Is Revolutionary Cuba Doomed?

Or Is It Just In Transition?
{Monday, March 24th, 2014}

  
   ESPN the Magazine is just about the largest {in size} and most popular {in readership} of all the magazines in America. A recent issue {right} was devoted to the dominant role young Cuban stars are playing in Major League Baseball, such as the ESPN cover-boy Yasiel Puig, the superstar for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

     
     Chris Jones is probably America's best pure writer on topical subjects, such as the massive baseball tsunami that is currently crashing against America's shores. Jones is a writer-at-lodge for high-brow Esquire Magazine and he is also a Contributing Editor for sports-crazed ESPN the Magazine. Chris Jones was awarded the last full page in the aforementioned ESPN edition devoted to Cuban baseball. The essay that resulted is worth your attention even if you are not interested in his expertise concerning either Cuba or baseball. His journalistic style and his special gifts as a writer are among the primary attractions for this artistic gem.

      ESPN used this image to highlight the essay by Chris Jones that concluded its edition devoted to Cuban baseball's impact on America. Here are excerpts:

      "Havana might be my favorite city in the world. It is warm and crumbling and beautiful. It is safe and exotic and teeming with marvels. I fly down there with my boyhood friends, and we smoke black cigars by the boxful and swim in rooftop pools, and we walk along the seafront, and we hide away at night in tiny pocket bars, drinking goofy drinks that we wouldn't dream of drinking anywhere else. It is paradise for me, and it's made even more of a paradise because I know too well that Havana, this current and latest edition of Havana, is doomed.

        "You might think less of me in this instant for having gone there -- for having propped up the Castro regime, for indulging my gross northern appetites in a city marked in some ways by the suffering of its citizens, for ferrying whatever other random sins you might believe I stowed in my carry-on bags. I don't care. First, I'm Canadian, and we don't have the same psychic burdens about Cuba that Americans do. Cuba is just another escape pod from our godforsaken winters. But more important, because I know that today's Havana will vanish tomorrow, that soon it will be jammed with armies of tourists in their wide-brimmed hats, and the stray dogs and belching old Chevys will be taken out back and shot, I can't afford to let your judgment get in the way of my love.

         "One day, though, if you're lucky, and if you haven't already, you'll come back. You'll realize that perfection is a lot to demand, especially from a stranger. You'll get better about keeping the parts of someone you need and overlooking the parts you don't. You'll grow less certain, not more, and in your doubt you'll return to your old anchors. You'll walk shamelessly through the streets of your own particular Havana one last time, and you'll remember who brought you there in the first place, and when, and you'll be so grateful that they did."

Comment:

      Like Chris Jones, I've been to Cuba and I share his nostalgic views of the island, especially Havana. Because I admire his writing, I get to sample his journalistic skills on many topics and often disagree with what I consider his too-liberal opinions. I'm also a generation older than Mr. Jones. Plus, he is a democracy-loving Canadian and I'm a democracy-loving American. It's obvious he didn't grow up being banned from visiting Cuba and he didn't grow up being incessantly bombarded by depictions of Cuba from only two generations of the most vicious Cuban exiles who were booted off the island, with reason, by the Cuban Revolution in January of 1959. Thus, Mr. Jones has not been proselytized into thinking that all the good Cubans are in Miami, Union City, and Washington while all the bad Cubans are still stuck on the island. In other words, he is an unbiased, un-propagandized first-hand observer who can judge Cuba for what it is -- the good, the bad, the beautiful, and the ugly. Mostly, it's good and beautiful but not flawless. "I'm Canadian, and we don't have the same psychic burdens about Cuba that Americans do." That seminal, sensible, sensational sentence by a great writer familiar with Cuba says all that needs to be said about the deleterious effect America's Cuban policy since the 1950s has had on the U. S. democracy -- starting with the U. S. support of the Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba from 1952 till 1959 and then with the U. S. support of the Batistiano-Mafiosi dictation of America's Cuban policy from 1959 till the present day. Uh, no! Not all the good Cubans are in Miami, Union City and Washington. And not all the bad, mischievous Cubans are the ones still on the island.

