May I Please Ask Andres Oppenheimer 3 Questions?

Just 3 Questions...and a few addendums??

    Almost since January in 1959 -- when the Cuban Revolution overthrew the Miami/Mafia/U.S.-backed Batista DICTATORSHIIP in Cuba -- the Miami Herald has daily promoted the demise of Revolutionary Cuba while implying that dictator Fulgencio Batista, who wildly allowed U. S. companies to partake in his massive Mafiosi-fueled financial windfall, was a U.S.-friendly leader and the rebel leader Fidel Castro was a anti-U.S. fiend. In  February in 2025, as he has done for many years, Andres Oppenheimer uses his forums such as the Miami Herald to one-sidedly present only Little Havana's views regarding US-Cuba Relations.

    Now in February, 2025 -- if you research Cuba News on Google...you will see the two headlines shown above. One headline regards "UN experts express concern over Trump decision to reinstate Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism." The other top Cuban headline was written by Andres Oppenheimer in the Miami Herald: "Trump's foreign aid cuts are a boon to dictators in China, Venezuela and Cuba." As has been the case for decades, Oppenheimer and the Miami Herald today are appalled that ANY hint of ANYTHING that might help the starved and deprived Cuban people must receive an even STRONGER HIT from the endless embargo and blockade from the U. S.

   Born 73 years ago in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Andres Oppenheimer was well educated at Colombia University, etc. He loves the Cubans in Miami/Little Havana but seems to massively hate the Cubans in Havana.

    Therefore he is unquestionably allowed to have as many forums in the United States as he chooses...such as a columnist, paid speaker, author, etc.

   As an 84-year-old American who is a lifelong and pasionate democracy-lover, I would like to ask Mr. Oppenheimer about his Cuban-Miami rants and about his self-proclaimed honesty related to journalism. I happen to believe that even honest media coverage of Cuban-U.S.-Relations is crucial to Democracy in the USA. So, Mr. Oppenheimer, will you take time to at least ponder my three main questions and, if possible, even try to answer them.

{1}

              Mr. Oppenheimer, you seem to believe that all Cubans in Miami Florida are saints and thus should be rich and politically powerful while all Cubans in Cuba are fiends that thus should be starved into oblivion. But as a Democracy-lover I believe that a few rich and powerful people in any superpower nation should not be allowed to lump masses of everyday people in a much-smaller nation as being worthy of being "starved, deprived, and being made miserable." Thus, remembering the Miami-backed purposes of the six-decade-old EMBARGO/blockade of Cuba, my first question to you, Mr. Oppenheimer, is: "Explain to me why you think a few rich and powerful Cuban-Americans in a superpower nation should be allowed to starve and deprive vulnerable masses of people in a nearby, much weaker nation? 

{2}

    For decades, Mr. Oppenheimer, Cubans in the U. S.. have supported U. S. laws such as Helms-Burton and the EMBARGO fully knowing they are designed to enrich and empower Cubans in Miami and starve, deprive, and make miserable Cubans in Cuba to entice them to rise up and overthrow their revolutionary government. And, Mr. Oppenheimer, you seem to have eagerly supported additions to such laws as PUTTING CUBA ON THE DREADED SHORT LIST OF NATIONS THAT SUPPORT TERRORISM. So my second question to you, Mr Oppenheimer, is this: "There are pitiful everyday families in Cuba who are suffering even more now that two rich and powerful men, Trump and Rubio, have put Cuba back on that list. Do you also not care, Mr. Oppenheimer, about families in Cuba who are still grieving about their close relatives that were killed by Batista terrorism in Cuba in the 1950s and by terrorism orchestrated by Cubans in Miami since 1959?" 

    Cuban madres {mothers} bravely marching in Batista's Cuba because Batista was killing their ninos {children} as warnings not to resist his rule. Cuban mothers like these, Mr. Oppenheimer, not only helped fuel the start of the Cuban Revollultion but also paid a huge role in winning it on January 1, 1959. The mother on the left in the white blouse and sunglasses was the mother of the murdered Little Willie Soler. Today the William Soler Children's Hospital in Havana is Cuba's largest children's hospital.

