But U. S. Benefactors Still Prevail!!!
Two of America's greatest journalists and authors, beyond doubt, are William LeoGrande and Peter Kornbluh. These two men also are America's two best Journalists/Authors related to U.S.-Cuban Relations. LeoGrande is a renowned Professor at American University and Kornbluh is the brilliant expert at the U. S. National Archives in Washington with special emphasis on Cuba and Chile. As you can see above, LeoGrande and Kornbluh co-wrote the great book Back Channel To Cuba. But in February of 2021 these two men continue to write the best columns and articles related to U.S.-Cuba Relations. Because Americans usually get most of their mentions and prisms from only self-serving Counter Revolutionary Cubans and their sycophants, LeoGrande & Kornbluh are therefore essential sources as truth-tellers regarding U.S.-Cuban Relations, which involve many facets that impact the USA's international image, whether or not Americans realize that basic fact.
For example, William LeoGrande wrote a superb, unbiased article this past week entitled: "Biden Should Act Fast On Cuba." It is so powerful that the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Orlando published it on its Editorial Page.
As you see above, in the William LeoGrande article it is correctly mentioned that "more than 3,400 Cubans have been killed" in vicious terrorist attacks by Counter Revolutionary terrorists in the United States, many of them while working for the U. S. government and to this day are considered major heroes in Miami and elsewhere where Counter Revolutionaries control the Cuban narratives and the Cuban policies, such as in Newark, Congress, and in all Republican White Houses. Therefore, as honest experts such as Mr. LeoGrande have stressed for many decades, Americans are not supposed to consider the "more than 3,400 Cubans" killed by terrorists harbored in U. S. sanctuaries, but Americans are supposed to believe that little Cuba since 1959 has been engaged in massive and murderous terrorist acts. As Mr. Leo-Grande understands, such propaganda since 1959 is used to justify huge revenge, financial, and political rewards for Cuban Counter Revolutionaries and their sycophants while also, of course, being the excuses for vile terrorist attacks against innocent Cubans, not to mention being the excuses for genocidal government laws such as the 6-decades-old EMBARGO-BLOCKADE that is designed to starve, deprive and make miserable Cubans on the island to force them to rise up and overthrow their Revolutionary government. {And then what? Await the return of the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship that ravished the island from 1952 till January 1, 1959?}.
If William LeoGrande is not the greatest and most unbiased American expert on U.S.-Cuban Relations than surely Peter Kornbluh is. In February of 2021 Kornbluh still writes the best and most honest articles on that subject, including this one:
In his scathing article this week, Peter Kornbluh minutely explains how the U. S. has put Cuba back on its tiny list of Nations That SPONSOR TERRORISM!!! It is, of course, to appease the economic and political whims of Counter Revolutionary extremists. Kornbluh, the USA's best and most unbiased expert on such things, says in the sub-headline above: "Far from being a 'state sponsor of terrorism,' as the Trump administration claimed, Cuba has been an ally in fighting it." That truth from the great Peter Kornbluh doesn't compute with what the people in the U. S. who profit from saying the exact opposite about Cuba...and also, of course, influencing the U. S. government to back them on it. Peter Kornbluh continued with these extremely pertinent words:
The great Peter Kornbluh article starts with the three massive paragraphs depicted above. He explains how, since the Cuban Revolution's victory over the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship in 1959, Cuban terrorists have been lavishly funded and protected on U. S. soil, with the two most famed being, of course, Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch as named in the above article. The CIA, FBI, and DOJ as well as many afraid and silent journalists knew all about the work terrorists such as Posada and Bosch did for decades and even bragged about it. In the portion of the article as shown above, Kornbluh pinpoints the facts about the Oct. 6-1976 terrorist bomb that killed all 73 innocent civilians aboard Cubana Flight 455, which included two dozen teenage Cuban athletes. 1976 saw arguably the bloodiest of the terrorism against innocent Cubans and happened to be the only year that George H. W. Bush was CIA Director. Later as President, at the request of Florida's governor, his son Jeb, President Bush pardoned Orlando Bosch from any culpability. Since the 1950s neither the Bush dynasty nor any other powerful American person or group has been held accountable for continuous acts of terrorism or genocide against Revolutionary Cuba.
As the de-classified documents above show, the U. S. knew all about who was responsible for the terrorist bombing of Cubana Flight 455 and so did Cuba. Notice in the three photos of Posada above that he was among many Cubans who fled the Cuban Revolution in January of 1959 and quickly ended up at Fort Benning in Georgia where he graduated as a 2nd Lieutenant in Brigade 2506, the unit that attacked Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in April of 1961. But Posada is more famed for his terrorist attacks such as the bombing of Cubana Flight 455 and, as you can see above, the U. S. knew that Posada named "Orlando {Bosch}" as being implicated in the bombing.
Of course, Posada and Bosch lived out long lives as super-heroes in Miami even as friendly federal courtrooms in Miami awarded hundred of millions of dollars to Cubans who brought judgments against Cuba, which was not even represented in the trials. Meanwhile, study by contrast the photo above. It shows a Cuban sister and mother of one of the 15-year-old athletes who was killed aboard Cubana Flight 455. His sister and mother were waiting at the airport in Havana for his return and the photo was taken right after they had just gotten word the plane was in the ocean and there "are no survivors." Of Course, even after the U. S. documents implicated who the terrorists were, this sister and mother couldn't sue anyone in one of those Miami courtrooms.
