Cuba Facing Hurricanes

Natural and Man-Made!
{Updated: Thursday.-Sept. 7, 2017}

      The fierce Hurricane Irma is blasting the Caribbean and it is projected to slam into the eastern two-thirds of Cuba early Saturday morning. Irma is the strongest hurricane ever to come out of the Atlantic Ocean and Florida Governor Scott says it will cause more damage than when Hurricane Andrew devastated Florida 25 years ago. An updated projection says Irma might skirt just the northern edges of Cuba and not harm Havana or the western third of the island as it veers to the northeast.

     Using the above graphic, Cuba's outstanding broadcast journalist Rosy Amaro Perez is warning every Cuban on the very vulnerable island: "Al tanto del huracan! Pelilgro para Cuba!" -- "Aware of the hurricane! Danger for Cuba!" Indeed, Hurricane Irma is aiming its fury at Cuba, an island that historically has encountered more than its share of hurricanes -- natural hurricanes and, of course, man-made hurricanes.

    Later in this month of September in the year of 2017, U. S. President Trump is scheduled to outline his administration's "Cuba Policy" although his plate seems to be full with such things as a potential war in the Korean Peninsula and a powerful mainstream U. S. media that seems determined to carry out an electronic coup that would end the Trump presidency, which is now trying to survive Year One of his elected 4-year term. The AP photo above was taken on April 16th in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood where Trump, addressing the visceral anti-Cuban choir, blistered Cuba verbally and vowed to "reverse" former President Obama's historically decent overtures to the island. Trump in April signed away some of Obama's Cuban policies but let it be known his primary Cuban assaults would be studied and announced "soon" -- presumably now this month of September. Trump's White House in Washington is very crowded with foxes in his hen-house, bitter Republican enemies led by presidential wannabe Marco Rubio, the U. S. Senator from Miami's Little Havana. Rubio, pressuring Trump to annihilate Revolutionary Cuba, is currently -- as shown above -- patting Trump on the back while it appears his main aim is to stab Trump in the back to expedite his own control of the Republican Party -- meaning the White House, which would also mean Rubio's secondary priority, which is to dictate to Cuba, would be firmly within his grasp. However, Trump at the moment is one obstacle for Rubio because the business instincts embedded in Trump's psyche restrain him from handing over Cuba to self-serving counter-revolutionaries like Rubio. After the Obama-orchestrated openings, thousands of top American businesses -- including Google, Marriott Hotels, airlines, cruise lines, every U. S. Farm Bureau, and all nearby U. S. and Florida ports -- have strong desires to continue to expand business ties with Cuba. Also, more pertinent than whatever Trump decides is the young-adult generation of Cubans on the island, epitomized by influential young broadcast anchors and leaders Cristina Escobar and Rosy Amaro Perez.

       In Cuba but also on United States soil in Washington, Alabama, and California, Cuba's brilliant broadcast journalist Cristina Escobar has boldly stated: "Cuba's fate is up to Cubans on the island, not Cubans in Miami and Washington." Her doctrine is supported by several million other young-adult Cubans, the generation that is determined that the post-Castro rule of Cuba is not dictated to the island by the likes of Little Havana's and Congress's Marco Rubio. Rubio is still backed by Helms-Burton's incredibly legal Congressional laws that since the 1980s have been crafted and supported by Miami-based counter-revolutionaries to empower and enrich them while also destroying Revolutionary Cuba; also, now that Obama is America's ex-President, Rubio assumes another Republican President, Trump, will help him carry out the Helms-Burton premise. But the Cristina Escobar doctrine on the island is, at the moment, a powerful factor.

