, Pinochet. Thanks to those elements, unchecked to this day, Cuba uniquely has had to deal with the ravages of the Mafia along with the Batista regime and then the exiles. Obama has done more than any American to correct...to make amends...for that but in my eyes and the eyes of the world, he has not done enough to end the blockade's pain."  

      After minutely studying President Obama's latest directives related to Cuba, Josefina Vidal held the above news conference in Havana to air her views. She again said that she "approved" his actions and "appreciated his obvious concern for the Cuban people." She called the directives "the document" and she made it plain they didn't go far enough in regards to the embargo, which she calls a "blockade," the occupation of Guantanamo Bay, and other issues she wants discussed and resovled. Study Ms. Vidal's exact words at the news conference and you will have the clearest update on where Cuba stands during the final three months of Barack Obama's 8-year presidency: "The document does not hide the purpose of promoting changes in the potential, economic and social order of Cuba, or hide the intention to further develop interventionist programs. Both countries would benefit from civilized coexistence within the large differences between our two countries." In other words, Vidal finds it incongruous...stupid, really...that President Obama is making multiple sincere efforts to normalize relations with Cuba while Congress and other branches of government are massively funding anti-Cuban regime-change projects with pipelines of Washington-to-Miami tax dollars. At the above news conference, Vidal also made these exact statements: "The measures in the President's document are positive but very limited and generally benefit the United States more than Cuba and its people. There are aspects that maintain minimum content. U. S. exports to Cuba will not expand beyond the limited sales previously authorized and that includes key sectors of our economy. The U. S. still restricts Cuban imports in U. S. territory, especially those from the state sector, with the exception of pharmaceuticals approved in the new package of regulations." At this news conference, as she has in the past, Vidal expressed her belief that "the U. S. citizens as a whole seem not to care" about their money always being used to hurt innocent Cubans, money that could be used to help needy Americans.

      Even as President Obama, Susan Rice and many other true American democracy-lovers try to create A New Horizon for U.S.-Cuba Relations, there remains a powerful right-wing element in the U. S. bent on putting a stop to those efforts and turning back even the hint of a possible new sunrise trying so hard to emerge because of Mr. Obama's sheer boldness and decency.

          Elliott Abrams is now 68-years-old. Back in the Reagan, Bush #1 and Bush #2 presidencies he helped craft much of the anti-Cuban policy that still greatly harms, many believe, millions of innocent Cubans as well as the image of the United States. If you Google Elliott Abrams, you'll see that Wikipedia begins its bio with the reminder that "Abrams was convicted for withholding information from Congress about the Iran-Contra Affair while serving for President Ronald Reagan, but pardoned by President George H. W. Bush. During the Reagan administration, Abrams gained notoriety for his involvement in controversial foreign policy decisions regarding Nicaragua and El Salvador." His "decisions" related to Cuba were less notorious only because the Cuban narrative in the U. S. was controlled by extremists during the Reagan-Bush eras when the most extreme policies were formed. So, never elected but repeatedly appointed to powerful conservative or right-wing roles, what happens to Elliott Abrams-types when their patrons are out of office? Well, Abrams was one of the first named to presidential wannabee Ted Cruz's National Security Team. Appointee kings like Abrams also become pundits or join highly funded Think Tanks. Mr. Abrams, after quickly assessing President Obama's weekend directives related to Cuba, fired off a scathing anti-Obama article on the high-and-mighty Council on Foreign Relations website. It was posted October 16th and, in case you savor propaganda, it is entitled "The Obama Legacy in Cuba." I believe Obama's legacy in Cuba will forever tower above Abrams' legacies in Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, El Salvador, etc. But one of his excoriations of President Obama was this sentence: "This policy is...to make up for what he sees as decades of American sin toward Cuba." Mr. Abrams, if indeed that is President Obama's motive, I believe it is an appropriate and well documented one.

