Cuba's Amazing Ambiguity

Post-Fidel and Pre-Trump!!

         This interesting photo by Matt Rogers fronted a Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016 article that I think is the best Post-Fidel & Pre-Trump update on the vulnerable, ambiguous, always fascinating but fast-changing island of Cuba as it tries to accept the death of Fidel Castro, mourns the near-end of the President Obama kindnesses, and fears the upcoming President Trump threats. The article is written by Deepa Fernandes and you can dial it up via www.abc.net.au. The title is: "Cubans See Opportunities and Risks in Post-Fidel Era." Study the photo, which silently says a thousand words or more. The bikini-clad, beach-loving young woman seems mesmerized by the other side of the bucolic Cuban equation -- an old peasant driving an old, rubber-tired, horse-drawn wagon between the beach and the sea to gather debris washed ashore that he might later barter. The union or nexus of the young lady and the old man creates the perfect epilogue to summarize the fast-fading and memorable year of 2016 for Cuba. Notice that the old man, in his survival mode, totally ignores the young lady that is...at least for that pivotal moment in time...focusing all her attention on him, a typical Cuban less privileged than her. They are so close, just a few feet apart, and yet separated by different, non-converging worlds.

       This Matt Rogers photo also featured in the aforementioned Deepa Fernandes article shows an old dilapidated shed on a run-down, neglected Cuban beach. The caption reads: "Oceanfront real estate like this in Boca Camarioca can be..." CAN BE WHAT? Well, the shed could be demolished, the beach cleaned up and...maybe...a 5-star hotel could replace it IF Cuba succeeds in attracting foreign investments that could miraculously alter one of the planet's most beautiful and potentially most promising nations. America's outgoing President, Mr. Obama, would like to see that to enhance his legacy that already encompasses the best and kindest American overtures ever extended to the imperialist coveted but pugnacious, sovereignty-loving island. Perhaps the best line in the insightful Deepa Fernandes update is this one: "Many Cubans see opportunities as the tourism industry grows, but some are worried the island's egalitarian ethos will be effected." In other words, Cubans want to be a part of the modern world where they can embrace capitalism like China or Vietnam so they can aspire to at least a middle class existence, yet they want to chart their own course. They remember the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship in the 1950s that brutally mandated extreme wealth for a few and extreme poverty for the vast majority. From their poor but egalitarian society that the Cuban Revolution ushered in beginning in 1959, many Cubans gaze over at the U. S. now and see things they don't envy -- such as the disparity between the haves and have-nots as well as what they nervously perceive as a tolerance for crime, even police shooting unarmed civilians, that they wouldn't want to be forced once again to tolerate. So, Sunday's Deepa Fernandes article, I believe, best illustrates those aspects and variables into the still vulnerable but extremely promising and fast-changing island of Cuba, an island that unwittingly has played such a mammoth role in reshaping America's image {as reflected by the 191-to-0 UN vote condemning America's cruel, Batistiano-directed Cuban policy} and by the cancerous Batistiano growth within the bowels of the U. S. democracy {as reflected by the fact that the U. S. government, even during the decent and brave two-term Obama administration, can't correct its onerous Cuban blight even as the entire world condemns it}. Deepa Fernandes addresses those nagging issues but so do the superb Matt Rogers photos -- especially the bikini-clad, upscale young lady mesmerized by the old man who is just trying to survive, and by the image of the old shed on a neglected beach that may be soon replaced by a big 5-star hotel...or something akin to it! 

But Cuba's unending melodramatic iterations have yet to decide who will chart the island's future course -- egalitarian Cubans on the island or rich Cubans living on foreign soil!! I bet this rosy-checked little Cuban girl is wondering about that unknown too.

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

Cuba's Giant Steps Forward

Two Such Steps on Monday!!

      This photo is courtesy of Ireland's thejournal.ie and it heralds a major step forward for Cuba starting Monday, Dec. 12-2016. On Monday in Brussels Ireland's Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan will sign an important document that is entitled: "EU-Cuba Political Dialogue and Cooperative Agreement." It's the product of an initiative begun by Ireland in April of 2014 after it was known that U. S. President Obama was trying to normalize relations with Cuba. Mr. Flanagan issued this official statement: "Cuba's relations with the European Union have improved significantly in recent years. This will put our relations firmly on a more forward looking footing." Mr. Flanagan said the aim of the agreement is "to support the transition process of the Cuban economy" while also encouraging more democracy on the island. It also, of course, reflects Cuba's willingness and eagerness to become more open to the world and less defensive while also adamantly insisting on charting its own course in continued defiance of the anti-Cuban dictates of Cuban-American hardliners in Congress and in Republican White Houses, including the upcoming belligerent Trump presidency that will replace the decent efforts forged by President Obama, who leaves office on January 20 of the fast-approaching New Year.