       Following in the footsteps of Cristina Escobar, Rosy Amaro Perez is also an influential, brilliant, and high-profile broadcast journalist who believes fervently in the island's hard-earned sovereignty. Rosy, like most young-adult Cubans, watched live on Cuban television U. S. President Trump's blistering anti-Cuban speech delivered in Miami to the counter-revolutionaries on April 16th. Then, as a key spokesperson for her generation, Rosy posted these words on her Facebook page: "The Cuba that President Trump described is not the Cuba I know, and I've lived here all my life." Her statement had instant resonance. Quickly, for example, Cristina Escobar replied on Facebook: "May I quote you?" Of course, Rosy is not shy about being quoted...nor is she about to be intimidated by Trump's rhetoric or Rubio's belligerence. Oh, yes, both Rosy and Cristina are underdogs with Rubio hiding behind the skirts of the world's superpower, but Cuba has been a distinct underdog every day since January 1-1959...and it's still right there in the Caribbean free of imperialist domination.

        This is Rosy Amaro Perez, a potent young-adult Cuban who is not bent-out-of-shape about being an underdog on her island against the awesome might of Rubio and Trump. All her life Rosy has relished living in Cuba and she has flourished.  

Rosy's mother holding baby Rosy.

Growing up in Cuba, Rosy Amara Perez.

Now grown up, Rosy Amaro Perez.

Now Rosy Amaro Perez has a lookalike daughter.

Mom-daughter in lookalike dresses.

      This photo was taken by Rosy Amaro Perez in this first week of September, 2017. That's Rosy's daughter in the colorful hat reclining against her grandmother as she appears to be checking her latest online updates. Rosy attached this caption to the photo: "Me encanta cuando abuela y bebe se juntan e intentan arreglar el mundo" -- "I love when grandma and baby get together and try to fix the world." Rosy, who has lived in Revolutionary Cuba all her life, said she does not recognize the Cuba that President Trump described on April 16th when he spoke before counter-revolutionaries in a theater named for a Cuban-American Bay of Pigs attacker in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood. Rosy's view of Cuba from inside Cuba is, I think, far more honest than views outside of Cuba as espoused by counter-revolutionaries or by Republican U. S. Presidents who feel they are beholden to the counter-revolutionaries as opposed to the vast majority of Cuban-Americans, including those in Miami, who favor normal relations with the nearby island.

       As a brilliant young broadcast journalist and television anchor, Rosy Amaro Perez is a highly educated, talented, and high-profile leader of Cuba's young-adult generation that is determined to predicate Cuba's future. The alternative, which is a Cuban future dictated by factors off the island, such as in Miami or Washington, is anathema to Rosy and to millions of other like-minded Cubans of her generation. Considering the wealth and power of nearby counter-revolutionaries, Rosy and her generation of Cubans are still distinct underdogs but they remain undeterred. I often use photos of Rosy or by Rosy. When I asked her for permission, she replied in English, "My photos are your photos too." I think they are important photos because I think they accurately reflect the rhythms and pulses of what is taking place on the island. Rooting for Rosy as opposed to, say, Rubio, is a no-brainer. Rosy loves Cuba and most Cubans know her well and, therefore, love her.

Rosy is an excellent anchor and interviewer.

Rosy also interviews everyday Cubans.

Rosy encourages and trains would-be Rosys.

       Being Cuban, Rosy loves concerts and baseball games. While she was intently watching this baseball game, the patient and motherly Rosy allowed her daughter to entertain herself by playing with her mother's hair. This photo was included with others that showed the hair fashioned into braids and ponytails.

Rosy with friends at a concert in Havana.

{Rosy loves John Legend's music too.}

Rosy on assignment in colonial Trinidad.

 A Rosy paparazzi-type photo seaside in Trinidad.

Rosy, a live report from the Cuban General Assembly.

     If Rosy Amaro Perez keeps smiling, Rubio's quest to persuade Trump to put Cuba back under the imperialist umbrella of the United States will be an ongoing process.

Meanwhile:

         Another projection of Hurricane Irma as it bears down on both Cuba and South Florida. It's due to arrive in both areas Friday and Saturday, Sept. 8th & 9th, 2017.

Photo courtesy of Al Diaz/Miami Herald.

      The two young Cuban men above are using the free WiFi hook-up outside Estadio Latina Americano. Cuba's ISP-Internet Service Provider is ETECSA, which uses the technology of China's Huawei. Young-adult Cubans are very, very inquisitive.

