The sole publisher of Cubaninsider, Rich Haney, has passionately studied Cuba day and night since the 1980s and he has visited the island. He is a fiercely pro-democracy conservative Republican from Virginia and he believes the Cuban Revolution and Revolutionary Cuba say more about the United States than they say about Cuba.
EU OPPOSES Attacks On Cuban Families!! {UPDATED: Thursday, September 12th, 2019}
Photo credit: Reuters/Alexandre Meneghini.
As a mother and as the powerful High Representative and Foreign Affairs Minister at the 28-nation European Union, Federica Mogherini is back in Havana this second week in September of 2019 trying desperately to help protect Cuban families from being decimated by the USA's Trump Presidency during what she considers a trade-off to secure Trump the 29 Electoral Votes in Florida that he would need for his 2020 re-election. Shown above this week with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, the EU leader vowed to help the targeted nation improve its economy so it can withstand the ravages resulting from the latest Republican administration in Washington totally selling-out to Miami's handful of rich and politically unchecked Cuban Counter Revolutionaries.
After this handshake with Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, the EU leader Federica Mogherini had a private meeting with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel. Her staunch defense of Cuba relates to her admiration of"the targeted but resilient Cuban people" but also to"international laws that nations large and small must respect if we are to have a fairer and more decent world. For many decades the United States policy towards Cuba has been illegal and cruel."
As the face of the European Union, and back in Havana this week, Federica Mogherini said:"The EU is Cuba's top commercial partner and investor, and we have tripled cooperation in the last two years, and it is necessary because of the senseless Trump clampdown. Dialogue, not coercion, works best with Cuba. Trade along with dialogue makes sense too."
Clearly, the EU's High Representative Federica Mogherini is thoroughly disgusted with a few revengeful and greedy miscreants in a superpower nation preying on"innocent, vulnerable families" in a much weaker nation."There are 325 million American citizens," she mused sadly, and then asked,"Do they know what a democracy is?"
The EU's Federica Mogherini is particularly upset that the USA's democracy, especially during all Republican administrations in a two-party system, turns its Cuban policies over to ONLY a mere handful of the most zealous economic and political beneficiaries of a bitter, harsh, and even genocidal assault on everyday Cubans on the island. When these three -- Mauricio Claver-Carone, Marco Rubio, and Mario Diaz-Balart -- are permitted to dictate Cuban policies to President Trump and to America, it shames the U. S. democracy. Federica Mogherini, speaking on behalf of the 28-nation European Union, says,"If the U. S. government cannot treat Cuba with democratic principles, the EU democracies and others must strongly express our opinions even if the military and economic power of the U. S. prevails."
When she returns to Cuba, as she has this week, EU leader Federica Mogherini always makes it a point to connect with Eusebio Leal, the legendary and official Havana historian.
In this photo the EU's Federica Mogherini is shown this week getting more of a history lesson from notable Cuban historian Eusebio Leal. But Mogherini is already a well-known expert on Cuban and U. S. history. She believes the U. S. was very wrong in 1952 to sic Mafia kingpins Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Fulgencio Batista, and Santo Trafficante Jr. on Cuba; she believes the Cuban Revolution in 1959 was both heroic and correct to overthrow the thieving and brutal U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship; and she believes the superpower U. S. has insulted Democracy for the past 6+ decades by"continually assailing generations of fully innocent Cuban families in a failed quest to re-dominate the island nation."
Meanwhile, theFIRING this week of John Bolton as President Trump's National Security Adviser eases, at least a bit, the USA's military threat against Cuba.
Dating back to his days as one of President George W. Bush's advisers, John Bolton has long advocated a regime-change in Cuba.
As Trump's National Security Adviser, John Bolton quickly went to Little Havana in Miami and promised the few remaining survivors of the April-1961 Bay of PigsBRIGADA ASALTO 2506 that their failed U.S.-backed attack on Cuba would finally be avenged.
As the Republican Party's most famed war-monger, John Bolton, in his days as President Trump's National Security Adviser, shook hands with leaders that had arsenals of nuclear weapons. But weaker and non-nuclear nations, especially Cuba, were constantly threatened by Bolton.
