THE NEXT REVOLUTION

Cuba? Venequela? No, America!

      The photo above is courtesy of the Boston Globe. You probably don't know this beautiful American woman. And you're not supposed to. But her name is Omarosa Manigault-Newman. She is a catalyst...a reason...for my belief that the next headline-grabbing Revolution in the Americas will be in America, not in Cuba or even Venezuela. Permit me to explain and remember that I don't say what I just said lightly, fondly, or gratuitously. I am a lifelong democracy-loving American whose hometown is Charlottsville, Virginia, which is now grabbing international headlines and gruesome videos for its deadly racial clashes that began August 12th, 2017, and will continue. In a long life, everyone who knows me knows I have never violated a law, not even a traffic ticket, and all my life I have fought against racism aimed at black Americans. That fight has taken me many times across the famed Edmund Pettus bridge into Selma, Alabama...the renowned cradle of the Civil Rights movement and a city where I stubbornly roomed with a black cameraman co-worker at the Montgomery television station where we both worked. Now, with that candid and honest backdrop, I'll explain why I think the next Revolution or Civil War in the Americas will take place in the United States and not in the besieged nations of Cuba or Venezuela. Yes, what is happening in my hometown of Charlottesville bolstered my concerns for America but so did what happened to Omarosa Manigault-Newman.

       Earlier this year, Omarosa Manigault married an Africa-American pastor named John Allen Newman. The marriage took place in Washington in the Trump International Hotel to honor their dear friend, the President of the United States.

     United States President Donald Trump is Omarosa Manigault-Newman's dear friend...and boss. She works for him. Those two basic facts make her a pariah to the mainstream U. S. media, which is trying desperately to impeach Trump, and to the anti-white African-American extremists who believe firmly that decent Americans like Omarosa do not have the right or the freedom to express their opinions. {I am not a Trump supporter and, in fact, do not think he was qualified to be President of the United States. But I support the Office of President and the Electoral Process that put him in the White House, two things his coup-mongering enemies do not support. And, of course, I support Omarosa's rights to freely express her opinions without being grossly targeted by left-wing extremists who also happen to be African-Americans}.

   Very innocently this week Omarosa Manigault-Newman attended a Convention of Black Journalists because she was invited to attend. But IT WAS A TRAP. She was allowed to speak, during which she explained that her success as a black journalist happened despite such handicaps as her race and the fact that both her father and her brother had been murder victims in crime-ridden America. The moderator of the event was Ed Gordon, a well-known African-American activist, extremist, or...whatever. Now study very carefully the shameful photo above that was spread all over the Twitter-Facebook universe complete with vicious verbal assaults against Omarosa such as, "You have my permission to slap her, Ed;" "Token house-n*****;" and right beside the photo of a black female lawyer were/are these words, "I will handle your criminal defense for free, Ed." Such open displays and promotions of violence by anti-white African-American extremists are commonplace because they are supported by the mainstream U. S. media and generally unchallenged by intimidated and/or politically correct Americans. Therefore, as depicted by the photo above, Ed Gordon was ready to spring the trap on the unsuspecting Omarosa. He left the podium and confronted her face-to-face, berating her audacity for apparently...accepting the invitation to attend the event and then expressing her sincere and honest views. He then turned to the audience-choir and continued to mock and berate a decent African-American -- Omarosa Manigault-Newman. Study the photo above taken in New Orleans on Aug. 13, 2017. It explains why I think America is teetering on the precipice of a Revolution or Civil War. And either could be bloody.

     Left-wing whites and African-American extremists who assault decent African-Americans like Omarosa Manigault-Newman have unfettered free-reign in the U. S. media and in the politically correct environs of America's political arenas. Such undemocratic indecency, in fact, now elevates such nefarious behavior economically, politically and even judicially in the United States. BUT it also produces enough reactions from totally fed-up non-extremists Americans to put a Donald Trump in the White House as opposed to the usual trends that strongly favor bought-and-paid-for "establishment" candidates from endless streams of Bush dynasty/Clinton dynasty-type big-money Washington incumbents. At the moment in America, Omarosa's enemies are democracy's enemies and they are, I believe, far more a threat to the U. S. democracy than a Donald Trump presidency is. That's because they unlike Trump can get away with assaulting decent Americans like Omarosa and shamefully denying them the right to speak, the right to vote for or work for the politician of their choice, and the right to oppose the extreme viewpoints of either the right-wing or left-wing fringes that dominate the U. S. media, especially the pundit-driven, propaganda-obsessed television networks owned by biased billionaires.