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Cuba-U.S. Oppression

How One-Sided??
{Updated BY big REQUEST for Sept. 4th, 2017}

        Beginning in 1776, after the American Revolution had defeated England, the United States earned a reputation as the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.  

       On the first day of 1959 the Cuban Revolution shocked the world by defeating the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship, earning sovereignty for the Caribbean island. Revolutionary Cuba, shockingly, still stands in 2017 but it's been a day-to-day struggle since January 1, 1959, because vile elements in the United States still covet it.

    The Mafia-ruled Lucky Luciano-Meyer Lansky-Fulgencio Batista dictators didn't hang around Havana to fight Fidel Castro and the charging revolutionary guerrilla fighters.

      By 3:00 A. M. on Jan. 1-1959 the Batistiano-Mafiosi leaders had scrambled for their getaway ships, boats and airplanes, which had already been stocked with their most prized possessions -- including tons of gold bullion and U. S. cash, which would connect with Cuban wealth already stashed in Miami, Newark, Caribbean and Swiss banks. After fleeing Havana, the Batistiano-Mafiosi dictatorship reconstituted itself on U. S. soil...mainly nearby Miami where Little Havana became their new capital.

       From Jan. 1-1959 till today, Sept. 1-2017, The Miami Cuban Mafia has not only reshaped Miami but it has also left an indelible mark on the image of the entire United States. Thus, the hard-earned U. S. reputation as the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, which was unchallenged from the American Revolution through World War II, has been severely challenged since 1959. Immediately in 1959 the Batistianos-Mafiosi who had fled Cuba took over Miami because they had far more money than the stunned residents in South Florida ever thought about having. Once they hooked up with the Bush political and economic dynasty, the Batistianos and Mafiosi began leaving their marks on the entire United States where their congressional power to this day enables then to almost single-handedly dictate America's Cuban policy, which is sheer belligerence towards Cuba because the Batistianos-Mafiosi to this day still yearn to regain control of Cuba. With extremists in control of America's Cuban policies and the Cuban narrative, such things as blowing up Cuban hotels or even a civilian Cuban airplane went unchallenged. When a decent Cuban-American newsman in Miami, Emilio Milian, complained on the air about terrorist attacks on innocent Cubans, he himself was car-bombed. But the U. S. government, in bed with the Batistianos-Mafiosi since 1952, no longer had the strength or the will to challenge what is known as The Miami Cuban Mafia. Thus, today in Miami and in Washington the U. S. Cuban policy is directed by Batistiano-Mafiosi extremists although a clear majority of the two million Cubans in the Miami area favor normal relations with Cuba. Yet, it appears that moderate Cubans in South Florida are not eligible to be elected to key positions, including the United States Congress in a fully revamped America.

       The Cuban U. S. narrative is dictated by the richest and most powerful Cuban-American extremists, not by the vast majority of moderate Cuban-Americans.

       But Cuba has been wildly coveted by imperialist powers, including the United States, almost since the day it was discovered by explorer Columbus in 1492.

      And therefore, especially since the 1959 triumph of the Cuban Revolution, the narratives in Cuba and the United States have gone in totally opposite directions. Cuba maintains that since 1959 it has sharply improved the lives of everyday Cubans as opposed to the extreme rape, robbery and oppression imposed on Cubans by the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship. Indeed, most unbiased observers agree with that assessment, pointing out the totally free and excellent educational and healthcare services provided to all Cubans. Also, Cuba today is considered one of the safest nations in the Caribbean, Latin America or the world. On the other hand, the U. S. insists that Revolutionary Cuba is a gross violator of human rights in its oppressive treatment of either dissidents or perceived dissidents. Cuba refutes that claim, pointing out that it must be mindful of foreign, meaning U. S., support of dissidents on the island. Cuba points to counter-revolutionary terrorist acts and Miami-protected Cuban-American terrorists to stress why it must be vigilant. Also, Cuba insists that oppression in the United States -- such as against Africa-Americans or other minorities -- is far more pronounced than oppression in Cuba. Although in the United States it is generally not healthy nor politically correct to agree with Cuba's theories regarding oppression, there are many who agree with Cuba's position.   