But, of course, a lot of decent Cuban-Americans such as Emilio Milian, have been victims for denouncing unchecked terrorism against totally innocent Cubans by Cubans in Miami. Emilio was the most respected Cuban-American newscaster and journalist in Miami but after bravely denouncing terroristic murders against innocent Cubans, Emilio himself was the victim of one of Miami's ubiquitous car-bombings.
After his hand-written note to his dad the President about the Orlando Bosch pardon became known, apparently some brave, or careless, journalist asked Jeb Bush about it. Reportedly Jeb, of course, didn't answer but supposedly his expression said, "Orlando Bosch? Who?" Bosch & Posada lived out their natural lives in Miami but we hoped the reporter who bravely or carelessly asked Jeb that question lived a long life too.
Other than William LeoGrande and Peter Kornbluh, there are few journalists/authors today who have the ability, courage, and integrity to tell the truth about U.S.-Cuban Relations. Therefore, for decades benefactors who profit via revenge, economics, and politics from the dearth of good journalism and the lack of courage benefit immensely from the Cuban diaspora. For example, virtually unchecked pro-Batistiano/anti-revolutionary rhetoric and policy in the U. S. since the 1950s skewers all aspects of the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia rule in Cuba as well as the U.S.-backed Batistiano rule of America's request to recapture the pugnacious island. Thus, skewering or manufacturing any pretext to justify the costly but very lucrative recapture of the island is par-for-the-course because repetitive propaganda is a powerful tool. Fox example, the Little Havana zealots in Miami and in Congress easily got President Trump and the American people to believe that Cuba was committing violent attacks on U. S. diplomats on the island to make sure Trump closed the U. S. Embassy in Havana that President Obama in 2014 had reopened for the first time since 1962. Of course, Cuba and honest observers said Cuba wouldn't do that but the people who didn't want the Embassy to function properly might....uh...do such things. Well, that accusation has hurt Cuba for several years now...and now in this month of February of 2021 the great Peter Kornbluh writes that there is still no reason not to dispute Cuba's assessment of the...uh..."mysterious" attacks on the U. S. diplomats. Kornbluh wrote the following words about "the Havana Syndrome."
In other words, "transparency to solve the mystery of the 'Havana Syndrome'" is apparently being hidden by the U. S. government because...uh...in the sunlight it might be beneficial to Cuba and...uh...might be harmful to the perpetrators. Maybe or maybe not but the great Peter Kornbluh and William LeoGrande would surely...uh...not be surprised if that was the case. And that is why, in this case Peter Kornbluh, as you can see above, is urging the new Biden administration to let everyone know "by declassifying the documents."
When it comes to de-classifying U. S. documents that should see the light of day, the best investigative journalist in the U. S. is the now 74-year-old James Bamford. For example, for decades the U. S. had a unit known as The Army of the Americas that Americans were not supposed to know existed, and for a good reason. Its purpose was to train soldiers from U.S.-backed brutal dictatorships -- such as Batista's in Cuba, Trujillo's in the Dominican Republic, Somoza's in Nicaragua, Pinochet's in Chile, etc., etc. Then those soldiers would then be sent back to those dictatorships to make sure those brutal U.S.-backed dictators stayed in power. The Army of the Americas was hidden away at the sprawling Fort Benning Army Base near Columbus, Georgia. The great, super-hero James Bamford finally exposed what The Army of the Americas was, including writing a brilliant full-page article in USA Today and, of course, writing about it in his brilliant books. President Clinton read Bamford's article in USA Today and then held a news conference to "apologize" for it. Then, Guess What? It was quickly renamed "The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation." I KID YOU NOT!!
But even after the Clinton Administration re-named The Army of the Americas at Fort Benning, many Latin American immigrants who knew all about it and called it the School of the Americas are still begging for it to be closed for good, as this protest in Nov.-2019 protested against the soldiers who committed one of Central America's most famed mass-murder massacres.
As you see by the photo/graphic above, Operation Northwoods was concocted by the top U. S. military leaders, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to convince President Kennedy to approve a plan to kill US citizens so it could be blamed on Cuba and could thus be used as a pretext for an all-out war against Cuba. As you can see, President Kennedy "rejected" the plan but, once it was de-classified, it became a part of the true history of U.S.-Cuban Relations, although the military leaders who obviously wanted Operation Northwoods carried out were not held accountable for concocting it.
In other words, whether it was Operation Northwoods, The Army/School of the Americas, or other major and nefarious U. S. policies against Cuba, rest assured that many of the most devious documents detailing such things were designed to be classified, which means hidden. And if or when they have been de-classified by truly great journalists such as James Bamford, William LeoGrande, and Peter Kornbluh, the perpetrators are usually never held accountable. If you are interested in true de-classified information that shines truth on major aspects of the contentious, historic, topical, and unforgettable details chronicling U.S.-Cuban Relations, I suggest you start with these six must-read books:
