Starve Havana to Enrich Miami

More USA Sanctions Daily!!

      The U. S. Treasury remains in charge of directing the Trump administration's all-out effort to starve the Cuban government into total submission, once and for all. Today -- July 3rd, 2019 -- Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin used valuable government time to continue leveling devastating sanctions against Cuba, again using the excuse that little Cuba is preventing the USA from executing its regime-change in Venezuela. Today Mnuchin sanctioned Cuba's oil company Cubametales for refining Venezuelan oil. Mnuchin said, "These new sanctions against Cuba will disrupt Maduro's attempts to use Venezuela's oil as a bargaining tool to help his supporters purchase protection from Cuba." Once again today, Mnuchin declared that Cuba is preventing the U. S. from installing Juan Guaido as Venezuela's president, replacing President Nicolas Maduro.

     The Trump administration's extreme anti-Cuban war-mongers, led by National Security Adviser John Bolton, would prefer using the U. S. military to create their long-desired regime-change in Cuba. Meanwhile, as indicated by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's mammoth anti-Cuban news conference today, at the moment the Little Havana-directed Trump minions believe extreme economic sanctions will starve the Cuban people who will then overthrow their revolutionary government. Yet, continuing to fear a return of the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship of the 1950's, Cuba has somehow survived Little Havana's Batistiano exiles headquartered in Miami and totally entrenched in all Republican administrations since January of 1959 and in the U. S. Congress since the 1980's. Bolton's military factions are battling Mnuchin's starvation sanctions as the means to recapture Cuba while Trump remains the U. S. president.

     While Bolton and Mnuchin haggle over who will lead the recapture of Cuba for Little Havana, Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who was born after the triumph of the revolution, is making economic changes trying to survive the Trump administration's starvation tactics. The photo above shows Diaz-Canel appearing on the island's important "Round Table" television program explaining his decision to sharply increase salaries for Cuban workers. It is also an attempt to ease the problems inherent in Cuba's frustrating dual-currency situation. For the last quarter century Cuba has used one peso worth about four cents and another worth nearly a dollar. 

    The extremely harsh sanctions employed by Trump against everyday Cubans have, to date, strengthened President Diaz-Canel's overall support across the island. As shown above on the "Round Table" television discussion, Diaz-Canel stays in close touch with the Cuban people via the Radio-TV media as well as Social Media forums such as Twitter. At this session, he said, "The salary increases are in effect now but similar measures to survive what Washington is doing to hurt us will be forthcoming. This is a first step. The tenets of the revolution against foreign domination must remain uppermost in our minds and hearts. This island deserves to be free to make its own decisions for its own people, even as Trump, Rubio, Bolton, and the Diaz-Balarts are making it a life-or-death struggle for us. We must make our own decisions and we must be the ones to correct mistakes we have made."

     Well known as Cuba's former people-oriented Education Minister, Miguel Diaz-Canel remains popular with the Cuban people as the only non-revolutionary post-Castro leader of the Caribbean's largest and by far the world's most continuously targeted island. But he is a fierce defender of the Revolution's "principles of independence." His comment above says: "Nobody will achieve the purpose of weakening the revolution or crushing the Cuban people." But backing up that sentence may be a long-shot for President Diaz-Canel, who is well aware that, since 1959, Revolutionary Cuba has survived one long-shot after the other.

      Since 1952 when the USA sicced the Mafia on Cuba, Cubans in Havana first and Cubans in Little Havana since 1952 have had an indelible and unholy grip on America's Republican Party. But of the seven Republican administrations since 1952, the current Trump administration is the only one that has been absolutely dictated to 100% by the likes of vicious and unchecked Cuban-Americans such as U. S. Senators Rubio and Menendez. Assuming Trump will not be re-elected for a second presidential term, Rubio and Menendez must feel that their window FOR RECAPTURING Cuba has dwindled down to about 18 more months. But there remain on the island millions of Cubans who equate a possible dominance by the likes of Rubio and Menendez with the dominance Cuba experienced from 1952 till 1959 by Batista and Luciano. In other words, if Cuba loses its war with Trump, it will likely spawn another emphatic  Cuban Revolution immediately.

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Miami Starves Cubans

And Many UNCOOPERATIVE Americans!