     Notable NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick recently made a statement directly pertaining to U.S.-Cuba Oppression, and he sided with...Cuba!! Moreover, he made that very bold statement while in Miami with his team, the San Francisco 49ers.

        The controversial Colin Kaepernick showed up at a high-profile NFL news conference in Miami wearing a shirt emblazoned with six photos of his revolutionary idol Fidel Castro. It sparked more than a few questions, but he didn't back off. Famed not just for being an NFL quarterback in sports-mad America, Colin is famous for not standing up when the U. S. National Anthem is played at his games. He says that is in protest to oppression of minorities in America, which he contrasts with the Revolutionary Cuba that he obviously admires. Explaining the loud statement made by his shirt, he said: "I agree with Castro's stance on investing in education, universal healthcare and helping to end the apartheid in South Africa." Wearing that Castro shirt and making his verbal statement in Miami punctuated Colin's bravery and his passion. Of course, many Americans, including his mother, disagreed with his stance.

       Colin Kaepernick's birth mother is Heidi Russo. She had him at age 19 after his biological father, an Africa-American, had already left. She is now a successful entrepreneur and very active online via the social media. She says: "Colin is embarrassing himself and shaming America as well as his adoptive family by not standing up for the National Anthem." But Ms. Russo, to my knowledge, has not commented on her son's comparison of oppression in America and in Cuba.

       To emphasize how unusual...and brave...Colin Kaepernick's pro-Castro position made in Miami was, when Cuban-American newsman Emilio Milian denounced Cuban-American terrorism against innocent Cubans, he was car-bombed. That happened in 1976, the same year the civilian Cubana Flight 455 was bombed into the ocean killing everyone on board. Since then, with rare exceptions, the American media has refused to criticize Cuban-American counter-revolutionaries in Miami.

    Yet, an unchecked bevy of Miami-based and Bush-connected pundits like Ana Navarro can saturate U. S. television networks day-and-night with anti-Cuban counter-revolutionary propaganda. And those networks, including CNN, do not provide such ubiquitous platforms to moderates who have unbiased assessments of Cuba. Like most Bush-connected counter-revolutionaries in Miami, Navarro is a highly paid powerful advocate for a Jeb Bush presidency to be followed by a Marco Rubio presidency. In the above CNN tirade, Navarro was loudly predicting that Donald Trump would be soundly defeated in his bid for the presidency. Now she is pushing for an early termination of the Trump presidency. Such pundit-propagandists don't have to be political experts or journalists; they just have to be pundit-propagandists. 

      And speaking of how brave Colin Kaepernick was to make his pro-Castro statement in Miami, the pro-Castro international Civil Rights icon Nelson Mandela got a rude reception from Miami's visceral counter-revolutionary Cubans when he dared to visit Miami on June 29th, 1990, which was called "Unofficially, Mandela Day."

       In June of 1990, just prior to his rude reception in Miami, Nelson Mandela was honored in a nationally televised news conference on the South Lawn of the White House by President George H. W. Bush. Despite the smiles and handshake above, Mandela and Bush despised each other. Since the 1950s, by far the most virulent anti-Cuban counter-revolutionary American President has been George H. W. Bush.

    Since the 1950s, the 2nd most virulent anti-Cuban counter-revolutionary American President has been George W. Bush. But because Nelson Mandela's international reputation as a beloved leader far exceeded that of any of the Bushes, President George W. Bush, like his father before him, had to honor Mandela at the White House. That chore, as indicated by Bush's sad expression above, was not a happy one.

     The Bush dynasty, which includes presidential wannabe and Batistiano-beloved Jeb Bush, was forced to embrace Mandela even though Mandela hated the Bush dynasty's Cuban policy. For the adult lives of both Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro, the two men were best of friends. On personal visits or via telephone conversations and written letters, the two stayed in close contact till Mandela died in Johannesburg in 2013 at age 95. Fidel Castro died in Havana in 2016 at age 90.

 Mandela & Fidel even co-wrote a book.

