Cuba Marches On

Americans Need to Keep Up

I'll Try to Tell You How to Do That!

        If Americans are to ever understand Cuba or U.S.-Cuban relations, they need to know great journalists such as Will Grant. Brilliantly reporting from Cuba, he will honestly tell you the pros and cons of what is happening on the island. He works for the BBC, the London-based biggest and best worldwide news organization. With extremely rare exceptions, American journalists -- print, television and online -- simply do not have the freedom that Will Grant has to tell you the truth about Cuba. That has been so since the 1898 Spanish-American War when the U. S. wrested imperialist control of Cuba from Spain, and then maintained that control until Jan. 1-1959 when the Cuban Revolution finally achieved independence for the island. Lies about Cuba in the U. S. media have been particularly prevalent since 1976 when the honest Cuban-American journalist in Miami, Emilio Milian, was car-bombed because he criticized Cuban-American terrorists for harming innocent Cubans, such as with the deadly bombing of Cubana Flight 455.

          After the demise of Flight 455, the Miami media was effectively used for such celebratory chants as, "It's the biggest blow yet against Castro!!" To this day, well-known anti-Cuban terrorists, including those attached to the Cubana Flight 455 bombing, are heralded citizens of Miami. Since the ill-fated Emilio Milian car-bombing in 1976, as far as I know only one U. S. journalist -- Jim DeFede -- has had the integrity and the guts to criticize such things. Jim WAS the top columnist for the Miami Herald when he wrote a famous column excoriating Cuban-American members of Congress -- Ros Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balart brothers -- for their lavish support of the most well-known Cuban-American terrorists. I underlined Emilio and Jim in case you want to Google their bravery and judge it for yourselves. And please note, I make these points not because of a passion for Cuba but because of my passion for America and Democracy, both of which I believe have been severely harmed by America's Cuban policy since the 1898 Spanish-American War and especially since the victory of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 when former leaders of the ousted Batista-Mafia dictatorship reestablished themselves on U. S. soil -- particularly in Miami and especially deeply within the confines of the United States Congress and the Republican Party.

           Meanwhile, permit me to explain why Will Grant of the BBC is the best bet for Americans to know the truth about what is happening in Cuba as the island tries to survive the lingering vestiges of America's Batistiano-imposed Cuban embargo as well as the future requiems of America's Trump rule. {requiem means hatred, rancor, hostility, animus, antipathy, acrimony, etc., in the above usage.}  

          While Americans are programmed to hide behind the lie that little Cuba has no major consequence for America, it had enough consequence in 1959 when it ended the Mafia's and America's rule of the island. It had enough consequence to become the only nation that mounted a successful revolution against a vile U.S.-backed dictatorship. In 1962 it had enough consequence to bring the world the closest it has ever been to a nuclear holocaust. It later had enough consequence that the Cuban Revolution inspired many other Latin American nations to get shed of U.S.-backed dictators like Trujillo, Somoza, Videla, Pinochet and even Mobutu in Africa to make way for dear Castro friends such as the democratically-elected leaders of many Latin American nations plus Nelson Mandela in South Africa, etc. AND today Cuba has enough of a unique consequence to have the U. S. condemned by a 191-to-0 vote in the UN for its Cuban policies.

           So, that's why democracy-loving Americans, I believe, need to get their Cuban news from fair-minded, highly respected, and unbiased journalists such as the BBC's Will Grant. This last week in April of 2017, for example, Will Grant authored a refreshingly brilliant BBC article that tells you all about what's really happening in Cuba. It's entitled: "Cuba's Slick TV Channel That Supports More Revolution." As Cuba marches on in the Trump era, that is a major new development on the nearby island that Americans should know.

         Will Grant and the BBC this week used EFE photos like the one above to tell the world about a major new development in Cuba. Its an ultra-modern television channel called "Canal Caribe," which means "Caribbean Channel." It airs 18 hours a day with mostly live news for Cubans. The anchors are superb young journalists like Cristina Escobar, who is perhaps the very best news anchor in the entire region. The BBC points out that the anchors and reporters are very well-educated and speak fluent English too.

        The BBC says Canal Caribe has state-of-the-art studios, features live link-ups with international correspondents via Skype, and that it makes good use of topical social media sites such as Twitter.

