Underestimating Cuba

Ignores Island's Resiliency!!
{Updated: Thursday, July 20th, 2017}

       A highly respected History Professor at the University of California has just returned from a visit to Cuba. Those two reasons -- a history expert and a person who judges Cuba after actually visiting the island -- gives him insight Americans are not supposed to have. That's because, since 1962, America's Batistiano-directed Cuban laws have made everyday Americans the only people in the world without the freedom to visit Cuba, lest they might judge it for themselves apart from the daily anti-Cuban propaganda they have been exposed to since the overthrown Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba was chased to U. S. soil on Jan. 1-1959. That Professor just back from Cuba is Mark Levine. That's him delivering a lecture. This week he wrote a long article available via major online venues. It's entitled: "WHY CUBA'S FUTURE COULD BE MORE PROMISING THAN THE U. S." As you digest that title, you should study the entire article to understand that Mark Levine didn't mean that the island of Cuba will soon exceed the wealth and power of the nearby world economic and military superpower. But he supports that title with logic that tells him -- an American historian just back from Cuba -- that the immense but always shackled potential of Cuba COULD POSSIBLY, if left to its own devices, soon be emphatically released.

         The photo above is courtesy of Ramon Espinoso/AP and it was used to illustrate the aforementioned article by Mark Levine. It shows medical graduates proudly displaying their diplomas, illustrating what Mr. Levine noticed first-hand: Cuba is flush with a well-educated young-adult generation ready and anxious to blossom. Using the above photo as a focal point, here are some of the points Mr. Levine stressed:
                         "If Trump does not spoil Cuba's transition, it could develop into a model welfare democracy. Cubans rightfully boast of their country's impressive level of human development and low levels of inequality and crime compared with so many other countries in the region.
                            "Cuba's 11 million population and relatively good natural resource base, along with its highly educated citizens and significant room for growth in almost every economic sector, have the potential to generate a transformation towards a form of social welfare democracy.
                       "Foreign investment in Cuba's innovative pharmaceutical, tourism and other industries continue to grow. Meanwhile, the U. S. under Trump is likely headed down a dark hole of plutocracy and racial, ethnic and class conflict on an unprecedented scale."
             With personal observations and quotes, Mark Levine was not predicting a particular cataclysm or an overall apocalyptic future for the U. S. but pointing out that the U. S., which has supported hard-line Cuban exiles for six decades in trying to destroy revolutionary Cuba, will have to concentrate on more urgent items such as a myriad of foreign problems as well as frightening domestic issues such as inequality, crime, and an increasingly alarming polarization of its weakening two-party system as well as ethnic disparities that highlight the dangerous and widening chasm separating the extremely rich from the extremely poor. With the U. S. under the divisive Trump having its own urgent foreign and domestic problems, Cuba is finally more able to deal with ALL THE OTHER NATIONS WHO ARE WILLING TO HELP CUBA ADVANCE as opposed to being punished by the U. S. in the past for even dealing commercially with Cuba.

           For example, study this Getty Images photo of a rejuvenated section of Old Havana. Right behind the newly excited AND EMPLOYED Cuban bedecked in a U. S. flag is a spanking new 5-Star hotel -- The Hotel Kempinski. It's a luxury Swiss hotel that's helping to hopefully revitalize Cuba and its famed capital city.

        President Obama's impact on Cuba, which includes his historic visit to the island in March of 2016, carved a niche in positive U.S.-Cuban relations that even President Trump, the Republican-dominated Congress, and normally unchecked counter-revolutionary Cubans will not be able to fully overturn. While Miami -- un-democratically it seems -- continues to send only counter-revolutionary zealots to Washington, MOST CUBAN-AMERICANS EVEN IN MIAMI STRONGLY FAVOR NORMAL RELATIONS WITH CUBA. So do most Americans. AND SO DOES THE ENTIRE WORLD, as evidenced by the current 191-to-0 vote in the United Nations that condemns America's Cuban policy EVEN AFTER MR. OBAMA SOFTENED THE VILEST ASPECTS.