John Bolton's prime target has been Cuba and, for 17 months as Trump's National Security Adviser, many believed he actually had thehammer and thebomb to use against the nearby, vulnerable Caribbean island.
The dire threat ofJohn Bolton using hisBIG STICK to pound pugnacious little Cuba into submission eased a bit this week when he was fired as President Trump's National Security Adviser.And any such easement while a Republican is the USA's Commander-in-Chief is indeed welcomed by Cubans on the island and by democracy-lovers around the world!!
cubaninsider: Trump/Miami Terrorize Cubans: U. S. Citizens Afraid To Object !? Born in Miami 53 years ago, Kathy Castor has represented Tampa/St. Petersburg in the U. ...
Born in Miami 53 years ago, Kathy Castor has represented Tampa/St. Petersburg in the U. S. Congress since 2007, a total of 7 elected terms. All that time she has fought valiantly to bring sanity and decency to America's Cuban policies...on behalf of American and Cuban-American constituents andon behalf of totally innocent families on the island. Outraged that Donald Trump, even more than previous Republican presidents, has turned over Cuban policies to only the most-vicious Counter-Revolutionaries in Miami and in Congress, Kathy Castor this week said that Trump's recent activation of Helms Burton-Title 3 is"particularly cruel treatment of everyday Cuban families on the island."
To illustrate how decent and how brave Miami-born Congresswoman Kathy Castor is, you won't see her on mainstream media outlets in the USA because they, unlike her, are direly afraid of the vehement Counter Revolutionary Cubans in Miami and in the U. S. Congress. Shamefully, that includes CNN, NBC, and MSNBC -- extreme and wealthy so-called mainstream left-wing "news" operations that spend most of their time and resources trying desperately to end the Trump presidency. So, CNN, NBC, MSNBC, etc., will liberally quote vicious Counter Revolutionary Miami Cubans in Congress, such as Marco Rubio and Mario Diaz-Balart, but they are simply too gutless to expose the sane and decent Cuban views of a brilliant and decent Congresswoman like Kathy Castor.
While CNN, NBC, and MSNBC frantically search for anything under the sun or moon to discredit President Trump,and then POUND AWAY ON IT 24-hours-a-day, they are too afraid to report on Trump's most egregious action during his almost three-years in the White House -- and every journalist in Washington knows what that is:Activating Title 3 of Helms-Burton, which is so genocidal for Cubans on the island and so lucrative for Cubans in Miami that not even President George W. Bush would activate it. In other words, as much as I hate Trump's genocidal Cuban policy, which he assumes will award him Florida's vital 29 Electoral Votes to help re-elect him, I actually believe the extreme left-wing tilt of the mainstream U. S. media is more of a threat to the U. S. democracy than Trump is, because the Trump-era will pass and I'm not sure the extremely wealthy left-wing or right-wing elements can be so easily cut from the bowels of the troubled U. S. government.Meanwhile, as decent democracy-lovers like Congresswoman Kathy Castor well know, totally innocent Cuban families on the island are being subjected to genocide {"legally" because of Title 3-Helms-Burton} from the nearby superpower United States...and it's being done with the silent and gutless consent of the mainstream U. S. media and America's long-programmed and intimidated citizens. Meanwhile, of course, Title 3/Helms-Burton since June 4-2019 has also greatly and grossly enriched, via one-sided court decisions and threats, Miami's Counter Revolutionary zealots who, in return, are supposed to deliver Florida's 29 Electoral Votes to Trump in 2020.
