Florida City Loves Cuba

A Notable Love Affair

            Today -- Sunday, November 22, 2015 -- The Tampa Tribune -- used the above photo to illustrate a major article written/photographed by Paul Guzzo. The article is entited: "HAVING ENDURED EMBARGO, TAMPA-CUBA TIES GROW EVER STRONGER." The photo above shows two Cuban women mingling in front of a small, entrepreneurial clothing store. Guzzo points out that back in the 1880s Tampa and Cuba developed a close cultural and business relationship via such mutual associations as the cigar industry and Cuba's struggles against Spain's imperialism. He writes: "The bond seemed broken in 1961," which was the second year of revolutionary rule on the island after the overthrow of the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship.  In 1961 the U. S. and Cuban exiles failed to recapture Cuba with their failed attack known as the Bay of Pigs. And in 1961 Guzzo pointed out that "the U. S. imposed a travel and trade embargo that isolated the island nation." Guzzo returned to Cuba and discovered "...that the people of Havana never stopped thinking of Tampa as a brother. Signs were everywhere this week that ties have grown stronger again in the year since President Barack Obama first moved to normalize relations between the two nations." Guzzo noticed that the Tampa-Havana camaraderie was evident in such things as a fishing tournament and "Tampa citizens were very prominent this week when 600 U. S. citizens participated in the Havana Marathon." Guzzo cogently quoted one Tampa visitor as saying, "Tampa is back in Cuba, but it never really left."

          This was the wildly successful Marabana Havana Marathon in Havana this week that featured 600 United States runners. Because it was a positive event, only a few fair-minded U. S. media outlets, such as the Tampa Tribune, mentioned it. In his column today in that newspaper, Paul Guzzo reported on many pros and cons, providing both sides of a two-sided story. Some of the observations included:
              ****Florida will benefit from a new marine partnership that allows research of Cuba's pristine reefs to help grow reefs that are dying in Florida waters.
                    ****A Tampa runner in the above marathon, Lynn Gray, said, "I'll return to Tampa with nothing but good things to say about the Cubans. I feel a connection to Cuba now." That type of quote is the last thing visceral exiles in Florida, who have dictated that everyday Americans are the only people in the world who can't freely visit Cuba, want to hear or to see in print, but Paul Guzzo included the quote in his article.
                    ****Guzzo wrote: "Americans can fish in Cuba now if they're in a competition, but visiting purely for tourism remains illegal under the embargo."
                ****"One of Havana's most popular beers has a link with Tampa. It's called Bucanero."
                  ****"With a Cuban-American population that is the third largest in the U. S. dating back to the 1880s, Tampa shares foods and architecture with Cuba. Cuba celebrity, architect Eusebio Leal, visited Tampa in October and was treated as a rock star for restoring over 300 landmark buildings in Old Havana."
                  ****"Cuba welcomes the help many Americans are providing...including the four-person Tampa medical team led by surgeon Kenneth Gustke of Florida Orthopedic Institute." The group provided knee and hip replacements. Cuba's universal health care is superb but the surgeons from Tampa had better equipment because the embargo prevents Cuba from purchasing some of the material that it needs.
                       ****"Tampa is a star as organized visits to the island are growing more popular."
                 ****Tampa was among Jose Marti's favorite U. S. cities...Fidel Castro had early support for his revolution from Tampa...Tampa gangster Santo Trafficante Jr. helped the American Mafia create a casino industry in Havana."
         With the U. S. embargo against Cuba still preventing everyday Americans from visiting the island to judge it for themselves, unbiased observations from journalists who do visit remains important. Paul Guzzo's long article in Sunday's Tampa Tribune was fair and balanced...uh, almost like having the freedom to go there yourself.