        On Monday morning, Dec. 12-2016 Eric Schmidt -- the Chairman of media giant G o o g l e -- will be in Havana to sign a major deal with the Cuban government, one that will severely disappoint the vast and lucrative beneficiaries of the Castro Cottage Industry in the United States and the self-serving supporters of the United States embargo against Cuba. The deal will be massively pro-Obama and starkly anti-Trump.

         The agreement to be signed Monday morning between Mr. Schmidt and Cuba will allow Cubans to have ready access to the massive Google Global Cache that includes other Google-owned sites such as YouTube, Gmail and Google Drive. Circumventing America's Cuban embargo, the agreement will dishearten the anti-Cuban Batistiano zealots who insist on dictating America's Cuban policy to fit their own whims. 

        Hooking up so emphatically with Eric Schmidt's incomparable Google behemoth will be a major step forward for Cuba and a giant step backwards for the anti-Cuban zealots in Miami, Congress and the incoming Trump White House. The 61-year-old, Virginia-born Mr. Schmidt is already personally worth $11.3 billion while Google itself is worth more than most countries. They will be great partners for Cuba.

       President Barack Obama entered the White House almost eight years ago marching to the awesome constraints of the cruel, decades-old embargo against Cuba, an abomination that had been greatly enhanced in the previous eight years by the Batistiano-aligned administration of George W Bush.

         Mr. Obama in recent years has done more than any previous American president or any previous American citizen in showing respect and kindness to everyday Cuban citizens and, in doing so, has also shown massive respect for America and its democracy. He has, simply put, tried mightily to correct an atrocious, extremely cruel, and cowardly Batistiano-directed Cuban policy that currently has a 191-to-0 condemnation vote in the United Nations. After slicing majestically into the omnipotent Batistiano-directed Congressional dictates relating to Cuba, last week Obama advised more U. S. businesses to sign deals with Cuba while he is still in office to make it harder for Mr. Trump to erase his Cuban advances beginning in January. Monday's Google contract with Cuba will be a direct response to Mr. Obama's request.

        Also last week Josefina Vidal -- Cuba's brilliant and bold Minister in charge of United States relations -- announced that she anticipated "at least half-a-dozen major new business deals with American companies" would be signed before President Obama leaves office. The Google deal Cuba will sign Monday morning reflects another gigantic accomplishment for Vidal. She, like President Obama, hopes to make the Obama-fueled positives "as irreversible as possible" although both well know that the Republican Trump in the White House will be backed by Republican control of both chambers of Congress, which capitulates to a handful of hardline Batistianos like a trained puppy-dog taught to roll-over on command. After learning of Cuba's deal with Google that will be signed Monday, one of the two main Obama advisors regarding Cuba quipped this weekend, "Trump might nuke Cuba but he and Congress won't out-smart the Cuban Vidal." 

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

America's Embargo Lies

As Cuba's Coping Continues!!
{Updated: Saturday, December 10th, 2016}

       This photo was taken a few days ago by Mauricio Lima for the New York Times. It shows Cubans working in a lettuce field at a farm in Alamar on the edge of Havana. The photo was used to illustrate a major article in the NY Times this week -- Dec. 8, 2016 -- entitled: "Cuba's Surge in Tourism Keeps Food off Residents' Plates." The article began by quoting 42-year-old Lisset Felipe, who works for the Cuban government. She said: "It's a disaster. We never lived luxuriously but the comfort we once had doesn't exist anymore." She went on to explain that she now has trouble getting Cuban staples such as onions, green peppers, garlic, avocadoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, pineapples, cilantro, arugula, Zucchini, etc. Since President Obama began trying to normalize relations, the island has experienced record tourism -- 3.5 million tourists in 2015. The article stressed that the Cuban government's reaction has been to direct its meager food supply to the tourists while making it unavailable to its 11.2 million everyday citizens.

