What REALLY Happened at the Bay of Pigs?

 

     Today is April 19th in 2024 and today Cuba is celebrating the 63rd Anniversary of its victory over the Miami/US military forces at what history calls The Bay of Pigs and Cuba calls Giron.

   The Bay of Pigs U. S. military attack to overthrow Revolutionary rule in Cuba took place in mid-April of 1961, a little more than two years after the Cuban Revolution overthrew the Batista dictatorship that was powerfully ssupported by the United States and the Mafia. Now in mid-April of 2024 the facts still remain wildly distorted by some, primarily because everything is reported in favor of the Cuban counter revolutionaries who quickly fled to nearby Miami in January of 1959 after the overthrow of Dictator Batista -- and then Miami quickly became the home for rich and politically powerful Little Havana Cubans in Miami who have essentially dictated U. S. policies against Cuba since 1959. So, in mid-April of 2024 -- the month Cuba is celebrating the 63-year anniversary of its Bay of Pigs  victory -- let us take a look at what really happened.

    The Miami-US Bay of Pigs military attack on Cuba began on April 15th, 1961. The first objective was to use U. S. bombers to destroy Cuba's three military airfields, including Camp Colombia on the edge of Havana.

      It so happened that Fidel Castro and Celia Sanchez -- the two prime Cuban decision-makes on April 15th in 1961 -- were awakened by the bombing at Celia's apartment in Havana.

    Notable U. S. historians in April of 1961 were key advisors in the White House to President John Kennedy and they have since in books confirmed that President Kennedy was told that "the moment Fidel Castro hears or feels the bombs falling on Havana, he will race to his getaway airplane to flee Cuba."

    Indeed, after being awakened in the early hours of April 15th in 1961, Fidel Castro heard the bombs falling on Havana's Camp Colombia. But, unlike Batista, he never had a getaway airplane. So, he hurriedly got dressed and raced in a chauffered car to the Bay of Pigs, which Cuba called Playa Giron...which was the beach where Celia Sanchez had told Fidel the U. S. land attack would begin, and which she had indeed anticipated. How did she know, or guess, that? Celia Sanchez -- the petite doctor's daughter who was Fidel's top confidant and advisor before, during, and after the Revolution -- had cultivated key supply contacts with top political & military leaders in Caracas as well as with anti-Batista Cubans in Miami and as well as one key officer at the huge Fort Benning Military Base in Columbus, Georgia. So, the Bay of Pigs/Playa Giron site was much more than a guess for Celia Sanchez; it was her calculated prediction.

Exiting his tank at the Bay of Pigs, Fidel Casstro.

A part of history, Fidel Castro at the Bay of Pigs.

    So, while the U. S. bombers were bombing Cuba's three military air bases before daylight on April 15, 1961, Fidel Castro was driving hell-bent south of Havana towards the Bay of Pigs, meeting along the way with Cuban soldiers. Celia Sanchez stayed back in Havana at what was called Point One so she could try to stay in radio contact with Fidel and other key military leaders. Three days prior to April 15th in 1961 Celia, the key decision-maker, had directed that old Batista-era airplanes that needed spare parts would be parked out in the open at the three airports and they could be allowed to be bombed into oblivion. But, knowing that Cuba had only 8 usable warplanes and ten skilled pilots, back on April 12th in 1961 Celia had ordered that those 8 airplanes and those ten pilots were to be hidden under trees, canopies, etc., and kept ready till or IF needed. That decision turned out to be crucial. The Miami-US forces that attacked Cuba had help in their training and their launching from two key US-friendly dictators -- Trujillo in the Dominican Republic and Somoza in Nicaragua. US warplanes and ships left from Nicaraguan airports and ports to attack Cuba, and famously Somoza stood on the deck of one of the docks to tell the attackers on U. S. warships "to bring me back some hairs from Fidel's beard." That, of course, remains an historic and well-know quotation tied to the April-1961 Bay of Pigs attack.