Trump's U. S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is charged with carrying out much of Helms-Burton/Title 3's genocide against Cuban families that Congresswoman Kathy Castor and countless other democracy-lovers call"particularly cruel" even as compared to previous Batistiano-Little Havana aligned Republican presidents. The incomparable economic influence the U. S. has worldwide can pay-off and reward friendly nations while starving and eviscerating other nations refusing to relinquish their sovereignty and hard-won independence. The longest and cruelest economic embargo/blockade ever in history imposed by a powerful nation against a much-weaker nation is the U. S. embargo/blockade against Cuba since 1962. All Republican administrations since then have allowed Miami Counter Revolutionaries to dictate that embargo/blockade, but ONLY TRUMP activated the genocidal terms of Helms-Burton/Title 3. This past Friday -- Sept. 6, 2019 -- Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had the"honor" of holding a news conference to announce additionalTitle 3/Helms-Burton genocidal assaults on Cuban families on the island. Americans are the only people in the world without the freedom to freely visit nearby Cuba, which in 2019 was named"the safest nation in the world for tourists to visit" by the Madrid Tourism Fair that advises nations on such things. Also, Mnuchin a few days ago greatly reduced remittances that Cuban-Americans can send to relatives on the island, infringing on their freedoms merely to appease a handful of rich Counter Revolutionary Cuban-Americans that Trump feels he needs if he is to be re-elected in 2020.
When Trump's Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stands at the podium to make another"WHITE HOUSE BRIEFING" about the latest tormenting of Cuban families on the island, often standing VERY OMINOUSLY beside him, with yellow pad and pencil handy, is Trump's National Security Advisor who happens to be the very scary John Bolton. Washington has never had such an infamous war-monger as Bolton in such a uniquely powerful position, and his long-standing hatred of Revolutionary Cuba is legendary. Back in the George W. Bush presidency, for example, Bolton famously concocted wild excuses trying to persuade President Bush to execute a regime-change in Cuba. Apparently in President Trump, Bolton believes he finally has THE PRESIDENT-COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF to fulfill his Cuban dreams. Meanwhile, President Trump does not allow anyone with decent or moderate Cuban views anywhere near the White House. Meanwhile, Trump minions such as Bolton and Mnuchin are the ones who get to hold"WHITE HOUSE BRIEFINGS" to announce America's latest Helms-Burton/Title 3 genocide against Cuban families on the island.
Every regular journalist covering Washington politics is well aware that two self-serving members of the U. S. Congress from Little Havana in Miami -- Mario Diaz-Balart and Marco Rubio are the prime architects of President Trump's genocidal Cuban policies. While that is true and well known, few Washington journalists have the courage to admit it. Diaz-Balart is the son of a former key Minister in Cuba's Batista's dictatorship who fled to Miami in 1959 and had the money and power to createThe White Rose, the first Counter Revolutionary paramilitary group in South Florida. And Rubio is every bit as fierce as South Florida's thriving Diaz-Balart brothers {4}, with Rubio known to have stacked Trump's most powerful Foreign Policy operatives -- John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, Steven Mnuchin, Mauricio Claver-Carone, etc. -- because of their well-known Counter Revolutionary zealotry.
Lost in the U.S.-Cuban equation, of course, is the sheer fact that, since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the Cuban narrative in the United States has been largely dictated by remnants of the oustedBatista-Mafia DICTATORSHIP that robbed Cuba blind and brutalized everyday Cubans from 1952 till 1959. The top echelon of theMafia -- as shown above with Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, and Lansky's dear friend Fulgencio Batista -- were supported by the superpower United States because they allowed rich U. S. businessmen to also partake in the wholesale fleecing of the island...at least until the Cuban Revolution shocked the world by chasing them off the island, all the way back to Miami as it turned out.
With Little Havana/Miami dictating most of America's Cuban narrative and most of America's Cuban policies since 1959, Americans today are supposed to be too ignorant or too afraid to ask,"Into a 7th decade, how much longer will The Miami Cuban Mafia be permitted to dictate Batista-likenarratives and policies designed to make themselvesrich and powerful while also continuing to commit what many consider to be genocide against innocent Cuban families on the island? When and if normal American citizens, or the mainstream media, are brave enough to merely ask such a question, I believe Democracy-lovers will have a right to feel much better about the great experiment in DEMOCRACY that was bequeathed to us by the Founding Fathers.
But for generations now, Americans have been programmednot to be embarrassed by this greedyred-eyed,claw-fingered international image of the United States related to the nearby island of Cuba.
