Photo courtesy: Jamaica Observer & Joseph Wellington.
Although the mainstream U. S. media is not about to report it to the American people, the Jamaica Observer this week --- Sunday, Feb. 11th, 2018 -- was not so intimidated or so politically correct. On Saturday, Feb. 10th, U. S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in Kingston, Jamaica, where he was greeted, above, by Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holmes. As a part of the undeclared Trump administration's war on Cuba, the island just north of Jamaica, Tillerson assured Jamaica that the U. S. would quickly make up for any decline in Venezuelan oil that might be caused by the continuing U. S. effort to remove Venezuela's Cuba-friendly but teetering Maduro government. The U.S.-backed coup that briefly overthrew the Chavez government in Venezuela in 2002 was partially engineered by anti-Cuban zealots in the Bush White House as an intended step toward defeating Cuba's Revolutionary government that, amazingly, has hung on since January 1, 1959. While in Jamaica this past weekend, Tillerson, in addition to the Venezuelan guarantee, promised Holmes other caveats, such as, according to the Jamaica Observer, promises "to support Jamaican security forces and its criminal justice system."
Cuba has no enemies in the Caribbean, and that includes Jamaica, the island due south of Cuba. In fact, many Caribbean islands have long depended on Cuban assistance regarding such things as education, health, and safety. Cuba, for example, is by far the safest island in the Caribbean and Jamaica happens to be one of the most violent...and Cuba has provided free-of-charge scholarships for many Jamaican students. Also, every Caribbean nation, including U.S.-dominated islands like the Territory of Puerto Rico and the U. S. Virgin Islands, have long disapproved of U. S. military, terrorist, and economic assaults on Revolutionary Cuba. The Caribbean people, unlike the American people, well remember or know about the extremely thieving & brutal U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship that roiled Cuba and the Caribbean back in the 1950s. Also, Caribbean nations have memorials to innocent Cubans killed by unpunished Cuban-American terrorists, such as the 73 innocents aboard the fatally bombed Cubana Flight 455 on October 6, 1976.
With that being said, why did U. S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson this past weekend circle Jamaica in red and then fly to Kingston to make all those promises? Many in Jamaica, including the Jamaica Observer, an excellent newspaper, believe Tillerson's mission was to begin to purchase Jamaica's support for Trump's Cuban War. Batistiano propagandists in the U. S. control the Cuban narrative and they can deny and rewrite history as far as Americans are concerned, but that is not possible in the Caribbean. But, of course, small nations are always susceptible to being bought-off by much richer nations. The Trump administration's current war against Cuba clearly involves buying off key Caribbean neighbors whose tendencies are to strongly support Cuba and oppose all U. S. operations against Cuba, just as all the Caribbean nations always vote with the unanimous worldwide majority when the international community in the United Nations loudly condemns the U. S. embargo of Cuba. But the U. S., as the world economic and military Superpower, doesn't have to pay any attention to a UN 191-to-0 condemnation of its Cuban policies. But still, as apparently indicated by Tillerson's anti-Cuban trip to Jamaica on Feb. 10th, 2018, even the Trump administration has chosen to buy at least some backyard support in its all-out effort to destroy Revolutionary Cuba on behalf of Counter Revolutionaries in Miami and in the United States Congress. In the coming days, how much of that Tillerson-promised U. S. largess Jamaica accepts will be a tip-off as the Trump government continues to try to purchase anti-Cuban support in the Caribbean.
This extremely high-priced New York City lawyer also now factors into the Trump administration's on-going war to destroy Revolutionary Cuba, namely its fragile and U.S.-embargoed economy. His name is Lee Buchheit. This past week Trump's U. S. Treasury department authorized Buchheit to be the no-holds-barred agent to force Cuba to repay billions of dollars to what is called The Cuban London Club that is made up of creditors who claim a Cuban debt that dates back to the 1980s. The debt, of course, includes interest as well as Buchheit's astronomical fees. In addition to the always disastrous U. S. embargo and a recently devastating single hurricane that caused over $13 billion of damage, Cuba in recent years has been using a significant portion of its available cash to pay back long-ago foreign debts to the so-called Paris Club nations as well as Mexico and Russia. But those nations have also been generous by reducing those debts with the understanding that those nations could invest heavily in what could be a thriving Cuban economy if or when the U.S. embargo EVER ENDS. However, that won't happen as long as Counter Revolutionary extremists can dictate to Republican administrations and to the Republican-dominated U. S. Congress. For example, at Lee Buchheit's direction, Cuba has been given 50 days from Feb. 5-2018 to respond to the new and harsh demands from the so-called Cuban London Club. Those affluent debtors are represented by the ultra-powerful New York lawyer Buchheit while he also represents Trump's U. S. Treasury department. Buchheit's authorization also reveals, of course, that the Trump bullies are willing to assist anyone and/or anything that might destroy Revolutionary Cuba.
This Trump stooge also has just joined the Destroy Cuba Club. Cuba, probably unwisely, has approved Philip Goldberg as Trump's new Charge D'affires at the U. S. Embassy in Havana. Goldberg was recently the U. S. Ambassador to Bolivia but he was booted out of that country for allegedly trying to undermine the Bolivian government. So now that apparently, at least in the eyes of the USA Trump-Rubio Counter Revolutionaries, makes Goldberg a prime leader of the U. S. Embassy in Havana. America's democracy-loving President Obama opened the U. S. Embassy in Havana for the first time since 1961 but America has not had an Ambassador in Cuba since 1961, just heads of a U. S. mission in Havana. Goldberg also won't be an Ambassador in Cuba and as the Charge D'affairs at the Embassy he will inherit a totally gutted staff already depleted during Trump's first year as President. But presumably Goldberg in Havana will be able to undermine the Cuban government just as he supposedly did while in Bolivia.
