US Cuba Policy: Sane or Insane

Fair or Unfair/Honest or Criminal?

   History registers the fact that both Cuba and the United States were discovered in 1492 by the Spanish explorer Columbus. Since then...and especially since the years 1898, the year the U. S. won its Spanish-American War in Cuba to become the new imperative power to dominate Cuba; and 1959, the year Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution overthrew the US's Cuban dictator Batista...there have been very few historians and journalists in the United States that have had the courage, integrity, and ability to tell the truth about the contentious US-Cuba relations. But for many years William LeoGrande has had those three traits and used them to be the USA's overall best and most honest expert related to the much maligned U.S.-Cuba saga. William LeoGrande is the renowned Professor of Government Studies at American University in Washington.

    Today -- November 21st-2022 -- above are the TOP FOUR Cuban headlines flashing around the world. The Foreign Policy Magazine article is headlined: "WHY DEMOCRATS SHOULD FORGET ABOUT FLORIDA and FOCUS on CUBA." You should dial it up and study it carefully because it is written by the great William LeoGrande.

     Above are some of the paragraphs in today's article by William LeoGrande, the top U. S. expert regarding U.S.-Cuba Relations. With the data provided above, you should dial up the entire article and then not JUST read it but devour it.

 Anyone concerned with U.S.-Cuba Relations should consult the aforementioned article today by William LeoGrande. And also, if you can't attend his classes at American University in Washington, at least read his books...especially "BACK CHANNEL TO CUBA" that he co-authored with the great Peter Kornbluh. For example, the Nixon-Castro photo shown on the cover of that seminal book has been grossly lied about for decades to comply with the USA's counter revolutionary assaults on Revolutionary Cuba since January of 1959. The photo was taken in April of 1959 when Fidel Castro flew to the U. S. to tell President Eisenhower that Revolutionary Cuba would be democratic and be the U.S.'s friend and trading partner. Both the U. S. Society of Newspaper Editors and the U. S. government assured him that he could meet Eisenhower face-to-face but that turned out to be a lie; instead he met Vice President Nixon who famously told Fidel Castro that none of that would ever happen because the U. S. would quickly recover control of Cuba. During the 12 days of Castro's trip to the U. S. in April of 1959, he was wildly treated as a revolutionary hero by the American people in both Washington and New York...but he returned to Cuba shaken by Nixon's prediction, which he famously resisted and kept from happening till he died in Havana at age 90 in 2016.

     During his 12-day visit to the U. S. in April of 1959, the new rebel leader of Cuba, as shown above, was on TV's famous Meet the Press program to tell the American people what he had been promised he would be allowed to tell President Eisenhower. But Nixon was the one who shamefully met with Fidel Castro to let him know that the U. S. would quickly recapture Cuba.

    During his 12 days in the U. S. in April of 1959 as Cuba's post-Batista leader, the American people treated Fidel Castro as a hero...and he visited places such as the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. If he had met President Eisenhower, and not Vice President Nixon, it is possible that U.S.-Cuba Relations from 1959 until 2022...and counting...would have been drastically different.

     From April of 1959 until November of 2022 the American people have been grossly lied to about this famous Castro-Nixon photo. And that's a damn shame...for both the U. S. and Cuba.

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Cuban Airports Overrun With Foreign Flights

 DESPITE the Blockade!!

    The legendary stormy Caribbean clouds that separate Cuba and the United States have, for over six decades, been personified by the ever-tightening U. S. Embargo/Blockade that intends to starve the Cuban economy into submission. Meanwhile...headlines loudly suggest that, finally, the starvation tactics will come to fruition in these last days in November of 2022!! But such dire predictions have been headlined daily since the birth of Revolutionary Cuba in January of 1959 and so far they haven't happened. Now...heading into December of 2022 a plethora of the top airlines in the United States and the World are flying in record numbers to ten different airports in Cuba.

    Today -- November 20th-2022 -- both the U. S. and Cuba are reporting that: "United Airlines resumed its commercial passenger flights between the United States and Cuba after more than a two-and-a-half year hiatus. The US carrier now offers two daily flights to Havana International Airport, one from Newark Liberty International Airport and one from Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport."

    And moreover, it is also reported today that: "As of November 2022, four airlines are offering 147 weekly flights from the United States to Cuba. These carriers are American Airlines, JetBlue, United Airlines, and Southwest Airlines." And moreover, in addition to the four major U. S. airlines, 41 other top foreign airlines are increasing their flights to Cuba.

    And as shown above, on November 20th-2022 45 major foreign airlines are:  "Operating international flights to the Caribbean country, just in time for the beginning of the winter high season. There are about 400 weekly flights in eight of the ten airports throughout the island, and two hubs remain closed, Manzanillo and Cienfuegos."

    In other words, as of these last few days in November of 2022, Revolutionary Cuba is still alive and might even make it to the month of December in 2022.

   And at least 45 of the world's top airlines in late November of 2022 are actually increasing their flights to the Caribbean's largest island nation.