But for sure that image of Cuban-obsessed America embarrasses democracy-loving Americans like Kathy Castor. Born in Miami, Kathy Castro has been elected 7 times to represent the Tampa area in the U. S. Congress. In the above photo she is shown departing Air Force One but still trying to influence Democratic President Barack Obama, who indeed tried his best to normalize relations with Cuba...only to have Republican President Trump turn that decency asunder.
When President Trump, to appease Little Havana zealots in Miami, began pointing to career Counter Revolutionary zealots like Mauricio Claver-Carone, it was up to the U. S. democracy to be strong enough to do something or at least SAY something about it. And...it hasn't been able to do that.
Miami-born United States Congresswoman Kathy Castor is well-versed in the cruelty of all Republican administrations since the 1950s towards families in Cuba. And, yes, Kathy Castor has been elected 7 times to represent Americans and Cuban-Americans in the Tampa area in the U. S. Congress. She recently said that the Trump administration is"particularly cruel" regarding totally innocent Cuban families on the island. I believe the mainstream U. S. media should have the guts to quote Kathy Castor as a true and decent expert on U.S.-Cuban relationsbecause the mainstream U. S. media shamefully allows Trump's Counter Revolutionary zealots to defame andeven commit genocide against Cuban families on the island. When it comes to decency, Kathy Castor vs. the likes of Mauricio Claver-Carone is a no-brainer.
Today -- Friday, September 6th, 2019 -- my Email included another massive report fromOFAC detailing even more sanctions against the Cuban people that many decent and frustrated people worldwide consider genocide.OFAC is the arm of the U. S. Treasury Department in charge of announcing and implementing such things. Today's release included 35 pages of fine print such as {1} "revise certain authorization for remittances to Cuba to impose new requirements and limitations; and {2}...well, you get the gist of what genocide entails. Regarding"remittances," that concerns the several billions of dollars & goods that decent Cuban-Americans have been allowed to send to their relatives on the island, a process the Obama administration, of course, encouraged but his successor, the Republican Trump, wants Florida's 29 Electoral Votes so he quickly turned America's Cuban policies back over to ONLY Miami's most vicious Counter Revolutionary zealots. As I studied today's exhaustive and latestOFAC assaults on totally innocent Cubans in Cuba, I was reminded that the harassed Trump this week had his hands full with non-Cuban issues but he allows anti-Cuban zealots to run amok with American power and wealth in {1} Getting even richer off new Trump anti-Cuban lawsuits in Miami federal courtrooms; and {2} adding more and more unchecked genocidal assaults on Cubans in Cuba. While Americans since 1959 have been programmed to accept this, there are decent people around the world who are appalled at a powerful nation, decade after decade, committing genocide against totally innocent people in a much smaller nation.
One such decent person is Federica Mogherini, the powerful Foreign Relations High Representative at the European Union. Once again trying desperately to halt or at least blunt the Trump administration's genocide against Cubans in Cuba, Mogherini will be back in Cuba Monday -- SEPTEMBER 9TH-2019 -- to chair a sane EU-Cuba Joint Session. Emilio Lozada Garcia will head Cuba's delegation and Hugo Sobral will lead the EU delegation with Mogherini the moderator.
Having traveled often to the island, Federica Mogherini loves the Cuban people and she doesn't believe a handful of self-serving miscreants in a powerful nation should be allowed to assault innocent people in a much smaller nation. But because the U. S. is the world's Superpower, that is what Federica Mogherini is confronting again when she returns to Cuba Monday. If you are a democracy-loving American, perhaps you will take time to listen to the following short video of Federica Mogherini's comments about Cuba. She is speaking in Spanish but there are large English translations at the bottom of the screen:
For a decent and internationally powerful woman like the EU's Federica Mogherini to be stymied and flummoxed by the Superpower USA's genocide against innocent Cubans in Cuba shames the United States and Democracy. It also, I believe, points out the need for a braver and more decent generation of Americans to protect and defend America...not Cuba BUT America!!