         On April 16th of this year in Miami's Little Havana in the Artime Building named after a "hero" of the April-1961 failed Bay of Pigs attack on Cuba, the photo above shows President Trump holding up his newly signed memorandum that he claimed "wiped out" Obama's positive overtures to Cuba. Inside that building were only fierce counter-revolutionary Cubans and politicians, all of whom wildly cheered both Trump's speech and his memorandum. But outside on the streets Cuban-Americans demonstrated against Trump and his counter-revolutionaries, which included Miami members of the U. S. Congress. As with other Batistiano-related problems with the American democracy, when...if...the majority of Cuban-Americans in Miami are able to send a moderate to Congress, it might well indicate that the U. S. is finally trying to come to grips with a cruel Cuban policy that rightfully has that 191-to-0 denunciation in the UN.

            Cuba - - like all nations including those not targeted and embargoed for over half-a-century by the world's superpower - - has its share of problems. But as Professor Mark Levine observed on his recent visit to the island, Cuba is not the collapsing basket-case that Americans are repeatedly told about by a handful of vicious, self-serving counter-revolutionaries who believe they have the sole right to dictate America's Cuban narrative and America's Cuban policy. The photo above shows two of the typically "highly educated" young Cubans that Professor Levine knows about because he managed to visit Cuba and judge it for himself as opposed to the Batistiano-dictated U. S. law that for decades has made everyday Americans the only people in the world without the freedom to visit Cuba, and that un-democratic insanity exists to this day despite the Herculean efforts of President Obama to lessen its effects. For example, the two highly educated and very talented Cuban broadcast journalists depicted above are Rosy Amaro Perez and Daily Sanchez Lemus. They monitor coverage of Cuba in the U. S. media and they often point out, publicly and privately, how unfair that coverage is. Obama's entire speech when he was in Cuba and Trump's entire speech in Little Havana were both carried live on Cuban television. After watching Trump's speech, Rosy wrote on her influential Facebook page, "I've lived all my life in Cuba and the Cuba that Trump spoke of is not the Cuba that I know." Nor is it the Cuba that other Cuba-loving Cubans have known all their lives.

      Cuba's young superstar broadcast journalist Cristina Escobar tagged Rosy Amaro Perez's Facebook comment about Trump's Miami speech with this terse sentence: "Can I quote you?" Her way of totally agreeing with Rosy. And speaking, as Professor Mark Levine did, about talented, well-educated young-adult Cubans, Cristina Escobar is quite possibly the most talented broadcast journalist in the Americas. Fluent in English, she has made her mark both in Cuba and in Washington covering Cuban news -- including a ubiquitous domination of a White House news conference -- and while on U. S. soil she has made journalism speeches and held Q & A sessions at Universities in both California and Alabama.

       Because of her well-earned reputation, Cristina Escobar is often interviewed from Havana in international hook-ups related to Cuban and U.S.-Cuban issues. On venues such as YouTube and the Pulitzer Center website, an Escobar interview conducted in Cuba by respected American journalist Tracey Eaton perhaps best revealed her fierce love of Cuba and her admirable dedication to the field of broadcast journalism. If you check those sources you can see and hear Escobar statements such as: "Journalists in Cuba have more freedom to tell the truth about the U. S. than U. S. journalists have to tell the truth about Cuba;" and "Cuba's fate is up to Cubans on the island, not Cubans in Miami and Washington."

         The awesomely talented and respected Cristina Escobar, Cuba's wildly popular television anchor, is shown above delivering an "INTERNATIONAL COMMENTARY" critiquing President Trump's April 16th anti-Cuban speech in Miami's Little Havana Bay of Pigs building. It is the critique Cubans on the island strongly agreed with and, truth be known, probably the majority of Cuban-Americans in Miami also agreed with.

       Since 1959, most of America's news and views about Cuba have emanated from Little Havana in Miami or from counter-revolutionary Cuban-Americans in Congress, the only types capable of being elected although the majority of Cuban-Americans even in Miami agree with President Obama regarding Cuba.

