Cuban Leader On His 'Dictatorship'!!

 

    Contrary to what Americans are told, most Cubans on the island are quite fond of their leader, whom they know well from his days as the island's very popular Minister of Education.

    This paragraph, I believe, is one of President Miguel Diaz-Canel's most interesting quotes. The first sentence says: "They call us a tyranny or dictatorship." I...uh...will permit you to translate the other sentences. But I think we can agree that the "they" he refers to is the United States government.

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A BIRTHDAY for Cuba's Friend

 

    This weekend -- on Feb. 19th-2022 -- was the 69th birthday for Cristina Elisabell Fernandez de Kirchner, one of Cuba's dearest friends. She was First Lady of Argentina when her husband Nester Kirchner was President and she herself was President from 2007 till 2015. Moreover, she has now been Vice President of Argentina since 2019, so she remains a powerful figure in Latin America!!

     Needless to say, Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel lavishly wished Cristina Fernandez a HAPPY BIRTHDAY this weekend. She remains both a powerful political figure in the important nation of Argentina...and she remains Cuba's dear friend.

     Before, during, and after her 8 years as President of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez regularly visited Fidel Castro and stayed in his Havana home.

     As Fidel Castro became sick with old age prior to his death at age 90 on November 25th in 2016 in Havana, Cristina Fernandez still often flew to Havana to have talks with the revolutionary icon and his fiercely devoted wife Dalia Soto del Valle.

Fidel & Cristina

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Starving Cuba Grandmothers!!

 Havana's Fault or Miami's Fault??

    I have been to both Havana in Cuba, to Little Havana in Miami, and I've spent many years {long-ago} as a radio-television anchor in local markets in the United States. Especially since 2004 when the Little Havana-aligned George W. Bush administration reluctantly allowed me to visit Cuba on a research assignment, I have been convinced of one thing: The triumph of the Cuban Revolution in January of 1959 over the U.S.-backed and Mafia-backed Batista dictatorship has, incredibly, changed the United States even more than it has CHANGED CUBA. The success of the U. S. experiment in democracy, as Thomas Jefferson so astutely predicted in 1776, primarily depended on a VIABLE and TRUSTWORTHY news media. If he were alive today, I believe Thomas Jefferson would be shedding tears about a respected poll, Gallup's, revealing that only 7 percent of Americans now trust the mainstream U. S. media" and, alarmingly, above that number those who "ONLY TRUST the U. S. media ONLY a little bit" is also amazingly low. Can a Democracy survive and be viable indefinitely with such numbers? Especially since January of 1959, I believe the U. S. media's dishonest and propaganda-filled coverage of U.S.-Cuban Relations epitomizes the drastic decline in the manner in which Americans trust the U. S. media, something that should be a hallmark of a great Democracy. Yet, there remain a few honest and superb U. S. journalists and in yesterday's Cubaninsider I reported how Richard Stradling at the Raleigh News & Observer actually has just penned an honest and brave article even though it provided a POSITIVE IMAGE of Revolutionary Cuba, which is rare in the U. S. Incredibly, another honest and superb journalist still working in the mainstream U. S. media is Andrea Rodriguez, the Associated Press's correspondent in Havana who lives with the Cuban people and understands their foibles, nuances, joys, and struggles. She is incredible because she is honest & fair.

  When the AP's Andrea Rodriguez reports from Cuba, Americans can trust her journalism whether or not it reveals negative or positive details regarding daily life on the island. Today -- on Feb. 17-2022 -- Andrea's article, because the AP's articles are published in newspapers across the U. S., is one that Americans should carefully read while ignoring the plethora of daily anti-Cuba articles that only present the lucrative Little Havana propaganda that has saturated America's "Journalism" since January of 1959. Thus, like Richard Stradling in Raleigh with the News & Observer, Andrea Rodriguez is a rare & precious jewel if you search for honest U. S. journalism, especially regarding the largest nation in the nearby Caribbean...where the U. S. actions against its people shapes negative views of both the U. S. and Democracy among millions...even billions...of people around the world.