      I firmly believe that Pastor John Allen Newman and his beautiful wife Omarosa Manigault should have the exact same right to express their opinions in the United States, the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, as extreme right-wing and extreme left-wing thugs have. But because those caught in the middle of those two fringes -- like John and Omarosa -- don't have such rights, at least not without being grotesquely mocked or assaulted, I will repeat what Omarosa discovered when she was ambushed at that Convention for Black Journalists on Aug. 13th in New Orleans. The mainstream U. S. media will loudly broadcast what certainly appears to be extreme anti-white racism by African-Americans such as that espoused by black activists such as moderator Ed Gordon, CNN's Van Jones, Charlottesville's Wes Bellamy, etc., but wouldn't dare touch the far more sane and decent viewpoints of African-Americans like John Allen Newman and Omarosa Manigault-Newman. This past Saturday a white right-wing racist from Ohio murdered a decent and totally innocent young white woman named Heather amid the abominable and out-of-control racial turmoil in my hometown of Charlottesville. The same weekend the left-wing fringe ambushed and verbally assaulted a decent and totally innocent young black woman named Omarosa. The events in Charlottesville are being used as fodder for America's left-wing fringes, including the mainstream media; but such episodes as the one involving Omarosa are not factored into the equation. Thus, the fringes in America are allowed to use black racism to allegedly fight white racism to further their extremist views and goals. Right-wing racism and extremism has bred left-wing racism and extremism in America and vice-versa. Neither the American democracy nor the U. S. media seem capable of preventing those two extremely fringe elements from catapulting the United States of America into another Revolution or another Civil War. If you doubt that possibility, you don't know Omarosa Manigault-Newman.

In other words:

     I believe an intelligent, decent and successful American, Omarosa Manigualt-Newman, has a right to speak in America. When she spoke {photo above}, she was ambushed and assaulted by fellow black journalists. It happened on August 13th, the day after the deadly racial turmoil in Charlottesville. She had been invited to speak in New Orleans at a Convention of Black Journalists. The invitation apparently was a trap. When she spoke, above, she was jeered, mocked and ambushed, apparently by other black journalists who loudly proclaim to be non-racist and pro-democracy.

      The moderator in New Orleans, Ed Gordon, berated, mocked and verbally assaulted Omarosa as she sat helplessly and innocently staring up at him, as shown by the ABC photo depicted above. I believe that was an affront to Omarosa and to America's democracy. The fact that the mainstream U. S. media ignores such undemocratic insults and cancers greatly exacerbates the festering problem even as a Revolution or Civil War looms on America's once-exalted and brilliant horizon.

       I did not vote for nor do I support President Donald Trump. But I support Omarosa's right and freedom to vote for him, to support him and to work for him.

         I believe those who assault Omarosa's right to support and work for President Trump are anti-democracy rogues who believe they are above the U. S. democracy.

       I believe that CNN, instead of covering the news, is engaged in a conspiracy-coup to impeach President Trump along with its other mainstream media allies such as MSNBC, NBC, New York Times and Washington Post. For example, study the above photo that features the CNN microphone. Whatever Trump was saying was sure to be distorted by the CNN anchors and pundits for the next 12 hours or more. The big news in the photo above was Darrell Scott, the influential black pastor from Ohio, shown standing next to Trump. With strong support from people like Scott in modestly populated but troubled states like Ohio, Trump shocked the world by winning the presidency. But when such things as the Scott and Trump nexus are dissected by staunchly anti-white high-profile racist pundits like Van Jones, Ana Navarro, etc., CNN viewers are supposed to conclude that Trump is the biggest threat to democracy, to America and to the world and that his only support comes from ignorant, uneducated white racists. I do not support President Trump but I now believe that the biased U. S. media happens to be the biggest threat to democracy, America and, because of America's impact, to the world. And, oh yes, America! There are decent, educated blacks like Darrell Scott who strongly support Donald Trump!

A fighter for Trump, Dr. Darrell Scott.

There are many black Trump supporters.

     In addition to black journalists like Omarosa Manigault, black preachers like Darrell Scott, etc., there are powerful black Talk Show Hosts like the very influential Larry Elder who strongly support President Trump and just as strongly denounce both left-and-right-wing extremism in the African-American community. Elder, a radio giant, also went on conservative television networks to strongly support President Trump's reaction to the racial turmoil in Charlottesville, pointing out that even the wildly left-wing ACLU "also" blamed white supremacists, neo-Nazis, AND extremists left-wing groups such as Black Lives Matter for provoking the Charlottesville strife to further their own nefarious goals. But the mainstream U. S. media totally ignored respected black Americans like Larry Elder and even the left-leaning ACLU in their typical urgency to blame only Trump and his supporters for the Charlottesville racial riots.

         But most of all, Omarosa Manigault-Newman reminds me that the United States of America -- not Cuba, not Venezuela, etc. -- is more ripe for another Revolution or another Civil War than other nations in the Americas. When left-wing fringe elements battling right-wing fringe elements in America are sucking up America's democratic oxygen with the help of a politically correct government and a very vividly biased mainstream media, decent Americans like Omarosa are caught in the vile cross-hairs of insanity. As a democracy lover, I believe Omarosa has a right to vote, to speak and to work for the democratically elected President of the United States. Of course, the left-wing fringe elements and the mainstream U. S. media will blame such an impending Revolution or Civil War on Trump and his supporters...including Omarosa.

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A Sunset in Cuba

As the Sun Sets in Charlottesville!
{Charlottesville is my hometown}

     The beautiful, peaceful sunset above is courtesy of Rosy Amaro Perez. It depicted the start of a typically calm Saturday night in Cuba on August 12th, 2017.

       This photo is courtesy of the New York Times. It was taken just prior to sunset on August 12th in Charlottesville, Virginia, the site of a violent racist white-vs.-black extremism that resulted in many injuries and three deaths. I am a native of Charlottesville and I wish the sunset today over Charlottesville was as peaceful as the sunset in Havana. Charlottesville is a very rich city of 47,000 people and where Thomas Jefferson's Monticello home and his University of Virginia is located.