         One of the writers of this week's New York Times article was anti-Castro zealot Frances Robles of Miami. That's a tip-off that the article was extremely biased against Cuba and extremely favorable to the vast and lucrative Castro Cottage Industry in the United States, an industry that has been in propaganda-crazed overdrive since the death of 90-year-old Fidel Castro on November 25th. That is not to say that the article was wrong to criticize Cuba for failing to adequately "plan" for the Obama-driven influx of tourists. But it is to say that, typically, the New York Times article didn't have the guts or the integrity to even mention the primary cause of deprivations in Cuba, including food. Frances Robles...her best friends call her "Frenchie"...got a John S. Knight Foundation scholarship to Stanford University. After a decade at the Miami Herald, she was hired by the New York Times in 2012. Ms. Robles has won many major journalism accolades. But the fact that she is extremely biased regarding Cuba is par for the course in the mainstream U. S. media that has become a primary propaganda vehicle for self-serving political views, massively harming millions of totally innocent Cubans in the name of the nearby superpower. Ms. Robles' contribution to this week's New York Times article that solely blamed Cuba for food shortages and other deprivations on the island perpetuates a blatant lie by conveniently failing to mention or even hint that the U. S. embargo of Cuba, in place since 1962 to sate the revenge and financial motives of a handful of two generations of egregious Batistianos, has...for all these decades...caused incredible deprivations in Cuba since a Revolution chased the Batista-Mafia dictatorship to the U. S. in 1959. 

        The world, but not millions of propagandized-&-scared Americans, recognizes that the U. S. embargo of Cuba is the longest and cruelest economic embargo ever imposed by a powerful country against a weak country. That dire opinion is just about the only topic that attains unanimity worldwide, as reflected by the recent 191-to-0 vote in the United Nations. Yet, propagandized and intimidated Americans -- IN THE WORLD'S GREATEST DEMOCRACY -- are not supposed to react to either the perpetuity of the abomination in their name or to the incredible international negative effects it still has on America's reputation.

      As his decent two-term presidency nears its end, Barack Obama has done all he can to assuage the negative ramifications of an embargo that continues, decade after decade, to do more harm to America's image than any other issue...all because of the obscene bullying of an island nation that would like to just chart its own course and not eternally be dictated to by Batistianos and Mafiosi hiding behind the skirts of the world superpower while cowardly hurling self-serving grenades back at a nation they once ruled, prior to running scared to the U. S., as their brutally enforced personal piggy-bank and easy punching-bag.

         This is the precise image the world has of the U. S. embargo against Cuba: A mere handful of revengeful anti-Castro zealots dictating America's Cuban policy while it also benefits such miscreants economically and politically but greatly punishes...in America's name...everyone else. A handful of thuggish members of Congress, plus Republican White Houses, self-servingly perpetuate the atrocity -- atrocious for Cuba and even more atrocious for the United States of America and its democracy.

Prime Miami/Cuban-American {wall} embargo supporters.

        The sheer fact that poor little Cuba, since the 1950s, has managed to defy the wicked imperialism dictated by a few rogues in a superpower government next door has shamed America but also gained feisty little Cuba international recognition and support -- even if pusillanimous Americans don't admit it. 

And by the way: 

Kirk Douglas turned 100 on Dec. 9, 2016.

   He has long been a veritable Hollywood giant.

        My all-time favorite Kirk Douglas movie was/is the 1962 western "The Last Sunset" that included the scene above with Carol Lynley. His movies still grace cable television venues.

      Kirk Douglas has said that his favorite movie was the 1962 western "Lonely are the Brave." He played an outlaw trying desperately to evade capture as he and his beloved horse "Whiskey" battled mountainous terrain and hot pursuit to reach the Mexican border, a truly Herculean saga that tested the real-life endurance as well as the brilliant acting skills of a true superstar.

      This happy photo shows Kirk Douglas and his co-star Gena Rowlands enjoying a break during the filming in 1962 of "Lonely are the Brave." Ms. Rowlands, by the way, is now 86 and she is among many millions of Americans wishing Kirk Douglas, an American treasure, a HAPPY 100TH BIRTHDAY.

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

Cuba Addresses Trump

Vidal Speaks Bluntly!!