     Above is the headline and sub-headline of the AP article today -- Feb. 17-2022 -- by an honest journalist, Andrea Rodriguez. Note the sub-headline: "Grocery shopping has become an increasingly costly and arduous struggle for many people in Cuba." As usual, Andrea Rodriguez is honestly reporting on current struggles of Cubans on the island who arduously are trying to get adequate food and other necessities. Note that Andrea is not telling you that the fault is Havana's or Little Havana's...Cuba's or the USA's!! She is just telling you honest facts and allowing her readers to decide for themselves. That's what great, honest journalists do. Except for a few journalists such as Richard in Raleigh or Andrea in Havana, U. S. journalists are obliged to tell Americans how great Batista's Cuba in the 1950s was...you know, the regime that permitted rich Americans and Mafiosi to greedily and cruelly partake in the spoils...while repeatedly TELLING Americans that Revolutionary Cuba since 1959 has been and is the worst REGIME IN HISTORY, daily propaganda that hasn't yet recaptured the island for Little Havana but that has made a lot of Miami Cubans rich & powerful while legally using the power of the U. S. to starve, deprive, and make miserable Havana Cubans, as has been the incredible three prime purposes of the U. S. Embargo since February of 1962...although, of course, the FIRST PRIME PURPOSE is to enrich & empower Miami Cubans. In that regard, in today's AP article from Havana Andrea Rodriguez tells us about and names a 65-year-old grandmother in Havana who is trying to keep her family from starving in February of 2022.

    As a fair-minded journalist for the USA's AP in Cuba, Andrea Rodriguez observes and lives with everyday Cubans, and she reports fairly on them and the Cuban government. That is what the rest of the U. S. media should do...but doesn't do.

    Whether she is observing the trials and tribulations of the 65-year-old grandmother or quoting Marcia Ochoa -- "It's impossible to maintain my family on my salary" -- the AP's honest journalist in Havana, Andrea Rodriguez, tells the truth...as shown above today -- Feb. 17-2022 -- as even ABC News, which republished Andrea's article, acknowledged.

    But, as mentioned earlier, an honest journalist like Andrea Rodriguez is the rarity in mainstream U. S. journalism today. And that is why rich and powerful Little Havana/Miami politicians can go on the mainstream media and national television any hour of any hour and say things such as, "There is NO EMBARGO on Cuba." That is a shameful lie that shames Cuban grandmothers and mothers on the island, such as the two that the honest Andrea Rodriguez quoted today for the AP in Havana. But even more shameful, I believe, is how much shame the endless and unchecked lies that endlessly permeate most of the U. S. media regarding U.S.-Cuban Relations proliferates unchecked, such as internationally renowned cruelties such as the lucrative but salacious lies about...the shameful and endless EMBARGO!!!

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WOW!! An Honest U.S. Cuban Article!!

 

     This is Joyce Malanda from Raleigh, North Carolina. It is amazing that she is the subject this week of a major article in the mainstream U. S. media...AMAZING because it is a positive article related to Cuba while such a thing is normally not allowed in the U. S. media. Permit me to EXPLAIN.

      While Gallup and other respected polls are currently revealing that most Americans "don't trust the U. S. media," there are still exceptions. For the past 32 years Richard Stradling, now at the Raleigh News & Observer, has been a great journalist and top editor. His Cuba-positive article regarding Cuba this week has been picked up by the Kansas City Star and other mainstream U. S. newspapers. AMAZING!!!!

    After Joyce Malanda from Raleigh gets her medical degree from Cuba, free-of-charge courtesy of Cuba, all Cuba asks of her is that she return to the area she came from -- which happens to be a poor section of the rich U. S. city of Raleigh -- for at least five years. Joyce becomes the 42nd American medical student currently studying in Havana, and over 200 such Americans have previously graduated successfully in Cuba and returned to the United States...to cities such as Philadelphia, Los Angeles, etc. So, this was an interesting article this week that tells an important story...and because it sheds a positive glow on the island of Cuba, such reports indeed are rare in the U. S. media.

    And so...Richard Stradling at the Raleigh News & Observer shows us this week that there are still some great journalists within the bowels of the U. S. democracy that we can still trust. He had enough integrity and courage this week to tell us why Joyce Malanda is leaving Raleigh to study medicine in Havana, proving that he is a rare jewel. The U. S. needs more JOURNALISTS like him...for the USA's sake, not Cuba's.

Joyce Malanda

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Will Cuban Economy Collapse?

Will COVID & Embargo Combine To Make It So?