     The President and CEO of the Miami-based Carnival Cruise Lines is Arnold Donald. He does not like to cooperate with a handful of Miami's Cuban-American extremists who are busy feasting on the Trump presidency with renewed efforts to starve Cubans on the island to gain political support in Miami's Little Havana sector and there, of course, craft new laws in Tallahassee and Washington to whet their economic appetites, always a PRIME PRIORITY. Thus CNBC reports that Carnival and Arnold Donald are among those in Miami being punished by fallouts of unchecked miscreants trying to punish innocent Cubans to whet their economic and political nests, and add to 6+ decades of revenge against people who didn't overthrow the cherished Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba in 1959. CNBC stated: "Carnival cut its profit forecast for the year due to the Trump administration's sudden ban on cruises to Cuba." Such fallouts have been commonplace since 1959, the year the Cuban Revolution chased the leaders of the Batista Mafia dictatorship to their new capital of Little Havana in Miami. Wonderful!!!

     Since 1959 even powerful Miami businessmen like Arnold Donald are required to bow to Cuban extremists...or else.

     The dictatorial demands in Batista's Cuba from 1952 till 1959, as Arnold Donald understands first-hand, have simply been transferred from Havana to Little Havana since 1959. Such dictates for decades have been extended to Washington because of the Batistiano dominance of the Republican Party in the USA's two-party political system. The extreme left-wing tilt of the Democratic Party helped elect Republican Trump and therefore massively aided the Little Havana-based Batistianos, who prey on Cubans in Cuba and on non-Batistiano businessmen like Arnold Donald.

Indeed, welcome to Little Havana USA.

WOW!! Little Havana USA Has Won!!!

And Guess What??

It's All LEGAL!!!

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Trump Reshapes Latin America

An Extreme Right-Wing Tilt!!
{Updated: Monday, July 1st, 2019}

     The London-based The Guardian's Latin American expert Tom Phillips has penned a major article entitled "Brazilian Diplomats 'Disgusted' As Bolsonaro Pulverizes Foreign Policy." It should be must-reading for anyone interested in or concerned about the drastic right-wing shift among key Latin American leaders.

      Tom Phillips used this photo of the Foreign Ministry's headquarters in Brazilia to illustrate his informative update on Latin America's dramatic shift to the right that particularly threatens vulnerable nations like Cuba.

     Brazil's new right-wing President Zair Bolsonaro, of course, is close friends to USA President Donald Trump's most right-wing zealots such as John Bolton. Brazil's former Ambassador to the United States, Rubens Ricupero, used the adjective "disgusted" to define how drastically Bolsonaro's Brazil has shifted to the right. That's extremely important considering that Brazil is by far Latin America's largest, richest, and strongest nation, and one that has recently gone from being extremely supportive OF Cuba to now being extremely threatening TO Cuba.

      Brazil's former Cuba-loving two-term President Lula de Silva is quoted in the aforementioned Tom Phillips article as saying, "Brazil is being governed now by lunatics and U. S. lackeys." And Lula de Silva should know. Those "lunatics and U. S. lackeys" slapped him in a Brazilian prison after impeaching Lula's two-term Cuba-loving presidential successor Dilma Rousseff. Lula has loudly proclaimed that his imprisonment and Rousseff's impeachment were purely designed to elect right-winger Zair Bolsonaro as President and, further, that the right-wingers who charged Lula and Rousseff with corruption were upset that they were spending so much of Brazil's wealth on poor Brazilians. To quickly appease right-wingers in Brazil, Miami, and Washington, Bolsonaro booted thousands of Cuban doctors out of Brazil although the poorest areas of that huge nation needed them badly.

       From prison, Lula de Silva let it be known that he was put away because if he had been allowed to run again for President he, not Bolsonaro, would have been elected because of his everlasting popularity among Brazil's majority poor.

    The Tom Phillips article in The Guardian this week indicates that 34-year-old Eduardo Bolsonaro, the President's son, may be calling most of the extreme right-wing shots in Brazil, with many of them aimed at Cuba. In any case, having Brazil as a drastic enemy instead of a powerful friend bodes ill-will for the island of Cuba, especially in the Trump era.