        The above photo is courtesy of Reuters/Carlos Barria. It was taken March 21-2016 in Havana and shows the left hand of U. S. President Barack Obama reaching out to the right hand of Cuban President Raul Castro. The photo eerily documents the historic and brave overtures Obama has made in a valiant attempt to normalize relations with Cuba. His trip to Cuba was the first by a sitting U. S. president since Herbert Hoover in 1928 arrived on a warship. Obama came in peace displaying deep respect for both the Cuban people and for America's democracy, which is currently being denounced in the United Nations with a 191-to-0 vote that unanimously condemns America's vile, Batistiano-driven Cuban policy. Before and after shaking hands with Castro, Obama has astutely used executive powers to sharply slice into the bastardly U. S. Congress policy regarding Cuba -- reopening embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time since 1961; arranging commercial air traffic and sea cruises to Cuba for the first time since 1962, etc., etc. But a rich and powerful contingent of revengeful Cuban-Americans, with massively cancerous tentacles in Congress and in Republican White Houses, can and will fight back furiously to continue its now vast and lucrative Castro Cottage Industry in the United States. Obama, the decent Democratic president, is concluding his two-term presidency and will make way for Republican Donald Trump on January 20th. Trump has already stated that he will reverse the positive Cuban overtures that Obama has made, and Trump will have the support of the Republican & Batistiano-controlled Congress. The photo above illustrates a major Reuters article today -- Dec. 8-2016 -- that fairly updates Cuba's thoughts on the impending Obama-to-Trump transition that will determine much of the coming U.S.-Cuban relations. The article, which you should read, is entitled: Cuba Wants to Sign Accords With U. S. Before Obama exits."  

     Beyond doubt, Sarah Marsh of Reuters has emerged as the best source of information from Cuba. Since April of 2016 she has had the title of that powerful news agency's Chief Cuban Correspondent. She is both brilliant and fair. Although still young, she has reported for Reuters from Berlin, London, Frankfurt, Buenos Aires, Vienna and now Havana. Incredibly, she speaks these languages fluently: English, Spanish, French, German, and Italian. Sarah wrote today's aforementioned article that superbly updates the major face-to-face bilateral U.S.-Cuban session that took place yesterday concerning the imminent Obama-to-Trump presidential transition in the United States. She made these points:  

                  "Cuba said on Wednesday it hoped to sign off on at least a half a dozen agreements with the United States before businessman Donald Trump, who has threatened to derail detente between the former Cold War foes, becomes United States President on January 20th. The more Cuba and the United States deepen their detente prior to Trump, the more irreversible it will become." 

            With that preamble, Sarah Marsh then got to the crux of yesterday's significant U.S.-Cuban meeting by liberally quoting the session's most important participant -- Cuba's American expert Josefina Vidal.

       For going on fifteen years, Cuba has put its omnipotent relations with the United States in the skilled and determined hands and heart of Josefina Vidal. Almost three years ago, top aides of President Obama contacted Vidal and told her Obama, in the closing years of his two-term presidency, wanted to normalize relations between the two countries. Vidal was both receptive and excited but she drew a line in the sand: "If you remove Cuba from your Sponsors of Terrorism list, I will sincerely discuss the normalization process with any of Obama's representatives." She actually did not believe Obama had the courage to meet her demand, but he surprised her. Then Vidal faithfully kept her very sincere promise to talk to the United States.

       Obama chose his most skilled diplomat, Roberta Jacobson, to go head-to-head against Vidal in four historic sessions, two in Havana and two in Washington. They hammered out the detente that will be a major thrust of Obama's legacy, regardless of how the Batistianos and the Republicans counteract it. 

       That brings us right up to today -- December 8, 2016 -- and Vidal's up-to-the-minute quotes in Sarah Marsh's Reuters article summarising yesterday's bilateral meeting with Obama's Cuban experts. Here are Vidal's exact words and, yes, she speaks for Cuba on any and all things related to the United States: 

                 "At the moment we are negotiating 12 more accords with the aim to absolutely conclude and sign a majority of them. Cuba would hope the new U. S. government takes into account the results of the existing differences between us and do so without having to make demands for concessions to the principles in which Cuba firmly believes." 

          With those words, Vidal merely restates her willingness to continue with incoming President Trump the path toward normalization she has paved with outgoing President Obama. She also, as Sarah Marsh opined, remains anxious to sign more major "accords" with the Obama administration prior to the Trump administration, believing that businessman Trump will be reluctant to quash Obama-related business deals that have already acutely benefited thousands of everyday Cubans on the island as well as thousands of American workers. But Vidal is not naive. She is aware that, for decades, only the most radical Cuban exiles aligned with the most self-serving U. S. right-wingers have successfully carved out a vast Castro Cottage Industry that caters to the revenge, economic and political goals of a select few. Vidal is also aware that most Americans, most Cuban-Americans and all the nations of the world, as reflected by the 191-to-0 UN vote, support her quest and Obama's quest to normalize relations between her pugnacious Cuba and Obama's more decent America. Vidal was recently asked a simple question by a Spanish "El Pais" journalist: "What would you most like to see changed about the United States' attitude toward Cuba." Without hesitation Vidal replied: "All I ask is that the United States respect our hard-earned independence and sovereignty and treat Cuba within the boundaries and parameters of its most famous democratic tenets."  