      The violent turmoil in my hometown of Charlottesville-USA today was the top international news story on August 12th, 2017. As noted above, some of the worldwide coverage actually chose to warn its viewers of the "graphic content."

      After sunset on Saturday, August 12th, 2017 in Cuba, this was a typical street on the island. It is politically incorrect in the USA to say so, but Revolutionary Cuba just happens to be one of the safest nations in the world. In the USA many big cities like Chicago and, yes, even little cities like my Charlottesville are prone to violence.

A Cuban street Saturday, Aug. 12-2017.

     All of these updated Cuban photos are courtesy of Rosy Amaro Perez. That's her with the usual smile as she shares a moment with a friend. As long as Rosy keeps smiling, I believe, Revolutionary Cuba will survive its many problems -- both domestic and foreign. She is a highly respected leader of the young-adult generation of Cubans that fervently support the island's sovereignty and independence.

In the middle, Rosy with friends.

     Rosy is a skilled broadcast journalist.

On a Cuban street, Rosy at work.

       As a high-profile and influential young Cuban, Rosy Amaro Perez is quite active online in social circles, especially Facebook. For example, on April 16th when U. S. President Donald Trump savaged Cuba to the cheers of counter-revolutionary Cubans in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood, Rosy watched Trump's speech live on Cuban television. She then said on her Facebook page: "The Cuba that Trump described is not the Cuba I know, and I've lived here all my life." The mainstream U. S. media ubiquitously allows, without daring to question, counter-revolutionary zealots like profiteering U. S. Senator Marco Rubio from Miami to savage Revolutionary Cuba to their heart's content. Rubio has never been to Cuba. But Rosy Amaro Perez lives there. And she has opinions too. So, there are two sides to the U.S.-Cuban equation.

A Cuban sunset courtesy of Flickr.

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Cuban Hardliners Rejoice

About Pretexts to Attack Cuba!

         This AP photo shows the daughter of an American diplomat looking out the window of the U. S. Embassy in Havana. This embassy in Havana and the Cuban embassy in Washington are products of former President Barack Obama having the courage and decency to try to take America's Cuban policy out of the brutal and revengeful hands of two generations of Miami and Congressional Cubans. Obama reversed a half-century of Batistiano-dictated assaults on Revolutionary Cuba by, among other things, reopening the Havana and Washington embassies. When the Democrat Obama was replaced on Jan. 20-2017 by the Republican Trump, the Cuban hardliners in the U. S. not only envisioned reversing the Obama overtures to Cuba but also, at long last, they saw an opportunity to regain control of Cuba as in the U.S.-backed halcyon days of the Batista-Mafia rule of Cuba from 1952 till 1959. Since the astounding triumph of the Cuban Revolution on Jan. 1-1959, the Miami Cuban Mafia has insisted on dictating America's Cuban policy and, prior to Obama, that was amazingly easy thanks to its alliances with the Bush dynasty and a handful of Bob Torricelli/Jesse Helms-type right-wingers in the U. S. Congress. Obama at least for a time made it a bit tougher but now with the Republican control of the White House and both Houses of Congress, the Counter-Revolutionary Cuban zealots are prancing in high clover once again. So, the little American girl staring so innocently out the window of the Obama-orchestrated U. S. Embassy in Havana portends many covert and overt things in the intricate and tumultuous conundrums that herald U.S.-Cuban relations.

        The Miami Cuban Mafia since January of 1959 has, incredibly, been unable to regain control of Cuba despite an arsenal that includes backing from the CIA, the U. S. military, and the United States Congress.

       At age 70, James Bamford is enshrined as America's greatest Emmy-winning investigative journalist. His books such as Body of Secrets, A Pretext for War, and The Shadow Factory are considered classics and must-reads for anyone interested in knowing the true documented facts about important issues long-declassified {hidden} by the U. S. government to protect right-wing thugs from being criminally liable for dastardly anti-democratic deeds committed against innocent individuals or nations. James Bamford, for example, was the great U. S. journalist who unveiled, once and for all, criminal and long-declassified U. S. government enterprises such as Northwoods, Mongoose, etc. designed to recapture Cuba for the Batista-Mafia exiles shortly after the 1959 triumph of the Cuban Revolution. Bamford's diligent, brave and indisputable revelations revealed massive schemes by the U. S. government to provide Pretexts for an all-out military attack on Cuba. The schemes included an incredible and startling series of murderous attacks against innocent Americans that would be blamed on Cuba, with the bloody results being presented to the American people to justify a massive military attack on Cuba. Bamford's vital investigative and unchallenged findings regarding Northwoods, Mongoose and the vast array of Batistiano-Mafiosi-American criminal contortions aimed at Revolutionary Cuba remain significant to historians and many democracy-loving Americans although the Batistiano dominance of America's Cuban policies and narratives since 1959 has resulted in most Americans being unconcerned with how much America's Cuban policies have demeaned America and Democracy -- resulting, for example, in the current 191-to-0 condemnation in the UN of America's embargo against Cuba.