AND...uh...BY THE WAY:

      New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, while in Miami as one of the participants in last night's Democratic Presidential Debate, and while supporting unhappy airport workers, shouted: "Hasta la Victoria, Siempre!!" It means "Until Victory, Always" and is famous as Che Guevara's slogan during Cuba's successful Revolutionary War against the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship back in the 1950's. Mayor de Blasio, like a lot of Americans, failed to realize that Miami in 2019 is more like Batista's Cuba of the 1950's than it resembles the U. S. Democracy prior to 1959. Thus, Mayor de Blasio limped back to his Sanctuary City of New York with a lesson well-learned about the still-increasing power of the Batistiano exiles in the USA government.

     On Wednesday and Thursday this week the two Democratic Presidential Debates in Miami included Jose Diaz-Balart, shown above on the left, as one of the five high-profile moderators. It reflects what has been obvious for a long time, which is: The mainstream U. S. media is too afraid not to give full and unchecked forums to the richest and most powerful Counter Revolutionary Miami Cubans. Jose Diaz-Balart is a News Anchor on NBC, MSNBC, and Telemundo -- all of which are powerful anti-Cuban but also anti-Trump propaganda outlets. Jose Diaz-Balart is also the son of Rafael Diaz-Balart, a powerful Minister in the ousted Batista dictatorship who, beginning in 1959, became one of the richest and most powerful Counter Revolutionary Cubans in the Miami area. Two of Rafael's sons -- Lincoln and Mario -- have been able to wage their Counter Revolutionary tirades from both Miami and the U. S. Congress while Jose joined a long list of anti-Cuban Counter Revolutionary propagandists in the U. S. media.

    As indicated by the above Tweet, in Havana yesterday -- June 27th, 2019 -- Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel continued to assure the Cuban people that the targeted island will survive the current assaults from Batistiano-infested Miami and President Trump's Batistiano-aligned White House in Washington. Diaz-Canel frequently uses the Internet's Social Media as well as state radio and television to communicate with Cubans. His interesting Tweet yesterday revealed his intention to raise the salaries of some workers. Translated to English, he said:

         "At the meeting of the Council of Ministers of Cuba, economic measures were approved to overcome the current situation and a salary increase in the budgeted sector. The information on this will be provided today at the NNTV Cuba Advances. Let's Go For More. We Are Cuba. We Are Continuity."

         If ever harassed Cubans needed "salary increases" it's now as the Trump administration has given the Miami Batistianos the clearance to starve Cubans on the island, and it's a process that is well underway.

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No Cuban War PLEASE

Someone MIGHT Get Hurt!!

      London's Daily Express, which has a truly massive Internet following, used the photo-graphic above to headline a major article reminiscent of the October-1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which remains the closest the world has ever come to a nuclear holocaust. The article referenced this week's visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin's most prized warship, the Admiral Gorshkov-454, to Havana Harbor. The headline screamed: "HOW PUTIN'S MISSILES COULD REACH U. S. COAST IN 6 MINUTES FROM CUBA." Wow!! The Russian Admiral is indeed frightening. The Daily Express told London and the world these facts: "It is equipped for anti-air, anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare missions -- with a potentially deadly superstar cruise missile as its primary weapon." Of course, the analogy with 1962 sells newspapers and Online ads but, truth be known, apart from little Cuba being thrust again into the equation, both the United States and Russia already had submarine missiles, airborne missiles and land missiles capable of mutual nuclear destruction or annihilation.

    From a topical standpoint, the photo above might be more scary to the United States and its allies than Russia's ultra-modern warship Admiral Gorshkov docking in Havana this week. Yes, the Admiral's visit to Cuba sent a message to Trump's anti-Cuban war-mongers Rubio/Diaz-Balart/Claver-Carone/Bolton/Pompeo, but this photo reflects even more of a military threat to the USA from Russia. It shows President Putin meeting with his top military advisers. All five of these men are audacious and they believe they can match the United States missile-for-missile when it comes to nuclear weapons. Otherwise, Putin would not have changed the military dynamics in places like Syria and Venezuela. Did Putin this week show that he's ready to alter the military dynamic in Cuba too??? Maybe.