After he bravely re-opened the U. S. Embassy in Havana for the first time since 1961, President Obama, as shown above, nominated highly respected Jeffrey d'Laurentis as the U. S. Ambassador to a fully staffed Embassy in Cuba. Every unbiased source in Washington, as far as is known, agreed that Jeffrey d'Laurentis was the perfect American diplomat to be Ambassador to Cuba. But nuances in the U. S. democracy have always hurt Cuba...such as the illegal undeclared U. S. wars against Cuba since 1959. And such as allowing one Counter Revolutionary in the 535-member U. S. Congress...in this case Senator Marco Rubio from Little Havana in Miami...to block the d'Laurentis nomination by Obama to be America's very capable Ambassador at a fully staffed U. S. Embassy in Havana. So instead of that, Rubio has his wish -- the anti-Cuban zealot Philip Goldberg in charge of a totally gutted but anti-Cuban Miami-infested nest in Havana.
The Cuban Revolution succeeded, against overwhelming odds, because of super heroines like Celia Sanchez, a fact often emphatically pointed out by Fidel Castro.
Revolutionary Cuba has survived, against overwhelming odds, because of super-powerful women like Mercedes Lopez Acea. She is shown above with President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea on her current 5-nation Africa tour this week. With Raul Castro set to retire as Cuba's President in a few weeks, Mercedes is currently Vice President of the Cuban Council of State and wields enormous power on the island. She knows, especially with Trump having replaced Obama as U. S. President, Cuba's international friends are more important than ever. Ghana yesterday begged Cuba for additional help in eradicating Africa's deadly scourge of mosquito-driven diseases such as Malaria, and Mercedes was quick to sign new Ghanaian agreements. The African continent loves Cuba and 29 African nations are currently benefiting from Cuba's help in medical and hygiene sectors. Also, over 30,000 Africans have graduated free-of-charge from Cuban universities and 10,000 more are presently studying at Cuban universities, as Mercedes stated at a news conference in Ghana Monday, February 12th, 2018.
The anointment of Rubio as Trump's new American Dictator of Cuba needs to be taken and judged for exactly what it is: A continuation of Trump's June 16-2017 promise to the few remaining Bay of Pigs veterans in Miami's Little Havana that he would reverse both Obama's Cuban decency and the Bay of Pigs April-1961 defeat. When Cuba this past week approved credentials for Philip Goldman to take over as head of the gutted U. S. Embassy in Havana, it indicated that Cuba is not fully aware of the Trump-Rubio menace that can use the full extent of unlimited American power against its very vulnerable island. Cuba's survival cannot be taken for granted.
Somehow since 1959, Revolutionary Cuba has survived the air-land-and-sea Bay of Pigs attack in April-1961; a record number of assassination attempts; an amazing number of well-funded, well-orchestrated, and well-protected terrorist attacks; history's longest {1962 till today} and cruelest economic embargo ever imposed by a powerful nation against a weak nation; and the omnipotent threat represented by the photo above. This photo dates back to the 1980s when the Bush dynasty anointed Cuban-born future Miami billionaire Jorge Mas Canosa as America's Cuban-Dictator-in-Exile fully recognized by Republican presidents and by the United States Congress. Canosa for sure was far smarter, more motivated, and more powerful in that role than Rubio will ever be for Trump but unlike the Bush-Canosa War to Recapture Cuba, the current Trump-Rubio effort seems much less constrained by domestic or international opinions, meaning that Trump-Rubio appear to believe that even nuking the vulnerable island would solicit no objection from propagandized Americans and even outraged foreign objections would not faze the world's Superpower. So, Trump's anointment of Rubio as the U. S. Cuban dictator may well be even more potent than the Bush dynasty's anointment of Jorge Mas Canosa.
Dark clouds like the actual ones above have, metaphorically and literally, hovered over Havana each day since January 1, 1959, when the Cuban Revolution chased the leaders of the Batista-Mafia dictatorship to U. S. soil. The Revolution itself shocked the world, but not as much as its survival for six decades shocked and confounded it. The Bush dynasty crystallized the fact that all Republican administrations since 1952 -- Eisenhower-Nixon-Ford-and-Reagan and especially Bush the Elder, Bush the Younger, and now Trump -- have shamed America and Democracy with the imperialist wars on Cuba. The current American generation in 2018 that permits the Trump-Rubio outrage deserves the Trump-Rubio regime, but not Cuba. In the photo above, a Cuban left hand is acknowledging the dark cloud descending over Havana and it is emblematic of the fact that 11+ million totally innocent Cubans in 2018, and the years beyond, deserve a decent U. S. President even though, at the moment, it appears the vaunted USA democracy may no longer be capable of producing such a leader or to correct what also is a dysfunctional, money-crazed Congress. Cuba is a sovereign country but it pays the biggest prices for USA failures and, as Secreatry Tillerson reminded Jamaica this past weekend, Cuba is also the one nation that will not be allowed by America's Batistianos to reap any rewards as a USA neighbor and, of course, as the only little nation to overthrow a U.S.-backed dictatorship, and a really bad one.
But as of today, the Cuban flag still waves.
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