Professor Mark Levine observed Cristina Escobar's Cuba.

"Cuba's fate is up to Cubans on the island..."
And by the way:

         The cheerful photo above shows Yodeni Maso Aquila this week giving a Thumbs Up for fellow journalist Rosy Amaro Perez. Cuban camaraderie on the island is both authentic and legendary.

          Three cheerful young Cuban broadcast journalists on their set yesterday: Rosy Amaro Perez, Yodeni Maso Aquila, and Yanet Perez Moya. They are concerned but unperturbed about Miami's antagonism.

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Cuba's Propaganda Enemies

Unchecked and Unsavory!!
{Updated: Tuesday, July 18th, 2017}  

      For being just a small island, relatively speaking, it is astounding how much vile anti-Cuban propaganda flows throughout the world's superpower, the U. S., on a daily basis...almost as if Cuba, as in the 1898 Spanish-American War and in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, is still the most important aspect of America's Foreign Policy. That relates, of course, to the unique fact that the vile and overthrown U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba regrouped permanently starting in 1959 on U. S. soil. Yes, finally taking control of Cuba from Spain in 1898 was vitally significant to imperialist and greedy right-wing Americans and so was teaming with the Mafia to support the murderous and thieving Batista dictatorship on the plush island beginning in 1952. But after the Cuban Revolution in 1959 booted Cuba's Batistianos and Mafiosi to Miami, a half-century of efforts, backed by the U. S. government and the U. S. taxpayers, have failed to recapture the island. The 1961 Bay of Pigs military attack didn't get the job done and neither has such sadistic tactics as the economic embargo that, since 1962, has been the longest and cruelest embargo ever imposed by a powerful nation against a weak nation. But, hey!! Propaganda might wipe-out little Cuba any day now!!

        The daily barrage of cruel and sadistic anti-Cuban propaganda is highlighted this mid-July week by Mary O'Grady. She is a powerful editor and columnist for the ultra-powerful Wall Street Journal and, unfortunately as indicated above, she considers herself an expert on Latin America. But primarily she is a vicious anti-Cuban propagandist and attack-dog. Each Monday O'Grady writes a column called "The Americas" and the Americas include little Cuba. This typically anti-Cuban O'Grady propaganda is entitled: "How Cuba Runs Venezuela." Her first three sentences are: "The civilized world wants to end the carnage in Venezuela, but Cuba is the author of the barbarism. Restoring Venezuelan peace will require taking a hard line with Havana. Step one is a full-throated international denunciation of the Castro regime." I assume that by "hard line" O'Grady means nuking Cuba because she apparently doesn't believe that assassination attempts, the Bay of Pigs military attack, massive and unending terrorist attacks such as the bombing of the civilian Cubana Flight 455, the 1962-till-today embargo, etc., etc., have been "hard line" assaults on Cuba. Yet, such daily vitriol and propaganda masquerading as "news" is far more harmful to the prestige of the United States than it is to Cuba. O'Grady, for example, assumes her readers are either anti-Cuban zealots or just plain stupid. She has the gall, as noted above in the second sentence of her new propaganda sheet, to call for "a full-throated international denunciation" of Cuba. Of course, even while O'Grady and her ilk have been unable to persuade the United States to nuke Cuba, she doesn't have the integrity to mention that the INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY  has already spoken IN UNANIMITY regarding the Batistiano-directed American Cuban policy -- and the UN CONDEMNED IT by a vote of 191-to-0. 