       Journalist Pual Guzzo mentioned Santo Trafficante Jr. as a prominent Tampa-Cuba connection, and he sure was. During the Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba from 1952 till 1959, Trafficante Jr. was fourth in command behind Fulgencio Batista, Lucky Luciano, and Meyer Lansky. In the 1930s Santo Trafficante Sr. became the Mafia kingpin of Tampa. When Trafficante Sr. died in 1954 he turned Tampa over to Trafficante Jr. When the Cuban Revolution defeated the Batista-Mafia dictatorship in January of 1959, Batista, Luciano, Lansky, Trafficante Jr. hastily escaped to safer pastures. Trafficante Jr. was briefly arrested by Fidel Castro but freed because at the time Fidel still harbored thoughts of peaceful relations with the U. S. Back on U. S. soil in Tampa, Trafficante Jr., like his father before him, was one of the top Mafia celebrities, free as a bird as his demeanor in the above photo attests. In the gray coat with the satchel is his very efficient lawyer Frank Ragano. Trafficante Jr. died in 1987 at age 72. Before he died in Tampa in 1998, Ragano in a book confessed that Trafficante Jr. and other well-known Mafiosi, unhappy with being booted out of Cuba, tried mightily to work with the CIA in trying to assassinate Fidel Castro. Ragano also confirmed that Trafficante Jr., Sam Giancana, Carlos Marcello, etc., also massively targeted the Kennedy brothers -- President John Kennedy and presidential contender Robert Kennedy. Trafficante Jr. provided an unconscionable criminal nexus between Havana and Tampa. 

       Many books -- such as "THE TAFFICANTES: Godfathers from Tampa, Florida" -- had plenty of fodder from declassified FBI and CIA documents to tie the Trafficantes of Tampa to a litany of crimes in Cuba during the Batista reign and in the U. S. before and after the Batista dictatorship.

But the Tampa-Cuba connection enjoys happier times now:

        Kathy Castor was born in Miami 49 years ago but she has represented Tampa brilliantly in the U. S. Congress since 2007. For one thing, in defiance of the post-Batista political leaders in Miami, Ms. Castor has worked tirelessly to bring about normal and peaceful business relations between Cuba and her Tampa constituents.

      As a Miami-born member of the U. S. Congress from Florida, Kathy Castor deserves a medal for having the sheer courage and decency, over a sustained period of time, to actually treat Cubans on the island decently while also trying to do all she can to help the people in the Tampa area who have kept her in Congress since 2007. Rare birds like Kathy Castor are few and far between in a U. S. Congress that, according to a recent poll, had an approval rating of 9%, apparently the 9% that have bought-and-paid for it. Yes, the Tampa-Cuba connection -- which the Tampa Tribune featured today, November 22nd -- includes Tampa's representative in the U. S. Congress, Kathy Castor. Of course, because she's unwilling to be bought-and-paid-for, she is not one of Florida's current presidential contenders, although she should be.

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Disrespectful Right-Wing Republicans

Shame America and Democracy
Updated: Sunday, November 22nd, 2015

       Stonegate Bank of Fort Lauderdale is an example of many companies based in South Florida that yearn to do business with the island of Cuba. A new poll released this week revealed that even conservative Republicans in the most conservative American states strongly support President Obama's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. Yet, for decade-after-decade America's bellicose Cuban policy has been dictated by right-wing Americans, many aligned with the Mafia, and by right-wing Cuban-Americans, many with ties going back to the Batista dictatorship. And that remains the case today. An easily purchased U. S. Congress still permits four Cuban-Americans from Miami plus one from New Jersey and one from Texas to dictate America's Cuban policy not so unlike a dictatorship in a Banana Republic would do. This week Stonegate Bank, after a long effort, combined with MasterCard to slice into that dictation. This week for the first time debit cards became active in Cuban hotels, restaurants, stores, and other businesses, thanks to the efforts of Stonegate Bank. How did this happen, you ask. Well...maybe Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio were too busy campaigning for the Presidency to block Stonegate Bank's latest bit of courage, freedom, democracy, decency and pure sanity regarding nearby Cuba.

Image courtesy of NBC-TV News.

        The image above flashed around the world this week when Cuban-American Republican presidential contender, U. S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, stared into a network camera and purposely showed massive disrespect not only to President Barack Obama but to the office of the Presidency that Mr. Cruz is seeking. His exact and well rehearsed quote, made just outside the Capital Hill Club in Washington, was directed straight at President Obama: "If you want to insult me, you can do it overseas, you can do it in Turkey. Come back and insult me to my face." Cruz was exalting over the fact that President Obama, in Turkey and later in the Philippines, had opposed the "shameful" statements Republican presidential contenders were making in regards to the U. S. accepting some Syrian refugees, once mentioning Cruz's name. Well knowing his "insult me to my face" dare would get him considerable television time, it also revealed Cruz as the right-wing bully he is. What would Cruz do if, indeed, he was face-to-face with the President? Punch him? Or was Cruz merely seeking more television exposure and just trying to further appeal to his right-wing base. Whichever, Americans should decide. Disagreeing with President Obama is one thing; but being utterly disrespectful to the President and the office he holds is being disrespectful to the United States of America.

