As Cuba Changes

In the Age of Trump!!!

      The photo above was taken in Havana last night {Dec. 4th, 2019} and it shows, if subtly, how much Cuba has {and is} changing in the Age of America's Trump with a Cuban President, Miguel Diaz-Canel, who was born after the triumph of the 1959 Cuban Revolution. The beautiful and ultra-talented Haydee Milanes and her singer-songwriter father Pablo Milanes are revered in Cuba and in other places around the world. Last night the duo had a sold-out concert at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana. After the impromptu performance was first promoted in the media, all the 2,000 tickets were sold out within minutes. Selling out in venues is normal for Haydee but this concert last night came on the heels of controversial comments Haydee had made in the magazine El Estornudo whereby she had spoken emotionally and candidly about "the future of Cuba."

      In the magazine interview prior to last night's concert, Haydee Milanes shocked everyday Cubans and President Diaz-Canel with comments such as: "No se si quiero a mi higa en el fututo de Cuba." {"I don't know if I want my daughter in the future of Cuba"}. Many Cubans believed such comments might have caused President Diaz-Canel to cancel the concert, but that wasn't considered. Haydee had earlier strongly expressed displeasure that Amara Ruiz Urquiola had been fired even though Amara was considered a highly respected teacher at the Higher Institute of Design in Havana. Still incensed about Amara's dismissal, Haydee vented other beliefs in El Estornudo magazine, such as her concerns that "changes" she deems necessary in Cuba during the USA's Trump administration's genocide will "not happen." Such public comments by the high-profile Haydee are now tolerated, even encouraged, by Cuba as long as they are not made by Cubans on the payroll of the U. S. government. No one in Cuba, including President Diaz-Canel, denies Haydee's love and patriotism for the island and the Revolution that remains supreme against all odds. With most Cubans now engaged Online in the digital Social Media stratosphere, they are clearly agitated about the still crippling, 6-decades-old U. S. embargo that Trump has now ramped into a true genocidal blockade but most of them still support the Revolution that rid them of the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia rule. But in today's Cuba, if Haydee wants to raise her daughter off the island, such as in non-embargoed Spain, she has the wherewithal to do so or, if she chooses to remain in Cuba, Haydee can openly critique the government because everyone knows she is not influenced by U. S. dollars.

     Even with another Little Havana-aligned Republican U. S. President in the White House, the Cuban Revolution is still in control of the island, at least all of it except the hated U. S. Military Base on the eastern tip of the island at Guantanamo Bay that islanders believe was stolen from them in 1903 after the U. S. gained domination of Cuba after the 1895 Spanish-American War...at least till the Cuban Revolution changed things in January of 1959.

     In December of 2019, even as the likes of Marco Rubio appears to have President Trump's permission to carve out illimitable legal rules designed to eviscerate Cubans on the island, an American that somehow got to visit Cuba reportedly asked, "I am told that these school children had their choice of brand-new Nike, Fila, or Adidas shoes. But how is that so?" {Perhaps Rubio would frown and scratch his head if he saw this photo this week}.

    An exasperated Rubio would probably point at Diaz-Canel and snarl, "How the hell did those embargoed Cuban children get those brand-new shoes?" On Twitter Rubio and Diaz-Canel bark at each other. Rubio famously tweeted this message to Diaz-Canel: "See you soon," meaning he was about to overthrow Diaz-Canel's revolutionary government. Diaz-Canel then tweeted back to Rubio: "I'll be waiting for you at the Bay of Pigs."

     Any map from 1492 till today shows Cuba to be the dominant {and largest and most coveted island} in the Caribbean. Because Cuba is the only nation that ever defeated a U.S.-backed dictatorship {the brutal Batista-Mafia dictatorship in January, 1959}, Cuba therefore since 1962 has had to cope with history's longest and cruelest economic embargo ever imposed on a small nation by a strong nation, in this case the nearby United States superpower. All of the other nations in the Caribbean since 1962 have had excellent trade relations with the United States. Consider Jamaica, which is located just south of Cuba. Today -- December 5th, 2019 -- America's largest newspaper, USA Today,  spotlighted Jamaica's prosperity in an article by its Travel expert Lindsay Cohn. He wrote:

               "Jamaica is a popular destination for families, honeymooners and college students. That's because the third-largest Caribbean island really has something for everyone. It's blessed with spectacular scenery -- lush rainforests, banana groves, volcanic cliffs, gorgeous beaches, and the Blue Mountains. The birthplace of reggae and Bob Marley, native rhythms echo in the breeze. Couple that with a carefree attitude and bold, Caribbean flavors. Try the jerk chicken! To wash it down? Red Stripe beer." {Digest those words and then consider how much richer Cuba would be than Jamaica if not for the decades-old embargo imposed on Cuba by the United States}.

      Those exact words today in USA Today about Jamaica are nice, but Jamaica is no Cuba, which easily has the most potential economically, tourism-wise and otherwise If NOT FOR BEING the only nation in the world massively crippled  from 1962 till today by a massive economic embargo imposed by the world's superpower that  is geographically just 90 miles to its north. But somehow Cuba's historic Revolution still survives. Caribbean Havana Weekends in Revolutionary Cuba are still even enticing to some American tourists although the Trump administration, even as it fights impeachment in the U. S., tries to keep Cuba isolated from Americans and the world while also blocking exports and imports from leaving or getting to the pugnacious island, obviously trying to create blackouts, starvations, and deprivations for everyday Cubans. During every Republican presidential administration since 1959, daily and dire predictions of Revolutionary Cuba's demise have been rampant. But its unique dilemma also adds to the mystique and allure of the Caribbean's largest, most historic, most beautiful, and most intriguing island. The visitors riding recently along Havana's Malecon Seawall in the 1950s-era convertible above seem to concur with those observations.

      In Cuba, for example, you can even drive your own taxi that might turn out be a fine-tuned 1950s-era convertible.

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US Media vs. Cuba

Scared OR biased!!

    Representative of the mainstream media in the United States, Mary Anastasia O'Grady is a power at the Wall Street Journal as a key member of the Editorial Board and expert on Latin America and the Americas. Her latest excoriation of Revolutionary Cuba was blared in a major article on Dec. 1-2019 entitled "Cuba Imprisons A Humanitarian."

     As with her Wall Street Journal article that kicked off this month of December in 2019, Mary O'Grady routinely seems to tell her readers that the best government in the world in the past century was the Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba in the 1950s and the worst government in the past century has been the Cuban Revolution that ousted the Batistiano and Mafiosi leaders on January 1, 1959. Whether simply biased or just intimidated, Mary O'Grady is typical of high-profile mainstream journalists in the United States who are incapable of reporting honestly on Cuban issues or on topics relating to U.S.-Cuban relations.

      As another prime example, today's scathing anti-Cuban article in the New York Times {Dec. 2nd, 2019} is written by Frances Robles. Since 2013 Ms. Robles has written major articles for the New York Times that seem to portray the Batista-Mafia rule of Cuba in the 1950s as the best government in world in the past century and Revolutionary Cuba's rule since 1959 as the worst government in the world in the past century. Even as a high-profile anti-Cuban mouthpiece for the New York Times, Frances Robles still resides in Miami and, of course, her articles reflect only the views of Little Havana's anti-revolutionary extremists. Her New York Times article today is entitled: "ACTIVIST'S CASE HINTS AT WHAT CHANGES AND WHAT STAYS THE SAME IN CUBA." The sub-title is: "Jose Daniel Ferrer's Arrest Reflects The Lengths To Which The Diaz-Canel Government Will Go Against Dissidents." As usual, Frances Robles' propaganda today amply provides the views of prime anti-Cuban dissidents such as Jose Daniel Ferrer, Martha Beatriz Roque, Yoani Sanchez, etc., while not providing the official statement regarding this topic from Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel who stated: "Everyone knows that dissidents in Cuba such as Ferrer are salaried agents at the service of the United States." In her New York Times article on Dec. 2nd-2019 Frances Robles did write that Cuba is burdened by "widespread gasoline shortages and crippling United States sanctions" and she wrote about "Cuba's frequent food shortages and other hardships." But, of course, Frances Robles implied that such things in Cuba are totally Cuba's fault and have nothing to do with the Trump administration doing the genocidal bidding of a handful of vicious, anti-revolutionary Cubans in Little Havana.