       The Canal Caribe network is Cuba's answer to America's controversial 24-hour cable news channels -- the extreme left-wing MSNBC, the extreme right-right Fox News, and the extreme anti-Trump CNN.

       The Director of Canal Caribe is Ovidio Cabrera. He maintains that his new station will present news and information that Cubans need...with a powerful pro-revolutionary edge. He told the BBC: "This is a channel for more revolution. We won't shy away from criticizing what isn't working...but always through the prism of supporting the revolutionary process, not against it." Mr. Cabrera primarily aims Canal Caribe's coverage at the vital young generation of Cubans -- upper teens and young adults -- who will likely predicate the island's future. He believes Cuba's young generation prides independence and cultural traits above a return to foreign dominance and that his Canal Caribe is ready to test that resolve. Cubans on the island, he believes, are so well-educated and so well-informed that Canal Caribe couldn't mislead them.

       Americans that need to know about such things as Canal Caribe also need to know what the above EFE photo represents as Cuba marches on instead of just passively waiting around to see what Miami, President Trump and the U. S. Congress in this new era have in store for the fiercely independent island.

        This photo shows two young and very inquisitive Cubans in Santiago de Cuba. As you can see, they -- not so unlike many millions of Americans and other young people worldwide -- are very engrossed in whatever data they are getting from their very Smart Phone. Instead of primarily blocking access to the internet, as most Americans believe, Cuba's Etecsa communications outlet is strongly improving the availability of internet data and exchanges. It now has about 4 million cell lines and over 1,000 public navigation spaces with Wi-Fi service. Revolutionary Cuba is well aware that the Miami-Washington axis -- via the embargo, etc. -- will continue to pressure the island's youth to "get rich in America" as the key Cuban Ana Mari Machado puts it. But she also depends on enough of Cuba's increasingly powerful young generation to embrace the "historic resilience and vast potential of our proud independent Cuba."

     One of the most powerful Cubans today is Ana Mari Machado, and her star is ascending at a very significant time -- with the advent of the Trump-era in America, the recent death at age 90 of Fidel Castro, and the retirement in about 10 months of the 85-year-old President Raul Castro. Ana already holds the hugely important title of Vice President of Cuba's influential National Assembly. Ana is well respected by Cuba's young generation of adults and by the few remaining, fast dwindling revolutionary icons. Ana is a prime reason Cuba is embracing such important youth-oriented projects as the new Canal Caribe news channel and the increasingly easier access to the internet on the island. Ana envisions a new revolution in Cuba BUT a revolution designed to protect the Cuban Revolution. Ana fiercely supports her Revolutionary Cuba. And Ana is a force to be reckoned with -- in Havana for sure but also in Miami and Washington. 

        The above photo montage was posted by Ana Mari Machado this week on her Facebook page. It reflects her two favorite revolutionaries -- Jose Marti who died on Cuban soil in 1895 fighting Spanish imperialism; and Fidel Castro who died on Cuban soil in 2016 of old age at 90 after fighting Batista, the Mafia and American imperialism. Ana Mari Machado, an ascending power in Cuba -- some say the ascending power -- wants a revolution to protect the Castro Revolution. And, significantly, she wants Cuba's young generation behind her. To know Cuba, study this montage and the lady who posted it on Facebook.

  Ana Mari Machado.

If you don't know her, you don't know Cuba.

And by the way:

        The new owners of the Miami Marlins Major League baseball team are Derek Jeter and Jeb Bush. There winning bid was $1.3 billion. The Marlins are the cheapest Major League team with the New York Yankees, now worth well over $4 billion, the most expensive. Jeter is in his first year as the retired New York Yankees shortstop. The website Celebrity Wealth says Jeter is worth $800 million. Yes, he was well-paid for two decades by the Yankees but that's not how athletes get on the fast track to becoming billionaires. Massive amounts of endorsement money from corporations quickly make billionaires out of athletes such as Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, etc., and that easy endorsement money continues well after such athletes have retired. In the meantime in capitalist America, there are very legitimate billboards that tell us that "one in 5 American children have hunger problems" and "one in 4 children in North Carolina have hunger problems. In a more decent and less greedy America, corporations that shower massive endorsement dollars on already extremely wealthy athletes should also be required to give, dollar for dollar, millions of dollars to help alleviate childhood hunger in America. But, of course, that won't happen because Americans are programmed to worship celebrities as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