The three Cuban military airbases targeted by US bombers.

    The airplanes at the three Cuban airbases were destroyed, but the 8 best Cuban warplanes that Celia Sanchez had ordered to be hidden were saved. It was those usable planes that famously and successfully attacked the U. S. supply ships at the Bay of Pigs.

     Indeed, the three Cuban military airfields were still smoldering from the attacks by the U. S. warplanes while the Cuban warplanes that Celia Sanchez had safely hidden were successfully attacking U. S. warships supplying the Miami-US soldiers as they began their land attack on Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.

    Famously, it was the Miami-based/Cuban-led Brigade 2506 that led the ground attack on Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. But Brigade 2506 was quickly defeated and captured because Celia Sanchez's warplanes had pounded the U. S. supply ships and because Fidel Castro, the frontline leader at the Bay of Pigs, had more revolutionay soldiers-rebels than he actually needed. 

    Yes, history registers two particularly true facts regarding the Bay of Pigs: {1} That U. S. President Kennedy was told that Fidel would race to his getaway airplane when he heard the U. S. bombers started bombing Havana, and {2} that instead Fidel raced to a car and bolted hell-bent to the Bay of Pigs where Celia Sanchez had advised him that the U.S./Miami ground attack would start. During the attack Fidel stayed in or close to a tank so he could try to stay in radio contact with his commanders...and with Celia Sanchez!! 

     To many unbiased historians Fidel Castro's astounding victory at the Bay of Pigs in April of 1961 was just as astounding as his Cuban Revolutionary victory over Batista in January of 1959.

     In April of 2024 the current leader of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel, who was born in 1960, posted this salute to Fidel Castro on X-Twitter on April 17th-2024 to commenorate the Bay of Pigs victory in April of 1961. The battle will forever remain sacred to Revolutionary Cuba.

    The historic photos above include some of the US/Brigade 2506 prisoners being guarded by Cuban rebels after the Bay of Pigs attack. They were not shot but later they actually got a verbal scolding from...Fidel Casstro. Later, the Brigade 2506 prisoners were sold back to the U. S. in exchange for about $55 million that was paid mostly in boxes of Gerbers Baby Food, which Celia Sanchez demanded!! 

This was a Cuban rebel interviewing a Bay of Pigs prisoner.

     This was the Brigade Assault 2506 banner that led the Miami-US Bay of Pigs attack that was designed to overthrow Revolutionary Cuba in mid-April of 1961.

     Since mid-April of 1961, despite the dreadful and humilating defeat for the Miami 2506 Cubans at the Bay of Pigs, the Brigade Assault 2506 banner still in April of 2024 remains a precious symbol for Miami's Cubans. Therefore famous politicians with presidential ambitions are obligated to visit Little Havana in Miami and pay omage to the still-cherished and still-influential Brigade Assault 2506 banner as well as to the rich and politically powerful counter revolutionary Cubans in Miami that U. S. politicians still covet for their votes and their cash.

     To understand anything about the Bay of Pigs attack on Cuba in April of 1961, one must first comprehend the US-backed/Mafia-backed Cuban dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in the 1950s, and why & how it was overthrown by Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution in January of 1959. But immediately, starting in January of 1959, Miami-based Cubans and the United States began massive efforts to overthrow Revolutionary Cuba -- including an historic number of assassination attemps against Fidel Castro but also countless terrorist attacks on the nearby island and other such efforts to quickly end the Revolutionary Rule in Cuba even before such things as the Bay of Pigs military attack in 1961 and the still-viable Embargo/Blockade that began in 1962, etc., etc.