Photo credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

     Today's high-profile anti-Cuban articles by Mary O'Grady in the Wall Street Journal and Frances Robles in the New York Times relate to Cuba's most powerful dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer. He has been jailed in Cuba since October 1st, 2019, and he supposedly secreted out of his prison a letter to his family saying: "...on hunger and thirst strike...they have done everything to me...my life is in grave danger..." While those things may well be true, the fact that Cuba has ample reason to be concerned about U.S.-financed dissent is also undeniable. And while the volatile Mr. Ferrer is afforded luscious backing and coverage by Little Havana, Counter Revolutionary members in the Trump White House, in the U. S. Congress, and by the U. S. media, there are two sides to the Jose Daniel Ferrer story, such as whether the U. S. would allow a Russia or a China to massively and openly support anti-U. S. dissidents in the United States. Mr. Ferrer has repeatedly been jailed in Cuba and it is always used as anti-Cuban fodder in the United States. In the U. S. since 1959, Batistianos in Little Havana have dictated the USA's Cuban policies just as they did in Havana from 1952 till 1959. Less biased entities, such as the UN and the 28-nation EU should be allowed to weigh-in on fractious U.S.-Cuban concerns.

      The YouTube videos, like the one above that was posted recently, ubiquitously chronicle the Jose Daniel Ferrer saga. But, like the above YouTube video from the EU, most such reports are one-sided and well-funded against Cuba.

      Of course, the leader and High Representative of the 28-nation European Union, Federica Mogherini, is a staunch supporter of the Cuba people and Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel. Appalled by the Trump administration's "assaults on the Cuban people," Mogherini has long labeled the U. S. embargo against Cuba "both illegal and extremely cruel."

      The brave and heroic effort to normalize relations with Cuba by the last Democratic U. S. President, Barack Obama, unfortunately was followed by another Republican president, Donald Trump. All Republican presidents since 1952, especially the entire Bush dynasty and the current Trump presidency, have been totally aligned with extreme Cuban Counter Revolutionary right-wingers.

     On January 20th, 2017, the Trump presidency reversed Obama's decency with Trump's indecency regarding relations with Cuba. That is reflected by Trump solely turning the USA's Cuban affairs to Little Havana denizens such as Marco Rubio, shown above making a Trump-authorized tirade against Cuba while speaking to the choir at the luscious Manuel Artime Theater in Miami, which is named for a leader of the Bay of Pigs attack on Cuba in April of 1961.

     The bravery and sanity of President Obama was overturned by President Trump and handed back over to a minority of vicious Cubans in Little Havana.

      The Obama decency, sanity, and bravery regarding Cuba is now back in the hands of a small but rich and politically powerful Cuban extremists in Little Havana, in Congress, and in the White House. When all 25 Democrats were still running to defeat Trump in the November-2020 presidential election, all 25 vowed, if elected, they would revert America's Cuban policies to Obama's ideals, not Trump's.

      When he writes Executive Orders eviscerating Cubans on the island, President Trump likes to go to Little Havana in Miami and sign such documents in the company of extremists Little Havana Cuban-Americans, like Mario Diaz-Balart and Marco Rubio and self-serving sycophants like Rick Scott who is shown clapping as he stands between them.