     In Revolutinary Cuba a sister and mother are shown above waiting at the Havana airport the moment they learned that their teenage brother/son, a prime athlete, had just been killed when the airplane he was is in had just been blasted into the ocean by a terrorist bomb, killing all 72 people on board. That mother grieved about it for the rest of her life; the sister is still grieving. "Mr. Oppenheimer, did well-known Cuban terrorists in Miami commit such terror against innocent Cubans?" At least, Mr. Oppenheimer, you should know that history and declassified U. S. documents have documented what happened to the civilian Cubana Flight 455.

{3}

     And so, Mr. Oppenheimer, have you written about Cuban-born Miami heroes such as Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles? And that third and last question to you includes this addendum: "Do you, Mr. Oppenheimer, agree that totally innocent sisters and mothers in Cuba are also capable of shedding uncontrollable and endless tears?" 

     

    And thank you, Mr. Oppenheimer, for perhaps allowing some consideration regarding my prime questions regarding your latest Miami Herald article  on the Havana-Little Havana conundrum. You endlessly seem to use your various forums to present only one-sided and distorted journalism about US-Cuban Relations. As an 84-year-old passionate United States-lover and Democracy-lover, I believe that the U. S. Democracy deserves and badly needs honest media coverage, not self-serving propaganda. And most of the time now we Americans believe we are not getting much-needed honest news from the media. The Gallup Poll and others confirm that sad fact. In decades past great journalists told us the truth, such as Edward R. Murrow in World War Two, Walter Cronkite during the Vietnam War, Bernard Shaw during the Iraq War, and more recently media giants such as David Brinkley, Peter Jennings, Harry Reasoner, John Chancellor, Chet Huntley, Tim Russert, Hugh Downs, Howard K. Smith, Eric Sevareid, Dianne Sawyer, Douglas Eswards, etc., etc. did the same. I believe that U.S.-Cuba Relations in recent decades has, among other undemocratic things, been at the forefront of the demise of honest journalism in the United States, a superpower that needs great and honest journalism to keep the tenets of democracy flourishing!!!

      As a print journalist at United Press International and then when he was a television journalist at CBS News, Americans believed what the great and honest Walter Cronkite told them. And that was important, Mr. Oppenheimer.

 What about Andres Oppenheimer's journalism now?

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Poor Havana Has Another NEW Luxurious Hotel

    This year of 2025 marks the 66th anniversary of Revolutionary Cuba after the Cuban Revolution in January of 1959 overthrew the US/Mafia-backed Batista dictatorship. Now predictions about the end of the Cuban Revolution are escalating,  perhaps by springtime in 2025. But Johana Tablada in Havana was flashing this smile in Havana today although the new U. S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is from Miami-Little Havana, now has the power to fulfill his lifelong dream, which is to finally end Cuba's revolutionary rule. Johana is supported by most Cubans in Cuba and she speaks for the Cuban goverment. Also she has a strong voice on Social Media forums. Below is one of her Facebook posts today on...uh...Marco Rubio:

    As you might imagine, Johana Tablada has long been attuned to the prime enemies of the Cuban Revolution, and she has rated Marco Rubio as the most powerful threat to Cuba since 2011, which was the first year he represented Miami-Little Havana in the U. S. Senate. But since January of 2025 Johana Tablada believes Rubio, as President Donald Trump's new Secretary of State, now has been given the nationwide superpowers as Secretary of State to finally overthrow Revolutionary Cuba. Most of the top observers of U. S.-Cuban Relations agree with Johana Tablada.

        Meanwhile, even with Marco Rubio now firmly entrenched as the USA's ultra-powerful Secretary of State, pugnacious little Cuba is still hoping for the U. S. to finally allow the nearby island to join all the other nations in the region that profit from open and unrestricted tourism. In fact, yes Cuba has just opened another 5-star hotel in Havana. And, in fact, the two Spanish hotel and resort giants -- Iberostar and Melia -- already have 42 4-star and 5-star Hotels & Resorts in Cuba...with all of them hoping for the day that the U. S. will allow them to fill their thousands of rooms with tourists. Above you can see how the Associated Press, the ubiquitous U. S. and worldwide News Agency, has blared out this massive headline: "A new luxury hotel towers over Havana as Cuba's economic troubles mount and tourism plummets." 

          Of course, just a few miles south of the ultra-rich Tourist playgrounds in southern Florida, Cuba is home to some of the region's and the world's top Tourist attractions. WOW!!! What if the United States allowed Tourists to freely visit Cuban spots such as Varadero Beach, which is due south of Key West, Florida? 