    The triumph of the Cuban Revolution on January 1, 1959 both surprised and irked the nearby superpower United States. Since then the destruction of Revolutionary Cuba has been predicted on a daily basis...but it has survived such things as the April-1961 Bay of Pigs military attack, an astounding number of assassination attempts against Fidel Castro, a staggering number of terrorist attacks including deadly hotel bombings in Havana to deter tourism and the deadly bombing of the civilian Cubana Flight 445 airplane, and the Economic Embargo/Blockade that began way back in February of 1962. The closest the Cuban economy came to collapsing came in the early 1990s after fall of the Soviet Union. But now, in February of 2022, there are dire predictions that the twin perils of the ever-tightening Embargo/Blockade and the COVID pandemic will finally collapse Cuba this spring or summer in 2022.

   For sure, since 1959 the U. S. media has failed to provide the American people with unbiased, honest journalism related to U.S.-Cuban relations. But this week in mid-February of 2022 one source...The Jiribilla...has revealed what appears to be a fair and honest update on the current status of the Cuban economy.

    This is famed Cuban economist Jose Luis Rodriguez this week in Havana discussing the island's economy in the face of the Pandemic, the Blockade, and now rampant Inflation. Born in Havana in 1946, he has spent three decades with such powerful titles as Cuban Minister of Economy and Planning, a member of the National Assembly, etc. For the past seven years Jose has been writing a book about the Cuban economy and he is compiling up-to-date data to conclude it prior to publication. And for decades Jose has led Economic Forums around the world, including the famed one held in Davos, Switzerland.

  This new The Jirebillo article shows Jose Luis Rodriguez during the 25 years he was the top Economist and Planner for Fidel Castro. 

    The renowned Professor Jose Luis Rodriguez, as you can see above, claims in February of 2022, that the Cuban economy "must be strengthened in four specific areas: look for alternatives to renegotiate the external debt and unlock the indispensable external financing, curb inflation, make greater investments in the food industry, and be more systematic in investments in the energy sector, starting with the maintenance of thermoelectric plants." These sage words refer to the crucial month of February-2022. This month after getting another major economic award, Jose Luis Rodriguez...in the second paragraph above...criticizes Cuba for spending too much on "tourism" and not enough on "agriculture" -- suggesting that the Revolution has been forced to spend too much for food products from foreign nations. He said, "To produce food you must make investments." He criticizes the Revolution for not having done that. But you can see above that Jose Luis Rodriguez, to this day, worships his long-time boss Fidel Castro.

Jose & Fidel twenty-five years ago.

     Back in 2016 Fidel Castro died at age 90. Contrary to what Americans have been told since 1959, in February of 2022 Fidel Castro -- the Sierra Maestra rebel -- still has the most important grip on the Caribbean's largest nation. And, moreover, any observant and fair-minded American journalist or historian who actually visits the island and mingles with the Cuban people will discover that fact. But, of course, everyday since January of 1959 Americans have been told a vast array of other bogus reasons for both the triumph and the longevity of the Cuban Revolution. And the reason for both, including its longevity in February of 2022, can be explained with just two words -- Fidel Castro. And as the Cuban-U.S. conundrum spins antagonistically for year after year...in 2022 perhaps it is time for the American people to finally be provided honest facts in which to base their decisions. Otherwise, since 1959 Americans have been gorged and bombarded with only data designed to enrich & empower a select group of U. S. Cubans while trying to starve, deprive, and make miserable the families on the island to induce them to do something Miami and Washington have been unable to do, which is to recapture the island. You know...uh...Fidel Castro's island. 

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OnCuba News Reports True News!!

 

     In this Year of 2022 major polls even in the U. S. democracy are unanimously revealing that the U. S. News Media is no longer "trustworthy" in dispensing honest news, as opposed to propaganda, to the American people. In this dangerous milieu, especially for a Democracy, one prime media source -- "On Cuba News" -- actually dispenses honest news on a daily basis even regarding the contentious U.S.-Cuban conundrum. It has honest and talented reporters working in both Havana and Little Havana and they report Cuba-related news honestly whether it is positive, negative, or somewhere in between. Today on Feb. 14th-2022 on Valentine's DAY, here are some of the honest photos from Cuba dispensed by On Cuba News in an article entitled "MENSAJES de Amor"/"MESSAGES of LOVE."

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2022's War Against Cuba Toughens

 

     Before he became President of Cuba in 2018, Miguel Diaz-Canel was already popular with everyday Cubans who knew him as their energetic Education Minister. Although born right after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, Diaz-Canel is a fervent defender of the Revolution. As the leader of Cuba, he has faced an ever-expanding six-decade-old U. S. Embargo that he says, "Has been expanded into an even worse genocidal war against Cuban families by both the Trump and Biden U. S. presidencies." As shown above, Diaz-Canel almost daily finds some street or park in Cuba where he speaks directly to the Cuban people.