      Regardless of what genocide the Trump administration is allowing Little Havana extremists to carry out against everyday Cubans on the island, as mentioned earlier it appears that even mainstream U. S. journalists such as Frances Robles/New York Times and Mary O'Grady/Wall Street Journal support and hail such atrocities. But Americans need to get to know Tracey Eaton, the best and respected U. S. journalist who also happens to be a renowned expert on Cuba. Tracey headed a bureau in Havana and now is a beloved journalism professor at Flagler College in Florida, but he still writes the most important U. S. articles related to U.S.-Cuban relations, including six recent articles carried prominently in the Tampa Bay Times in Florida. Tracey's expertise regarding Cuba has been used by USA Today, NBC News, and dozens other high-profile media outlets but his two blogs...Cuba Money Project and Along the Malecon...are must-reading for anyone interested in honest facts regarding U.S.-Cuba relations. Tracey, for example, regularly obtains Freedom of Information access to U. S. government data and statistics to buttress his reporting on his ubiquitous and fascinating Cuba Money Project blog. If you check them out, I guarantee that you will be amazed and outraged how much tax dollars regularly are devoted to Little Havana anti-Cuban projects and how much tax dollars are devoted to a plethora of dissident programs on the island. For example, Tracey often details right down to the penny some of the outrageous sums and who and what they go to. Also, he often publishes on his Cuba Money Project blog the incredible amount of times the U. S. government posts elaborate solicitations for people who will be interested in getting paid tax dollars for engaging in anti-Cuban projects. And what makes Tracey Eaton's journalism so important is that most of the U. S. media is too intimidated or biased to report honestly regarding on U.S.-Cuban issues, and especially on the lush money pipelines that flow daily from Washington to Miami. Today on his Facebook page Tracey Eaton dusted off a 2013 interview he had with Jose Daniel Ferrer that by the 7th minute was talking about the money that Cuban dissidents like Ferrer get from the United States. On Eaton's Facebook page you can see that interview. Of course, supposedly well-funded dissidents on the island are now able to fly to the U. S. and other places to solicit money, such as the video below that shows Yoani Sanchez doing precisely that: {You can see this interesting 47-second video if you hit the "Watch on YouTube" line}:

       Of course, Cuban dissident Yoani Sanchez made sure to visit U. S. Senators Marco Rubio and Bob Menendez, two viciously unchecked anti-Counter Revolutionary zealots in the U. S. Congress. By the time she flew back to Cuba, it is widely presumed that Yoani Sanchez had been gifted with bushels of tax dollars to expand her diligence on the island.

{Enough Cuban billionaires in Miami?}

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U.S. Hurt by Its Cuban Lies

An Affront to Democracy Since 1959!

       On the first day of January, 1959, the Cuban Revolution astounded the world by defeating the brutal, thieving, U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship. Equally astounding, the U.S.-backed exiles from the overthrown Batista-Mafia dictatorship were quickly permitted to quickly...and it seems permanently...replace their capital in Havana on Cuban soil with their new capital of Little Havana on U. S. soil in Miami. Thus, since 1959 the colluding U. S. government, unable to help the Cuban exiles to recapture Cuba, has exacerbated its unholy collusion by lying to the American people about Cuban issues, and the mainstream U. S. media has also usually been too intimidated to tell the truth about U. S. involvement in pre-Revolutionary Cuba as well as post-Revolutionary Cuba.

        In that milieu in the United States of America, propaganda related Cuba has been rampant from 1959 till this day in 2019. For that to be allowed within the bowels of the world's strongest nation and strongest democracy has insulted democracy-lovers in America and around the world. 

       This weekend, which takes us into December of 2019, the best article written about U.S.-Cuban relations has been written by William M. LeoGrande, who is the world's best expect on U.S.-Cuban relations. The article is entitled: Donald Trump Sees Another Opportunity To Teach Cuba A Lesson." The mainstream media in the U. S. is basically not allowed to consult America's best, most honest, and unbiased Cuban experts precisely of their knowledge and honesty.

     This weekend's article by William M. LeoGrande is ubiquitous online in the digital age but the mainstream U. S. media is basically not brave enough to report what true, respected Cuban experts write about or say about Cuban issues, even when Mr. LeoGande's aforementioned update provides much material Americans need to ascertain why and how President Trump, on behalf of the Cuban extremists in Little Havana and in the U. S. Congress, is conducting genocide on totally innocent Cuban families on the island while also harming the freedoms of  the majority of Cuban-Americans who desire normal relations with Cubans on the island. In this article, William M. LeoGrande mentions the forty years he has devoted to studying U.S.-Cuban relations.

    An American democracy that readily condones and promotes Little Havana-inspired propaganda about Cuba while blunting the honest views of fair-minded, unbiased experts like William M. LeoGrande is a democracy that has diminished its credibility and influence drastically since 1959.