       The anti-Cuban propagandist at the Wall Street Journal, Mary O'Grady, epitomizes why U. S. journalism has plummeted to depths never imagined before in democratic societies. One primary reason is that once-great institutions such as the Wall Street Journal are being purchased by multi-billionaires apparently for propaganda purposes. Amazon multi-billionaire Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post that now seems engaged in a massive propaganda-fueled effort to overturn the U. S. presidential election; Nevada-and-China's controversial multi-billionaire  casino mogul Sheldon Edelson bought Nevada's largest newspaper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, apparently because it was too critical of Edelson. And Rupert Murdoch -- born 86-years-old in Melbourne, Australia -- purchased the WSJ for $5 billion in 2007. Prior to that it was probably the most respected newspaper in the United States. Murdoch -- the Aussie-British-USA media mogul -- also owns Fox, Fox News, 21st Century Fox, Harper Collins Publishers, etc., etc. The WSJ was founded in 1889 and became America's first national newspaper. It was the Bancroft family's and America's pride and joy. But if you Google either "Rupert Murdoch" or the "Wall Street Journal," you will note that one of the first articles will reveal how the remaining members of the Bancroft family "regret" selling their prize to Murdoch. If you read the new propaganda piece about Cuba by Mary O'Grady, you may understand why.

MEANWHILE, while rich and powerful counter-revolutionary zealots in the rich and powerful United States -- Like Mary O'Grady -- spend countless hours assaulting Cuba at every turn, on the island itself there are extremely decent, honorable, family-oriented, well-educated, hard-working young Cuban women such as the skilled broadcast journalists shown above this week reporting on an event for their popular television broadcast. On the left is Rosy Amaro Perez and her colleague and friend is Daily Sanchez Lemus. There are decent people in this world who believe that Rosy and Daily shouldn't be punished ALL THEIR LIVES by a handful of self-serving, unchecked miscreants in a nearby superpower. And that reflects most of all not on revengeful benefactors in America like Mary O'Grady but on the majority of America's cowardly, unpatriotic and silent citizens who permit such abominations to occur decade after decade IN OUR NAMES.

      So, if you want an anti-Cuba/anti-Venezuela propaganda piece this week, read Mary O'Grady's Wall Street Journal propaganda. But if you want fair and unbiased news today about the tragic political, social and economic turmoil in Venezuela, turn to John Paul Rathbone of the London-based and highly regarded Economic Times. His latest article is entitled: "Cuba Courted in Diplomatic Push on Venezuela Crisis."

            John Paul Rathbone in the Financial News July 17th used the photo above to illustrate his fair article. It shows Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Venezuelan President Nicolas Madura. Santos has flown to Havana to solicit Cuba's help to try to ease or end the turmoil in Venezuela that has killed 90 protesters in the past three months and is causing Venezuelans to flock across the border into Colombia seeking food and medicine not available in Venezuelan. Cuba is Venezuela's closest ally but Latin American nations often turn to Cuba during periods of crisis. In Venezuela's case, Madura blames much of his country's problems on anti-Cuban elements in Miami, Congress and the Donald Trump White House.

        Both Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos and Cuban President Raul Castro recently received considerable international praise for brokering a peace treaty between Colombia and FARC rebels who had waged an extremely bloody half-century Civil War in which hundreds of thousands of people died.

         Prior to the incredible ceasefire in Havana that Cuba spent many months hosting, U. S. taxpayers contributed billions of dollars to the Colombia-FARC war -- especially during Bush administrations that were tightly aligned with conservative Colombian Presidents. But Santos is a peace-loving President. That's  why he worked so hard for a FARC ceasefire and that's why he's back in Cuba trying to get Havana's help in dealing with the ghastly Venezuelan crisis. Cuba bringing the President of Colombian and the guerrilla leader of the FARC rebels together to hammer out a ceasefire was both a Herculean and monumental achievement although anti-Cuban propagandists would never admit it. While much larger countries supported either the Colombia government solders or the FARC rebels, prolonging the half-century war, little Cuba almost single-handedly and evenhandedly negotiated the peace treaty.