Even during a Republican administration in Washington, for the American people to allow right-wing American and Cuban-American thugs to dictate the USA's Cuban policies for their own economic and political pleasures surely shames the world's most powerful nation. But in America's two-party political system, the thieving and genocidal aspects of the Republican Party concerning Cuba ALWAYS rise to the forefront...VIRTUALLY UNCHECKED. In other words, I'm convinced that the six men above could care less about the worldwide image of America depicted below:
But It'sA RARITY In My USA!!! {UPDATED: Friday, Sept. 6th, 2019}
A brilliant director, Olivier Assayas, and two superstar Latin American actors, Penelope Cruz and Edgar Ramirez, have combined to create an important movie -- "Wasp Network" -- that had a sensational debut this week at the Venice Film Festival. The award-winning director, Olivier Assayas, spent six months in Cuba crafting this masterpiece that reveals much more actual truth than the American people have ever been told about a crucial and everlasting episode that is deeply ingrained in the saga of U.S.-Cuban relations.
The "Wasp Network" is a stunning and important movie because it dared to actually tell the basic truths about theThe Cuban Five, the Cubans who went to Miami in the 1990's to infiltrate terrorist Counter Revolutionary groups and report back to the island on such activities. This was after famed and unchecked Cuban terrorists connected to the CIA...most notably the infamous Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch...were known, by both Cuba and the United States, to have committed a plethora of vile terrorist acts against Cubans -- including vicious and deadly coastal assaults on fishing cabins, the bombing of the civilianCubana Flight 455 that killed everyone on board, the car-bombing in Miami that silenced the brave Cuban-American newsman {Emilio Milian} who complained about such atrocities, etc., etc. etc. As you can see via the flyer above, this movie's SUPERSTAR ACTORS included Penelope Cruz, Edgar Ramirez, and Gael Garcia Bernal.
Another actress with a major role in the "Wasp Network" is Ana de Amas, who has been a Superstar in Hollywood since she starred in 2017's "Blade Runner." Ana in 2020 will be in the next James Bond movie. She was born in Santa Cruz del Norte, Cuba, and then studied at the National Theater School of Cuba.
TheCuban Five are now back in Cuba and hailed as national heroes. But their saga defines the massive change that the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 brought to the United States with the astounding defeat of the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship that had roiled and fleeced the island at will from 1952 till 1959. The problem for Revolutionary Cuba...and for the United States, I believe...was that the Batistianos quickly resurfaced in nearby Miami with a new capital they still callLittle Havana. A record number of assassinations as well as unrelenting terrorist acts coupled with such things as the April-1961 Bay of Pigs military attack and the 1962-till-today Economic Embargo failed to overthrow Cuba's revolutionary government although the rich and powerful Counter Revolutionaries inLittle Havana had the unmitigated support of the Superpower U. S. government, including the unmatched U. S. Treasury. TheCuban Five, always in their homeland considered Cuban patriots of the highest order, were all captured and sentenced in Miami to prison terms that included life without parole. They were incarcerated in five separate federal prisons across the United States.
During the 14 years theCuban Five remained imprisoned in the United States, the mainstream U. S. media...then as now...was simply too afraid ofLittle Havana to tell both sides of the two-sided story. But prolific and respected journalists-authors such as Wayne S. Smith, a former U. S. diplomat stationed in Havana, and Peter Kornbluh, the Cuban expert at the U. S. National Archives in Washington, had...and have...both the courage and the insight to tell the truth. And, as you can see in the above graphic, even the mainstream media giant, the Washington Post, summoned the courage to report that theCuban Five were "Wrongly accused. Unjustly convicted." And the Washington Post stated that "Men who prevented terrorism do not belong in Prison." But for years theCuban Five remained in U. S. federal prisons while self-admitted and renowned violentLittle Havana terrorists such as Posada and Bosch, befriended by such self-serving sycophants as the Bush dynasty, would live out their lives as free men and celebrated heroes inLittle Havana -- Miami, USA.
But at long-last, from January 20-2009 till January 20-2017 the United States had a Democratic President, Barack Obama, who had the guts to challengeLittle Havana's firm grip on both the Republican Party and the U. S. Congress, and in a two-party system that constitutes much of the entire U. S. democracy. President Obama became the first U. S. president to visit Cuba since President Hoover in 1928 went to the island on a warship. But President Obama flew to Havana on Air Force One and, as shown above, famously told the Cuban people on state-wide radio and television:"Cuba does not need TO FEARa threat from the United States." Of course, President Obama at the time did not anticipate that he would be succeeded by another Republican president in 2017, this time Donald Trump. But as President, the sane and decent Obama did heroic things like reopening the U. S. embassy in Havana for the first time since 1961...and like FREEING theCuban Five so they could return to their families in Cuba as national heroes.
