Trump Pressured to Bury Cuba

Miami Extremists at Work!

This collage is courtesy of: patdollard.com.

     Many people are surprised that current U. S. President Donald Trump has yet to keep his dire promises to Miami extremists to erase the historic positive advances crafted by Cuban President Raul Castro and former U. S. President Barack Obama. 

       Twice prior to taking office on Jan. 20-2017 Trump -- desperately seeking Florida's crucial 29 electoral votes -- went to Miami to promise the anti-Cuban extremists that he would do their bidding, which means helping them recapture Cuba.

    Trump even stood before a huge Brigade 2506 banner in Miami and promised elderly Cuban-American survivors of the April-1961 Bay of Pigs attack that he would make up for their colossal defeat suffered during the CIA-directed military attack that was supposed to have recaptured Cuba long, long ago.

       With Donald Trump in the White House to align with the Republican-control of the United States Congress and the November 25th-2016 death at age 90 of their most pugnacious antagonist Fidel Castro, the Miami extremists believed their fervent quest to recapture Cuba would finally become a stark reality rather quickly in 2017. But President and Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump has yet to return the island to the Miami hardliners, perhaps because of his more pressing problems such as his alleged Russian ties and his promise to overturn Obama's healthcare program in favor of one that will enhance the bulging bank accounts of America's wealthiest and greediest individuals.

        But this week the Miami Herald and one of Miami's anti-Cuba Cuban-American zealots in the malleable United States Congress, Mario Diaz-Balart, jumped on the torrid health-care battle as a nuclear missile-type weapon against Cuba. The Miami Herald blared this vapid conclusion in a major article: "The showdown in Congress over House Republicans' heathcare bill might have nothing to do with Raul Castro -- if it weren't for Miami. The vote on the American Health Care Act is so razor tight that House GOP leaders and the White House are leaning hard on every shaky Republican for their support." Unfortunately, Mario Diaz-Balart and the other members of Congress from Miami have votes and can leverage them in a manner that has worked for decades -- Hey, you support my plans to recapture Cuba and I'll support your Bridge to Nowhere or this week your Healthcare Bill. That's the way much of the anti-Cuban laws have been enacted in Congress with Miami zealots teaming with controversial right-wingers such as Jesse Helms, Dan Burton, Robert Torricelli, etc. The Miami Herald article indicated that this tried-and-true ploy is in play again this week courtesy of Mario Diaz-Balart and his cohorts.

      Of course, the sane and decent Democracy-loving Americans -- such as James Williams -- cringe when unprincipled, self-serving anti-Cuban zealots enact and expand a Cuban policy that currently and correctly gets a 191-to-0 condemnation in the United Nations. Reacting this week to Congressman Diaz-Balart's latest shameless ploy, James Williams released this exact statement: "Mr. Diaz-Balart is playing politics with his constituents' healthcare in order to settle a family feud. Our U.S.-Cuba policy should be guided by what's in the best interest of the American and Cuban people, not one congressman's agenda." No one, of course, can dispute those words by James Williams but America's great shame is that generations of Americans since the 1950s have not had the guts, intelligence or patriotism to inject themselves into the U. S. Cuban policy that rightfully gets that unanimous international denunciation. FOR EXAMPLE, timid and proselytized Americans are not supposed to comprehend what a decent American like James Williams means when he says Diaz-Balart is trying "to settle a family feud" by hiding behind the skirts of the superpower United States and the sheer gutlessness of American citizens. For what it's worth, here's what James Williams meant by "feud." 

     History registers the fact that in January of 1959 the leaders of the Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba fled the Cuban Revolution only to quickly regroup -- especially in Miami and South Florida. That included the three powerful men depicted above shown attending a political rally in Batista's Cuba. Flanked by the infamous and very notorious Masferrer brothers is a key Minister in Batista's dictatorship -- Rafael Diaz-Balart, the man with the holstered pistol.