        America's democracy-lovers -- such as Sarah Stephens -- are the biggest supporters of President Obama's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. Ms. Stephens -- at the Washington-based Center for Democracy in the Americans -- is also one of America's greatest experts on U.S.-Cuban relations, as Mr. Obama knows. On October 14th she wrote: "The White House today issued something called 'Presidential Policy Directive PPD-43' devoted to 'United States-Cuban normalization.' At its core, the directive breaks, clearly and comprehensively, from the Cold War mold of U. S. policy toward Cuba, by setting forth as the New York Times described it, 'A new United States policy to lift the Cold War trade embargo and end a half century of clandestine plotting against the Cuban government.' Sarah Stephens also wrote that Obama had "unfinished" business to take care of. She specifically mentioned: "Ending the embargo with its crushing weight on Cuba; removing restrictions on U. S. travel to the island; and silencing the propaganda still broadcast by Radio-TV Marti." Sarah Stephens concluded that such things "must be completed before the promise of normalization is fully redeemed." One thing is for sure, if decent, unbiased democracy-loving Americans had their way, U.S.-Cuban relations would involve normal ingredients that benefit most Americans and most Cubans, not just a few.

       The embargo that the dysfunctional U. S. Congress wants to use to assault both Cuba and America's image for another six decades doesn't even have the support of most Cuban-Americans in Miami -- especially the youngest and best educated adults.

      Now back to the brilliant and feisty Susan Rice. She was born 51-years-ago in Washington and she has ably served President Obama as the U. S. Ambassador to the United Nations and now as America's top National Security Advisor. Here is her exact statement right after she laid out President Obama's latest directives regarding Cuba: "The United States used to have secret plans for Cuba. Now our policy is out in the open -- and online -- for everyone to read. What you see is what you get." Study those words, if you will, and judge how pertinent they are for a great democracy. You will also probably agree with Susan Rice that "secret plans for Cuba" for decades have shamed America and democracy. She and President Obama believe that, in a democracy, such plans should be "open" so the American people can judge them.

        Now judge this iconic White House photo. It shows President Obama on the left along with some of his top aides looking out the windows of Air Force One as it approached Jose Marti Airport in Havana. It was the day in 2016 when Mr. Obama became the first sitting U. S. president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge arrived on a warship in 1928. Instead of as an imperialist President, Obama arrived as a friend.

     Mr. Obama had the decency to tell the Cubans, "Cuba does not need to fear a threat from the United States." Because of him, that statement will hold true...especially if Republicans finally lose their grip on Congress and don't regain the White House.

      Obama's approval rating is at 55%, amazing for a two-term President in the final three months of his often tumultuous term. His Cuban legacy, I believe, will elevate his legacy significantly in the years to come as Americans, regaining insight as they rediscover the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, become increasingly aware of his unique brilliance and bravery regarding Cuba, an island and a topic that, as Susan Rice astutely opined, has been subjected to "secret plans" for far too long. 

In the meantime: 

      The great Brazilian artist Carlos Latuff keeps reminding the world that little Cuba since 1962 has "survived history's all-time longest and cruelest embargo ever imposed by a strong nation against a weak one." That's Latuff's little Cuban schoolgirl pounding that message atop Uncle Sam's head as she proudly skips along toting the Cuban flag and ridiculing the embargo.

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Obama's Cuba/Congress's Cuba

An Epic, Ongoing Battle!!

       This photo -- courtesy of Skip O'Rourke/Associated Press -- reflects Obama's Cuba in historic defiance of Congress's Cuba. Southwest Airlines has just announced the start of its U.S.-to-Cuba flights. This follows JetBlue Airlines breakthrough commercial Cuban flight from Florida to Santa Clara back on August 31st. Prior to that the Congress-mandated Cuban embargo had not permitted commercial flights to Cuba in over half-a-century. Now the first Southwest Airlines commercial flight will take place on November 13th when it will depart Fort Lauderdale and land in Varadero, Cuba. On December 12th Southwest will begin commercial flights from Fort Lauderdale and Tampa to Cuba's capital, Havana. Meanwhile, of course, the Batistiano cabal in the U. S. Congress -- accustomed to dictating America's Cuban policy since shortly after the Cuban Revolution overthrew the U.S.-backed Batista dictatorship in 1959 -- is furiously trying to block the resumption of commercial flights to Cuba and all other aspects of President Obama's historically brave attempts to bring a degree of sanity and a modicum of democracy to America's Batistiano-dictated Cuban policy that the rest of the world deplores, as evidenced by the yearly 191-to-2 votes in the United Nations.