    Meanwhile, Cuba's post-revolutionary President, Miguel Diaz-Canel...the island's former Education Minister...actually doesn't have much to say about whether the U. S. and Russia start a regional war...or World War III...over Cuba. This photo was taken this week -- June 26-2019 -- and shows President Diaz-Canel visiting a children's hospital in Camaguey in the heart of Cuba. Diaz-Canel often takes to Twitter to make points such as this: "In the U. S. Marco Rubio assumes Americans are either stupid or scared-to-death to challenge his Rubio-enriching lie that every penny the U. S. allows into Cuba goes into the pockets or offshore bank accounts of Cuban leaders. The U. S. doesn't come close to guaranteeing free college educations or free healthcare for its people but Cuba does that for every Cuban citizen. Americans are not stupid so I assume they are very afraid of  Rubio and his pals...and so it seems are the major media sources in the United States."

   This photo was also taken this week as Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel moved across the island to ascertain if his desire to sharply increase food production on the island is beginning to show results. The Cuban leader, who has a strong presence on Cuban radio and television stations as well as on on Social Media internet forums, freely admits that Rubio's Trump-induced activation of Helms-Burton Title 3 has created food shortages on the island. Diaz-Canel is not interested in a war with the United States, even with Russia's support. In Camaguey this week, Diaz-Canel was heard to tell a farmer as summarized by a Camaguey journalist: "The Rubio and Diaz-Balart types have power to strangle us when there is a Republican president. We must survive that strangulation while also improving our own capacity to sustain ourselves while trying for more-and-more foreign investments from nations that will see the benefit of dealing with us. Our potential is enormous. Vietnam, now a U. S. trade partner, sees that...and hopefully other countries will too, apart from what is now the U. S. threats against nations and companies that want to trade fairly and freely with us. We all know that most U. S. farmers and companies want to have the freedom to deal with us, but the U. S. is not the free nation it says it is."

    In other words, Cuba remains mystified why Rubio's lies can so easily intimidate Americans. Perhaps Rubio's biggest lie is that he is "HELPING" everyday Cubans and that everyday Cubans know that and like him. Anyone who has been to Cuba and mingled with EVERYDAY CUBANS knows that Cubans on the island massively and passionately hate Rubio and fully believe that he is willing to starve or annihilate them in order to further his lucrative Little Havana nests in Miami, both economically and politically.

    Even the most powerful newspaper in Rubio's hometown, the Miami Herald, has assailed Rubio for his gutless sacrifice of innocent Cubans to further his own economic and political careers. The Miami Herald invited young Cuban mothers and entrepreneurs to write a scathing article {see above} in which they assailed Rubio for assaulting their children's welfare as they begged Rubio to at least meet with then...they also took their pleas to Washington...to hear their side of the story. Of course, Rubio has neither the guts nor the decency to do that.

       And of course, even Democracy-lovers like me must admit that the USA's brand of Democracy obviously has a fatal flaw if the likes of a Havana-to-Little Havana Diaz-Balart family or a flyweight like Marco Rubio can hide behind it for 6+ decades and present the image above of the USA to the entire world. I would assume that every true Democracy-lover in America is ashamed of this exceedingly accurate worldwide Carlos LaTuff image. At least, they should be.

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Russia Taunts U.S. In Cuba

Opposing Warships Eyeing Each Other!!

         This Associated Press/Ramon Espinosa photo shows Russia's ultra-modern warship The Admiral Gorshkov entering Havana Harbor yesterday -- Tuesday, June 25th, 2019. For some, it harkens chillingly back to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis because U. S. President Trump has apparently given Counter Revolutionary extremists in Miami the go-ahead not only to reverse all of President Obama's normalization advances towards Cuba but to actually recapture the island. Russia, a military Superpower, might challenge that.

     The Admiral Gorshkov-454 is the pride and joy of the Russian navy and represents a new class of surface warships to buttress Russia's powerful submarine fleet. It carried 210 sailors into Havana as curious Cubans watched in awe. The Admiral carries advanced cruise missiles as well as a variety of anti-ship and land-attack missiles. Also, it reportedly has a deadly defense system the Russians call "deference." Its top speed is 29 knots. Ben Werner, the top writer at USNI News, said, "The Admiral Gorshkov is ultra-modern and it parallels the capabilities of modern U. S. and allied surface combatants."