        Of course, back in the 1950s when the Batistianos and Mafiosi ruled Cuba, U. S. ads like the one shown above promoted vast tourism to Varadero Beach and other prime Cuban tourist attractions...along with other lures such as gambling casinos, prostituion, etc., etc. Back then dozans of rich U. S. companies, of course, partook in the wholesale rape and robbery of the luxurious island of Cuba...but, uh, no one at that time bothered to toss a few crumbs to the majority peasants who hungered for food, health, and education opportunities.

     In the 1950s "Cuba's Mafia-backed dictator Batista" did not believe he needed to toss a few crumbs to the everyday Cubans. After all, the Batista dictatorship was supported by the strongest criminal organization in the world, and by the strongest nation in the world, the United States.

But not even crumbs were provided for the many poor Cuba families.

       But the last straw for poor and middle class families in Batista's Cuba came when Cuban mothers {"Madres"} marched in the streets to protest the murders {"Asesinators"}} of their children, a gruesome ploy designed to keep mothers like the ones shown above from protesting what was happening in Cuba. But the killings had the opposite effect, provoking mothers to take to the streets to protest the murders of their children {"ninos"}. The mother shown above in the white blouse and sunglasses was the mother of Little Willie Soler, one of the murdered children. Today in Revolutionary Cuba the top Children's Hospital in Havana named for Little Willie.

    And, for sure, the brave street marches by the brave Cuban mothers helped fuel the Cuban Revolution, which overthrew Batista on January 1st, 1959. In Revolutionary Cuba the rebel leader Fidel Castro gave masive power to female rebels such Celia Sanchez, Vilma Espin, Haydee Santamaria, etc. Thus, among the first two new revolutionary laws were: {1} Free food and shelter for every Cuban; and {2} Free health care and educations through college for every Cuban. And, oh Yes, Cuba's new Children's Hospital was named for Little Willie Soler.

Legendary Cuban fighters and decision-makers:

Vilma Espin, Celia Sanchez, and Haydee Santamaria.

Havana's William Soler Children's Hospital.

       As the above headline & photo explains, the ageless U. S. Embargo/Blockade of Cuba that began in 1962 was/is designed to starve Cuba from getting tourist income. After the six-decade-old U. S. Embargo continues, Revolutionary Cuba in 2025 is starved for money as more and more nations submit to the Embargo's influence on foreign countries.

       Meanwhile, as shown by the two maps above, Cuba is the largest nation and arguably the most beautiful nation in the Caribbean. Yet, the only nation in the Caribbean that is terribly suffering from not being able to fully benefit from tourism is Cuba. As the richest and strongest nation in the world, the U. S. uses its unique influence to restrict Cuban tourism that other nations massively enjoy.

     In 2023 the above chart showed the population of Caribbean countries with Haiti, Dominican Republican, and Cuba being the three leaders, each with over 11 million citizens. The U. S. Territtory of Puerto Rico, for example, had only 3.3 million people.

     In 2025 this giant Associated Press headline screams out: "A new luxury hotel towers over Havana as Cuba's economic troubles mount and tourism plummets" Well, what the AP fails to mention is this: EVEN IF YOU ARE STARVING YOU MUST CLING TO HOPE THAT THINGS WILL IMPROVE. Below is how the AP mocks how Cuba's "new luxury hotel towers over Havana" while Cuba starves, just as the U. S. Embargo since 1962 has intended.

     The new Iberostar Packard Hotel is now the tallest building in Havana. It has 42 stories and 594 rooms. Everything is 5-star, including the 4 bars, 4 restaurants, and the 3 meeting/conference rooms. No, this is not the only 5-star hotel in Havana. In fact, the two giant Spanish Hotel & Resort Chains Iberostar and Melia have over forty 4-star and 5-star hotels that are built near the top tourist sites on the island. Moreover, despite the massive six-decade-old U. S. Economic/Blockade against the island, both Cuba and the two Spanish hotel giants are advertising their array of Cuban hotels, in hopes that one day the ultra-powerful United States will stop restricting tourism to the Caribbean's largest and, arguably, its most beautiful and historic nation.

     Just a few miles due south of the ultra-rich tourist-loving mecca of southern Florida, the blockaded nation of Cuba has lures like Varadero Beach. Yet to appease the rich and politically powerful Miami Cuban-Americans such as Marco Rubio, the U. S. Embargo/Blockade and other anti-Cuba actions in Miami and Washington successfully limit tourism even to Cuban tourist lures such as Varadero.