        Senator Ted Cruz's father, Rafael, sometimes takes the spotlight away from his son on the presidential campaign trail. Rafael Cruz, a firebrand Texas pastor, was born 76 years ago in Matanzas, Cuba. His bio {check Wikipedia} claims he joined Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution against dictator Fulgencio Batista at age 14 but left Cuba at age 18 in 1957 before the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. His circuitous journey thereafter saw him become a longtime Canadian citizen, then a move to Texas, and in 2005 he finally became a U. S. citizen. Now a fiery Texas and campaign orator, one of the first items that pops up on a Google search of Rafael Cruz is a long Salon.com article entitled "Ted Cruz's Dad Is Even More Frightening Than Ted Cruz." A long anti-Obama rant by Rafael Cruz on YouTube seems truly scary, but it's up to the majority of Americans to judge him and his son. 

       The new Top Republican is 45-year-old Paul Ryan from Wisconsin. As Speaker of the House, he is just two steps from the Presidency, behind only the President and the Vice President. He disagrees with President Obama on almost every issue, including topics such as Cuba and Syrian refugees, and that's fine in America's two-party political system. At least Speaker Ryan seems more civil, discreet, and anecdotal than most radical, headline-seeking, single-minded Republicans. But his status as Top Republican is new and fragile, and his input is still to be determined.

         Often nowadays, during a weak cycle for the U. S. media, the best journalism in America comes from the skilled pens of great political cartoonists. Take, for example, the one above courtesy of Kevin Siers, the superb star for the Charlotte Observer. "The Doctors Strangelove" gem recounts the cowardly, undemocratic action of 47 U. S. Senators -- depicted by Siers as "the GOP 47" -- who signed off on that behind-the-back letter to Iran that aligned with the Iranian "hardliners" against President Barack Obama. It is, of course, too much to expect American voters to have the insight or concern of a genius like Kevin Siers, but anyone even moderately interested in preserving the essence and dignity of the U. S. democracy should comprehend repeated examples of right-wing Republicans in the U. S. Congress showing utter disrespect for democracy, America's two-term President, and the office of the Presidency. 

    {Photo courtesy: Associated Press/Ross D. Franklin}

      This photo shows President Barack Obama making a fiery speech recently at the Cleveland Convention Center. The topic was: Republican Intransigence. A lifelong conservative Republican, I agree with our President when he points out such things.

       On a regular basis, the three Cuban-American members of the U. S. Senate -- Ted Cruz, Robert Menendez, and Marco Rubio -- not only show disrespect to Mr. Obama, the two-term President of the United States, but they also regularly display unacceptable disrespect for the office of the U. S. Presidency. While their antics may appeal to their right-wing base, it is unsettling to some that Cruz and Rubio are obsessed with seeking the office they disrespect, at least until they take it over.

  The Republican-led U. S. Congress, especially when the recently resigned John Boehner was Speaker of the House, has pushed the United States government far to the right of where most Americans stand. Most Americans understandably are strong supporters of Israel, but they should wince when Congress puts America in second place, or actually in third place nestled right behind the powerful Cuban lobby. 

Julia E. Sweig is America's greatest expert on U.S.-Cuban relations.

   Americans who have not read and studied Julia E. Sweig's remarkable book -- "Cuba: What Everyone Needs To Know" -- do not, quite frankly, know the most important things about United States-Cuban relations. Moreover, Americans unfamiliar with Julia E. Sweig probably have no idea how a right-wing U. S. Congress threatens the principles of the United States democracy.