    This Cuban woman was using her Smart Phone to video-tape the Admiral Gorshkov cruising into Havana Harbor. The surprise visit instantly was a hit on social media now that most Cubans are quite tuned to the Internet. A typical Cuban post was the one that said: "We Cubans who will stay here no matter what Miami and Washington have in store for us hope there is no war, but the Title 3-Helms Burton sanctions and the Miami courts now being allowed by Trump to sue everybody who has a relation with Cuba, leaves us no choice. We either starve or we fight this time, and maybe Russia's best warship gives us hope."

     For sure, Russian President Vladimir Putin is sending a message to the U. S. indicating his displeasure with "Trump trying to bring Cuba, after all these years, to its knees and then allow his political buddies in Miami to feast on the spoils." Indeed, Admiral Gorshkov-454 is Putin's personal toy and sailing it into the USA's backdoor might be a bit intimidating. Cuba welcomed the warship with a 21-gun salute as it entered Havana Harbor.

     This is the USS Jason Dunham. According to USNI News and its top writer Ben Werner, this is the U. S. warship that is in the waters 40 miles out from Key West, Florida, which puts it close enough to monitor the total of four Russian warships docked in Havana, three of which support Admiral Gorshkov's ubiquitous presence.

   President Trump has respect for President Putin's military arsenal, and well he should. While Trump perhaps can avoid the simmering war against strong but non-nuclear Iran in the Middle East, he surely needs to avoid tangling with Putin's nuclear capability...especially in the Caribbean or Latin America.

     This is Russia's TU-160 nuclear bomber that is code-named "Blackjack" by NATO allies who respect its power. When two TU-160s landed in Venezuela and caused an uproar at Maiquetia Airport outside Caracas, it quickly and sharply altered the military dynamics in that oil-rich but starkly troubled Latin American nation, which otherwise was expected to have a U.S.-friendly leader by now that would have replaced the Cuba-friendly Nicolas Maduro. At the moment, it's up to Trump to decide if Putin will allow U.S.-backed regime-changes in Cuba or in Venezuela...or is Putin bluffing?

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Russia-US Naval Power In Cuba

A Russian WARSHIP In Cuba!!

        These Cubans today -- Monday, June 24th, 2019 -- were surprised to see this ultra-modern Russian warship, the Admiral Gorshkov, steaming into Havana Harbor. The photo is courtesy of The London Sun, which reported that Moscow warned that "The world is on the brink of a repeat of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis." The excellent video & audio below of the Russian warship entering Havana Harbor today is courtesy of France's AFP News Agency:

     While the Russian Navy dominates Havana Harbor on the western tip of Cuba, the U. S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay on the eastern tip of the island is not amused. Tap the image above to see and hear the Russian warship arrive in Havana today, surprising Cubans.

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Can Rubio Capture Havana?

Odds Are In His Favor Now!!

Photo credit: Sarah Marsh/Reuters.

    The photo above reflects a new reality in Cuba since President Trump enacted the total starvation section Title 3 of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, which was mostly written and crammed into congressional legal law by Little Havana Cuban-born extremists Jorge Mas Canosa and Lincoln Diaz-Balart to merely just starve and deprive Cubans on the island to soften them up for recapture. Not even President George W. Bush, 100% controlled by the Little Havana extremists in Miami, was so extremely cruel and stupid to activate Helms-Burton's Title 3. But since Trump enacted it, the photo above is accurate. Shelves in Cuban food stores are empty and Cuban mothers, like these, are finding it hard not only to find vital food like eggs and chicken but also encountering a scarcity of medical and hygiene products. In other words, photos like this obviously bring joy to the uncaring heart of Little Havana's Marco Rubio, Trump's current Cuban dictator.

     Remember and please study the above graphic that shows when four young Cuban mothers, who had thrived as entrepreneurs thanks to the decency of President Obama, penned a heart-wrenching article IN RUBIO'S HOMETOWN MIAMI HERALD begging the heartless Rubio to hear their side of the story and stop trying to starve their children. And yes, these four Cuban mothers -- Niuris Higueras, Yamina Vicenta, Julia de la Rosa, and Marla Recio -- and 26 others took their heartfelt pleas to Washington. And still, neither Trump nor Rubio had the decency or the guts to pay them any attention. But at least, as you can see, Rubio's hometown Miami Herald gave them a lot of attention.