        In their book, Mandela & Fidel included this sentence as translated from Spanish to English above: "Let's defeat Imperialism for a world of peace, solidarity and social transformation." To this day, Americans are not supposed to understand the Mandela-Castro nexus because it does not compute with a Cuban narrative in the U. S. dictated by counter-revolutionary Cubans. But, for the record, the Mandela-Castro nexus had something to do with their mutual hatred of imperialist foreign powers dictating to smaller nations. Mandela hated British imperialism in Africa; Castro hated American imperialism in Cuba. It perhaps should be noted that both men spent considerable time in apartheid-like prisons...before Castro in Cuba defeated the U.S.-backed Batista regime and before Castro was instrumental in defeating British apartheid in Africa, freeing Mandela after 27 years in a prison where he had only a bucket for a toilet.

     As a democracy-loving American, I believe Americans in 2017 should have the freedom and the right to judge the above photo, which shows two of modern history's most famous men -- Fidel Castro and Nelson Mandela. Why did a great man like Mandela have such an historically close relationship with Castro? Why, in fact, did the all-time most infamous Mafia thugs -- Luciano, Lansky, etc. -- hate Mandela's best friend so much? Might it be because Mandela's best friend chased the Mafia thugs off his island and -- after regrouping on U. S. soil, in the U. S. Congress, and in Republican White Houses -- those Mafia thugs or their offspring, for over half-a-century now, have dictated America's Cuban narratives and most of America's Cuban policies??? If you are afraid of being car-bombed or something, you need not answer those triple question marks, at least not out loud. But perhaps you should at least ponder them, if only silently. Sanitizing everything that Lucky Luciano & Meyer Lansky & Fulgencio Batista did in Cuba is one thing; and vilifying everything Fidel Castro did in Cuba is another thing altogether. To decipher the good, the bad and the ugly about a topic that currently gets the U. S. condemned 191-to-0 in the United Nations is, I believe, a worthwhile project for the sake of America and its Democracy. The Cuban Revolution, for example, says a lot more about the United States than it says about the Caribbean's largest island. And, therefore, so does the above photo that Americans deserve the right to freely judge for themselves without being intimidated or propagandized. As the sparkling graphic at the top of this essay attests, America is...or at least was...The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. And if it was, it can be again. But not as long as Americans do not lift a finger, after all these decades, to try to correct a topic that gets America condemned by a UN vote of 191-to-0!!!

       The great Nelson Mandela is still remembered for some of history's greatest Civil Rights Quotations. The one above is very prominent in the center of the campus, or Grounds, at Thomas Jefferson's University of Virginia in Charlottesville. When violent Right Wing-Left Wing protests in Charlottesville on August 11th and 12th of 2017 made still prominent worldwide headlines, many photos of liberal University of Virginia students walking past or standing next to the above Mandela quotation flashed around the world. While the great Mandela is still remembered as a beloved Worldwide Civil Rights icon, in the United States of America it is not politically correct to remember that Mandela's best friend and closest collaborator was Fidel Castro. That fact helps explain why the Cuban Revolution says more about the U. S. than it says about Cuba. And what it says is this: The vile Batistiano-Mafiosi leaders and benefactors chased off the island in 1959 have dictated, since quickly regrouping on U. S. soil, America's Cuban narrative for the past half-century -- AND COUNTING!!   

       Generally considered the greatest writer in Latin American history, Gabriel Garcia Marquez was born in Colombia in 1927 and died in Mexico City on April 17, 2014. The day he died, the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, described him as "the greatest Colombian that has ever lived." Other than his writing, which won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982, Gabriel Garcia Marquez was primarily known for two things: His hatred for U.S.-backed dictators such as Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, Batista in Cuba, Somoza in Nicaragua, and Pinochet in Chile; and for his abiding love of Fidel Castro. Americans are not supposed to understand that historic fact just as they are not supposed to wonder why many other notable people, such as the aforementioned Nelson Mandela, sincerely also loved or admired Fidel Castro.