         Also, U. S. politics is now a fast-track to becoming a billionaire. Ask Jeb Bush. He was born rich within the Bush dynasty but wanted to get rich on his own. So he went to Florida in the late 1980s and actually announced he did so "to get rich." His first major step in that direction was to endear himself with the richest anti-Castro zealots in Miami, including extremely controversial real estate moguls. {Yes, you can Google that}. The next thing Jeb did was to become Campaign Manager for Miami's most anti-Castro, Havana-born zealot Ileana Ros-Lehtinen who, thanks to the Bush dynasty, has been an anti-Castro zealot in the U. S. Congress since 1989. So, how wealthy today is Jeb, the new co-owner of the Miami Marlins? Celebrity Wealth says Jeb is worth a piddling $25 million but that's probably because ONLY ONE of his bank accounts was checked. Current and/or former politicians can and do get very, very rich very, very quickly by selling their politics to the highest bidders, including foreign entities who want to purchase America.  

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A New Cuba but Old Enmity

  3 Nations Still Mad at Cuba!

       Last week the King of Morocco visited Cuba. While he was on the island, his country at the UN in New York reestablished diplomatic relations with Cuba for the first time since 1980 when a former king broke off relations with Cuba, some say to curry favor with the United States. The Moroccan king's visit to Cuba in April of 2017 reminds me that there are now three nations in the entire world without official relations with Cuba, and those three nations are: Israel, South Korea and Somalia. It appears in 2017 that those three nations also might be displaying enmity towards Cuba to curry favor with the U. S., although America's pre-Trump president, Barack Obama, bravely restored U. S. relations with Cuba for the first time since 1961.

And So...braver, independent thinking in 3 nations may be in order.

       While in Cuba, the King of Morocco rented out all 5 floors and all 96 rooms of Havana's Saratoga Hotel. The King quickly told Cuban officials that he "most wanted" to visit a special place -- Santa Maria Cay, which is one of thousands of picturesque cays or small islands off the coasts of the main Cuban island.

       This is the Santa Maria Cay that the Moroccan king made sure to visit last week. It is located just off the north-central coast of the main Cuban island and is 185 miles south-east of Havana. Indeed, the Santa Maria Cay is a prime tourist attraction and, as such, has 15 nice hotels...for kings or regular tourists.

The truly magnificent Royalton Cayo Santa Maria Hotel.

       This is the northern coastline of Cuba's Santa Maria Cay. In 2017 the three nations in the world that continue to not recognize Cuba -- Israel, South Korea and Somalia -- may want to rethink their animosity toward the sovereign Caribbean nation even if they feel the need to curry favor with the United States.

The location of Cayo Santa Maria circled in red above.

Why Cayo Santa Maria?

Ask the King of Morocco.

Awesomely beautiful Cuba.

I've been there. Have you?

Note: My favorite Cuban city was/is Trinidad.

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Why Hurt Americans Too?

While Hurting Cubans!!

        A 74-year-old Californian battling lung cancer, Judy Ingels, this month broke a U. S. law -- the U. S. embargo against Cuba that, for over half-a-century, has made everyday Americans the only people in the world without the freedom to travel to the Caribbean island. The embargo is one of countless U. S. laws easily passed in the 535-member U. S Congress by a handful of counter-revolutionary types allied with a handful of miscreant politicians. While such laws have surely hurt Cuba, they also hurt Americans and thus such laws currently are condemned internationally by a 191-to-0 vote in the United Nations, but still they persist decade after decade.  Judy broke the embargo law by spending six days in Cuba so she could be treated with a renowned cancer drug -- Cimavax -- that was invented by Cuba's equally renowned medical scientists. This week -- on April 20th, 2017 -- the BBC in London told the world about Judy's life-saving, law-breaking trip to Cuba. With rare exceptions, the mainstream U. S. media doesn't touch stories that might shed positive lights on Cuba, so as not to displease a few counter-revolutionaries in Miami and Congress.

       Judy Ingles was accompanied to Cuba by her husband Bill and her daughter Cindy, so they very knowingly broke the embargo law too. But Judy told the BBC, "I'm not worried. For the first time, I have real hope." The Ingles family took a large supply of Cimavax back to California with them. All healthcare for Cubans on the island is free, including what many of them know as the "miracle cancer drug" Cimavax.

      The BBC reported that this now very healthy-looking Cuban lady, Lucretia de Jesus, was incapacitated and bound to a wheelchair with a severe case of lung and liver cancer. After being treated with Cimavax, Lucretia now regularly walks up and down five flights of stairs and is now planning a trip to Spain.

          Lucretia de Jesus's doctor is Elia Neninger. She told the BBC, "I never thought I would would work on something that would improve the lives of so many people. I have stage-four lung cancer patients who are still alive 10 years after their diagnosis." Cuba produces more doctors per capital than any other country. 

      One of America's top cancer experts, Dr. Kelvin Lee at the famed Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York, told the BBC that he not only believes Cimavax successfully treats cancer but that it might also prevent cancer. He said: "If we could vaccinate the high-risk smokers to prevent them from developing cancer, that would have an enormous public health input both in the United States and the world." The BBC said Cuba's renowned biotechnology industry -- which has developed world-famed cancer, diabetes and other drugs -- was "nurtured by former President Fidel Castro since the very early 1980s." 

       After former U. S. President Barack Obama so bravely opened many long-closed doors to Cuba, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo took a Trade Mission to Cuba that included Dr. Candace Johnson. She is the President and CEO of the Roswell Cancer Institute in Buffalo. Dr. Johnson got permission from Cuba to use its unique cancer drug on her cancer patients in the United States but as of late April-2017 it has yet to be approved by America's Food & Drug Administration, so that's why Judy Ingles and her family broke the U. S. embargo law and went to Cuba to get treated and return to California with a large supply of Cimavax.

        This week's BBC article about Judy Ingels and Cuba's cancer drug shines more foreign light on why America's long-standing Cuban policy is designed to sate the revenge, economic and political motives of a few while it harms everyone else. The Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo doesn't have to fight the Cuban government to get access to Cimavax, but it still needs permission from the United States.

     When it comes to supporting the goals of Candace Johnson and cancer patients like Judy Ingles, most Americans are not supposed to be brave enough, smart enough, caring enough or patriotic enough to choose between such decent American women and the embargo-promoters in Miami and Congress.

         Since 1962 the United States has had only one President --  Mr. Obama -- with both the guts and the decency to sincerely try to end the embargo and other bellicose assaults on totally innocent Cubans...as well as totally innocent Americans like Judy Ingles and millions of Cuban-Americans, most of whom also oppose the embargo. But America's Cuban policy, especially since the famed Cuban Revolution victory in 1959, has never considered majority opinion in America or the near-unanimity of opinion worldwide.

         A simple but unasked question in America: If Cuba has a cancer drug that could quite possibly instantly and greatly help American cancer patients, what is the rationale still preventing that from happening? 

Is the answer "The embargo?"

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YES, A Fake and a Fraud

Defines the U. S. Media!!

        This photo of President Donald Trump is courtesy of Damon White and the New York Times. It was used this week -- April 20th, 2017 -- to illustrate a massive NY Times' article entitled "A Fake and a Fraud." That is the precise manner in which the Times' has depicted Mr. Trump in article after article and column after column every day for well over a year, or since it appeared the United States would democratically elect a President that the Times didn't like. And so, tomorrow and the days thereafter, if you read the Times, you can surely anticipate that most of its news coverage will be, in fact, anti-Trump propaganda. Understand that I am not a supporter of Mr. Trump but I am a passionate supporter of America and democracy, and thus I have respect for the Office of President of the United States. Is Mr. Trump more of a "fake and a fraud" than the New York Times? I don't think so. Moreover, I believe that the increasingly incompetent and biased mainstream U. S. media is more of a threat to the U. S. than the unpredictably enigmatic Donald Trump.

       Arguably the most important of America's Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson was the third American President and the genius who wrote America's Declaration of Independence. Study his quotation above and then perhaps you will agree with my opening paragraph and premise. My study of this quotation leads me to believe that Jefferson today would conclude that ultra-powerful propaganda sheets and pundit-driven television news coverage -- masquerading as prime news sources -- constitute a far bigger threat to Democracy than anything else -- including questionable Presidents and nuclear-powered rogue nations.

     The aforementioned New York Times article dated April 20-2017 was written by Charles Blow with the blaring title "A Fake and a Fraud" referencing Mr. Blow's and the Times' continuous and unending depiction of President Trump. Fine and dandy. The problem is: Day-after-day, month-after-month, and now year-after-year -- that is, with rare exceptions, almost all the Times' does and all that Mr. Blow does. 