     In this second week of August-2017, reminders of the documented Northwoods-Mongoose revelations by the great James Bamford were revived by CBS News reporter Julianna Goldman. Even with the mainstream U. S. media mostly engaged with making sure President Trump is impeached in short order, and even with the world concerned about a threatened U.S.-North Korean nuclear war, Ms. Goldman and the rest of the mainstream U. S. media also included a news item about Cuba, which concerned a strange mystery illness suffered by several Americans at the U. S. embassy in Cuba. I hereby feature Ms. Goldman of CBS News because her reports have been among the fairest in the U. S. media, which is important regarding Cuba because mostly the intimidated or politically correct mainstream U. S. media mentions only the anti-Cuban portion of two-sided issues and, of course, the right-wing media and blogs are always searching for northwoods/Mongoose-type excuses to launch all-out military attacks on Cuba. Slightly countering the hysteria about Cuba deliberately trying to poison or cyber-blast innocent Americans at the U. S. embassy in Havana, Ms. Goldman at CBS News at least reported that Cuba has not only denied any knowledge of what happened but that Cuba is also trying to desperately "investigate" the matter. From James Bamford to Julianna Goldman at CBS News, it is well known that Cuba is always on guard against such tactics as Northwoods-Mongoose from the past and more recent Miami-based Brothers to the Rescue-type provocations trying to concoct pretexts for the U. S. to attack Cuba. But, of course, if some respected U. S. journalist such as Ms. Goldman ends up actually reporting that, "Hey!! Cuba DID try to poison those Americans at the U. S. embassy in Havana!!", I'll weigh such revelations as forcefully as I judge Bamford's undeniable investigative journalism about criminally-manufactured pretexts against Cuba or Julianna Goldman's balanced report this week about the latest "Cuban mystery."

And by the way:

       U. S. President Donald Trump does not own any property in Cuba, at least not yet. But he, of course, does own some magnificent Caribbean real estate such as the St. Martins' beachfront jewel shown above that he purchased in 2013 for $20 million.

The Caribbean Journal Trump-estate photo.

  A pool at Trump's St. Martins estate.

One of Trump's 11 St. Martins bedrooms.

 Ostentatious Trump-St. Martins stairwell.

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"Dear Mr. Fontova"

An Open Letter to Humberto Fontova!
{Updated: Wednesday, August 9th, 2017}

       The photo above provides an updated snapshot of Cuba, a glimpse of an off-limits island that Americans have been proselytized for over half-a-century not to understand. This photo was taken Sunday, August 6th, 2017. It shows Cuban music-lovers at a concert. Simple enough but it's an everyday portrait of everyday Cubans on their island, a view Americans are not supposed to comprehend because, to do so, it might hit a few Counter-Revolutionary Cubans in the United States in their budging bank accounts, in their control of the U.S.-Cuban narrative, and in their dictations of America's Cuban policies in the U. S. Congress and in all Republican presidential administrations. You don't need to know the three young-adult Cubans in the forefront above but, for the record, their names from left-to-right are: Rosy Amaro Perez, Yanet Perez Moya, and Ramadan Arcos. But you should know them. Either young Cubans on the island like them or old Counter-Revolutionary Cubans in Miami and Washington will predicate the island's future. And that's important, especially for Cuba and the United States. Typically, these three young-adult Cubans are very intelligent, well educated, healthy, and they love Cuba. They have no intention of defecting to Miami. All their lives, like their parents before them, they have been punished by two generations of greedy, revengeful Cuban exiles from the Batista-Mafia dictatorship that ravaged Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The pivotal month of January in 1959 was when the leaders fled the Cuban Revolution, retrenching mostly in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood. The victorious Revolution shocked the world but the longevity of Revolutionary Cuba, from 1959 till today, has been even more shocking. That's because the odds were and are a billion-to-one against an island nation audaciously acquiring and then pugnaciously maintaining independence when its opposition was composed of vicious miscreants backed by the world's economic and military superpower. So, the simple snapshot above of today's Cuba needs to be at least tangentially understood if one is to understand either the fascinating history or the intriguing topicality of perhaps the planet's most amazing island nation.      

      I'll get to my Open Letter to powerful Cuban-American Humberto Fontova at the end of this essay but first I'll explain what inspired it. I sincerely believe that Mr. Fontova, and others like him, feather their own nests in America while severely harming decent, hard-working Cubans on the island like Nidialys Acosta. I believe this has been allowed to go on since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in January of 1959 ended the rule of the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba, powerfully reshaping the island but, incredibly, reshaping the U. S. democracy even more. In the years...the decades...since 1959, counter-revolutionary Cubans, backed by the extreme might of the United States as well as the extreme lack of patriotism by U. S. citizens, have used over a half-century of military and terrorist attacks as well as extremely punitive and legal U. S. laws such as history's longest economic embargo against the vulnerable island. BUT, INCREDIBLY, such brazen and cowardly tactics have failed to regain control of the pugnacious Caribbean island. While most Cuban-Americans EVEN IN MIAMI strongly favor normalizing relations with Cuba, and while the United Nations currently has a VERY LOUD 191-to-0 vote condemning America's Cuban policies, the fact that a mere handful of Cuban-American radicals benefit so majestically -- revengefully, economically and politically -- from pulverizing innocent Cubans -- DECADE AFTER DECADE -- is a cruel abomination, especially when it is done incessantly and irregardless of how much harm it does to the image of America and Democracy. But since 1959 the most decent everyday Cubans, such as Nidialys Acosta, have been both the primary and the most innocent victims. That is so even as vicious terrorist acts against Cuban civilians -- such as the airplane bombing of Cubana Flight 455 and the car-bombing of the decent Cuban-American newsman Emilio Milian in Miami -- have been "successes" because two generations of pusillanimous Americans have been successfully told they are "blows against Castro." Of course, they are blows against those totally innocent victims AND AGAINST the American democracy. Such one-sided infamy with origins in the nearby superpower, of course, enlarged the life and legacy of Castro and gave the island of Cuba a position on the international stage far out of proportion to its size, wealth or population. But most of all, a few powerful people in a powerful country being allowed to harm innocent people -- like Nidialys Acosta --  in a small, vulnerable country is the epitome of anti-democratic behavior.