The new and sensational movie "Wasp Network" truthfully tells the basic story of theCuban Five -- including who they were and are, why they were framed, why they should have been freed, etc.
Above is one of the many"Free the Cuban Five" posters with their names and faces. They are all now free and celebrated heroes in Cuba, thanks to President Obama. Take note of Rene Gonzalez on the right above. In the new movie "Wasp Network" the Superstar actor Edgar Ramirez plays Rene Gonzalez while the Superstar actress Penelope Cruz plays his wife. It is FOR SURE a gripping story expertly told and the movie starts with Rene Gonzalez supposedly stealing a plane and defecting to Miami. Watch this movie preview:
And here is another scintillating preview of the movie "Wasp Network" -- the story of theCuban Five:
And this week on September 1-2019 at the Venice Film Festival the brilliant director of "Wasp Network" -- Olivier Assayas and his Superstar actors -- held a news conference about the superb movie. Watch the clip below from that news conference. Actress Penelope Cruz speaks in Spanish but director Olivier Assayas and actor Gael Garcia Bernal speak in English to describe the movie:
The "Wasp Network" is both a brilliant and important new movie because it is actually based on the truth about theCuban Five, which is a highly significant part of U.S.-Cuban history and topicality. For the most part, since 1959Little Havana extremists have dictated both the Cuban narrative in the United States as well as America's Cuban policies, and even vital federal courtroom decisions.
As you may have seen in the above previews, the named Jorge Mas Canosa was poignantly referenced in the movie "Wasp Network." By 1981 the Bush dynasty, namely Vice President and future President George H. W. Bush, had essentially anointed Mas Canosa as theLittle Havana Cuban dictator on U. S. soil. As explained by the great Julia E. Sweig in her sensational book "CUBA: WHAT EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW," Mas Canosa was told to study AIPAC, the ultra-powerful Israeli lobbying arm in the U. S., and replicate it for his Cuban exiles. Mas Canosa did that and created the ultra-powerful CANF, which created a lot of millionaires in Miami and a lot of highly financed and unchecked hardship for Cubans on the island. Mas Canosa himself, of course, became the most powerful Miami Billionaire. Mas Canosa foundedRadio-TV Marti, a laughable anti-Castro/pro-Batistiano propaganda operation that from the 1980's till this very day has sucked and is sucking a billion or so dollars from Washington to Miami. He also famously, according to Sweig and other renowned experts, hired extremely expensive lawyers and lobbyists to ram the infamous Helms-Burton Act through the U. S. Congress in 1996 and, to this day, Helms-Burton continues to create millionaires in Miami while also virtually committing genocide against totally innocent men, women, and children on the island. So, yes indeed, it was appropriate that the new movie "Wasp Network" mentioned Jorge Mas Canosa because, with the relentless support of the Bush dynasty, he played massive roles in U.S.-Cuban relations, including theCuban Five saga.