      Apart from yesterday's bilateral meeting that featured Josefina Vidal representing Cuba once again, two Miami-based cruise giants -- Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Lines -- jointly announced they have now received Cuban and American approval for both brands to operate voyages to Cuba from Florida. 

       Just last week, thanks to President Obama, American Airlines became the first commercial airline to fly from U. S. soil to  Cuba's capital city of Havana since 1961. The historic event enthused all those U. S. workers shown above jubilantly displaying a huge Cuban flag. It, of course, angered a few hardcore Cuban-Americans in Congress who, right now, are depending on President-elect Trump to end all such sanity. 

And by the way:

        Do you know this All-American beauty? If you don't, you soon will. Her ubiquity in the coming years will overwhelm you. Her name is Tomi Lahren. As you can probably guess, she is of Norwegian and German ancestry. She is 24-years-old and from South Dakota. She graduated from the University of Nevada in 2014. She has many millions of followers on Facebook where her nascent but now mammoth fame began with political videos. She is fiercely conservative and combative enough to face and defeat veteran liberals on a moment's notice. She has awesome talent for extemporaneous speaking and, additionally, exceptional skill in both writing and reading teleprompters. The networks noticed. Bill O'Reilly, whose mighty Fox program overwhelms all other cable "news" shows, is mesmerized by Tomi's...well her looks, her youth, her talent, her views or...whatever. Tomi now has her own mesmerizing program on Ken Beck's The Blaze network while the larger and more conventional networks are salivating about Tomi's potential. Did I say potential? Hell, ready or not, Tomi's already arrived!! And she'll likely stick around for awhile. 

       And, uh...OH, YES. Tomi Lahren staunchly believes that the "trend" toward all-consuming political correctness, out-of-control diversity programs, and media cowardness "should not" be allowed to subjugate or stamp out the entire white race. And...lo 'n behold...Tomi's voice is getting louder not just day-by-day but literally by the hour. As Bill O'Reilly opined, Tomi's looks and youth snare your attention but then her talent and her views encapsulate you. By the time she turns 25, she might change America...or even replace Van Jones on CNN and Rachel Maddow on MSNBC!! Fresh looks, check. Fresh voice; check.

WOW!!

&*************************&  

  

          

Cuba-U.S. Confer Today

An Important Meeting!

     The London-based Reuters news agency consistently provides the best and fairest coverage of news affecting Cuba, which also particularly affects the United States and even has worldwide repercussions. And that reporting is variously provided by superb journalists on the island including Sarah Marsh, Marc Frank, Nelson Acosta and Frank Daniel. Yesterday -- Dec. 6-2016 -- the primary Reuters article from its stellar reporters in Havana and Washington was entitled "Cuba, U. S. to Discuss Detente in Wake of Trump Election." As usual, that Reuters article provided the best up-to-the-minute update on Cuban-U. S. relations at a critical juncture for both countries following the election of Donald Trump as the next President of the United States on November 8th and the death at age 90 of Cuba's revolutionary icon Fidel Castro on November 25th. That team of reporters recognizes that today's U.S.-Cuban session will effectively conclude the Obama administration's historically positive influence on relations between the two nations, which means the next major events will await the incoming presidency of Donald Trump, a transition that presumably goes from the all-time most Cuba-friendly Democratic presidency to what may very well be the all-time most unfriendly Republican presidency. 

      The above-titled article yesterday was written by Sarah Marsh with input from three other Reuters Cuban experts -- Frank, Daniel and Acosta. It's major points included: "Cuba and the United States will draw up a roadmap for deepening their detente on Wednesday -- Dec. 7th -- in a first meeting since the election of Donald Trump as U. S. president and the death of Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro;" "The fifth U.S.-Cuba Bilateral Commission comes at a time of increased uncertainty about the future of U.S.-Cuban relations given Trump's promise to end the detente;" "The administration of outgoing U. S. President Barack Obama has pressed American companies to complete cutting business deals in Cuba to help further cement the president's policy by the time Trump takes office on January 20th;" "Several major U. S. companies, such as General Electric, are in the final stages of negotiating deals with Cuba...and more than half a dozen announcements, ranging from cruise ships and travel to manufacturing and telecommunications are believed to be in the works;" "Castro had given Cuba an outsized influence in world affairs during his half-century as president, partly by clashing with the United States;" "Fidel's younger brother Raul, who took over as president in 2008, made history two years ago by agreeing with Obama to end Cold War hostility and start normalizing relations. Since then, the two countries have opened embassies, restored commercial flights, opened travel options and negotiated agreements on issues affecting the environment, law enforcement, the postal service and communications;" "Obama, who visited Cuba earlier this year, has also gradually poked holes in the U. S. embargo against the island through executive actions." Trump's executive actions can close those "holes."