       Understand that prior to the Bay of Pigs air-sea-land military attack on Cuba in April of 1961 that the U. S., "beginning in January of 1960," had already begun trying to destroy Revolutionary Cuba by doing such things such as flying "CIA planes from Florida, some with American pilots, to raid Cuban fields with napalm-type bombs to burn sugar cane, as part of an attempt to bring about the overthrow of the Cuban government." Yes, the photo and the caption shown about is very true but surely not usually mentioned by the Miami or U. S. media. But, perhaps the most distorted fact regarding all U.S.-Cuba Relations concern the three historic photos depicted below, so let's discuss why that is so!! 

     The three photos above were taken on April 17 of 1959, barely three months after the Cuban Revolution had defeated the vile Batista dictatorship in Cuba. It was, of course, at a time when Fidel Castro was massively needed in Cuba to continue the early changes in Revolutionary Cuba, but Celia Sanchez -- the one person with massive influence on Fidel -- \ persuaded him to fly to the United States. She had worked tirelessly in phone calls with the U. S. State Department and with the Association of U. S. Newspaper Editors to get permission for Fidel to be allowed to fly to the U. S. so he could meet with President Eisenhower to tell him how Fidel planned to reshape Cuba after the overthrow of the U.S.-friendly Batista. Celia believed that the new Cuba would need friendly relations with the United States. So Fidel planned to tell President Eisenhower that he would have a democratic election for President {that the U. S. could closely monitor} by November of 1959 and that neither he, his brother Raul, Che, nor Camilo Cienfuegos would be a part of the new government. Thus...in April of 1959 Celia and Fidel flew to the United States and spent an amazing 12 days in the U. S. at a time when Fidel was wildly popular in Cuba and in the United States. But, of course, history is aware that Celia was lied to regarding the premise of the trip. Instead of being allowed to meet President Eisenhower, Fidel was shamefully met by U. S. Vice President Richard Nixon. And instead of letting Fidel speak, Nixon surprised Fidel by saying, "I will make this short. You wasted your trip. You will be overturned in short order, maybe within three weeks." In the bottom photo below, you can see that the surprised but not intimidated Fidel leaned back and grinned, while Nixon smiled triumphedly at the photographers.

    But, too, this is an historically photo shown above. Celia Sanchez, infuriated about being lied to by Nixon and the U. S. government, flew back to Cuba with Fidel Castro after the amazing 12-day trip to the U. S. in April of 1959. Although it has been lied about roundly in the U. S., it is true that, as Cuba's leader, Fidel Castro never failed to abide with what Celia Sanchez told him to do, and upon their return to Cuba in April of 1959 she told him: "From this day forward, we will fight to the death to make Richard Nixon a lear!" 

     Those who, since the 1950s, have lied about the fact that Celia Sanchez was the top decision-maker in Cuba, also of course lie about the historic photo above. It was taken at the rebel hideout high in the Sierra Maestra Mountains when the two leaders of the revolution were worried about U. S. bombers searching for the camp. Celia Sanchez was writing down military plans for the next day while she held a candle light for Fidel Castro to read something. Celia well knew that whatever she was planning for the rebels the next day would be SUPPORTED 100% by Fidel.

    Also, the historic Lee Lockwood photo shown above has been lied about for decades. It was taken in Revolutionary Cuba one morning when Fidel had his slippers off and leisurely rested in his rocking chair on the porch while the tireless Celia was writing down some rules and laws, which she well knew Fidel would later support 100%. This is how Celia Sanchez with other legendary female fighters such as Vilma Espin and Haydee Santamaria crafted vital rules and laws for Revolutionary Cuba -- such as the Federation of Cuban Women, the block-by-block Committees to Defend the Revolution, free educations through college for all Cubans, and free food daily when needed, etc., etc. So...study the photo above and don't lie about it.

    The historic photo and caption shown above was taken during the revolutionary war. On the left Clodomira Acosta, a famous Mountain Messinger, had just bravely made it through Batista lines controlled by Batista soldiers to deliver vital messages to rebel leader Celia Sanchez, who is shown standing in the doorway of the shack. On her next such mission, as the caption says, Clodomira Acosta was captured by Batista soldiers and brutally murdered.