      Soon, Rafael Diaz-Balart -- shown above in the middle of this Washington Post photo -- emerged as one of the richest and most powerful anti-Castro zealots in Miami and South Florida. His generation of Cuban exiles to the United States didn't recapture Cuba and neither has the second generation -- as epitomized by Rafael's four sons who are flanking him in this photo. Two of those sons, starting with Havana-born Lincoln who is standing just to the right of his father, reached the United States Congress from Miami. One other son, the one on the far right, is a wealthy banker and another son, the one just to Rafael's left, is a major news anchor for the left-wing NBC-TV network. And on the far right is Mario, the Diaz-Balart son that James Williams says is so fervently this week in the U. S. Congress "trying to settle a family feud" by, as always, slapping pusillanimous Americans and their democracy in the face with the Diaz-Balarts' decades-old anti-Castro "agenda." By permitting this to happen decade-after-decade, the endless streams of dollars this has cost American taxpayers is not the issue. The cost to the United States democracy and to the American image all around the world IS the most imposing issue.

     When Havana-born counter-revolutionary zealots like Ileana Ros-Lehtinen can use her Miami and Bush dynasty ties to be entrenched in the United States Congress since 1989, totally innocent Cubans on the island have a problem. But that's how America's Cuban policy is crafted...you know, the Cuban policy denounced 191-to-0 by that international vote in the United Nations. And let's face it, that policy is even more of a problem for the United States of America than it is for the Caribbean island and its 11 million decent, everyday citizens.

        This idyllic photo by Casey Strong shows a totally innocent Cuban mother feeding pigeons as her totally innocent little girl poses sweetly for the camera. If a handful of self-serving Cuban-American zealots, supported by the sheer cowardice of the majority of Americans, have their way, this little girl will continue to be punished all her life in the name of a "family feud" -- such as the Diaz-Balarts vs. the Castros -- that U. S. taxpayers and the American democracy have already paid dear and exorbitant prices to maintain. This little girl's mother has been punished all her life for the same diabolical and gutless reasons that now target this precious little girl, with the stink-bombs being fired relentlessly from rich sanctuaries -- Miami, Washington, New Jersey, Texas, etc. -- in the richest and most powerful nation in the history of the world, a nation that emerged from World War II in 1945 known for its uniquely benevolent democracy. But tell this Cuban mother today, and in a few years tell this little Cuban girl, all about America's benevolent democracy.

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The 2-Sided Cuba Conundrum

It's Not A One-sided Deal!

    The island of Cuba has produced more than its share of legends, and Alicia Alonso is clearly one of the most legendary. She was born in 1921 in Havana and, at age 96, she is spending all this week -- till Sunday, March 26th, 2017 -- in Costa Rica. It is taking the nation of Costa Rica and the University of Costa Rica an entire week to honor the beloved Cuban legend. Both Costa Rica and its top university, as they are showering her with awards and plaudits, have repeatedly pointed out this fact: "Her legacy is clearly incomparable." It surely is. What Costa Rica is doing this week reminds me that the Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba from 1952 till 1959 and Revolutionary Cuba from 1959 till today BOTH SAY A LOT MORE ABOUT THE UNITED STATES THAN THEY WILL EVER SAY ABOUT CUBA. You see, Americans are not supposed to know about the legend of Alicia Alonso because, if they did, such knowledge might conflict sharply with the one-sided Cuban narrative in the United States that has, since 1959, been dictated by remnants of the ousted Batista-Mafia dictatorship that fled the revolution for safe havens in America -- namely Miami, Newark and the United States Congress ensconced in Washington.

     Nevertheless, the legend of Alicia Alonso is one Americans have every right to know...in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. She was an extraordinary ballet performer in Cuba by age 11. At age 16 she married Fernando Alonso, who recognized her unique talent and took her to New York City to exploit it. It was in New York that Alicia gave birth to her only child, Laura. When she was 19 and showing signs of becoming the world's best ballerina, an eye ailment rendered her partially blind for the rest of her life, yet she reached and passed her goals as she became the world's best Prima Ballerina Assoluta. Her superstar status was crowned in 1943 when she danced "Giselle" and became enshrined forever with such incomparable performances as "Carmen." In 1948 Alicia returned to Cuba but commuted often to New York City. In 1952 when the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship first began robbing the island blind while brutalizing its everyday citizens, Alicia began dancing around the world -- Paris, London, Naples, Moscow, Prague, Milan, Monte Carlo, etc. She was delighted when she learned that Cuban mothers backed by do-or-die guerrilla fighters and fearless recruiters such as Celia Sanchez had mounted a revolution against Batista, a brutal dictator backed by the Mafia and America. In 1959 she was back in Cuba to celebrate the amazing triumph of the Cuban Revolution.