Photo courtesy: Larry D. Moore.

     
        Charles Blow was born 46-years-old in Gibsland, Louisiana. He graduated from Alabama's Grambling State University. Since 2008 he has been an ultra-powerful and unchallenged writer-columnist for the ultra-powerful New York Times. He is also an ultra-liberal, and so am I when it comes to race and other social issues. In fact, I assume that I've literally crossed and re-crossed the famed iconic Civil Rights Edmund Pettus Bridge at Selma, Alabama far more than Mr. Blow has. But unlike Mr. Blow, I don't believe totally innocent white children should continually be punished and ridiculed by extreme liberals by holding them responsible for injustices to African-Americans perpetrated long before they were born. I believe Mr. Blow's still ascending career is based to a large extent on that out-of-whack political correctness based on the deeply ingrained fear in America of being labeled "a racist." Moreover, I believe Mr. Blow's incessant assaults on President Trump show a disregard for the Office of President and for the political process that projected Mr. Trump to the White House. Also, I believe Mr. Blow has every right to disagree with me but I don't believe he believes I have the right to disagree with him, based on what is indicated directly below.

      Using his celebrity at the New York Times and stretching rampant political correctness to its pusillanimous limits, Charles Blow and many like him are ubiquitous pundits on network television "news" programs that mostly use punditry as biased propaganda tools and to promote whatever the pundits are selling -- mostly themselves. In the punditry battle depicted above on CNN, that's the extreme anti-Trump liberal Charles Blow on the right and the extreme pro-Trump conservative Paris Dennard on the left. Interestingly enough, both men are African-Americans as you can see. This bitter exchange aired on August 20th, 2016 in case you want to check that program's highlights. Mr. Blow -- no matter what he writes or says -- is totally unaccustomed to being challenged regardless of how extreme -- or, yes, racist -- his views may appear to be. In the pivotal moment depicted above, Mr. Dennard had just said something about Mr. Trump that Mr. Blow disagreed with. At that point Mr. Blow erupted into a tirade in which he claimed that CNN was committing "MEDIA MALPRACTICE" FOR EVEN PERMITTING MR. DENNARD ON THE PROGRAM. Fortified with rampant political correctness, it seems Mr. Blow and his ilk don't think contrary opinions, including mine I'm sure, should be allowed at this time in America's democratically challenged environs.

      And speaking of Charles Blow, out-of-whack political correctness, and Americans scared-to-death about being labeled racists, reminds me of...Cristina Escobar. She is an absolutely brilliant...in Spanish or English...broadcast journalist in Cuba. Just being Cuban in Cuba makes her a villain in the eyes of the politically correct and right-wing U. S. media, both factions of whom are now jokes as, I believe, Mr. Jefferson would agree. But Cristina Escobar is neither a villain nor a joke. She's just a brilliant, smart and well-educated broadcast journalist as she proves daily in Cuba and has proven on three separate journalistic visits to the United States. On both Cuban and U. S. soil she has made this statement: "Journalists in Cuba have more freedom to tell the truth about the United States than journalists in the United States have to tell the truth about Cuba." 

           Whether or not you believe in Cristina Escobar's quotation -- or Thomas Jefferson's quotation for that matter -- I believe it is incumbent upon you to believe that she is a smart, brilliant, and well-educated broadcast journalist and that he is perhaps the smartest and most brilliant of America's Founding Fathers.

        In other words, I believe that Cristina Escobar has a right to her opinion even if she is in Cuba. And I believe that Charles Blow should allow other people to disagree with him even if he is in an America that is trying to survive rampant political correctness. Yes, Mr. Blow's CNN tirade against an Africa-American, Paris Dennard, that supports President Trump was not...shall I say...lost on me. And neither was Cristina Escobar's firm opinion about whether Cuban journalists like her have more freedom concerning certain topics, such as contentious U.S.-Cuban relations, than American journalists.

And by the way........

      .........when Cristina Escobar made her topical quote about the U. S. media, she was serious. And so was Thomas Jefferson when he made his historic quote about the U. S. media.

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Anti-Cuban Propagandists

Also Harm America!!