    President Trump's diabolical anointment of the lightweight Rubio to oversee the CUBA POLICY SHIFT from the sheer decency of President Obama to the startling indecency of President Trump not only shames American and Democracy but also reveals just how deeply ingrained into the bowels of the U. S. government the former rulers of the Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba are since they were chased to their new capital of Little Havana in Miami in January of 1959.

     The Trump-Rubio enactment of Helms-Burton Title III parallels the USA's past most evil designs on Cuba, such as the explosion that killed almost 300 young sailors aboard the USS Maine in Havana Harbor that served as the long-desired pretext in 1898 for the Spanish-American War on Cuban soil;  the theft "in perpetuity" of Cuba's plush Guantanamo Bay in 1903; the USA teaming with the Mafia to back the cruel and thieving Batista dictatorship in 1952; then the USA providing instant sanctuary and much more for the Batistiano-Mafiosi leaders who fled the victorious Cuban Revolution in 1959; the Bay of Pigs military attack on Revolutionary Cuba in April of 1961; history's longest and cruelest economic embargo ever enacted, 1962 till today, against a small country by a large country; the 1976 terrorist bombing of the civilian Cubana Flight 455 that killed all on board; the 1976 car-bombing that silenced Miami's best Cuban-American newsman Emilio Milian after he criticized such terrorist acts against innocent Cubans; the Batistiano-written Helms-Burton Act in 1996 that was successfully designed primarily to enrich {with tax dollars} selected Cuban-American extremists and secondarily to recapture Cuba; etc., etc., etc.!!! But Trump's Rubio-induced enactment of Helms-Burton Title III has put the U. S. and Democracy on a course just as cruel and dark as any of the aforementioned cruel and dark aspects of the U. S government when it comes to Cuba. Yes, indeed, Title III already has begun to starve and deprive Cubans on the island but, of course, it's main purpose is to enrich already rich Cuban-American extremists...and that has begun too, of course. {Read about such incredible new enrichments in new insightful but sad articles this week by the great Tracey Eaton on his "Cuba Money Project" blog}. In U. S. courts, companies are being successfully sued for involvement with Revolutionary Cuba and greedy Cuban-American lawyers in Miami, Newark, and Washington are acting like unchecked children in the world's largest CANDY & TOY store, which the United States is, of course, for Cuban extremists. So while Title III legally makes billionaires out of some Cuban-American millionaires it also is now CREATING another slew of Cuban-American millionaires, even as these recent and exact headlines depict the added punishment being doled out to totally innocent Cubans on the island by the greedy Title III enablers:

           ****Washington Post headline: "As Sanctions Bite In Cuba, the U. S. -- Once A Driver of Hope -- Is Now A Source of Pain." That articles explores the decency of Obama followed by the indecency of Trump.

               ****Wall Street Journal headline: "Cuba Ration Lines Grow Tense As Economy Flails." The once proud and still formidable Wall Street Journal now rejoices in reports about innocent Cubans being tormented.

              ****Reuters News Agency headline: "Shortages Plague Cuba As U. S. Sanctions Sharpen Economic Woes." The London-based Reuters covers Cuba like a blanket with great journalists such as Sarah Marsh, while most even mainstream U. S. journalists are simply too afraid to report truthfully about Cuba.

     And, of course, the U. S. is now inundated with extreme anti-Cuban propaganda "journalists" like Frances Martel who wrote another sordid anti-Cuba/pro-Batistiano propaganda piece this past weekend for Breitbart News. Highly financed by the billionaire Mercer family and others, Breitbart would have you believe that Revolutionary Cuba is worse than Nazi Germany while the Batista-Mafia rule of Cuba was the best government in the entire history of the world. Yes, in this day 'n age, extreme money sources have created massive and effective propaganda rags like Breitbart that can hire as many propagandists as they desire while calling them "journalists."

     That's why great and honest journalists like Sarah Marsh at the London-based Reuters News Agency remain your best sources for great and honest journalist from Cuba and not from some over-paid protagonist who has never been to Cuba and who is just masquerading as a journalist. Sarah Marsh goes out into Cuban fields and talks with Cuban farmers about what they can produce and what they can't produce because of restrictions from both the U. S. embargo as well as some longstanding and correctable Cuban bureaucratic blunders. Then back in the cities Sarah Marsh discusses the Cuban predicament with top government officials, such as Betsy Diaz.