And, uh, So, let's take a peek:n of Cuba:

        "CUBA: What Everyone Needs To Know" is the most significant, unbiased documentation of how the U. S. Congress emerged into a body more influenced by a foreign country, Israel, and by a handful of Cuban-Americans than by the President of the United States. This basic fact skewers the traditional checks-and-balances fabric of the U. S. democracy, the incomparable form of government envisioned so sagely by America's Founding {Not Foreign} Fathers. Many great, brave, and even Jewish authors have written about the Jewish lobby, AIPAC, having far more control and influence in the U. S. Congress than American Presidents. The recent congressional speech by the Israeli Prime Minister in defiance of President Obama is merely an example. In her seminal book, Julia E. Sweig -- America's preeminent Cuban expert -- explains how the Reagan-Bush administration anointed Jorge Mas Canosa, Miami's most powerful anti-Castro zealot, as the leader of the Cubans-in-exile. Most significantly of all, as documented by Ms. Sweig, Mas Canosa was advised to study and then duplicate AIPAC, the Israeli powerhouse lobby. Mas Canosa followed that advice to a tee, creating the Cuban lobby CANF. From that day to this day, and all the decades in between, the argument can easily be made that two gigantic lobbies -- AIPAC and CANF -- have had and still have more control and more influence in the U. S. Congress than any American President and, in fact, more than the collective power of 315 million Americans.

And by the way:

          This quintessential image of Pope Francis flashed around the world this week -- Thursday, November 19th. He was speaking at the Casa Santa Marta in Rome and his words were carried internationally via Vatican Radio. Newly saddened by the hundreds of terrorist murders in Paris and Nigeria, Pope Francis said: "The whole world is at War. The path of peace means that God himself, that Jesus himself, weeps."

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Cuba's Survival Plan

Embargo Or No Embargo
Updated: Thursday, November 19, 2015

        This photo was used Wednesday {Nov. 18th} to illustrate a BBC article that explained how U. S. laws specially favoring Cubans creates criminal activity, such as human trafficking, as well as a blockage of further positive steps to normalize relations between the U. S. and Cuba. The two Cuban men above are among about 2,000 Cubans currently stuck at a border crossing between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. The Cubans are seeking to reach the United States where, because they are Cuban, they would have permanent residency and immediately get on welfare roles. The 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, known as Wet Foot/Dry Foot, affords special privileges available only to Cubans, massive enticements for them to defect to the United States. The U. S. has not intervened in the impasse between Costa Rica and Nicaragua but Cuba released a statement saying that anti-democratic U. S. laws relating only to Cubans not only are extremely discriminatory but also cause problems for other nations. Moreover, Cuba referenced reports that human traffickers have increased their fees from about $5,000 per person to $10,000 or more with the traffickers warning Cubans that they need to hurry up because efforts ongoing to normalize relations between the U. S. and Cuba might mark the end of Wet Foot/Dry Foot, which would hurt the traffickers.

       Yesterday the BBC used this map to explain the Cuban migration problem currently pitting Costa Rica against Nicaragua at a border crossing where about 2,000 Cubans trying to get to the U. S. are in limbo. A favorite route of traffickers, the BBC says, involves Cubans flying to Ecuador, "which does not require Cubans to even have visas." Then the Cubans travel north through Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, etc., on to the Mexican border. At the Mexican border Cubans, unlike all other immigrants, are free the moment they set foot on U. S. soil -- the Wet Foot/Dry Foot factor. But after moving through Costa Rica, this batch of Cubans was stopped by Nicaraguan soldiers. Nicaragua is a close Cuban ally but all nations in the region are a bit tired of the Cuban Adjustment Act that, since 1966, has been one of the most controversial...and many believe undemocratic...of all the U. S. laws designed to single out Cubans for special benefits if they can be persuaded or encouraged to defect to the U. S. The BBC indicates that the expensive South American Ecuador-to-Mexico route is now favored by traffickers over the traditional water routes from Cuba to South Florida. The U. S. Coast Guard can and does return Cuban defectors to Cuba if they are apprehended on water prior to setting foot in Florida. U. S. friends around the region and the  world are embarrassed by special decades-old Cuban laws that right-wingers in the U. S. Congress applaud.

        Reuben Ramos Arrieta is one of the busiest Cubans at the island's newly opened Embassy in Washington. He is the Minister Counselor at Cuba's Economic and Trade Office. Reuben is shown here with Puerto Rican executive Adalen Still, one of Cuba's many foreign friends trying to help the island.