       The photo above and the one that follows are courtesy of Elio Delgado Valdes and Havana Times.org. This week a stairwell collapsed in the building on the right in Havana. No one was injured but a concerned crowd congregated, including Cubans and some tourists. Those of us who have been to Cuba have seen many buildings such as this one that are badly in need of repair on the island. A handful of rich and powerful anti-Cuban propagandists and benefactors in the United States never fail to use incidents and photos such as this to assail Revolutionary Cuba while, in a more sane and fair milieu, those who should be assailed are the nefarious and gutless propagandists-benefactors, as well as the gutless cowards in the United States who allow them to reshape the United States democracy to fulfill their asinine, self-serving Cuban agendas. Currently the international condemnation of America's Cuban policy is expressed in unanimity with a 191-to-0 vote in the United Nations. A handful of anti-Cuban propagandists-benefactors in the U. S. -- hiding behind the skirts of the world superpower -- can ignore that worldwide denunciation because the majority of Americans in this particular generation are quite possibly the stupidest, the most cowardly and the most unpatriotic generation in America's very prominent and mostly proud history.

       This photo shows Cuban workers trying to rehabilitate that building in Havana where the stairwell collapsed this week. But they will mostly have to use outdated band-aides instead of suitable material and machinery. You see, two generations of a handful of Cuban-American remnants from the overthrown Batista-Mafia dictatorship have dictated, since 1959, America's Cuban policies. That cruel and undemocratic dictation has been greased by two things: {1} Unholy alliances with such entities as the Bush dynasty and the Tea Party; {2} the cowardice and lack of patriotism from the majority of America's citizens.

            Americans are insouciantly programmed to deny that the above Carlos LaTuff graphic correctly defines America's Cuban policy, the policy that currently has that 191-to-0 international denunciation at the UN. Except for millions of propagandized Americans, the rest of the world realizes that America's Cuban policy shames America and harms America's worldwide reputation on a consistent basis more than any other issue, and that's saying a lot considering that Cuba is merely a nearby island. From 1962 until today the U. S. has imposed on Cuba the longest and cruelest economic embargo ever inflicted on a small nation by a large and powerful nation. Mr. LaTuff in Brazil understands that, as do other fair-minded citizens around the world. To put such an embargo in perspective, put...say...Canada in Cuba's place. Canada is a rich nation on America's northern border and its huge ally and primary trading partner is the United States. BUT WHAT IF, from 1962 till today, THE U.S. HAD IMPOSED A CRUEL AND ENDLESS ECONOMIC EMBARGO ON CANADA INSTEAD OF HELPING CANADA BECOME A RICH AND THRIVING NATION??? If that had relentlessly happened to Canada for all those decades, I believe Canada would have either capitulated long ago OR been brought to its knees about half-way through such an abominable assault on its sovereignty. If you doubt that, you are ignoring what little Cuba has been forced to deal with...such as the unique economic and military power of the U. S. that not only enforces the embargo against Cuba but ALSO is powerful enough to impose penalties against OTHER NATIONS if they dare try to treat Cuba decently. 

           The Carlos LaTuff graphic depicted above accurately describes the United States embargo of Cuba. The fact that it is unending reflects the cowardice and lack of patriotism of millions of Americans who inspired LaTuff's descriptive masterpiece, one that daily flashes around the world several times to severely damage America's image while also soliciting wild cheers from America's major international enemies.

      Beginning in 1952, American businessmen like Edmund Chester and the American Mafia relished having a two-bit army-sergeant named Fulgencio Batista as the thieving and for sale dictator of Cuba.

         From 1952 till the crack of dawn on Jan. 1-1959, U. S. businessmen along with Mafia kingpins like Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky along with their pal Fulgencio Batista raped and robbed Cuba at will. 

      Meanwhile, the majority peasants on the island of Cuba, like this mother and her two children, were left to try to survive in dire poverty, with the power-brokers in Havana and Washington totally unconcerned.

           And meanwhile, while the Batista dictatorship in Cuba was raping and robbing the island at will beginning in 1952, Batista himself {on the left in this photo} was being squired in convertibles around Washington and hailed by the Eisenhower administration at lavish White House parties as "a great American friend in the Caribbean." HE SURE AS HELL WAS...a "great friend" of the American Mafia, greedy American businessmen and bought-and-paid-for American politicians!! And all the while two post-World War II generations of Americans have not cared enough to challenge their Cuban-addicted, anti-democracy ills.