     The powerful and forthright Betsy Diaz is Cuba's Interior Commerce Minister, which puts her in charge of trying to keep 11.4 million Cubans from starving for food or being deprived of other necessities.

     And, for sure, Betsy Diaz does not lie to Cuba's well-educated and knowledgeable people. She says: "We have made our own mistakes but I assure you that we are trying our best to correct them. At this particular time with Trump in Washington and with Rubio and the Diaz-Balarts in both Miami and Washington, the U. S. is using the Title 3 of Helms-Burton to starve and deprive us as never before. We must, as always, survive this...and we will. But it is tough, for me and for you and for all our children. Some Cuban-Americans benefit economically and politically from doing this to us, as you know. Some Cubans in Cuba are also bought off to help them. But as always there are enough Cubans in Cuba who will struggle through hard times...and fight to the last drop of blood...to protect our dignity and our independence. It so happens that our enemy is not only close by but also the strongest nation in the world. No other small country could have survived what we have survived from them...not even much larger countries than us. You know how sorry I am for what Title 3 in the United States has brought us. But you also know how hard we are working to get past it. This beautiful island doesn't deserve to be tortured by foreign criminals supported by the world's strongest nation. But that is the way it is. We must not only combat that but we must always strive to prosper...and someday we will."

      Although backed by the Cuban people, Betsy Diaz in little Cuba appears to be a mismatch for the unchecked Marco Rubio in mighty America.

    Incredibly, the frayed two-party USA political system has enabled a flyweight, self-serving Cuban puppeteer, Marco Rubio, to enlist three ultra-powerful puppets -- John Bolton, Donald Trump, and Mike Pompeo who are not only willing but anxious to provide Rubio with all the money, all the legality, and all the might he needs to reconquer Cuba. To combat such a force, what in the world does little Cuba have to possibly stand up to such a threat?? The answer, I believe, will surprise those who haven't been to the island to see for themselves or who haven't depended on top sources who are in touch with the rhythms and pulses of the island. So permit me to suggest what the Cubans on the island are depending on to ward off Rubio, who seemingly has all the cards & guns necessary to win this uneven fight.

     Revolutionary icon Fidel Castro died at age 90 on the evening of November 25th, 2016. But if Marco Rubio is to recapture Cuba, he will have to defeat Fidel Castro, something seven consecutive U. S. presidential administrations have been unable to do. Since Nov. 25-2016, there are indelible signs on the island that the legacy of Fidel is superseding his rather formidable lifelong extravagances. Posters like this are flashing up all over the island highlighting Fidel quotes...and appearing across the social media spectrums now that the well-educated Cubans have almost full Internet prowess. This particular inspirational Fidel quotation says, "That flag, that heaven, this earth. We will defend it at the Price that is necessary."

    This is another increasingly popular Fidel poster and quotation being spread across the island of Cuba and its now ubiquitous Internet social media interactions. This quote says, "Neoliberalism is not a theory of development, neoliberalism is the doctrine of the total looting of our peoples." While he lived, Fidel insisted on statues and monuments to honor revolutionary icons like Celia Sanchez and Jose Marti but before he died Fidel ordered...yes, dictated...that he didn't want to become a "cult figure" and therefore he didn't want statues in his honor or buildings, roads, and other edifices named for him. Those dictates have been honored, but the Internet social media, which has been mushrooming on the island since the Obama presidency, is busy crowning Fidel as an idol and as a teacher far more powerful than the "cult figure" he tried so hard to avoid becoming.

      And so, in late June of 2019 THE question is this: Can the TRUMPIFIED, PINOCCHIO-NOSED Marco Rubio defeat the legend of Fidel Castro and recapture Cuba for his pals and mentors still feasting and huddling with abated breath in Little Havana since January of 1959??????????? I know that is a lot of question marks but it entails a lot of factors, such as...Fidel is dead; Cuba is a small island; the United States is the world's economic and military superpower; and, of course, Rubio is totally unchecked -- except for FIDEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! {Uh, yes, I know...a lot of exclamation points; sorry}.

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