       As a Cuban trade minister, Reuben Ramos Arrieta is reviewing a plethora of foreign deals. He is shown above about to sign one with Dr. Gustavo Bell of Colombia. Reuben says that currently 65% of Cuba's exports are service related. The island has contracts with 60 countries involving about 25,000 Cuban doctors, nurses, and paramedics. The powerful anti-Cuban segment of the U. S. Congress has continued to fund unending regime change programs that include incentives and enticements for Cuban medical personnel to defect to the U. S. where special laws applicable only to Cubans would give them instant residency and welfare. Reuben wants to diversify Cuba's exports and imports, fueled by an influx of tourism since President Obama initiated efforts to normalize relations with the island on December 17, 2014. The island is already finding it difficult to handle the increased tourism. Reuben says, "We now have 25,000 hotel rooms and 8,000 additional rooms-to-rent in private homes. By 2015 we will need at least 25,000 more such rooms. We are improving the rooms we have and adding more, but we would not have enough available in 2020 if the U. S. embargo is lifted by then. We want to have a normal relationship with the United States as we have with the rest of the world but, regardless, we actually plan to survive."

         In April of next year Cuba will announce an elaborate economic plan. Much of it revolves around the Mariel Economic Zone. It is connected to the Mariel Port 28 miles southwest of Havana and due south of Key West, Florida. The deep-water port has undergone a billion-dollar upgrade largely financed by Brazil.

This map shows the location of the Mariel Port.

        The French shipping giant CMA-CGM has signed a joint venture to operate a logistics platform at the Port of Mariel. Vietnamese, Chinese, Brazilian and Mexican companies have signed key investment deals.

       This is a welcoming sign on the road from Havana to Mariel. Since this sign was put up, the Cuban government has built both a new and much wider road plus a railroad line between the two cities.

       This photo was taken in July as two bike-riding Cuban boys paused to observe the dredging taking place at the Mariel Port. By the time they are in high school, an economic revival in Cuba may or may not improve their lives. The Mariel Economic Zone, as Ruben Ramos Arrieta stated this week, would love to have "normal" participation from U. S. companies. But he is surely counting on "the rest of the world."

        The color photo of the two Cuban boys observing the refurbishing of the Mariel Port is not as familiar to Americans as the above black-and-white photo taken in 1980. The Mariel Boatlift is one of the most pertinent events in the pantheon of U.S.-Cuban relations. Above are Cubans bound for Miami in one of countless boats that left Mariel. It evolved from the tumultuous status of U.S.-Cuban hubris that has existed since the Cuban Revolution defeated the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship in January of 1959. On January 11th, 1980, Fidel Castro's revolutionary soul-mate, Celia Sanchez, died of cancer at age 59. For days thereafter, as depicted in Georgie Anne Geyer's seminal Castro biography, Fidel pined away in darkened rooms, telling his brother Raul, "I will not rule without her." Raul changed his older brother's mind but a still distraught Fidel to this day has never recovered from Celia's death. His still-living associates from the 1980s -- Marta Rojas, Pedro Alvarez Tabio, Roberto Salas, Ricardo Alarcon, Raul Castro, etc. -- still believe Fidel was mourning Celia in 1980 when he impulsively invited all Cubans who wanted to go to the U. S. to congregate at the Mariel Port and he would wish them bon voyage, which he did. But his legion of critics maintain that Fidel emptied his prisons and insane asylums to punish the U. S. while also relieving problems on the island. While that is true, most of the Mariel Boatlift Cubans were/are honest.

       While the Cuban narrative in the U. S. since 1959 has primarily been controlled by anti-Castro, pro-Batista sources, sometimes Hollywood movies have chronicled U.S.-Cuban relations far better than the news media. Such is the case with the Mariel Boatlift of 1980. The talented movie-maker Oliver Stone in 1983 wrote the script for "SCARFACE" that starred Al Pacino as Tony Montana. Stone opened his wildly successful movie, which is still a cult staple on late-night television, with actual footage of Cubans arriving in Miami during the Mariel Boatlift. One of them is Stone's legendary character Tony Montana. Shortly, Tony Montana -- depicted above by Al Pacino -- became Miami's most vicious drug dealer. After the ouster of the Batista-Mafia regime in Cuba in January of 1959, Miami quickly became the hub of North America's devastating drug trade and unprecedented crime wave throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and deep into the 1980s. A brave Oliver Stone, unlike the mainstream media in the U. S., correctly informed movie-goers.

        Lucky Luciano remains notable as the all-time most powerful American-Italian Mafia leader. After World War II, Luciano made his headquarters at the famed Hotel Nacional in Havana. He made Havana the drug capital of the world although drugs were only one component of his vast criminal enterprise that included gambling, extortion, prostitution, murder, etc. Luciano's undoing in Cuba was the murder of children.