    Also just about every day, as shown by this image today on Feb. 13-2022, President Diaz-Canel takes advantage of Cuba's ubiquitous News Programs to speak daily to the Cuban people. He often reacts to the TOP CUBAN HEADLINES that he is abundantly aware of in the U. S. media.

    As of today -- on Feb. 13th-2022 -- these are the TOP FOUR CUBAN HEADLINES that Americans are supposed to be reading or viewing about Cuba. As has been basically true since January of 1959, Americans have been saturated with two basic "facts" related to Cuba, namely that: {1} That the Batista-Mafia-U.S. dictatorship in Cuba during the 1950s was the best and most wonderful government in the Caribbean's history; and {2} Revolutionary Cuba since January 1-1959 has been the worst and most brutal Caribbean regime in history. And as you can see above, top U. S. media sources such as The New York Times and The Boston Globe routinely join the many well-funded media outlets that spawned like mushrooms merely to dispense anti-Cuba/pro-Miami U.S.-based propaganda that has flourished unchecked since Jan. 1-1959 till Feb. 13-2022.

     Uh, let's see...the New York Times today -- Feb. 13-2022 -- is telling us that Cafe Habana that plans to open a branch in Little Havana/Miami is running into problems with the Mexico City restaurant "where Fidel Castro and Che Guevara were rumored to have planned the Cuban revolution, according to a history now deleted from the restaurant's website. The Miami Herald first reported the story." Of course, the New York Times is not about to mention that the Miami Herald, basically since January of 1959, has published stories designed to make Miami Cubans ultra-rich and politically powerful while trying to make Cubans in Cuba to...be starved, be deprived, and be made miserable for the purpose of getting them to rise up and overthrow their revolutionary leaders -- presumably paving the way for the return of the 1950's rulers known to history as Batista, the Mafia, and the U. S. businesses that long-ago owned the Caribbean's largest and most beautiful island nation.

     And, uh, let's see today -- Feb. 13-2022 -- what the Boston Globe is telling its readers...Oh, all about "a journalist with Cuba's state TV channel" defecting to Colombia. She said: "'I couldn't work, I couldn't publish anything, so with my husband...I had to leave the country', said Yailen Insua." Wonderful!! That actually might be happening...but the Boston Globe, on a heavy News Sunday, surely would never have made such a huge story about it if it had not been NEGATIVE news that FIT THEIR anti-Cuba narratives. Obviously, in Cuba there are many journalists and other Cubans who will still fight to the death to defend the Revolution, and if that was not true since 1959 then for sure Miami would have RECAPTURED Cuba LONG AGO. Also, if the Boston Globe wants to defame Cubans on the island, why not ask just one of them why they haven't succumbed to the many vast inducements to defect and then defame the island nation that they would have just departed from.

     For example, this is a well-educated young Cuban man very active on social media who says publicly that he will fight to the death to defend Revolutionary Cuba. Maybe the U. S. media might want to ask him...why he says that.

    This is a well-educated woman in Cuba who is very active on social media and is very fluent in Spanish and English. She has no plans to overthrow her leaders and her prime wish is to "Eliminate the Blockade." Perhaps the U. S. media might one day ask her how she feels about Cuba and about the Blockade.

     This well-educated young woman in Cuba has no plans to overthrow her leaders nor does she want to defect to richer pastures. This photo was taken just before she stepped to her left to the platform and said, "The blockade must finally be eliminated because it is designed to aim genocide at Cuban families. For over two years the COVID pandemic has threatened Cuban families but the blockade has threatened Cuban families for over 60 years...and the blockade is also a virus. The American people who allow this to happen, decade after decade, are either extremely cruel or extremely uninformed."

       For sure, everyday Cubans on the island have dire opinions about things, especially such things as the six-decade-old+ EMBARGO and the two-year-old+ COVID PANDEMIC. The United States media should be honest enough to tell both sides of the EMBARGO and the PANDEMIC as they direly relate to the Cubans on the island, not just saturate the U. S. media about how those twin perils are one-sidedly promoted by the most Counter Revolutionary/Revengeful/Profiteering Cubans in the United States. And, perhaps, one day sources like THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE BOSTON GLOBE, etc., might even honestly report on how much LITTLE HAVANA has impacted the United States...and not just Cuba...since January of 1959.

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