         The FARC rebel leader Timochenko Jimenez, shown above in an AP photo, suffered a stroke on July 2nd, 2017 and was in intensive care in Colombia, which has excellent hospitals. But he chose to return to Cuba for treatment and recovery. His real name is Rodrigo Londono. The very week he suffered the stroke, the UN announced that its observers have certified that his rebels have "completely disarmed" in accordance with the peace agreement hammered out in Havana. The UN has confirmed that over 220,000 people died in the conflict. Now Colombia's President Santos is back in Cuba hoping to end the bloody Venezuelan crisis that anti-Cuban propagandist Mary O'Grady says in the Wall Street Journal today: "Cuba is the author of the barbarism." Of course, such propagandists accuse Cuba of all sorts of barbarism while implying its Batistiano and Mafiosi enemies are and always have been sweetheart Mother Teresa-types.

       This photo shows the President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos, on the right, arriving in Havana this week on two important missions: One is to discuss the unrest and turmoil roiling Venezuela but it was an already scheduled trip by Santos to promote renewed economic relations between Colombia and Cuba.

And by the way:

        While Mary O'Grady, the anti-Cuban propagandist at the Wall Street Journal, is a self-proclaimed Latin American expert, John Paul Rathbone at the Economic Times is a true Latin American expert. His book depicted above -- "THE SUGAR KING of HAVANA: The Rise and Fall of Julio Lobo -- Cuba's Last Tycoon" -- still stands tall as a fascinating and richly detailed portrait of Cuba, to paraphrase the New York Times.

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As Long As Cuba Smiles

It Will Survive, Maybe Thrive!

       I try day-by-day to judge the rhythms of Cuba -- the gorgeous and pugnacious Caribbean island that has survived so many obstacles, namely a virtual unending menagerie of natural and man-made hurricanes. My most visceral and revealing test, I confess, is to monitor a brilliant and vivacious young Cuban woman named Rosy Amaro Perez. She has, for example, the most beguiling and awesomely beautiful smiles. And, I sincerely believe, as long as Rosy keeps smiling, Cuba will be OK.

     This photo this week shows Rosy Amaro Perez at work. She is a superbly talented and dedicated broadcast journalist -- highly trained and well-educated. The family-oriented Rosy is also fiercely dedicated to her husband, her beautiful look-alike daughter, and to her beloved island. As a high-profile journalist, and as a gregarious and social-minded young woman, Rosy is quite influential on the island -- especially with the all-important young-adult generation but also with older Cubans who deeply admire and respect her talent, her zest for life, and especially her love for Cuba.

        And so, this is the smile that tells me...day-by-day...about the rhythms and pulsations that define Cuba. As long as it exists...meaning that smile...I believe that Cuba can survive both its age-old problems and its topical ones as it navigates forward. Yes, it is vitally important that Rosy Amaro Perez keeps smiling. Left to its own devices and guided by its talented, well-educated and Cuba-loving young-adult generation, Cuba can be on the cusp of not only surviving but thriving. It has always had that potential and if Rosy keeps smiling I think it will be realized.

Rosy Amaro Perez and...that smile.

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Cruising to Cuba Accelerates

But So Do Foreign Troubles!

      Cuba is only an island but its intrigue and importance in its region and on the world stage is far out of proportion to its size, population, and economy. Its close proximity and calamitous relations with the the world superpower, the United States, crowns the island's significance as well as its struggles for independence against powerful imperial forces. But on its own, Cuba is the largest island and arguably the most beautiful one in the Caribbean, which is a delicate and vital combination of island nations neighboring both the mighty U. S. and Latin America. From 1492 till today -- mid-July of 2017 -- Cuba has been spotlighted with an international gaze because of its own attributes and the covetous desires of foreign powers to dominate it. Both historically and topically, Cuba has been and still is a fascinating factor. Google will help you research its fascinating history while I update its topicality.

       Much is made of the fact that South Florida is and has been since 1959 fiercely anti-Cuba. That's because to kick-off 1959 the Cuban Revolution booted the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship off the island, but only as far as South Florida where Little Havana in Miami became the new capital for the Batistiano-Mafiosi exiles who still had the backing of the mighty U. S. in its still-very-viable efforts to recapture the island. But since 1959 much of the Cuban narrative has mostly been dictated out of Miami by the counter-revolutionary Batistianos. Thus, Americans are not supposed to realize that the majority of Cuban-Americans even in Miami favor normal relations with Cuba, not Batistiano-directed cruelty and hostilities. If you study the above map, note the red star in the upper-left corner. Port Canaveral in South Florida north of Miami and Fort Lauderdale, aligned with the Cuban-American majority in desiring normal Cuban relations, is now boldly promoting itself as "America's Gateway to Cuba."