       Outraged Cuban women -- especially Celia Sanchez and Haydee Santamaria -- were most responsible for history's most improbable revolution -- the one that booted the Batista-Mafia dictatorship off the island of Cuba although Fulgencio Batista and Lucky Luciano were supported by the nearby United States, the strongest nation in the world. The wholesale robbery of the island didn't inflame Celia and Haydee nearly as much as the murders of Cuban children and the use of kidnapped Cuban girls, some as young as ten, to facilitate the prostitution trade. To this day, with a Cuban narrative still controlled by a second generation of Batistiano-Mafiosi types, Americans do not understand the unique genesis of the Cuban Revolution.

        After the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, this was a familiar scene on the streets of Havana. That's a former guerrilla fighter enforcing new laws that particularly outlawed the mistreatment of women and children as mandated by the new Federation of Cuban Women and by the new street-by-street Committees for the Defense of the Revolution. Both those new mandates -- created by Celia Sanchez, Haydee Santamaria, and Vilma Espin -- remain today as two key reasons Revolutionary Cuba survives.

       To understand the Cuban Revolution, you need to understand this photo. It was taken in December of 1956 when Fidel Castro joined Cuba's Revolutionary War that had already been led for over two years by Celia Sanchez, in the middle, and Haydee Santamaria. As guerrilla fighters and as recruiters of rebels and supplies, Celia and Haydee were by far the two most important figures in the inimitable Cuban Revolution.

        To understand the Cuban Revolution, you need to understand this photo taken soon after Fidel Castro, following his harrowing journey from Mexico, joined the Celia Sanchez-Haydee Santamaria guerrilla fight against Batista. As fighters and as recruiters of rebels and supplies, Celia and Haydee had sustained the revolution. Young school teacher Frank Pais, the other main recruiter, had been captured and gruesomely murdered. Pedro Alvarez Tabio, Cuba's greatest historian, wrote: "If Batista had managed to murder Celia Sanchez anytime between 1953 and 1957, there would have been no viable Cuban Revolution, and no revolution for Fidel and Che to join." In the above photo, Celia and Haydee are showing an astonished Fidel some of the money they had recruited. This particular loot is believed to have been hustled by Haydee when Celia sent her to Miami on a dangerous mission at a time when every Batista soldier was assigned to capturing Celia and Haydee, for which they would have gotten huge bounties. 

      To understand Cuba in 2015, the year Fidel Castro turned 89-years-old, you need to understand this photo. It shows Fidel Castro flanked by Celia Sanchez and Haydee Santamaria shortly after the 1959 triumph of the Cuban Revolution. Fully appreciating that Celia and Haydee were primarily responsible for defeating the Batista-Mafia dictatorship, there was never a single instance while these two remarkable women lived that Fidel Castro, whether he agreed with them or not, failed to capitulate to their decisions regarding Revolutionary Cuba. That includes major decisions such as the creations of the Federation of Cuban Women and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution that, to this day, sustain the revolution. And it includes Celia's decision, which Fidel initially opposed, to align Cuba with the Soviet Union after two key events convinced her that the U. S. was determined to recapture Cuba: {1} In April of 1959 Vice President Richard Nixon made that exact prediction face-to-face to Fidel in Washington; and {2} in April of 1961 the U. S. and the Cuban exiles indeed tried to recapture Cuba with the attack known as the Bay of Pigs. Such facts, including the significance of Celia and Haydee, do not comport with the Cuban narrative in the U. S. that has fanned the lucrative Castro Industry since 1959, but they comport with the known history of U.S.-Cuban relations. Inconsolable after Celia died of cancer in 1980, Haydee committed suicide.

        In Batista's Cuba in 1955, Marta Rojas was a very young journalist. Batista had no idea she was working with Celia Sanchez's urban underground, so Marta had access to the imprisoned Fidel Castro. Fidel at the time had never laid eyes on Celia but he idolized her anti-Batista heroism. Marta carried notes hidden in her bra from Fidel's cell to the underground pipeline that reached to Celia in the Sierra Maestra Mountains on the eastern tip of the island. In the same manner, Marta carried notes from Celia to Fidel in his cell.