    The snapshots of Celia Sanchez shown above are images of the person that Fidel Castro always correctly said "easily was and is the most important person in the Cuban Revolution and in Revolutionary Cuba." She was a frontline guerrilla fighter, she was by far the most vital recruiter of vital rebels and supplies, she was the most important decision-maker during the revolution and afterward, etc., etc. For sure, the victory of the Cuban Revolution and the loingevity of Revolutionary Cuba is largely due to Celia Sancez...and, of course, also due to the fact that Fidel Castro supported everything she said and planned 100%.

Vilma Espin, Celia Sanchez, and Haydee Santamaria!!

      On January 11th in 1980 Celia Sanchez died of cancer at age 59. She was the greatest Rebel and the greatest Decison-Maker in the Cuban Revolution and in Revolutionary Cuba.

   Because of her uniqueness, it is appropriate that Celia Sanchez is credited with the two quotations that best define both the Cuban Revolution and Revolutionary Cuba. Those two quotations are shown above. You can enlarge and study them if you desire to do so.

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Spys, Conflicts as Cuba-US Hatred Worsens in 2024!!

    As shown above, the London-based worldwide reach of BBC News, in a war-torn world, is also focused in mid-APRIL of 2024 on telling the world about the endless conflicts pitting the superpower United States against its small neighbor Cuba. A former key U. S. ambassador, Victor Manuel Rocha, in a federal courtroom in Miami "has just been sentenced to 15 years in prison for working as an agent for Cuba." Of course, Rocha is not the only key U. S. government official to get a long sentence in a U. S. federal courtroom by getting convicted of spying for Cuba while working in major positions within the U. S. government. Remember the famed Cuba Five Cubans who went to Miami to investigative known anti-Cuban terrorists such as the ones that downed the civilian Cubana 455 Flight airplane, killing all 73 on board; the Cuba Five tried to report their findings to the FBI but were arrested and sentenced to up-to-life terms in U. S. Federal Prisons. But, of course, Ana Belen Montes remains the most famed such Cuban spy.

The Cuban Five

Ana Belen Montes

   Of course, Ana Belen Montes remains the all-time top U. S. official that turned into a legendary spy for Cuba. A graduate of the University of Virginia and Johns Hopkins University, Montes quickly made a name for herself in the U. S. Justice Department in Washington and then for 17 years she became the top U. S. Cuban expert at the U. S. Defense Intelligence Agency {DIA}, where her intimate knowledge of US-Cuba Relations evolved into her many years of being a Spy for Cuba!! While spying for Cuba, Montes in 1997, in the DIA photo shown above, was sstill receiving one of her many awards for her meritorious service to the U. S. government. But...in 2001 she was arrested as a CUBAN SPY and sentenced to 25 years in a U. S. federal prison. After serving 20 years, she was released in her 60s in 2023 and she quickly ended up as a free woman in Puerto Rico, which is a close Caribbean neighbor very near Cuba.

     The astounding history of US-Cuban Relations features Ana Belen Montes as one of the primary players, a stardom that she richly earned. She famously went from being the top Cuban EXPERT in the U. S. government to being sentenced to 25 years in a Miami courtroom for SPYING for Cuba during her 17 years as a heralded star {and Cuba expert} within the U. S. government.

This is Ana Belen Montes the day she was arrested.

Below is what she said the day she was sentenced.

our

    When she worked in the U. S. government as the top Cuban expert, Ana Belen Montes became privy to what she cogently said to the judge during her sentencing: 

     "Your honor, I engaged in the activity that brought me before you because I obeyed my conscience rather than the law. I believe our governement's policy is profoundly cruel and unfair, profoundly unneighborly, and I felt morally obligated to help the island defend itself from our efforts to impose our values and our political system on it. We have displayed intolerance and contempt towards Cuba for most of the last four decades. We have never respected Cuba's right to make its own journey towards its own ideals of equality of justice. I do not understand why we must continue to dictate how the Cubans should select their leaders, who their leaders must be, and what laws are appropriate in their land. Why can't we let Cuba pursue its own internal journey, as the United States has been doing for over two centuries." 