      With strong encouragement from the plethora of Cuban-American business interests in South Florida, Port Canaveral is orchestrating more-and-more cruises to Cuba. The magnificent cruise ship depicted above is in the middle of the Florida Straits heading to Cuba from Port Canaveral. This week the audacious port and the Norwegian Cruise Lines announced a sharp increase in their cruises to Cuba.

     The photo above shows the Norwegian Sky arriving in Havana Harbor. This week the Orlando Sentinel and the Orlando television station WFTV had excellent reports entitled: "Norwegian Adds Cuba to More Destinations from Port Canaveral." After brave overtures from former President Obama, Cuban tourism exceeded four million in 2016 and is ahead of that pace in 2017. Thanks to Obama, nine U. S. airlines jumped at the chance to make the first commercial flights to Cuba since 1961. But restricted by the U. S. embargo that has existed since 1962, Cuba was not prepared for such an influx of visitors from the U. S., particularly when it came to hotel rooms. New hotels are being built, including some 5-Stars, and the U.S.-based AIRbnb is helping over 8,000 private Bed & Breakfast enterprises to sell out their accommodations. Meanwhile, the excessive air flights from the U. S. have been reduced and that has boosted the cruise lines because their ships have their own bedrooms for tourists.

     But Norwegian's newly ambitious cruises to Cuba from Florida are facing stiff competition from other lines. The graphic above shows the trajectory from Miami to Cuba for Carnival Cruise Line's Fathom ship, which circles the island with major stops in Havana, Cienfuegos, and Santiago de Cuba before returning to Miami, Florida.

      But each day, it seems, if positive headlines for Cuba are made in newspapers and television stations in Orlando, negative headlines abound elsewhere to overwhelm or balance them out. The photo above is a case-in-point. It shows American baseball superstar Miguel Cabrera playing back in March in the World Baseball Classic for his beloved native country -- Venezuela. Offsetting those good Cuban headlines in Orlando, here is the giant headline in USA Today yesterday -- July 12, 2017: "Venezuelan Mess Troubles Cabrera." That "Venezuelan Mess" also "Troubles" Cuba because, for the past two decades, Venezuela has been Cuba's very special friend.

    The political and social turmoil and violence in Venezuela deeply concerns Miguel Cabrera, Cuba and the entire region. The oil-rich nation of Venezuela is so broke and so massively dysfunctional that its citizens, at least those not engaged in overthrowing the Cuba-friendly Maduro government, are crossing the border into Colombia in droves trying to purchase badly needed food and medicine that is not available in Venezuela. Meanwhile, in the U. S. and in Venezuela Miguel is a superhero. Now 34, he has been one of Major League Baseball's greatest all-time hitters since he was a World Series star at age 20. His current salary with the Detroit Tigers averages $31 million a year based on the guaranteed $248 million contract he signed in 2016 that runs until 2023 when he will be 41-years-old. It is now known that Miguel is having to pay huge dollars in ransom and blackmail to keep his mother and other relatives safe amidst the violence that embroils his native Venezuela.