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Miami vs. Havana Heats Up

 

    In January of 1959 the Cuban Revolution shocked the world by overthrowing Cuba's powerful Batista dictatorship that was supported by the Mafia, the strongest criminal organization in the world, and by the United States, the strongest nation in the world. Even more shocking has been the fact that Revolutionary Cuba has survived for over six decades...and counting!!! A prime offshoot of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution is the fact that it immediately spawned Little Havana in nearby Miami, Florida. Supported by the unmatched wealth and power of the United States, Little Havana for over six decades has been at the forefront of the massive and exhaustive effort to overthrow the Cuban Revolution...while creating massive wealth and political powerful for Cubans in Little Havana but also starving, depriving, and making miserable Cubans in Cuba.

     For the past six-decades+ the Havana vs. Little Havana saga has been permeated by the mainstream media in the U. S. telling American taxpayers and voters that the Cubans in Little Havana are world-class saints while the Cubans in Havana are worthy of being starved, deprived, and made miserable. One of the most notable U. S. journalists reporting from Havana and Little Havana is Patrick Oppmann of CNN.

     Heading into this weekend -- November 19th & 20th of 2022 -- above are the current TOP CUBAN HEADLINES. Please note that CNN's high-profile article, written by Patrick Oppmann, screams: "FAMILIES OF JAILED CUBAN PROTESTERS BLOCKED FROM MEETING US OFFICIALS." It is typical of the pro-Little Havana/anti-Havana journalism in the U. S. for the past six decades+ but, at least, this time a top official in Havana was allowed to voice a comment.

    The Cuban minister in charge of Cuba's relations with the United States is Carlos Fernandez de Cossio. Regarding the CNN/Oppmann headline, he said that..."such protests in Cuba are funded and promoted by the United States on behalf of Counter Revolutionary Cubans in Little Havana and thus Cuba is left to react to the enormous money and efforts that Miami and Washington devote to de-stabilizing and overthrowing Cuba's sovereign government."

     For the record, in the last paragraph shown above you can see where the CNN/Oppmann article permitted Havana's Carlos Cossio to voice Cuba's opinion about the typical U. S. article damning terrible Havana on behalf of saintly Little Havana. In other words, there are usually two sides to most stories, not just one side. And that even pertains to the Havana-Little Havana saga.

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A Dire Week for Cuba's Economic Survival

 

      This important photo on November 16th-2022 shows Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and his wife Lis Cuesta after they landed in Algiers, Algeria today.

     Cuba's President Diaz-Canel was lushly welcomed today in Algiers on his vital mission to get economic help for Cuba. From Algeria he will also fly to Turkey, Russia, and China.

    Born 62 years ago, soon after the 1959 triumph of Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution, Miguel Diaz-Canel has been the President of Cuba since 2018. This week in mid-November of 2022 might be the most important week of Diaz-Canel's life as the leader of Cuba. Today -- November 16th of 2022 -- he began flights to the far away countries of Algeria, Russia, Turkey, and China as he tries desperately to avoid Cuba's total financial collapse in the face of the ever-tightening 62-year-old U. S. Embargo/Blockade, the costly Pandemic, drastic fires/explosions that destroyed a key tourist hotel in Havana as well as the island's most vital Power Depot in Matanzas, etc.!! Seeking desperate help today Diaz-Canel would rather be staying much closer to home to save some precious money but the long trips starting today are deemed vital to the financial survival of Revolutionary Cuba.

    A graduate of the University of Havana, Omar Everley is considered by U. S. observers to be a top expert when it comes to the trials & tribulations of the fragile Cuban economy.

       And so today -- November 16th-2022 -- the above article by Omar Everley is being eagerly scrutinized by both foes and friends of Cuba.

     In the two paragraphs above, as you can see, Omar Everley concludes that: "These questions try to convince about the difficult -- almost impossible -- task that those who direct the Cuban economy have on their shoulders. Well, above all, the US blockade is increasingly present in the Cuban reality." While those sage words are starkly true and honest, on November 16th-2022 340 million American citizens are programmed to ignore them...as Americans have been told since 1962, which was the year the U. S. began the Embargo/Blockade that was supposed to economically destroy Cuba.

     Today as he begins flights to faraway Algeria, Russia, Turkey and China, President Diaz-Canel would prefer seeking help much closer to home. But circumstances since 1962 prevent that, and thus this week -- mid-week in November-2022 -- desperation in Cuba made Diaz-Canel decide to spend his time on expensive flights seeking help from faraway nations.

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Cuba Battles Power Blackouts

 

     Today -- Tuesday, November 15th, 2022 -- the two photos above show a key ship from Turkey arriving in Havana Harbor. The Turkish company Kardeniz delivers  electric power to Cuba. This is vital to the Cuban people who have suffered from Pandemic, the tightening of the six-decade-old U. S. Blockade, and a massive fire and explosion in Matanzas that destroyed Cuba's most important Power Plant. Turkish ships like this one help provide much-needed electricity to the island's people.

The photo above was taken in Havana today -- November 15th-2022 -- by the great photographer Yamil Lage who works for the worldwide Paris-based AFP News Agency. It shows Cuban boys playing soccer.

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