    Above in quotations are the exact words that Ana Belen Montes wrote and then calmly read in the Miami courtroom to the judge that sentenced her. She, for sure, well knew that she would not receive any sympathy in a Miami courtroom but she was accepting her 25-year sentence. Above in Pink you can read just one paragraph of her beautifully written and soulfully delivered very long statement, and above you should read it all and also study all of it.

     Above you can see an update from BBC News about Ana Belen Montes being released from a U. S. federal prison in Texas after serving 20 years of her 25-year sentence. She is now living in her native Puerto Rico and "focused on living a private life" and "She has also called attention to difficulties facing the people in Puerto Rico and on the ongoing U. S. embargo against Cuba." 

    Puerto Rico, where Ana Belen Montes now calls home, is Cuba's close neighbor in the Caribbean, as you can see on the above map. Puerto Rico is a U. S. Territory and Cuba has, since the victorious Cuban Revolution in 1959, has faced things from the U. S. such as the 1961 Bay of Pigs military attack, the massive U. S. Embargo since 1962, terrorist acts such as the deadly bombing of the civilian Cubana Flight 455 airplane in 1976, etc., etc., etc. As you study the map above, also note that since 1898's SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR, which was a quick and easy U. S. victory over Spain fought in Cuba, the U. S. has dominated Puerto Rico officially as a U. S. Territory and has also endeavored to dominate Cuba, as expert Ana Belen Montes so cogently explained, by such acts as the Bay of Pigs attack in 1961, the Embargo since 1962, placing the Guantanamo Bay U. S. Military Base in Cuba since 1903, the horrific Embargo against  Cuba that began in 1962 and now in April of 2024 is stronger than ever, etc., etc., etc. So...Cuba and Puerto Rico, close neighbors as shown on the above map, also have been twin pawns in things such as the easy imperative U. S. victory in 1898's SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR.

    Now livng privately and freely in Puerto Rico, Ana Belen Montes is still brave enough and decent enough to denounce the U. S. EMBARGO on Cuba, a travesty that has tormented Cuba and shamed the United States for over six decades -- since 1962!! In other words, Ana Belen Montes today remains one of the few Americans brave enough to speak freely and accurately about U.S.-Cuba Relations and Conflicts that have existed almost since Columbus discovered both lands in 1492, but especially since 1898 when the United States used the SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR that it fought on Cuban soil Cuba to add Puerto Rico as a Territory and to surround Cuba in the fasshion depicted in the notable Carlos LaTuff depiction shown above, which remains the international image of the dreadful EMBARGO.

      And lastly, in April of 2024 the headline from BBC News as shown above informs the world that tightly embargoed Cuba is facing "food shortages" -- which, of course, is a euphemistic way of saying that in APRIL of 2024 some people in Cuba are starving. From her new home in nearby Puerto Rico, Ana Belen Montes believes the EMBARGO is a Cuban & American travesty.

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April 11th in 2024 Shows More Dark Days for Cuba

 

    In 1492 the lands that became the United States and Cuba were close neighbors, and 1492 was the year that esplorer/discoverer Columbus famously first landed on the southeastern tip of Cuba at what is now the city of Baracoa. Columbus then famously wrote in his diary that the Baracoa area was "the most beautiful land these eyes have yet seen." From 1492 until 2024 CUBA's beauty and its location have remained its prime curse, not its treasure. That's because, almost since 1492, the world's imperative powers -- most notably Spain and the United States -- have not only coveted CUBA but also attacked it and gone to war to  control it. In that vein, from 1492 until 2024 the island and the nation of  CUBA, uniquely in history and in longevity, have had to try to defend itself, creating untold hardship for its people. Today, for example, is April 11th, 2024, and the news from CUBA today is mostly sad, as shown below:

     Just before the helicopter crash in Santiago de Cuba today -- April 11th, 2024 -- that killed three Cuban soldiers, the island was celebrating the anniversary of an event that involved independence icon Jose Marti, as shown below:

     Every Cuban knows that Jose Marti, after landing at Cajobabo "to join the Necessary War", that he was soon killed in the Battle of Rio Cauto on May 19th in 1895 fighting Spanish soldiers that had controlled Cuba for decades. Marti's death was in vain because he and many other great independence fighters, including brothers Antonio & Jose Maceo Grajales, had died in the two "neccesary wars" that tried, in vain, to defeat Spanish soldiers on CUBA'S soil. But Marti and the others are remembered lovingly today for what they tried to do; the major airport in Santiago de Cuba where the three Cuban soldiers died in the heliocopter crash today -- April 11, 2024 -- is named "Antonio Maceo Grajales Airport," for example.

     And today Jose Marti is revered in Cuba as a Independence Fighter almost on a par with Fidel Castro...and uniquely Marti to this day is lovingly revered not only in Cuba but also in the United States and around the world. Marti was born on January 28th, 1853, and went on to become an internationally famous and rich poet/author in New York, Paris, London, etc. But he gave up all that fame and fortune to return to Cuba to try to gain independence for his beloved Cuba, only to die fighting Spanish soldiers on May 19th, 1895, in the Battle of Rio Cauto.

     But, of coursse, during all those many, many decades that imperative powers like Spain were dominating Cuba, the United States violently wanted to do the same. Please note the historic quotations shown above, starting with Thomas Jefferson in 1817 declaring, "If we ceize Cuba we will be masters of the Caribbean." 

     Well, in 1898 -- a mere three years after Jose Marti died fighting the Spanish soldiers -- the United States knew it was powerful enough to easily defeat Spain and become the "masters of the Caribbean. So in 1898 the United States easily won the quick & bloody SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR on Cuban soil, putting the U. S. on its path to becoming the world superpower...but also spawning Fidel Castro's Cuban Revoltution that, on January 1st of 1959, shocked the world by overthrowing the U.S.-backed & Mafia-backed Fulgencio Batista dictatorship.

    Incredibly, Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution has ruled Cuba from January 1st of 1959 till today, which is April 11th, 2024!!!!!!!!!!

    Today -- April 11th, 2024 -- the two most famed Cuban Independence Fighters historically and topically remain Fidel Castro and Jose Marti. At age 42, Jose Marti died in Cuba in 1895 fighting Spanish soldiers. At age 90 in 2016 Fidel Castro died peacefully from old age in Havana, leaving him just a notch more notable than Jose Marti as Cuba's most successful Independence Fighter.

     Of course, today on April 11th-2024 Fidel Castro's Revolutionary Cuba is still just a few miles due south of the United States. After the U. S. Bay of Pigs military attack in April of 1961 failed to overthrow Revolutionary Cuba, the U. S. EMBARGO of CUBA has existed since 1962.

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Most Cuban-Americans DON'T Want to Starve Cubans

But Little Havana/Miami Cubans Are Not AMONG Them!!

    This week -- in April of 2024 -- the photo and caption above shows this Airbus Condor Airliner landing at Varadero Beach on the northern coast of Cuba, just a few miles from the United States. Tourists have voted Varadero Beach as "The Best Beach in the World." Since 1955 Condor Airlines -- headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany -- has been one of the world's most important international airlines. Like other worldwide companies, Condor Airlines -- afraid of the U. S. economic Embargo/Blockade of Cuba that has existed since 1962 -- has refrained from doing business with Cuba, including the Caribbean island's prime tourist attractions. So, if you will, permit the media in poor little embargoed Cuba to make a BIG deal this week about Condor Airlines beginning to bring planeloads of tourists to Varadero in Cuba.