    But, of course, AGAIN remember back to the 1950s -- when as shown above -- the U. S. and top U. S. companies raked in tons of tourist dollars in Cuba when the Mafiosi-run Batista dictatorship ruled Cuba with brutal force. The U. S. government and U. S. media back in the 1950s wildly promoted Cuban sites such as Varadero to lure as many toourists as possible to the Caribbean's most enticing island.

     The classic image above depicts the Mafiosi-ravaged Batista dictatorship in Cuba that was led by Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano, and Fulgencio Batista. Of course, such true history of the 1940s and 1950s is not supposed to be mentioned in the United States since 1959, the year the Cuban Revolution overthrow the Lansky-Luciano-Batista dictatorship in Cuba.

     And speaking of 5-star Iberostar/Melia-run hotels in Cuba now, above was the famous 5-star Hotel Riviera that Mafia kingpin Meyer Lansky opened in Havana on December 10th in 1957. History confirms that the opening night for the Riviera was headlined by Hollywood celebrities such as Ginger Rogers, Nat King Cole, William Holden, etc., etc...and wildly promoted in the United States.

    And speaking about all of those 5-star Iberostar and Melia hotels in Cuba begging for tourists, do not FORGET that the famed National Hotel in Havana is still "The Best Luxury Historical Hotel in North America and the Best Luxury Conference & Event Hotel in the Caribbean and still the Best Luxury Hotel in the Caribbean." Back in the 1940s and 1950s Hollywood headliners like Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner homemooned at the National Hotel and, of course, top Mafia kingpins like Lucky Luciano and Al Capone loved the National Hotel in Havana. So would tourists in 2025 because poor little blockaded Cuba has managed to restore it to heights exceeding how it was maintained in the financially glorious days of the 1940s and 1950s.

In 1951 Frank Sinatra & Ava Gardner at the National Hotel.

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Two Reasons Cuba MUST SUBMIT to the US

 {1} Marco Rubio & {2} Mauricio Claver-Carone

    In the past 15 years Marco Rubio and Mauricio Claver-Carone have been the two most ultra-powerful politicians/lawyers in Miami and Washington leading the overthrow of Cuba's revolutionary government, which in 1959 overthrew the U.S.-backed Batista dictatorship. Rubio was born in Miami 53 years ago. Claver-Carone was born in Miami 50 years ago. As a member of the U. S. Senate, often as Chairman of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio has wielded immense power in trying to overthrow Cuba. For years in every Republican administration Claver-Carone has wielded immense power in various jobs in trying to overthrow Revolutionary Cuba, such as his stint as the ultra-powerful head of the Washington-based Inter-American Development Bank that has massive influence financially and otherwise throughout Latin America. And now -- as of today in Feburary 3rd, 2025 -- Mauricio Claver has been appointed by President Trump to be the ultra-powerful U. S. Special Latin American Envoy. And now -- since January 20th in 2025, and then when he was unanimously approved by the 100-person Senate, Rubio has been the ultra-powerful U. S. Secretary of State. In other words, as of today Little Havana based in Miami has been given essential control of America's Latin American {and Cuban} affairs. And since 1959 the rich and powerful Cubans in Little Havana USA have clamored for the overthrow of Revolutionary Cuba.

     If you study the three photos directly shown above, I suspect that you might agree that now -- starting on February 3rd in 2025 -- that Cuba has no option other than to negotiate the best deal it can make with U. S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the U. S. Special Latin American Envoy Mauricio Claver-Carone. Since the 1950s Cuba has shocked the world that playing the role of David vs. Goliath. The United States, which is the richest and strongest nation in the whole world, is the Goliath to Cuba's David. But now it is apparent that Marco Rubio and Maurico Claver-Carone and thus Little Havana have the power to pick and choose when to easily overpower the largest and most vulnerable island in the nearby Caribbean.

             U. S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio!!

                                    Not good news for Cuba.

Special Latin American Envoy Mauricio Claver-Carone!!

Even worse news for Cuba.

     This photo of Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel was taken today -- February 3rd, 2025 -- in Havana as he addressed his key officials and the Cuban people. His next move should be to make a friendly call to the U. S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

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