         As illustrated by the above photo, the saga of Nidialys Acosta in Cuba and how her life intersects with America's universally condemned Cuban policy was spotlighted in a major August 5th-2017 article by Euronews.com entitled: "Cubans Nervous About Trump's Travel Restrictions." The exact opening words, which you can easily dial up online, are: "Nidialys Acosta never dreamed the business she started with her husband Julio Alvarez would be as successful as it has become. It boasts a fleet of classic America cars ferrying U. S. visitors around Havana, employing dozens of workers as drivers and mechanics, and providing them all with a solid income and a bright future. But now she worries it all could come crashing down if the U. S. President Trump cancels a deal that has eased travel restrictions between the two countries. Ms. Acosta fears that Trump will curtail travel to Cuba by American citizens, the mainstay of her business. 'We are a growing business,' she says. 'We want to get ahead. We have families who depend on us, on our work and if we are unable to keep it up, if we fail them, we are responsible to those families, and to our families, and to our whole society.'"

              In other words, Nidialys Acosta today is a totally decent, hard-working Cuban on the island who has to worry about miscreants in a nearby Superpower harming her business in Havana that means so much to her and to a plethora of others who work for her to earn decent wages, wages families depend on.

         Decent democratic overtures by America's decent President, Barack Obama, provided decent entrepreneurial opportunities in Cuba for very decent everyday Cubans like Nidialys Acosta and Gabriela Ogando. But Nidialys, Gabriela and thousands of other Obama-orchestrated Cuban entrepreneurs readily sensed that Obama's successor, President Trump, would not have the guts or the integrity to confront the indecency of their enemies in America, which happen to be a small minority of revengeful, self-serving Cuban-Americans. Therefore, the photo above flashed around the world as a vivid microcosm of how a mere handful of Cuban-American miscreants are allowed to harm, decade after decade, totally innocent Cubans on the island AND America's democracy at the same time. Representing herself and dozens of other decent Cuban entrepreneurs, Gabriela is shown above in Washington holding up a written statement begging...BEGGING...President Trump's United States of America TO ALLOW THEM TO CONTINUE TO MAKE DECENT LIVINGS OWNING THEIR OWN BUSINESSES IN THE SOVEREIGN NATION OF CUBA. I am well aware that such a desperate plea on U. S. soil IS NOT SUPPOSED TO RESONATE WITH AMERICANS because the Cuban narrative in the U. S. since 1959 has been mostly dictated by that handful of Cuban-American miscreants who are, with the insanely cruel backing of a foreign Superpower government, dire enemies of decent Cubans like Nidialys Acosta, Gabriela Ogando, and so many other decent people on the nearby island. 

               Is it...in August of 2017...asking too much of Americans to consider the pleas of decent Cubans like Nidialys and Gabriela when indecent miscreants in a powerful nation harm innocent people in a smaller nation IN AMERICA'S NAME? The photo depicted above garnered great international respect for Cubans like Gabriela even as, like the unanimity in the UN, it sprinkled opprobrium all over the U. S. democracy.

         Not convinced their heart-wrenching letter to President Trump would be able to trump the back-stabbing Cuban-American extremists who dictate to him in the White House and in the U. S. Congress, female Cuban entrepreneurs on the island are now appealing to President Trump's top adviser, his daughter Ivanka. Cubans like Gabriela and Nidialys are aware that Ivanka is herself an astute entrepreneur and it is hoped that she can prevail upon her father to allow Cuban entrepreneurs a fair shot at making decent livings. Except, I guess, to narcissists and to imperialists, people who care for other people, I believe, don't believe powerful people in a powerful country should prey on less-powerful people in a less-powerful country. In Cuba, Gabriela and Nidialys hope Ivanka Trump agrees with that assessment.

       As incredible as it may seem, the photo above is what pits me, an extremely poor and unknown American who cares for innocent Cubans and for the U. S. democracy, against Humberto Fontova, an extremely rich and well-known Cuban-American that I feel grossly, unfairly, and selfishly is a member of the lucrative Castro Cottage Industry in America that, despite its denials, mostly harms totally innocent Cubans on the island...such as the two courageous female entrepreneurs I featured earlier. Yes, in an ocean of blue with a majestic mountain as a backdrop, that is a white, three-mast yacht that also doubles as a luxurious cruise ship. And this famous cruising yacht this week epitomizes the vast difference between the omnipotent Humberto Fontova and me. It's tricky and perhaps fraught with danger, but I'll explain.