     For example, in one notable book -- "BACK CHANNEL TO CUBA" -- co-authors William M. LeoGrande and Peter Kornbluh replaced tons of anti-Cuban propaganda with one truth after the other. Mr. Kornbluh, of course, the highly respected Cuban expert at the U. S. National Archives in Washington while Mr. LeoGrande is the highly respected Cuban expert from his perch as the Professor of Government at the American University School of Public Affairs in Washington. Americans saturated with damning propaganda about Little Havana's perspectives regarding U.S.-Cuban relations need to look beyond that facade to depend on people like LeoGrande and Kornbluh for the truth. That's why I suggest LeoGrande's article this weekend about President Trump's genocidal nexus with Little Havana that neither the mainstream U. S. media nor the American people are supposed to not care about. LeoGrande's article this weekend updates and reminds us pertaining to two pertinent facts of history: {1} Yes, the U. S. shamefully supported the brutal, thieving Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba prior to the Cuban Revolution  and {2} since 1959 the U. S. has shamefully supported two rich and powerful generations of Batistiano-Mafiosi exiles on U. S. soil and permitted them to dictate U.S.-Cuba relations to suit their personal economic and political whims. Both facts are well-known and undeniable.

Prior to 1959 in Cuba.

Since 1959 in the USA.

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Thugs Sanctioning Poor People

Decisions Not Made By Good People!!

     This photo of U. S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was taken a few days when he held a News Briefing primarily designed to levy more sanctions on Cuba. This, of course, has been a regular occurrence during the three years top officials of the Trump administration have permitted self-serving anti-Cuban zealots such as Marco Rubio, Mario Diaz-Balart, and Mauricio Claver-Carone to lead the latest U. S. effort to overthrow the Cuban Revolution that...way back on January 1, 1959...overthrew the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba. Based on the U. S. government's exact transcript of this latest Mike Pompeo diatribe against Cuba delineating the nearby Superpower's ongoing efforts to annihilate  Cuba, here are the exact opening words at this particular Pompeo News Briefing:

            "Good morning, everyone. I want to comment this morning on a few terrorism-related matters, a terrorist regime, and a couple of other items as well. I also have a a short announcement on Cuba. Today, the United States is taking action to prevent Cubametales from circumventing U. S. sanctions. Cubametales is a Cuban state-run company and the primary facilitator of illegal oil imports from Venezuela. To further contain their action, we are putting sanctions on another Cuban company, Corporacion Panamericana S. A., pursuant to Executive Order 13850."

         Secretary of State Mike Pompeo giving top prominence to little Cuba at this latest News Briefing is not unusual for him but is a typical insult to the American people, I think, considering how other domestic and foreign "items" he could have placed ahead his agenda to continue an asinine Little Havana-initiated genocide against the people of Cuba, and not just the Cuban government. After already using its unmatched economic and military might to influence or scare-off other nations from dealing with Cuban imports or exports, Pompeo on behalf of the Trump Administration and the denizens in Little Havana has already sanctioned just about any Cuban enterprise that zealots like Rubio, Diaz-Balart, and Claver-Carone can think of. In the opening statement above, Pompeo added two Cuban companies vital to secure enough oil to keep lights and other power on the island. Of course, in recent weeks the Rubio/Diaz-Balart/Claver-Carone forces have surely taken glee in learning about blackouts and food shortages on the island, as well as many other lesser conveniences just as the Cuban government having to shut down 47 buses the citizens on the island depend on for their free or cheap transportation. Pompeo and his Cuban advisers such as Rubio/Diaz-Balart/Claver-Carone, of course, are well aware that prime victims of their cruelty are the most vulnerable women and children on the island.

     This week Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez replied to U. S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with these exact words: "The American Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, calls his embassy in Havana to regularly intervene in the internal affairs of our sovereign country that will not allow it." Then Rodriguez used Cubavision International News, Agencia Prensa Latina, and Twitter to wonder why and how Pompeo has so much time to spend hurting people in Cuba instead spending more of his time to spend on: "The impeachment problems in Washington not to mention his other foreign problems all around the world with all the proxy wars the U. S. is involved in not to mention all the coups or regime-changes the U. S. continues to promote."