          After the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, it was Marta Rojas {above} who introduced Fidel Castro in December of 1959 for his first televised address to the nation. To know Cuba, you should know Marta.

        As an internationally acclaimed and highly respected journalist/author, Marta Rojas today knows more about Celia Sanchez, Fidel Castro, and the Cuban Revolution than any living person. In 2004 as I was researching my biography of Celia Sanchez, Marta told me in an email: "Since Celia died of cancer in 1980, Fidel has ruled Cuba only as he precisely believes Celia would want him to rule it." Marta had no reason to distort that fact although, I believe, many of Cuba's fervent enemies since 1959 direly desire to do so.

           Throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and into the 1980s, Edna Buchanan reigned as America's top crime reporter. She was based in Miami by the Associated Press, which spread her reports around the U. S. and the world. The U. S. government that had supported the Mafia criminal rule of Cuba didn't exactly try to rein in the Batista-Mafia criminals that had been chased out of Cuba. With no help from the federal government, local police forces, including Miami, were simply overwhelmed by the criminal empire's firepower. You may have seen the recent documentary in which Edna Buchanan stood on a Miami balcony and gestured back at the skyline, explaining that much of that magnificent high-rise skyline was built with drug money.

      While all that Cuban-Mafia mayhem was going on, a Cuban-American named Emilio Milian was the most popular newsman in Miami. A totally decent man, Emilio used his broadcasts to denounce terror against innocent people, such as the 73 victims aboard the child-laden civilian plane, Cubana Flight 455, that was bombed into the ocean on October 6, 1976. After leaving the WQBA studios just after 7:00 P. M. one night in 1976, Emilio was car-bombed, a favorite tactic of the Cuban-Americans trained at the then-secretive Army of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia, beginning in 1959. The infamous Luis Posada Carriles famously praised his explosives training at Fort Benning in a New York Times article. Note above that the aforementioned Edna Buchanan co-wrote the huge article that told Miami about the car-bombing of Emilio Milian. To this day, Americans are not supposed to remember Emilio Milian, Cubana Flight 455, and other such nefarious anti-Cuban aspects of U.S.-Cuban relations. Today in Miami the still-living Posada Carriles is much more famous and much more heralded than the ill-fated Emilio Milian. And that's par for the course.

Posada Carriles at Fort Benning, 1962.

Now 87, Posada Carriles in Miami demonstrating against President Obama.

And Speaking of Mariel........

           The Economic Zone centered around the refurbished Port of Mariel is today the primary hope for Cuba's economic survival. It's survival would be a tribute to women like Celia, Haydee, and Marta Rojas.

        Remember Tony Montana, Oliver Stone's cocaine kingpin in Miami following the famed Mariel Boatlift? I know I've jumped around a bit but...DON'T FORGET TONY.

      And don't forget what happened at High Noon on December 17th, 2014. At that very moment American President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro went on television in their respective countries to tell their people that they were trying to normalize relations between the U. S. and Cuba. As November of 2015 winds to a close, great strides in that almost-impossible endeavor have been made, but much more remains. Since 1959 the lucrative Castro Industry in the United States has successfully dictated America's Cuban policy and that grip remains extremely tight.

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Guantanamo, A Lingering U. S. Problem

A Two-Fold Moral Dilemma:
#1: Occupation of Cuban land;
$2: The infamous Bush-era prison.

        Marjorie Cohn has long been one of America's greatest legal minds. She is a former President of the National Lawyer's Guild and is now the top Professor at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law. She is also a journalist and author. On November 14, 2015, Ms. Cohn penned a long article in The Huffington Post. It was entitled: "Close Guantanamo And Return It To Cuba." Democracy loving Americans should go online to read it and heed it. She lays out all the legal reasons for closing America's democracy-sapping prison at Guantanamo. And she also shows concern and passion for democracy by being ashamed of the image Guantanamo Bay casts on both the U. S. and democracy. The infamous prison attained an intolerable reputation during the last Bush administration; the theft of the magnificent Cuban port in 1903 lingers as a reminder to the world of America's imperialist past. Now, as Marjorie Cohn's article points out, there remains in the U. S. Congress a sufficient number of right-wingers who simply don't care how injurious the notorious Gitmo prison and the theft of Guantanamo Bay continues to be for America and democracy. The rationale that the U. S. needs the Naval Bay at Guantanamo is ludicrous; the rationale that the prison on Cuban soil is less of a bad thing than on U. S. soil is bullish, puerile, un-American, and plainly stupid.