        The famous cruise ship that also doubles as a three-mast yacht is the Ponant. It is quite luxurious with 32 plush staterooms, two magnificent lounges, two scrumptious restaurants, lush beds next to huge viewing portals, etc. It lavishly touts its cruises & expeditions this way: "A sophisticated yet friendly atmosphere in which emotion, discovery and the quest for authenticity all take priority." SO, YOU ASK, HOW DID THE PONANT THIS WEEK COME BETWEEN LITTLE OLE ME AND THE GREAT HUMBERTO FONTOVA?

         The omnipotent New York Times has just made this innocent AND LEGAL announcement: "The NY Times is offering an 11-day, $11,980-dollar sailing trip to Cuba on the once-hijacked yacht La Ponant. It includes educational visits to historic sites...like the Bay of Pigs." OK, fine!! So now the uniquely magnificent and historic La Podant is joining four other international cruise lines, including those based in South Florida, making cruises to Cuba. But, for some reason, it is the New York Times nexus with La Podant that has the vast and lucrative Castro Cottage Industry in the U. S. bent totally out of shape.

      Born in Havana in 1954 during the Batista-Mafia dictatorship, Humberto Fontova has spent his adult years as a Charter Member of what i {with a little "i"} call the vast and lucrative Castro Cottage Industry in the United States of America. They could also be called Counter-Revolutionaries except for the fact that they have yet to counter the Revolution despite all these decades hiding very safely and not-so-discreetly behind the skirts of the world's Superpower. As a writer, columnist, author, and commentator...among other things...Humberto Fontova, as far as i can judge, has spent ceaseless decades vilifying Revolutionary Cuba while sanitizing the Batista-Mafia dictatorship. And he famously doesn't like to be contradicted.

       For his interminable...and, yes, lucrative...anti-Revolutionary rants and raves, Humberto Fontova seemingly has total access not only to major publishers and all conservative or right-wing operations but also to the apparently intimidated or politically correct mainstream United States media, as demonstrated by the ranting above. My reaction to the New York Times' announcement about its sponsorship of a luxurious informational cruise to Cuba was, "Good for the NY Times and La Ponant." But it seems to have sent Fontova into a typical rant-and-rave tirade. In a scathing article in the TOWNHALL that is entitled "New York Times Offers Propaganda Charter Cruises To Cuba", Fontova blistered and excoriated The NY Times and as many entities as he could think of that had ever said a kind word about Revolutionary Cuba, even Herbert L. Matthews. Back in 1954, the year Fontova was born in Havana, Matthews was the great New York Times' journalist using the front pages of his newspaper to inform Americans about such things as the street-marches by brave Cuban mothers demonstrating against the gruesome and repetitious murders of their ninos, their children, by Batista's goons. So naturally, as Fontova demonstrated in his anti-NY Times and anti-Ponant tirade, tossing in some assaults on the truly great but long-ago New York Times' reporter Herbert L. Matthews was both easy and par-for-the-course.

And now my Open Letter:

"Dear Mr. Fontova,

         Your latest bombardment against Revolutionary Cuba, inspired by the New York Times' sponsorship of the educational cruise to the island, coincided with the far more appropriate and sane article in which Nidialys Acosta, a totally decent and hard-working Cuban on the island, expressed legitimate fear that President Trump, goaded by the likes of you, will prevent her privately owned business from providing decent livings for her family and the families of the Cubans who work for her. Somehow, Mr. Fontova, I find such fears and such pleas from such decent and innocent people on a small island as being an insult to my country, the United States, and to Democracy. The fact that this indecency and insanity has been pervasive -- in the name of America and Democracy -- for over half-a-century has done, in my opinion, more than any other one thing to harm the image of America and Democracy. If that is not so, could you point out any other topic that could possibly garner a 191-to-0 condemnation in the UN? In such a diverse world, I don't think you can. As a counter-revolutionary Cuban-American benefactor, I assume you realize that the vast majority of Americans, Cuban-Americans and citizens of the world favor normal relations with Cuba -- not military attacks, terrorist attacks, and economic attacks from the world's richest and most powerful country.

                You may have noted, Mr. Fontova, that the NY Times-La Ponant cruise to Cuba was arranged in the hope that its passengers "would return from this 11-day adventure with a new appreciation of Cuba." That simple statement, Mr. Fontova, reminds some of us of why, for many decades, everyday Americans of all people have been the only people in the world without the freedom to visit Cuba. That abomination to America and Democracy was only partially relaxed by President Obama because, I believe, of the abominable hold that counter-revolutionary extremists have on the U. S. Congress. By steadfastly preventing Americans from freely visiting Cuba to judge it for themselves, the Cuban narrative in the U. S. dictated by hardliners is all that more...yes...abominable. Thus, the NY Times and the Ponant owners were justified in stating that their passengers "would return...with a new appreciation of Cuba." I assume that I have visited the island more recently than you, Mr. Fontova. Thus, I formed some free-thinking opinions while on the island and since then I have also tried to be cognizant of who is fervently trying to proselytize me and other Americans about Cuba. 