      Safe in America, Miguel Cabrera and his wife Rosengel are very protective of their immediate family...but extremely worried about their relatives in Venezuela, including Miguel's mother. Here are his key quotes in USA Today yesterday: "The first advice I was given was to not get involved in politics, and I never have. But right now we have to get involved, because they have kidnapped our country. I am tired of having to pay bribes. I am tired of hearing that they are going to kidnap my mother, and I don't know whether it is a policeman or a bad guy. I don't know who they are. All I know is if I don't pay, those people disappear. This is a greeting to the people of the resistance. You are not alone. We will continue to support you." Chillingly, Miguel is aware that his mother and others close to him in Venezuela would "disappear" if he did not pay huge ransom amounts and he is aware that he would be "killed" if he returned to his native country. Oil-rich Venezuela sits on the world's largest known oil reserves and yet turmoil and crime have ravaged the nation, which until recently had a trade deal that provided Cuba with 100,000 barrels of badly needed oil per day. The USA Today yesterday said "an estimated 2 million Venezuelans have fled the country...with a large number choosing the Miami area." But apparently Miguel's mother can't leave and Miguel can't visit her as he pays big money in bribes so she won't "disappear."

      As mentioned, there were two positive Cuban headlines emanating from Orlando yesterday. But, the same day, there were two off-setting negative headlines too. One concerned the news about Venezuela and Miguel Cabrera. The other relates to the Reuters photo above. The worried man is 71-year-old Lula da Silva who was President of Brazil from 2003 till 2011 and who was wildly popular enough to turn over the presidency to his top associate Dilma Rousseff who was then democratically elected President twice. But in 2016 she was impeached in what she and Lula call a coup. And then yesterday Lula was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison. To stress the importance of that sentencing, note that Brazil is the strongest, richest, biggest and most populated Latin American country. Lula was once called by President Obama "the most important leader in the world." Cuba concurred with that assessment because Lula, who idolized Fidel Castro, was Cuba's dear friend.

      The photo above shows Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff in happier days when his two-terms as President of Brazil was transferred to two more democratically elected terms for her. In mighty Brazil, how in the world could Dilma be impeached and Lula sentenced to almost ten years in prison when, to this day, most Brazilians support them because they raised millions of the poorest Brazilians out of abject poverty. It's that very reason, they say, that rich Brazilians, the powerful minority, induced people like Speaker of the House Eduardo Cunha and current President Michel Temer to mount the "coup" that ended what was to be the 16-year reign of Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff. Indeed, Cunha has since been sentenced to 15 years in prison and President Temer is also currently facing corruption charges.

      The Brazilian judge, Sergio Moro, who sentenced Lula to 9.5 years in prison didn't dare order Lula to prison because the majority poor in Brazil might have mounted a revolution if that had been done. Lula himself says he will run yet again for President in Brazil's 2018 elections and, if that important election is fair, the majority poor might give him a third term, making up for the truncation of Dilma Rousseff's 2nd term.

      The previous photo and the one above are courtesy of AFP/Getty Images. This one shows a Lula da Silva supporter berating what she calls Brazil's "coup-mongers." Brazil's democratic election in 2018 might return Lula to power, negating his long prison sentence. But regardless of what happens in Latin America's most important nation, the consequences for Cuba and Latin America are enormous.

Lula da Silva worshiped Fidel Castro.

        As President and former president, Lula visited the ailing Fidel Castro multiple times, right up until the legendary Cuban died at age 90 on November 25th, 2016.

       As the powerful two-term President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff repeatedly paid reverent respect to her idol, the terminally ill Fidel Castro, and to his island nation.

      This is Dilma Rousseff at the age when, inspired by the Cuban Revolution, she became a guerrilla fighter to help overthrow a vile U.S.-backed dictatorship.

      But the young Dilma Rousseff was captured. For two years in a military prison she was unmercifully tortured. As President of Brazil, she was asked by the Brazil Truth Commission to testify about her ordeal during the time, still ongoing, in which still-living former Latin American dictators were being brought to trial for their "crimes." The vile dictators Dilma opposed so vehemently ruled Brazil from 1964 till 1985.

        This photo on Dec. 10-2014 shows Dilma Rousseff, in her second term as the democratically elected President of Brazil, testifying tearfully before the Brazil Truth Commission about the two years she was unmercifully tortured in that prison.

       This photo from The Guardian captured a moment when President Dilma Rousseff broke down when testifying in 2014 about her torture in that Brazilian prison back in the early 1970s. The 2,000-word transcript of her statement is posted online.