        U. S. President Obama made history by merely talking to and shaking hands with Cuban President Raul Castro. But in the last two years of his two-term, 8-year presidency, Mr. Obama didn't stop there. With a combination of courage, astuteness and decency unmatched by any of the nine prior U. S. presidents, Mr. Obama earnestly tried to normalize relations with the nearby island, showing more respect for totally innocent everyday Cubans than his predecessors had ever dared to display. Also, the democracy-loving Mr. Obama, unlike the proponents of America's vile Batistiano-driven Cuban policy, was concerned with the negative image of America and of democracy that the U. S. Cuban policy spread all around the world as the recent 191-to-0 Pro-Cuba-Anti-U. S. vote in the United Nations emphatically and dramatically revealed.

       The U. S. Representative to the UN, Samantha Power, shocked many democracy-lovers and angered many Batistiano disciples by amazingly refusing to vote in favor of America's own Cuban policy, a policy dictated for decades by visceral Cuban-Americans in the U. S. Congress aligned with self-serving right-wingers in both Congress and Republican White Houses. The above photo shows the decent and brilliant Ms. Power explaining to the world on Oct. 26-2016 why she could not use her U. S. vote to support a Cuban policy mandated by a dysfunctional 535-member Congress that compliantly capitulates to a few extremists.

       President-elect Donald Trump has already named Nikki Haley as the next U. S. Representative to the United Nations, replacing the superb Samantha Power. That selection by Trump is enough to cause Cuba to prepare for war. Ms. Haley has been the Governor of South Carolina since 2011 because she is a darling of the right-wing Tea Party and the Bush dynasty, two elements that would love to see Cuba on its knees and under the yoke of another U.S.-friendly Batista-type regime. During the Republican primary Ms. Haley said some terrible things about Donald Trump because she campaigned wildly and wickedly for Cuban-American U. S. Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, two of the most vicious and most powerful anti-Cuba zealots.

      Nikki Haley's first choice to be the next President of the United States was/is the Senator from Miami -- Marco Rubio. Rubio has made his fortune and his political hay by securing support from the Bush dynasty, the Tea Party and a plethora of right-wing billionaires who quickly spotted the "For Sale" sign many feel is Rubio's main calling-card, that plus his anti-Cuban diatribes that seem to show zero regard for everyday Cubans on the island but intense regard for his own economic and political prowess. Now entering his second 6-year term in the Senate, Rubio accomplished nothing his first-term except campaigning for money donations while busily seeking the presidency and even avoiding the most Senatorial votes of any Senator. Nikki Haley will soon be using her UN influence to promote Rubio's ongoing second bid for the presidency, meaning the run-up to the 2020 election will again consume Rubio, along with his vicious anti-Cuban rants and anti-Cuban Senatorial maneuvers. When the above photo was taken for ABC-TV news, Governor Haley was on stage with Marco Rubio saying vile things about Donald Trump, who will become her boss in January. After Rubio was roundly defeated by Trump in the Republican primary in Rubio's own state of Florida, Governor Haley's second choice for President was the second most vicious anti-Cuban Cuban-American candidate, and not her still-viable and now new boss -- President-elect Donald Trump. 

      Once Marco Rubio was booted out of the presidential race by Trump, Nikki Haley campaigned wildly for the vicious anti-Cuban Cuban-American Senator from Texas, Ted Cruz. Cruz also is a product of the Bush dynasty and the Tea Party but also, like Rubio, has a powerful stable of right-wing billionaires backing his presidential candidacy. One of the odd things that reflects the Batistiano grip on the U. S. democracy, I think, is that the majority of Cuban-Americans favor Obama's sane and decent approach to Cuba but there seems to be no chance such moderate Cuban-Americans can ever get elected to Congress or be serious candidates to be Presidents. That fact, coupled with the unanimity vote in the UN -- 191-to-0 -- condemning America's Cuban policy, reflects a Batistiano-fueled weakness in the U. S. democracy, one that might result in the Batistianos capturing the U. S. before they re-capture Cuba. Nikki Haley's appointment by Trump is a tip-off that the incoming Republican president will take his Cuban orders from only anti-Cuban zealots, ignoring the wishes of most Americans, most Cuban-Americans and all the nations of the entire world.