             This, Mr. Fontova, is my very first Open Letter. Be assured that it is purely on behalf of Cuban women like Nidialys Acosta and Gabriela Ogando as well as my two primary concerns -- America and Democracy.

Sincerely,

Rich Haney" 

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Cuba Truth in Florida

Yes, There Is Some!!

      Since the victorious Cuban Revolution in January of 1959 chased the Batista-Mafia dictatorship to its new headquarters in South Florida, primarily the Little Havana region of Miami, journalists in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave have been, with few exceptions, induced to cater to a Cuban narrative dictated by ultra-powerful Counter-Revolutionary Cubans. The two prime exceptions, of course, were Emilio Milian, the Cuban-American newsman in Miami, and Jim DeFede, the former top columnist for the Miami Herald. When Emilio and Jim bravely criticized deadly Miami-related terrorist acts against totally innocent Cubans -- such as the bombing of the civilian Cubana Flight 455 -- Emilio was car-bombed and Jim was fired. Afterward, cowered American citizens were persuaded not to research or Google those names or events but to pusillanimously accept whatever the Counter-Revolutionary extremists told them to accept. Yet, despite the grave undemocratic warnings administered to Emilio Milian and Jim DeFede, there have...from time to time...been superb journalists in South Florida who have had both the courage and the integrity to report the truth about Cuba whether it happened to be in negative or positive lights or somewhere in between. Arlene Satchell is one such journalist in South Florida and therefore, I believe, Americans have a right to know about her fair, excellent and balanced reporting about Cuba.

         As an excellent journalist with the Orlando Sun-Sentinel, Arlene Satchell is not about to be told or coerced into writing only anti-Cuba articles about a nearby island that she knows so well. Her August 4-2017 article was entitled: "New Trump Cuba Policy Is Actually Fueling Business." Her analysis expertly provided a fair and balanced assessment of President Trump's Cuban policy as opposed to that of former President Barack Obama's. Ms. Satchell wrote: "Americans still have an appetite for Cuba even as some travel and business avenues will disappear in the coming months under President Donald Trump's more restricting policies toward Havana. South Florida and other Cuba travel specialists canvassed this week said business remains strong as they await the final terms of new rules of engagement expected from Washington, possibly in September."

       A top executive at Paragon Events, Ampa Manzella has for years been one of the most knowledgeable Travel Agents in Palm Beach County, Florida. She told Arlene Satchell in that Orlando Sun-Sentinel article: "So far, it's been a big benefit for us. There is more Cuban business coming in." That was Ampa Manzella's astute and updated assessment of the transition from Obama-to-Trump regarding commerce with Cuba, at least leading up to Trump's new rules of engagement due sometime in September of 2017.

       In South Florida the smartest and fairest lawyer when it comes to U.S.-Cuban relations is Pedro Freyre. He is a product of the University of Miami Law School and a force as a member of the Cuban-American Bar Association. Being a brave journalist, Arlene Satchell asked Pedro Freyre for his assessment to date of the Obama-to-Trump transition as it affects dealings with Cuba. He replied, "The good news is we now have the general lay of the land and a snapshot of the policy going forward. The next shoe to drop will be the new regulations." Pedro Freyre also expects that "next shoe to drop" next month, in September, when America's very controversial President, Mr. Trump, is expected to release his new guidelines regarding Cuba.

         As with travel expert Ampa Manzella, Miami's ultra-powerful Cuban-American lawyer Pedro Freyre represents the viewpoints of the vast majority of Cuban-Americans in Miami who desire normal relations with Cuba. However, for decades only a handful of the most vicious Counter-Revolutionary Cuban-Americans have dictated America's Cuban policies in both Miami and Washington. As Pedro Freyre well knows, only the very brave and democracy-minded administration of President Barack Obama sliced deeply into that undemocratic approach to Cuba, an approach currently condemned by a 191-to-0 vote in the United Nations. However, Pedro Freyre and most of the other fairer-minded Cuban-Americans in Miami await President Trump's upcoming regulatory positions on Cuba, due in September, and many fear that those guidelines will be dictated by a handful of Counter-Revolutionary zealots, including 4 Cuban-American members of the U. S. Congress from Miami. While most Cuban-Americans in Miami like Pedro Freyre favor normal relations with Cuba, their views are not represented by the politics of Miami and Congress. Meanwhile, as above, Pedro Freyre is often the first person in Miami that brave journalists as well as Global Business interests go to when they want some truth, and not just propaganda, about Cuba.