      The U. S. Naval Base/prison at Guantanamo Bay occupies Cuban soil in defiance of Cuba's sovereignty, international law, and world opinion. Even its image on maps like this one shames the United States, especially as most people in the U. S. and the world strongly desire peaceful U.S.-Cuban relations.

        Congressman Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania just led a large group of Pittsburgh-area officials and executives to Cuba. They eagerly toured Havana and Matanzas, 70 miles east of the capital. They were surveying buildings in need of repair with the hope that, one day, companies and products from Pittsburgh will have a significant share of the reconstruction. Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto had earlier visited Cuba. Congressman Doyle said, "A lot of challenges, but a lot of potential in Cuba. Pittsburgh needs to be ready."

         This photo, courtesy of The Macon Telegraph, shows a large group of Georgia officials and executives in Cuba now scouting out potential business. Georgia State Senator David Lucas said, "We want Georgia to be ready for opportunities when Cuba and the U. S. begin trading. Sooner or later, something's going to happen. We need to be ready." Previous trips by the U. S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, and the President of the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donohue, recently toured Cuba, paving the way for groups such as these Georgians to visit. Such U. S. interest has already benefited Cuba by encouraging other nations to compete stronger for Cuban business. For example, Vietnam is now selling rice and other products to Cuba and giving the island two years to make no-interest payments. The nearness of covetous U. S. ports is an American advantage but the bellicosity of the Republican-dominated U. S. Congress remains the biggest enemy for Americans and U. S. companies desiring normal relations with Cuba.

       I have nothing at all in common with Jennifer Lawrence, except for one thing. The brilliant, rich, and famous 25-year-old actress was a lifelong Republican. So was I. The operative word is was. As conservatives, the Republican Party was home to many Americans for many decades. But no more. The Republican Party is now a reservoir for thuggish right-wingers. including a fresh crop of radical young Tea Partiers. That creates a dilemma for me, and probably for Jennifer Lawrence, because America has a two-party political system -- the Republicans and the Democrats. And both, for the most part, are bought-and-paid for, especially the Republicans. That leaves two options for me, and probably Jennifer Lawrence: vote Democratic or don't vote at all. I agree with Jennifer Lawrence regarding the Republicans disdain for "women's basic rights." In fact, it is quite apparent that the Republicans care mostly about the "rights" of billionaires because they are convinced the more money billionaires have the more they will donate to political PACs, a process that has virtually destroyed the democracy envisioned by the Founding Fathers. To her credit, Jennifer Lawrence seems to comprehend that fact and seems very concerned about it.

Please take note........

        ........of this photo. It was taken by Tonny Onyula and is used to illustrate a major article in USA Today today -- Tuesday, November 17th. It depicts the ongoing Nigerian terrorism of Boko Haram, a group affiliated with ISIS. The little girl holding the baby is 7-year-old Jumai Ganbo. The baby she is holding was injured by "Boko Haram militants," the article says. Last year Boko Haram massacred and cut off the limbs of many in Jumai's village, including her 8-year-old brother. Notice the baby's left arm as its right hand clings dearly to Jumai's neck. And study the faces of childhood innocence trying to cope with adult madness. Does it reflect the fact that civilized adults are losing and little girls like Jumai are left to pick up the spoils?

And by the way..........

         .............in this forum I have been critical of CNN for being almost as bad as Fox and MSNBC when it comes to saturating newscasts with onset Talking Head pundits instead of hiring reporters to actually go out and cover the news. But I heartily congratulate CNN for hiring Clarissa Ward away from CBS, which had hired her away from ABC. Ms. Ward, a 35-year-old graduate of Yale, is an absolutely brilliant reporter, as indicated by her coverage of the tragedy in Paris this week. Its Talking Heads aside, CNN remains the source for America and the world when it comes to breaking news. But CNN's boss, Jeff Zucker, should fire all of his Talking Heads and continue to scout other networks for truly great broadcast journalists such as Clarissa Ward.

        This photo is courtesy of David Shaw and Birds & Blooms Magazine. It's a reminder that our beautiful feathered friends, like these Eastern Bluebirds, need our help this winter. Their survival depends on a food supply, which is scarce this time of year except for human-provided birdseed.   

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