       When a Superpower allows a Marco Rubio to dictate its "CUBAN POLICY" to suit his economic and political whims, it says a helluva more about the Batistiano-BELITTLING of the U. S. democracy than it says about a voracious Superpower trying for six decades to exact a regime-change in a little island nation. And when a Rubio is not held accountable by the U. S. media and by U. S. citizens, the image above evokes visions of what Batistiano-blighted greed can do to the world's strongest country, eroding the aura of invincibility that earlier far greater Americans created when they carved out their experiment in governance. Crafted lovingly and stupendously by the Founding Fathers and then fiercely defended for 230 years by patriotic Americans, the U. S. Democracy should now not be left to the whims of Rubio-types.

      Elderly women in a small nation, like these two Cuban neighbors sharing a scarce egg, should not be forever targeted by unchecked rich miscreants in a large, rich, Superpower country. If policies in America that concern whether or not these two women should be deprived or starved are made, those decisions should be made by decent people and the America people should be told honestly who is making such decisions and why!!!! And sadly, today neither of those things are not done today in the hallowed United States of America and, frankly, have not been done since the Cuban Revolution in January of 1959 resulted in creating the still-thriving Batistiano government on United States soil after the greedy, cruel Batista-Mafia dictatorship was overthrown in Cuba.

      The image above shows Marco Rubio using the mainstream media to APPLAUD his leading role in starving and depriving innocent Cubans on their vulnerable island. While such things  may benefit Rubio-and-his-ilk economically and politically, the prime culprits, I believe, are the mainstream U. S. media that does not have the guts to hold Rubio-types accountable for actions many decent people consider legalized genocide.

     Clearly genocidal for Cubans on the island, Helms-Burton is also, of course, extremely lucrative for Cubans in Miami's Little Havana section.

           Little Havana is already flush with Cuban millionaires and billionaires, but the Trump administration has legalized Title 3 of Helms-Burton to make sure there are many more via lawsuits in federal Florida courtrooms.

           For sure, Trump's "CUBA POLICY" is far more illegal and nefarious than his policies involving Ukraine and other nations but, because the left-wing U. S. media that is trying so hard to impeach Trump IS SO AFRAID of Little Havana, not even the left-wing U. S. media has the guts to even mention Trump's genocidal CUBA POLICY. In other words, little Cuba since the 1950s has said far more about the United States than it says about Cuba, and that's especially true in the Age of Trump.

         The Commander and Chief of the world's greatest military power, President Trump could afford to give up a "Thumbs Up" when he was apprised that little Cuba has been holding military drills {Lower-right} since Trump enacted Title 3 of Helms-Burton. Little Cuba, of course, doesn't expect to win an all-out war against Trump, but it thinks that a do-or-die Second Cuban Revolution on Cuban soil is a far better alternative than capitulation.

         Of course, an Obama-like END THE EMBARGO ON CUBA policy by the United States would be better than starvation, a war, or another revolution in the little pugnacious Caribbean nation. But in the world's strongest democracy, that will not be allowed as long as Little Havana dictates U. S. Cuban policy, which means Little Havana's Cubans keep getting richer while also punishing Cubans on the island while also waiting for the day the U. S. finally recaptures their old homeland for them. Meanwhile, Americans are not  supposed to remember that the last time the U. S. dominated Cuba {back in the 1950s} the U. S. supported the massively brutal and thieving Batista-Mafia dictatorship led by four top Mafiosi leaders known to history as Fulgencio Batista, Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, and Santo Trafficante Jr.

        Even as the rest of the world knows all about the U. S. support of Mafia-ruled Cuba in the 1950s, Americans have been programmed to pretend that, of course, the U. S. made sure that the nearby island HAD A WORLD-CLASS DEMOCRACY the last time the U. S. dominated the island. Truth be known, as historians such as Enrique Cirules documented, the U.S.-backed Mafiosi leaders in Havana didn't choose to hang around to fight the charging rebels who had just captured the key city of Santa Clara before racing to Havana on the eve of January 1, 1959. Unfortunately, still supported by the U. S. government and especially led by the CIA, the Batistianos...beginning in January of 1959...created their new capital of Little Havana on U. S. soil in the heart of Miami, Florida.

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