      The three Cuban-American U. S. Senators hail, not coincidentally, from America's three most notable Batistiano bastions -- Texas, New Jersey, and Miami. All three, of course, vow to block and then turn-back all of President Obama's positive overtures toward Cuba. In the dysfunctional and unpopular U. S. Congress, they can accomplish such things not only in defiance of Mr. Obama and democracy but also against the wishes of most Cuban-Americans. {Polls show that most Cuban-Americans favor Obama's and the world's democratic approach to Cuba, not Congress's}. Yet, in both branches of the U. S. Congress -- the Senate and the House of Representatives -- it appears to the entire world that moderate Cuban-Americans need not apply because, when it comes to Cuban-Americans, only self-serving hardliners can get elected to the U. S. Congress, a once sacrosanct body that polls repeatedly show most Americans now heartily disapprove of. Any study of how such grossly anti-Cuban laws as Helms-Burton, Torricelli, Wet Foot/Dry Foot, the Cuban Adjustment Act, Radio-TV Marti, etc., etc. become laws perpetually mandated by Congress would be well-worth the time of any democracy-loving American, lest they persist for another half-century.

        This graphic by the great Brazilian political cartoonist Carlos Latuff reflects an image of America's Cuban policy that Americans are not supposed to have the patriotism or intelligence to understand or the courage to oppose. On the remote chance that conclusion is true, I believe Mr. Latuff is making a statement that is both apparent and generally accepted: A handful of hardliners for over half-a-century -- with the help of the Bush dynasty, the U. S. Congress or whatever -- have dictated America's Cuban policy to suit their motives that may involve revenge, economics and/or politics. Mr. Latuff uses exactly ten words to support his most famed illustration: "THE IRONIC CURTAIN: Mr. Obama, Don't Tear Down This Wall!"

       This political cartoon makes a statement about Congress's amazing Wet Foot/Dry Foot law that provides Cuban immigrants -- and only Cuban immigrants -- special privileges beginning the moment their toes touch U. S. soil. All others, including children from sad situations, are detained and subject to deportation.

President Obama long ago tired of this image.

And democracy-lovers have tired of this one.

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Fidel at 90: Still Inquisitive

And Still Pertinent!!

       This photo was used this week by the Jamaica Observer to illustrate an interesting article about Fidel Castro. Cuba's revolutionary icon turned 90 back on August 13th. The Observer indicated that he is still sharp of mind and keenly interested in world events, one of which is the presidential election process in the United States. A newshound and avid reader, Fidel watches news broadcasts and documentaries regularly. His devoted wife Dalia, in order to make sure he gets needed rests, often records his favorite television programs for later viewing or for special critiques. He believes, for example, that Hillary Clinton is beating Donald Trump in the U. S. presidential debates to such an extent that it has "discredited" Trump. The Observer quotes Fidel as saying, "Mr. Trump, who presents himself as having expert ability, was left discredited." The Observer is one of the very best sources for analyzing Cuba and this week's article concluded that Fidel's critique of the U. S. presidential sweepstakes "signals that Cuba's preference" is Mrs. Clinton over Mr. Trump.

      The U. S. Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter, had an interesting comment about Cuba yesterday -- Oct. 12th, 2016. It was in Port of Spain, Trinidad, on the final day of the 12th biennial Conference of Defense Ministers, a regional event the U. S. has dominated since its inception in 1995. With Trinidad and Tobago as the host, it marked the first time it was held in a Caribbean country. This week 34 nations attended, but not Cuba. That greatly disappointed Mr. Carter. He said, "I regret it. I think they made a mistake. We are in favor of including Cuba. Cuba missed an opportunity by not being here." Cuba was noncommittal but the influential island's reasoning is simple: It is not pleased that Mr. Carter and the U. S. government is not willing to seriously discuss the return of Guantanamo Bay.

       The Russian Secretary of Defense Sergei Shoigu -- a few days before Ashton Carter's lament about Cuba yesterday -- announced that Russia was interested in having a military base in Cuba. Cuba was a notable catalyst in the Cold War between the two nuclear superpowers but it is hoped that the island will never play such a role in a future Hot War involving nuclear powers. Yet, in just the last few days the Defense Ministers of Russia and America have ominously had Cuba on their minds.

And speaking of Fidel Castro:

     This is Fidel's school document dated October 29, 1943. The second line lists his correct birthday -- August 13, 1926. When the Belen School photo was taken, Fidel was a star in four sports...especially baseball and basketball...on his way to becoming Cuba's Athlete of the Year. Confirmed by Jesuit teachers, he also had a photographic memory that was used to entertain classmates: Teachers would have him read a page from a book and then close the book and have him recite the page.

Fidel Castro, Cuba's Athlete of the Year in 1945; age 19.

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