Since 1959, as noted,Little Havana Counter Revolutionary Cuban extremists have primarily dictated both the Cuban narrative and Cuban-related laws in the United States. One of the most self-avowed Counter Revolutionary zealots has been 79-year-old Jose Basulto. He was born August 18, 1940, in Santiago de Cuba. As aLittle Havana and CIA stalwart, Basulto has bragged about being back in Cuba to commit sabotage prior to the April-1961 Bay of Pigs attack on Cuba. When he heard bombs falling from U. S. planes to commence that attack, Basulto is said to have scrambled over the fence at the U. S. Guantanamo military base. {Yes, you may Google-search this or any of the foregoing or following information}. But the rich and flamboyant Basulto is most famous for foundingBrothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based small airplane operation that supposedly rescued Cubans in the Florida Straits trying to reach U. S. soil. Fine & dandy, because such humanitarian work is badly needed. But in reality there was more to theBrothers exploits. In 1996 word reach Miami that President Clinton had decided TO NORMALIZE RELATIONS WITH CUBA!!! All of a suddenBrothers planes began flying over Cuban waters and Cuban territory, even dropping anti-Castro leaflets over Havana and scaring its citizens. Such tactics were bragged about on Miami radio stations, and further...they bragged that Cuba didn't have the courage or the ability to do anything about the overflights. Cuba then begged the U. S. State Department, and even the United Nations, to stop the overflights. To no avail. Cuba then warned it would be forced to protect its sovereignty. Then Basulto piloting the lead plane and followed by two others began flying toward Cuba or at least Cuban territorial waters. Cuba sent out two jets piloted by the Perez-Perez brothers and they shot down two of theBrothers planes, killing four people on board, but Basulto's plane returned safely to Miami. The resulting uproar over the two downed planes in which four people were killed then took over the Cuban narrative in the United States, scaring President Clinton who no longer entertained any thoughts of normalizing relations with Cuba. Lawsuits in Miami courts made more millionaires and Basulto himself was finally awarded $1.7 million in 2005. But most importantly, President Clinton in 1996 was forced to sign the infamousHelms-Burton Act into lucrative, for Miami, and punitive, for Cuba, legal U. S. law that exists to this very day in September of 2019.
With theHelms-Burton Act, after it was signed into law by what appeared to be a scared President Clinton in 1996,Little Havana and the USA"sought to asphyxiate the Cuban economy" once and for all, and that's true. But as with allLittle Havana-inspired U. S. laws, I firmly believe the first priority is always to enrich selected Counter Revolutionaries. But do some Goggling and then judge for yourself. And, in the above photo, I believe President Clinton had reason to be scared. At theHelms-Burton signing ceremony, Clinton is glancing wearily up at the bespectacled and fiercely controversial Cuban-American Bob Menendez who remains to this day a fierce Counter Revolutionary U. S. Senator. And, just as ominously, the man second from the left peering down over Clinton's right shoulder is Lincoln Diaz-Balart whose father was a key Minister in Cuba's Batista's dictatorship and, after 1959, one of the richest and most powerful Counter Revolutionaries in South Florida, and in fact the man who founded the first anti-Castro paramilitary unit on U. S. soil, which he called The White Rose after a Jose Marti poem. It is generally assumed that Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Jorge Mas Canosa were the two prime architects ofHelms-Burton and...uh...some other major U.S.-Cuban initiatives.
But all that brings us back around to the "Wasp Network," the movie that made a big splash when it was debuted at the famed Venice Film Festival this first week in September-2019. Amazingly, this brand-new movie tells some truths about the sensationalCuban Five episode that, typically and for the most part, has only had aLittle Havana telling in the United States.
With international Hollywood Superstars Edgar Ramirez and Penelope Cruz heading an all-star cast, "Wasp Network" is a movie well worth seeing. After all, it revives some historical U.S.-Cuban facts that need scrutiny.
It is time, I believe, that Americans receive their Cuban news and perspectives from great and unchallenged fair-minded experts such as Peter Kornbluh, Tracey Eaton, Wayne S. Smith, and, of course, the incomparable Julia E. Sweig.
For example, having studied Cuba day and night since the 1980's, and having traveled legally to Cuba, I am convinced that anyone whohas not read and studied Julia E. Sweig's book"CUBA: WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW" knowsVERY LITTLE about U.S.-Cuba relations since 1952 and ESPECIALLY since 1959.
I further believe it is an insult to the U. S. democracy, and democracy-lovers like me, that even the mainstream U. S. media allows renowned Cuban-American extremists to spew their uncontested venom, and not just via extreme right-wing "media" outlets such as Babalu, Townhall, Breitbart, etc.
Since 1959 Americans have been bombarded with notions that everything Revolutionary Cuba has done in 6+ decades is terrible and everything the USA Batistianos have done is Mother Teresa-like sweetness. And I sincerely believe that says much more about the superpower USA than it says about the island of Cuba.