      After twice being democratically elected President of mighty Brazil, Dilma Rousseff was one of the most powerful people in the world, just a notch or two below America's two-term President Barack Obama when the above photo was taken.

      This REUTERS photo shows Dilma Rousseff after she was impeached as President of Brazil in 2016. She believes to this day, as do millions of others, that the "coup" that ended her reign was engineered by rich Brazilians and rich Americans who resented how much money she and her mentor Lula da Silva devoted to improving the lives of Brazil's majority poor people. While Lula, also a former two-term President, was sentenced to 9.5 years in prison yesterday, the Brazilian elections in 2018 might redeem Lula and Dilma. Eleven million Cubans hope so.

And by the way:

       The two AP photos above show a young Donald Trump and a young Barack Obama, one in his prim-and-proper military-school uniform and the other just a carefree dude in Hawaii smoking a weed. As you ponder these photos, note that history will forever register what happened to these two rather different guys.

        On January 20th of 2017 Donald Trump became the 45th President of the United States, succeeding Barack Obama who had served two-terms and eight years as the 44th President of the United States.

       The photo above is courtesy of the London Telegraph and it shows America's lovely First Lady Melania Trump, attired all in red, and United States President Donald Trump departing Air Force One after their arrival in Paris this morning -- July 13th of 2017. The British newspapers and the superb BBC network lavishly and fairly cover major stories -- such as what's happening in Venezuela and Brazil that might lead to coups, revolutions or civil wars. And the Brits fairly cover things such as the new American President arriving in France THIS MORNING for very vital meetings with the new President of France.

   This Radio Free Europe photo shows First Lady Melania and President Trump getting off Air Force One today at Orly Airport south of Paris. On all three of his foreign trips, Melania has been a very classy, stylish and beautiful First Lady.

First Lady & President in Paris today.

    Meanwhile, in the U. S. the mainstream media, except for Fox News, is obsessed with only one thing -- impeaching President Trump, thereby showing zero respect not just for Trump but also for the office of President and the democratic election that put him in the White House. The photos above showing U. S. President Trump and Russian President Putin are topically side-by-side today because Trump's relations with Putin are currently the prime topic being used to dethrone Trump via a daily 24-hour coup being led by four powerful mainstream media sources -- CNN, NBC, The New York Times and The Washington Post. That coup conspiracy is as apparent as a bright sunrise because it is ongoing and will continue until or if Trump is dethroned. I am not a Trump supporter and agree that he was not qualified to be President. But Trump was elected because he was a non-politician and enough American voters were tired of incumbent, recycled, bought-and-paid-for establishment politicians running Washington. While I am not a Trump supporter, I respect his office and America's democracy, it seems, more than the unabashed and unapologetic coup-mongers listed above.

Also:

        A group that includes Michael Jordan and Derek Jeter is about to purchase the Major League Miami Marlins baseball team with a bid of about $1.2 billion. Jordan himself is a billionaire who owns the NBA Charlotte Hornets, is now married to a Cuban wife, and still earns over $100 million a year from endorsement deals, primarily an ultra-lucrative Nike shoe contract, almost two decades after his NBA career ended. Jeter, the recently retired New York Yankees shortstop, also still rakes in enormous endorsement dollars and he will be the primary front-office boss of the Marlins. Jeter's group out-bid offers from the son of politician Mitt Romney as well as the $1.17 billion bid from Miami billionaire Jorge Mas, who is the son of the late Jorge Mas Canosa, the all-time richest and most powerful anti-Castro Cuban-born counter-revolutionary in Miami. The Miami Marlins are the poorest of the 30 Major League teams and are projected to lose $80 million this season despite huge television contracts and other residual connections that benefit all Major League teams.

        The city of Miami and the Miami Marlins are still shaken by the tragic death of super pitcher Jose Fernandez from a boating accident on September 25, 2016. He was born in 1992 in Santa Clara, Cuba, and in his early 20s had been well-established as one of the greatest and most valuable baseball properties in the entire world.

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