        In 1959 the pig-tailed Alicia Alonso got a surprise visitor to her Havana apartment. His name was Fidel Castro, whom she...and the rest of the world...then knew as the famed leader of the victorious Cuban Revolution. To her additional surprise, Fidel offered Alicia $200,000 in upfront money if she would start a dance school and call it The National Ballet of Cuba. He also promised that he would "make sure it was kept funded." She accepted the offer and soon began scouring the island in search of talented Cuban children, as young as five, that she could bring to Havana and try to mold into world-class ballet performers. As she scoured the island, Alicia took note of over 120,000 Cuban volunteers that were "everywhere" trying to teach the illiterate Cubans to read and write as well as provide heath and hygienic care because the Batista-Mafia dictatorship had only been concerned with raping and robbing the island without any concern for the welfare of the majority peasants. Alicia's recruitment and tender care of potential ballet stars...from 1959 till today...has made her renowned as the greatest ballet instructor of all time. Many of her top recruits defected to become multi-millionaires as stars of other ballet companies, with each departure leaving her with bittersweet emotions. Also, witnessing the educational and health care the nascent revolutionary government was providing across the island to the majority peasants increased Alicia's devotion to the revolution while also expanding her bitter hatred of the Batista rule that preceded it.

       Alicia discovered that Fidel not only provided the $200,000 for her dance school in 1959, he also kept his promise that it remained funded, come hell or high water, till the day he died at age 90 on November 25, 2016. She would later say, "Fidel was good for me, for Cuba's children and mothers, not only in comparison to Batista but in comparison to anyone, especially considering that the forces he defeated regrouped nearby and, still backed by a superpower, forever tried to kill him or overthrow him in order to regain an island they didn't deserve." Also, Alicia has revealed that when Fidel Castro knocked on her door in 1959, it was only the second time he had surprised her. He had sent her a message about her future dance school in 1958 while he was still trying to overthrow Batista. Wikipedia explains that surprise with these words: "Alonso has since described receiving a message from Castro in 1958 sent from the Sierra Maestra inviting her to head the company upon the triumph of the July 26th movement." Her second surprise, that knock on her door in 1959, merely lived up to his audacious 1958 message that even she thought was "just a tad premature."

       To understand the legend of the now 96-year-old Alicia Alonso and to comprehend why Costa Rica all this week is showering honors upon her, Americans need to understand and comprehend the above photo. Permit me to help. The photo was taken on July 1, 1964. Alicia, like most true Cubans, resents the American theft in 1903 and the continuous occupation of Guantanamo Bay, especially after the U. S. installed a lavish Naval Base on the lush port. The photo above shows Alicia on July 1-1964 dressed in army fatigues and giving a free dance performance for soldiers of the Cuban Frontier Guards who were stationed on the very outside edge of Guantanamo Bay. The naval base heightened Alicia's outrage over Guantanamo Bay, as does the now infamous prison installed by the George W. Bush presidency on the prized Cuban land.

           And so, the legend of 96-year-old Alicia Alonso and her famed Ballet Nacional de Cuba exists and will persist despite the fact that in the nearby superpower United States the Cuban narrative and Cuban policy are largely dictated by generational remnants of the 1950s Batista-Mafia dictatorship. As she is exalted for her "clearly incomparable legacy" in Costa Rica all this week, Alicia Alonso is abundantly aware that the world supports her views of her beloved island and the revolution that changed it for forever. In San Jose, Costa Rica this week, she said, "I thank to the heavens the unanimous support of Cuba as voted on by Costa Rica and the other 190 voting nations. My Cuba, like all sovereign nations, deserves the right and the breathing room to create its own present and its own future." As she spoke those words, it is apparent that Alicia Alonso is aware that Americans are supposed to believe that her Cuba deserved...Batista, the Mafia, the Bay of Pigs attack, the embargo, hotel and coastal terrorist attacks, the bombing into the ocean of Cubana Flight 455, and unceasing laws in the U. S. Congress designed to overthrow Revolutionary Cuba while also enriching and empowering the elite group of Cuban-Americans and their sycophants who seek revenge against the revolution spawned by the unspeakable excesses of the long-ago Batista-Mafia dictatorship. Alicia Alonso embodies this truth: The best Cuban-born women didn't end up entrenched in the U. S. Congress from Miami since 1989 or entrenched as the Editor of the counter-revolutionary Miami Herald. 