      But this photo remains more ominous regarding Cuba's fate than Trump's appointment of Bush-disciple Nikki Haley and his reported consideration of lofty appointments for even more dangerous Bush disciples such as Mauricio Claver-Carone, John Bolton, etc. This photo shows Trump prior to the election in Miami's Little Havana telling the elderly remnants of Brigade 2506 that he would reverse Obama's Cuban sanity and do their bidding, hinting strongly that as Commander-in-Chief he would recapture Cuba for them before the last of them died. Brigade 2506 is the CIA-backed unit that attacked Cuba in April of 1961, a not-so-brilliant historical assault that enabled front-line fighter Fidel Castro to race to the front lines and shock the world anew with his massively successful defense of Cuba and his revolution. It was his colossal defeat of Brigade 2506 that solidified Fidel Castro's international legend from 1961 till his death in 2016, and will further solidify his legacy. As President, Trump can use his Executive Power to reverse Obama's positive Cuban overtures and also use his powers as Commander-to-Chief to keep his promise to the aged survivors of Brigade 2506 to get revenge for their defeat long ago. But in doing so, he would exacerbate a vile Cuban policy and sacrifice even more of America's reputation than the 191-to-0 UN vote indicates has already been expended, starting in 1952 when the U. S. teamed with the Mafia to support the brutal, thieving Batista dictatorship and topping off that calamity with an even bigger one -- allowing the ousted Batistiano leaders to resurrect their lucrative Banana Republic on once-sacred American soil.

      As referenced by the aforementioned Reuters article, today -- Dec. 7-2016 -- the United States and Cuba will hold their first bilateral meeting since the death of Fidel Castro on November 25th and the election of Donald Trump as the next U. S. President on November 8th. It is an important meeting considering that the U. S. transition from an Obama to a Trump presidency also involves such things as a Nikki Haley replacing a Samantha Power at the United Nations, the Batistianos gaining even more power in Congress, and even Brigade 2506 old-timers in Miami soon having a direct hook-up with the Commander-in-Chief himself!!  

Ominous? Absolutely! Scary? That too! 

Remember the proclamation Cuba's incomparable revolutionary heroine Celia Sanchez first laid-down in 1959 right after she learned the ousted Batista-Mafia leaders had safely resurfaced in the U. S: "The Batistianos will never regain control of Cuba as long as I live or as long as Fidel lives." Celia died of cancer at age 59 on Jan. 11-1980; Fidel died of old age at 90 on Nov. 25-2016. Beyond that amazing prophecy, Celia made no prediction regarding Cuba's fate. Now in these perilous times, I wish she had.

  &*************************&

Cuba Without Fidel

 An Imperiled Island!! 
{Updated: Tuesday, Dec. 6th, 2016}

      My copy of Time Magazine -- Dated Dec. 12-2016 -- arrived in my mailbox Sunday, Dec. 4-2016. It's major article was entitled "After Fidel" and it reviewed the historic life of Cuban Revolutionary icon Fidel Castro from his birth on Aug. 13-1926 till his death at age 90 on Nov. 25-2016. The cover photo was taken by Yousuf Karsh. The long, incisive and fair-minded article also predicted Cuba's future without Fidel Castro.