     Among the long list of famed masterpieces by Gabriel Garcia Marquez were books such as "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Love in the Time of Cholera."

     Known for his love for everyday people, Gabriel Garcia Marquez is still widely quoted, as above. Amazingly, he had a literary collaborator named...Fidel Castro!!

     The above AP photo of Gabriel and Fidel was taken in Havana in 2002. Gabriel not only taught journalism classes at the University of Havana, he also worked for Prensa Latina, Cuba's state news agency. But mostly while in Cuba, he was with Fidel.

    This AFP/Getty photo of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Fidel was taken in 2007 while Fidel was trying to recover from the near-fatal intestinal illness that befell him in July of 2006. This photo was used by the London-based The Guardian to illustrate an article published on December 6-2016 entitled: "Fidel Castro Worked on Gabriel Marquez's Manuscripts." The article, now 9 months old but still readily available via an easy Google search, explained: "Feted as a revolutionary hero and demonized as an enemy of the free world, Fidel Castro also played an unexpected role in global literature. The Cuban President, who died on 25 November 2016, acted as copy editor for the acclaimed novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez, providing line-by-line corrections for the writer after the two struck up a close relationship. Gabriel Marquez sent Fidel all of his books and received his factual and grammatical notes before submitting them to publishers." The rest of the article, as you can note, documented Fidel Castro's incredible and substantial work on some of literature's all-time greatest books.

     That Dec. 6-2016 article in The Guardian included the above letter hand-written by Fidel Castro on his stationery to Gabriel Garcia Marquez on Dec. 13-2010. He addressed it to "Gabo," Gabriel's famous nickname. The letter is used courtesy of Pete Smith/Harry Ransom Center. It helps document a side of Fidel Castro that Americans are not supposed to know because the Cuban narrative in the United States since 1959 has been dictated by elements of the Batista-Mafia dictatorship booted off the island...all the way to Miami and the U. S. Congress, as it turned out.

        So, there are indeed two sides to the Cuba-U.S. conundrum. Since 1952 -- when the United States teamed with the Mafia to support the vile Batista dictatorship in Cuba -- and since 1959 -- when the United States permitted the overthrown Batista dictatorship to reconstitute itself on U. S. soil -- America's democracy-lovers have understandably suffered psychological setbacks, unable or too afraid to fathom how a mere handful of counter-revolutionary Batistiano/Mafiosi-types can, for over half-a-century, dictate America's Cuban narrative and America's Cuban policies...a narrative and policies that most Americans and most Cuban-Americans strongly oppose.

       Since 1952 Barack Obama has been the only American President with the guts, intelligence, and patriotism to seriously oppose the Batistiano-Mafiosi dictation of America's un-American Cuban policies, which includes the longest {since 1962} and cruelest embargo ever imposed by a strong country against a weak country. Most Americans and most Cuban-Americans fully agree with Obama and so does the rest of the world. On October 26, 2016 -- just four months before Obama's two-term presidency ended -- a unanimous 191-to-0 vote in the United Nations loudly opposed the U. S. embargo of Cuba, and that includes every single one of America's best friends in this world. Yet, the endless continuation of the embargo signals to the entire world that the U. S. democracy is not strong enough to reign in what flagrantly represents, as the above graphic indicates, the worst blight and the worst image ever inflicted on the greatest nation and the greatest democracy the world has known.

        So, when a high-profile NFL player, Colin Kaepernick, known for his passionate support of oppressed people, holds a new conference in Miami wearing a shirt touting six Fidel Castro photos and then verbally praising Fidel Castro, Americans are supposed to be totally aghast!! But they have no right to be as long as they allow, decade after decade, a handful of Batistiano/Mafiosi-types to dictate an American Cuban policy that the whole world considers abhorrent and anti-democratic.

      When America's best friends in the world {UN vote 191-to-0} all agree that the endless United States embargo-blockade against Cuba constitutes genocide, perhaps it is high-time Americans had the guts and patriotism to do something about it.

Or:

     Perhaps there are not enough democracy-loving Americans who care about this worldwide image of their country. And, yes, the image above is a worldwide image.

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