       A 99-pound, child-loving doctor's daughter named Celia Sanchez emerged as the greatest anti-Batista guerrilla fighter and a bold revolution's greatest recruiter of rebels and supplies. By the time Batista had already placed his all-time largest bounty on her head, Celia's revolution by the start of 1957 was finally joined by some famed macho men -- the Castro brothers, Che Guevara, etc. Cuba's top historian, Pedro Alvarez Tabio, thus correctly stated: "If Batista had managed to kill Celia Sanchez anytime between 1953 and 1959, there would have been no viable Cuban Revolution, and no revolution for Fidel and Che to join." After her victorious Cuban Revolution, from Jan.1-1959 till her death from cancer on Jan.11-1980 Celia Sanchez -- despite massive and continuous assaults from the U. S. government and the revengeful transplanted Batistianos -- laid down the parameters that she deemed most propitious for the island's children.

      Fully cognizant of the fact that Batista's Cuba had left the majority peasants illiterate and in dire poverty without heath-care, Revolutionary Cuba under Celia Sanchez's guidance quickly introduced a program in which thousands of Cuban women who could read and write, like those above, were sent across the island to educate and assist the long-maligned peasant families. If Americans don't know about such things as Celia Sanchez and her "Cuban Literacy Campaign, that is understandable because the machismo-fueled and revengeful Batistianos in the U. S. since 1959 surely don't want Americans to know about the leading role the 99-pound doctor's daughter had in reshaping Batista's Cuba into Revolutionary Cuba. Vilifying macho men like Castro was/is a lot easier than vilifying an angelic female guerrilla fighter. But, please understand, Cuba's children since 1959 have benefited from the historic greatness of Celia Sanchez as well as the topical greatness of Celia-disciples on the island today -- such as the child-loving Rosy Amaro Perez.

       This photo is courtesy of Rosy Amaro Perez. It shows four little girls in today's Revolutionary Cuba. They are much-loved and well cared for and, yes, that is a typical and key aspect of Revolutionary Cuba in sharp contrast to Batista's Cuba. While there are buildings and other infrastructure in Cuba today that are badly in need of modern repair, thanks largely to the embargo and other Batistiano-imposed U. S. policies, Cuban children like these are prioritized with island-wide love and its limited resources. They are guaranteed free and excellent healthcare for life; free and excellent educations through college; etc. Just last week, after another exhaustive examination of Cuban families, the top United Nations child-monitor -- a lady named Maria Grazia Giammarinaro -- lavished praise on Cuba for its emphasis on child welfare and for working closely with the U. S. and the UN on combating human and sexual trafficking, which the U. S. State Department also recently confirmed. While America's Batistiano-imposed Cuban laws prevent the island's participation in international banking, the World Bank praised Cuba for the "exceedingly high percentage" of its resources devoted to education and healthcare on the island. The World Health Organization and the Pan Am Health Organization have also recently reiterated such praise. Of course, the mainstream U. S. media is not brave enough to report or discuss such praise for Cuba, perhaps because of such things as a brave Cuban-American newsman named Emilio Milian getting car-bombed in Miami in 1976 when he expressed concern about Batistiano-fueled terrorist acts against totally innocent Cubans.

       Cuban women and mothers all across the island of Cuba, like Rosy Amaro Perez, work tirelessly everyday on behalf of Cuban children. And Cuban women like Rosy don't deserve to be targeted and vilified endlessly by a handful of rich, powerful and self-servicing men and women in a rich, powerful and self-serving neighboring country. Rosy Amaro Perez is not the bad guy. Her enemies are the bad guys.

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The Cuba Americans Don't Know

Nor are they supposed to!!

       This photo is from Santiago de Cuba. On the southeastern tip of the island, it is Cuba's former capital and its second largest and most important city, behind only the present-day capital of Havana, which is situated on the northwestern tip of the alligator-shaped Caribbean island. If you glance at a Cuban map, you'll see why Havana is sometimes called "the tail" and Santiago "the head" or "the mouth" of the alligator, or island. In the photo above, those old cannon still stare out at the sea entrance to Santiago. Those symbolic old rusty cannon signify that, from its discovery by Columbus in 1492, Cuba has always had to try to defend itself against the massive imperialist designs of foreign nations -- particularly Spain and America. But the history of Santiago is not why I feature it on April 19, 2017. Rather, it's the great old city's topicality.