      And that brings me back to Arlene Satchell. Her newspaper, the Orlando Sun-Sentinel, allows her to report fairly regarding Cuba, which is an extremely important topic -- especially in South Florida. But just south of Orlando I don't believe, in either its English or Spanish editions, the Miami Herald will allow its reporters to report fairly about Cuba even if those journalists were of a mind to. And that, to me, speaks volumes about how a small band of Cuban Counter-Revolutionaries have been allowed to harm one of the greatest pillars of the American democracy -- Journalism. And that, I believe, is why superb journalists like Arlene Satchell should be applauded and appreciated in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

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Cuba: A Safe Haven

Compared to Most Others!!
{Friday, August 4th, 2017}

     The leader at the huge Port of Houston in Texas, Ricky Kunz, this week signed a deal with Cuba, the first such transaction since President Trump took office. Mr. Kunz said, "This will facilitate and spur new business relationships with Cuba." He said agricultural products will ship from Houston to Cuba but he said it is "unfortunate" that the U. S. embargo against Cuba prevents the shipments of other products. Prior to President Trump, during the Obama presidency major ports in Virginia and Louisiana had signed similar deals with Cuba and every major port in Florida controlled by Cuban-Americans wanted to do the same but were threatened by Governor Scott and other counter-revolutionary stalwarts who warned the Florida ports that any relations with Cuba would cost them financial and other support from the state of Florida.

       Cancun is a famous tourist attraction in Mexico and touted as a shining and prime contrast in a nation also famously beset with massive crime and enormous drug cartels. With a population of 725,000, Cancun hauls in $20 billion a year from tourism, a superb incentive for the Mexican government to make sure it is as crime-free as possible. But the top headline on Page One of USA Today this week -- Aug. 2-2017 -- was: "TOURISM RISKS LOSSES AS CRIME BESETS CANCUN: Cartel Conflicts Cast Shadow Over Tourist Mecca." The article explained: "Crime and violence between rival drug gangs has surged throughout Mexico, creeping into other popular destinations, such as Los Cabos on the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula. Homicides there are up 400% this year, underscored by the discovery of 14 bodies in a mass grave in June." Mexico in 2016 had 35 million foreign visitors compared to Cuba's 4 million.

     Although the mainstream media in the United States wouldn't dare mention it, the Caribbean island of Cuba happens to be "just about the safest place in the Caribbean, the region and the planet for tourists to visit." And safety is, uh, rather important.

       In addition to America's politically correct or intimidated mainstream media, radically biased but hugely funded anti-Cuban right-wing sources like Breitbart as well as vicious 24-hour full-time anti-Cuban blogs such as Babalu have convinced many Americans that, for example, the Cuban government each morning sets up machine-guns in its major cities and mows down scores of its citizens and tourists before breakfast. Such self-serving lies are far more degrading to the U. S. than to Cuba, but greatly harmful to Cuba nevertheless. Great international news sources such as the BBC and REUTERS, however, provide truthful updates on Cuba as do superb journalists on the island who have worked for organizations such as the BBC, including Fernando Ravsberg. His respected blog -- Letters from Cuba -- has reported fairly from Cuba for 2 decades. At times, including recently, Fernando has incurred the wrath of the Cuban government for his insightful reporting but it remains both respected and vital to understand the much misunderstood island. A recent Ravsberg article, for example, was entitled: "SAFETY DRAWS TOURISTS TO CUBA."

       The Fernando Ravsberg article used the above photo, taken by Raquel Perez Diaz, to illustrate such points as: "Visiting Cuba gives travelers a feeling of peace and tranquility which is hard to find at other tourists destinations." Ravsberg wrote: "I have spoken to tourists who are typically surprised by the safety and freedom of movement they can enjoy in Cuba." While the United States media and the professional anti-Cuba blogs often insist that Cuban soldiers routinely mow down citizens and tourists, the less-biased journalist actually on the island, like Fernando Ravsberg, routinely point out that Cuban soldiers are the first to help and inform Cuba's inquisitive tourists.

     The Ravsberg article used the above nighttime photo of Havana's famed Malecon Seawall to make this point: "Many visitors who come from countries with high violent crime rates fine it incredible that they can walk along the Malecon and other Cuban streets and boulevards at any time of day or night in total safety and have some drinks right there while talking to Cubans. Safety is one of Cuba's greatest tourist attractions, especially when we compare this to other countries in the region such as the Bahamas, Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica, Suriname, etc." Of course, Americans are told just the opposite by both professional propagandists and by an intimidated or incompetent mainstream U. S. media. Embargoed, maligned, and targeted Cuba has some problems, but it also has some extreme positives -- such as, yes!, safety.

      The white beaches of Cuba's Varadero, shown above, are considered by many tourists and travel agencies as more beautiful than the white beaches at Mexico's Cancun. And, as indicated by USA Today this week and earlier by Fernando Ravsberg, Cuba's Varadero is a lot safer than Mexico's Cancun and most other tourist spots.

     While Fernando Ravsberg, a Uruguayan, is a long-time highly respected foreign journalist in Cuba, Cristina Escobar is the island's most respected Cuban broadcast journalist. Like Ravsberg, Ms. Escobar is not reluctant to critique Cuba if she feels it is warranted but she has also gotten a lot of traction with this comment: "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." Proselytized Americans are supposed to dismiss that comment without considering how their easy rationale or outright cowardice hurts the U. S. democracy, which has never been adverse to straying from its prized Founding Father-inspired principles. So, at least debating Ms. Escobar's conclusion -- which she has expressed on both Cuban and American soil -- would be supporting America's democracy, although in regards to Cuba that would certainly require courage and intelligence that has been sorely missing since the three most important and most intriguing dates -- 1898, 1952 and 1959 -- that chronicle U.S.-Cuban relations.

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