         Time Magazine wisely selected Tim Padgett to write its topical review of Fidel Castro's life and how it everlastingly impacted the world, especially Cuba and the United States. Mr. Padgett is also the perfect journalist to project how Fidel's life and now his death will impact the Caribbean, Latin America, and the world -- especially Cuba and the United States. Fidel, for example, reshaped the Western Hemisphere when his Revolution shocked the world by becoming the first popular uprising in a small country to overthrow a U.S.-backed dictatorship, a massively significant and historic event because at the very time the United States supported the extremely wicked Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba -- 1952 till 1959 -- the United States was also backing equally wicked dictatorships such as Trujillo in the Dominican Republic and Somoza in Nicaragua. This marked the first time that the world's most respected Democracy, America's, had succumbed to the greed of right-wing thugs. In fact, from the early 1950s till the early 1970s, right-wingers within the bowels of the U. S. government were permitted to use the unchallenged might of the U. S. economy and military to sponsor coups that overthrew governments in countries such as Guatemala, Chile and even Iran just so U.S.-friendly dictators could reign. The adverse consequences still linger and will also impact generations to come. The US-UK coup in Iran coveted Iran's oil but years later in 1979 the extremists Islamic Revolution in turn overthrew the US-UK friendly dictator, the Shaw of Iran. In Chile in 1973 U. S. right-wingers...famed names like Nixon and Kissinger...supported the bloody coup that overturned the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende, Fidel Castro's dear friend who actually died using the engraved AK-47 rifle Fidel had given him as an inauguration gift. After the death of the democratically elected Allende, Chile's U.S.-friendly dictator -- Augusto Pinochet -- ruled for 17 bloody years as one of history's all-time most murderous dictators. Fidel Castro's big revolution in little Cuba changed such things, helping to usher in democracies to replace U.S.-backed dictators. Michelle Bachelet, for example, is now the two-term Castro-loving President of Chile in a true democracy. President Bachelet -- as well as history -- remembers that her beloved father was one of the countless victims of Pinochet's murderous reign. Other revolutions, such as current Nicaraguan leader Danny Ortega's, drastically changed that nation from a U.S.-friendly Somoza dictatorship to the current Castro-loving Ortega strongman rule that masquerades as an anti-American democracy. A prime architect of those drastic changes was Fidel Castro, whose long-shot revolution in Cuba inspired sovereignty revolts and/or democratic elections across a wide swath of Latin America -- and elsewhere. For example, the current democratically elected President of South Africa was sure to be in attendance at the mostly private ceremonies surrounding Fidel Castro's funeral Sunday, Nov. 4th, 2016. That's because all the democratically elected Presidents of South Africa -- including the beloved Nelson Mandela -- credit Fidel Castro with ending apartheid and ushering in Democracy in South Africa. Tim Padgett joined Time Magazine as the head of its bureau in Mexico City in 1996. Since then, Mr. Padgett has worked extensively in Miami and in Havana and is today a world-class expert on U.S.-Cuban relations, a relationship that today mainly reflects the input and impact of Fidel Castro as well as the two generations of Batistianos and Mafiosi that Fidel chased off his island only to see them create a functional government within the bowels of the U. S. government. While the Batistianos since 1959 have mostly dictated the Cuban narrative as well as America's Cuban policy, please note that Tim Padgett is not a Batistiano but he is a great journalist with remarkable insight into the imprints and footprints Fidel Castro made on the world, especially Cuba and the United States. So, if it didn't arrive in your mailbox, purchase this week's copy of Time Magazine and study Padgett's summation of Fidel Castro's impactful life and his prediction of what lies ahead for Cuba and the United States. Padgett's views are the antipathy of Batistiano propaganda although not pro-Castro.

       Starting in Jan.-1959, Time Magazine cover articles of Fidel Castro have chronicled the significant life of one of history's all-time most famous men -- and surely one of the most beloved and most reviled. 

Fidel Castro has been on nine Time Magazine covers.

     Time Magazine's "LION IN WINTER" has finally died at age 90...of old age, which is also significant since the Guinness Book of World Records registers the fact that he survived 627 or so assassination attempts, mostly by three of history's all-time best assassins -- the CIA, the Mafia and the Batistianos. Fidel Castro was a front-line fighter -- in his revolution, at the Bay of Pigs and elsewhere -- and his most celebrated enemies fled to seek sanctuary and, as it turned out, wealth and power hiding behind the skirts of the world superpower. While he was a very hard man to kill, his legacy will live on and constitute the biggest threat to the gluttonous greed and excesses of his enemies who still have enough control of the U. S. Congress and Republican presidents to maintain their formidable wealth and power indefinitely within the confines of the world's strongest democracy. While money and power will always constitute the essence of Fidel's enemies, the ongoing efforts to crush the last vestiges of his Revolution will actually now increase in both tone and reality, further threatening if necessary 11.2 million innocent Cubans on the island as well as continuing to demean the U. S. and democracy. The day he died Fidel Castro was aware of the 191-to-0 pro-Cuba/anti-U. S. vote in the United Nations, a unanimous worldwide denunciation of America and democracy that the Batistianos in Congress couldn't care less about. The Fidel Castro that the CIA, the Mafia and the Batistianos couldn't kill has died of old age but his legacy will live on. Just as his life was interesting, so will be his legacy but it...like his life...will be up against omnipotent and mostly unchecked opponents.

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