         The new Mayor of Santiago de Cuba is Beatriz Johnson Urrutia. There is nothing at all unusual about a female being the new Mayor of Cuba's second largest and most important city. The Cuban Revolution in 1952 was started and finished by great female guerrilla fighters and recruiters, especially Celia Sanchez, Haydee Santamaria, Vilma Espin, Tete Puebla, etc. It was a war that the Castro brothers, Camilo Cienfuegos, Che Guevara and the other macho male characters later joined. After the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, women like Celia Sanchez, Haydee Santamaria and Vilma Espin made almost all of the key day-to-day decisions in Cuba except for military matters, which also deeply involved Cuban females such as Tete Puebla who today is a General in the Cuban army but as a teenager in the 1950s she was a fiercely feared female guerrilla fighter. Key guerrilla fighters and top decision-makers like Celia, Haydee and Vilma have died but the patterns they crafted on the island continue with day-to-day decisions mostly made by women such as Josefina Vidal, Marion Marbon Gonzalez, Elaine Diaz Rodriguez, Ana Teresa Igarza, Tania Vazquez Garcia, Anazansi Rodriguez, etc., and rising stars like Cristina Escobar and Jennifer Bello Martinez who are today the two most influential leaders of the all-important twenty-something generation of Cubans. SO, with Beatriz Johnson Urrutia becoming the Mayor of the hugely important city of Santiago de Cuba, its par-for-the-course on the island, at least since 1959, the year the extremely cruel, thieving, and misogynistic Batistiano and Mafiosi leaders were chased off the island by the female-fueled Revolution, mostly to become counter-revolutionaries from nearby Little Havana in Miami, Florida.

      The mainstream U. S. media is neither gutsy enough or competent enough to tell you the truth about Cuba, but sources such as Sarah Stephens WILL tell you the truth about both the island and its hugely significant relations with its contentious neighbor, the United States. Ms. Stephens for the past ten years has expertly and lovingly led the Washington-based Center for Democracy in the Americas. She writes the insightful "Cuba Central" portion of the CDA website that is posted each Friday. She has greatly influenced any positives related to Cuba, including those so bravely made by former President Barack Obama. She has also had the guts and the decency to excoriate the vast Castro Cottage Industry in the U. S. and to challenge the handful of extremist Cuban-Americans who, since 1959, have mostly dictated the Cuban narrative in the United States as well as dictated the harshest anti-Cuban laws in the United States Congress, laws that, not coincidentally, are geared to enrich and empower them while also mounting cruel and continuous counter-revolutionary tactics against Cuba. Ms. Stephens is also not adverse to pointing out that the majority of Americans and Cuban-Americans who allow this, in their cowardice and stupidity, are extremely unpatriotic, as evidenced by their lack of concern regarding such things as the current 191-to-0 condemnation in the United Nations of America's Batistiano-fueled Cuban policy. And of course, Ms. Stephens regularly condemns the gutless and biased mainstream U. S. media for lying to the American people about Cuba. For example, Ms. Stephens correctly posted this sentence on her website: "It's not often that the U. S. media commits a gaffe and inadvertently tells the truth about Cuba." INDEED!! Sarah Stephens is your best source for the truth when it comes to Cuba, U.S.-Cuba relations, and the U. S. media.

       And that brings me back around to Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, the new Mayor of Santiago de Cuba. The U. S. media and the U. S. Castro Cottage Industry want Americans to believe that mean revolutionary rulers in Cuba regularly machine-gun or otherwise spend half-their-time punishing women on the island while, in fact, it is women like Beatriz who make most of the day-to-day decisions in Cuba. Of course, the Castro Cottage Industry that dictates America's Cuban narrative and America's Cuban policy also dictated a legal U. S. law in Congress that to this day dictates that everyday Americans are the only people in the world without the freedom to visit Cuba. Visitors to Cuba, you see, might make judgments for themselves instead of only being told, decade after decade, what the Castro Cottage Industry wants you to think about Cuba.

       And, uh, did I mention that Beatriz Johnson Urrutia has just been ELECTED Mayor of Santiago de Cuba? The two ladies above are dropping their votes in the ballot box. I don't know how they voted but I do know that most of the votes were for the very popular and highly respected Beatriz Johnson Urrutia. 

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