    Of course...although Varadero has been voted as the "Best Beach in the World" by international tourists, the U. S. Embargo/Blockade since 1962 has included Varadero as one of the numerous places in Cuba to be blockded from receiving tourist money although world-famed Varadero is just a few miles due-south of rich and tourist-obsessed Florida!!

    Of course, rich and tourist-obsessed Little Havana USA in Miami craves tons of tourist dollars while making sure that the U. S. government keeps its strict economic Embargo against Cuba that has blocked and starved the Cuban economy for six decades since 1962.

    If you study the caption and photo above, uinderstand that it is a microcosm of U. S. Relations with Cuba since 1898understand that it is a microcosm of U. S. relations since 1898, which was the year that the U. S. launched its easy military victory in Cuba to win the Spanish-American War, which gave the U. S. control of Cuba replacing the long occupation of the island by Spain. By 1903 the U. S. was building a massive military base on one of Cuba's most vital ports at Guantanamo Bay...a U. S. military base that now includes an infamous U. S. federal prison as well as lucrative recreation facilities, restaurants, etc.  So...what does the caption and photo shown above tell you?? It shows U. S. President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, signing the infamous Helms-Burton Act into law on March 12th in 1996. From that day to this day in April of 2024 the Helms-Burton Act has empowered and enriched counter revolutionary Cuban-Americans while massively harming Cubans in Cuba. President Clinton very reluctantly signed it into law. Please note how scared Clinton was when he looked up at counter revolutionary U. S. Senator Bill Menendezz. Also looking over Clinton's shoulder, you should note, was another ultra-powerful U. S. Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart from Miami's anti-Cuban stronghold of Little Havana in Miami. If you comprehend the awesome power that the controversial Bob Menendez and Lincoln & Mario Diaz-Balart have had in the U. S. Congress for decades, you can comprehend the vast power that Little Havana/Miami has had over Havana. And also comprehend for example, that the father of the Miami-based Diaz-Balart brothers in Miami was a powerful Minister in the Batista dictatorship in Cuba before the Revolution chased him to Miami in 1959. With that in mind, judge whether you think a reluctant President Clinton was scared when he signed the Miami-beloved Helms-Burton Act into law on March 12th of 1996. And, with that in mind, understand that there is no chance that the Helms-Burton Act will ever be eased by the U. S. Congress or by the U. S. Presidents that have followed President Clinton.

    One of the many Cuban-Americans who massively denounce the U. S. Cuban policies that benefit anti-Cubans in the U. S. but starve, deprive, and make miserable Cubans in Cuba is Carlos Lazo, a professor in Seattle. Carlos is shown above when, followed by some of his students, he rode his bike the 3,000 miles from Seattle to Washington to beg President Trump to stop strarving Cubans in Cuba while enriching politically powerful U. S. Cubans. President Trump would not listen to Carlos but only tightened the sanctions against Cuba. Then Carlos walked the 300 miles from Little Havana in Miami to Washington to beg President Biden to stop starving Cubans in Cuba instead of always bowing to rich U. S. Cubans. But, like Trump, President Biden has refused to listen to Cuban-Americans such as Carlos. To his credit, Carlos Lazo raises money and then defies the U. S. government by flying food, medicine, and hygiene products to Cubans in Cuba.

     In the United States there are many Cuban-Americans named Carlos, including Carlos Lazo but also others such as Carlos Gimenez, a politician in Miami. Born in Havana in 1954,70 years ago, Gimenez served as Mayor of Miami-Dade County in Florida from 2011 till 2020 and now, of course, he is in the U. S. Congress along with a bevy of other Cuban-Americans. One day the U. S. democracy might elect a leader in Miami or have a Cuban in Congressto that might not support the U. S. Embargo of Cuba, the Helms-Burton Act, etc., etc. But don't count it.

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