Her legend will live forever.

And by the way:

      This is a happy, healthy, well-educated young Cuban named Aymara Massiel Matos. On her Twitter page, she can't hide her enthusiasm for her government job and her entrepreneurial or governmental future. She said the other day her office was "invaded" by a class of young Cuban students who wanted to be just like her, and the eager students asked a lot of questions.

     This girl was one of the students who "invaded" Aymara's office and wanted her picture taken sitting at Aymara's desk. Left to its own sovereign devices, Cuba probably has a future. The two up-to-date photos directly above would probably remind 96-year-old Alicia Alonso why she so adamantly prefers Revolutionary Cuba over Batista's Cuba, don't you think?

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Cuba-U.S. Lagging Behind

Scandinavian Nations Excel!!

 Cubans unhappy with their government and Americans unhappy with their government should read and study the front page of Monday's USA Today. Yet another major article in America's largest newspaper -- on March 20th, 2017 -- revealed why five Scandinavian nations have the best governments in the world, the five that repeatedly finish in the Top Five when it comes to having the best educated, healthiest, most equal, best represented, and happiest people in the entire world. If Cubans and Americans think any or all of those categories are important, they should stop complaining about their own governments and take time to study what those five Scandinavian nations do right. AND THEN Cubans and Americans, instead of just envying those five splendid nations, should actually complain about their governments, prodding them to replicate The Big 5. The March 20-2017 Front Page article in USA Today was/is entitled "THE NORSE, OF COURSE, ARE THE HAPPIEST PEOPLE ON EARTH." Of course! The article starts off with the reminder that the U. S. Declaration of Independence "inscribed as a fundamental right 'the pursuit of happiness' but Norway has taken that most to heart." Yes, indeed!! Norway #1, Denmark #2, Iceland #3, Switzerland #4, and Finland #5.

       You don't have to leave the Front Page of Monday's USA Today to understand why the United States, the richest nation in the history of the world, doesn't remotely compete with the Scandinavian nations when it comes to having the "happiest people in the world." America's "gap between the richest and poor" is grossly astronomical because of a largely corrupt, bought-and-paid-for government easily controlled by its wealthiest citizens dictating its democracy. Such a "gap" is not allowed in the Scandinavian nations. Norwegian citizens, for example, have a GNP of $100,000, more than double that of Americans. But more significantly, that $100,000 is evenly distributed and not mostly relegated to the wealthiest one or two percent. And, as USA Today, the World Health Organizations and others have pointed out, the Scandinavian nations don't take a chance on their elected officials being bought off; major decisions are made via referendums in which the citizens themselves vote directly on issues concerning them. While the U. S. is awash with billionaires and a $20 trillion debt owed mostly to World War II foe Japan and Communist China, oil-rich Norway, for example, could cut off its oil spigots today and still have enough reserve money to take care of its citizens for the next 500 years just as well as they are taken care of now.

       On March 20-2017 the BBC used the above Getty Images photo of happy Norwegians to explain why the 5-million citizens of Norway are the "happiest people in the world," followed by the citizens of four other Scandinavian nations. Such surveys point out that nations that best distribute their natural and human resources are far better than nations that allow a few greedy miscreants to horde extreme wealth.

         The four Norwegian children above have ample reasons to be happy and to be proud of their national flags. Norway's government and culture abides by a system known as Janteloven. That means these four Norwegian children have the same advantages all other children in Norway have -- no more and no less.

 Not enough Americans worry about the above poster.

And North Carolina has a lot of billionaires.

       Meanwhile, these Cuban children are healthy and happy. They also have totally free health care and free educations through college. There is also very little crime on their Caribbean island and there is basically no gap in Cuba related to wealth disparity. In fact, there is not much wealth at all, thanks to the combination of an harassed government's inefficiencies and, in particular, a cruel and historically long economic embargo imposed on the island by revengeful exiles in the nearby superpower United States.

       And so, people the world over -- including Cubans and Americans -- should congratulate Norway for having "the happiest people in the world." All nations should aspire to be what mighty little Norway is.

This is Norway.

Norway welcomes tourists.

But don't overstay your visit.
Norway has 5 million of its own citizens to take care of.
And by the way........

         ...................did I mention that the average Norwegian speaks five or more languages? Heidi Hauge is an example. She also happens to be my favorite singer. I don't understand a word of Norwegian but even when she sings in her native language -- such as "Siste Dans" {"Last Dance"} -- I am enthralled with her voice and styling. I love watching and listening to her unique talent in any of her languages on YouTube. She's that good. But mostly I watch and listen to her sing great American songs in her perfect English. If you check her English versions on YouTube of songs like "I'm So Afraid of Losing You," "Seven Spanish Angels," "Save the Last Dance for Me," "I'm Gonna Be A Country Girl Again," etc., I think you'll agree.

      She rarely leaves her beloved Norway, but when Heidi Hauge takes her unique musical talent to other countries, her performances are memorable. The photo above shows her in Berlin, Germany, where she received standing ovations after every song and then was besieged with repeated requests for encores. She is, many believe, the best singer -- in English -- of American country songs but sternly resists requests to visit the United States, UK, Canada, Australia, etc...because she hates leaving lovely Norway.

A Norwegian named Heidi Hauge.

She loves singing, but loves Norway even more.

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Female-Powered Cuba

Women at the Forefront!

    The Cuban Revolution and Revolutionary Cuba have both always been star-studded with fearless female guerrilla fighters and prime decision-makers. In Cuba today one such power is Ana Maria Mari Machado. She is one of the most vibrant Vice Presidents in Cuba's National Assembly, and one of the most admired Cuban officials with the general population. No trio of males in Cuba's Revolution matched the overall contributions of Celia Sanchez, Haydee Santamaria, and Vilma Espin...which is a basic fact whether on not the Cuban narrative in the United States admits it. Today in Revolutionary Cuba, the most powerful judicial judge is a woman; the top diplomat related to all issues involving the U. S. is a woman; the most popular news anchor on state television is a woman; the leader of the Federation of University Students and the island's most virulent defender of sovereignty is a woman; the leader of Cuba's vital Mariel Port Economic Zone is a woman, and the beat goes on in Cuba. 

     
    A powerful Vice President in Cuba's National Assembly, Ana Marie Mari Machado is a top strategist and one of the island's most popular leaders according to everyday Cubans. She says, "We are now traveling to all the municipalities to get feedback from our people. Popular rule is something I will always champion. What is best for all our people is my goal."       

       Significantly, Ana Maria Mari Machado has discovered that the "prime concern" of everyday Cubans across the island remains the economic embargo first imposed by the United States back in 1962.  

        Very influential and popular with everyday Cubans across the island, Ana Maria Mari Machado also often represents Cuba at important international forums, such as the one above in Belgium that involved the European Union.

Ana negotiated & signed the Brussels agreement. 

       Ana Maria Mari Machado is the Cuban leader most involved in the "No More Blockade" campaign. Her dire condemnation of it on behalf of the Cuban people now also gets a unanimous 191-to-0 condemnation in the UN.

 Ana calls the U. S. embargo "a crime." 

       Ana Maria Mari Machado blames "the cowardice of the America people" for the embargo. "The few in America who benefit from it," she says, "are one factor but the biggest factor is the cowardice of the American people who sit back and let it happen while they show no respect, certainly not for precious Cuban children, but also not even for the scorn it causes their democracy." 

      At international forums, Ana Maria Mari Machado has no trouble convincing U.S.-friendly world leaders that the embargo of her island "is the longest and cruelest blockade ever imposed by a strong nation against a weak nation."

And yet.....

.........easily intimidated or propagandized Americans, decade after decade after decade, are successfully told that anti-embargo stalwarts on the island -- like Ana Maria Mari Machado -- are the "bad guys" while.........................

...............prime pro-embargo benefactors like Miami-based Cuban-American U. S. Senator Marco Rubio are the "good guys."

The result is this worldwide image of America.

Photo courtesy: TravelingWithTom.com
These Cuban children deserve Ana charting their future.
Not Rubio!

More TravelingWithTom.com Cuban children.
Destined to be embargoed all their lives?

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