  As to whether Chris Jones' beloved Revolutionary Cuba is "doomed" or merely in "transition," study this photo taken Wednesday. The young man on the left is Rafael Ramon Santiesteban. He hails from Holguin and was named Cuba's new President of the National Association of Small Farmers. Sitting at his left and chairing the ceremony is 83-year-old Juan Ramon Machado Ventura, Cuba's 2nd Vice President, which leaves him as the 3rd most powerful Cuban in 82-year-old Raul Castro's government. The news conference reminded Cubans that elderly revolutionary icons are still in charge but massive economic reforms are underway, reflected by the island's fresh emphasis on "small farms," private entrepreneurs, and the solicitation of foreign investments. Does it mean the revolution is finally "doomed" or is it merely in a "transitional" stage? Daily clues reveal that the answers are slowly but surely evolving in Cuba.

       

     
       Since 1959 Ramon Machado Ventura has been in the Top Five of revolutionary leaders and a Fidel loyalist since March 10, 1952, which is the date the Batista-Mafia dictatorship moved from South Florida to execute the coup that took over Cuba. Machado Ventura, who graduated from the University of Havana in 1953, was a medical doctor and Fidel a young lawyer. In October of 2014 Machado Ventura is due to turn 84 while Fidel will turn 88 in August. Along with the 82-year-old Raul Castro {He turns 83 in June}, these two old revolutionaries epitomize at least a transition to a new Cuba as dictated by a natural phenomenon -- mortality. But every step of the way -- from March 10, 1952 till today -- Ramon Machado Ventura has been at Fidel Castro's side. 

     
     It is interesting to note that the post-Castro leader of Cuba will not have a last name of "Castro" nor will he have any direct connection to the island's iconic revolutionary glory. His name will be Miguel Diaz-Canel. That's him in the middle of the photo on the left. Miguel is 53-years-old. He was born in Santa Clara on April 20, 1960. Fidel Castro has 8 sons. All are well educated and accomplished in areas such as medicine, science, and law. And all 8 are very loyal to their father. But, it should be remembered, Fidel once fired his oldest son, Fidelito, as head of Cuba's Science Federation. At the time, Fidel famously said, "This is not a monarchy!" Miguel Diaz-Canel is proof Fidel meant those words.

   However, many Cuban experts in the U. S. government still believe Luis Alberto Rodriguez {left} is the person most likely to be the post-Castro leader of Cuba. Rodriguez is 54-years-old and a Major General in FAR, Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces. More significantly, he heads the Enterprise Administration Group that controls about 80% of the Cuban economy. Also, he is married to Deborah Castro Espin, the oldest daughter {52} of Raul Castro and the late Vilma Espin. It is believed that Rodriguez's economic skills, not nepotism, have accounted for his staying power and advancements although it is well known that he has had major differences with both Deborah and Raul.

    

    
    
    Of Raul Castro's four children with revolutionary heroine Vilma Espin, the 52-year-old Deborah has the most influence with her father. She is often beside him at meetings, as shown here, and she is perhaps his most trusted adviser, especially on domestic and women's issues. Her power is one reason many expect her husband, Luis Alberto Rodriguez, to one day be the leader of post-Castro Cuba. 

    

   It should also be noted that Raul Castro's favorite grandson is Raul Guillermo Rodriguez, the son of Deborah and Luis Rodriguez. Raul Guillermo is also the primary bodyguard for his grandfather, President Raul Castro. 

   Photos of Raul Castro often show a young man attentively beside him but few have known the young man's name -- Raul Guillermo Rodriguez -- or his role as his grandfather's main bodyguard. In addition to his father Luis Rodriguez and his grandfather Raul Castro, Raul Guillermo has an uncle, Luis' brother Gustavo, who lives near Naples, Florida. Gustavo's wife Maria has a daughter by a previous marriage to Alexis Castro Soto del Valle, one of the five sons Fidel has had with his current wife Dalia Soto del Valle. Raul Guillermo's 52-year-old mother Deborah has two sisters -- Mariela, 51, and Nilsa, 46 -- and one brother, 48-year-old Alejandro. So, Cuba's Castro clan has an extended list of blood relatives, both male and female, but the post-Castro leader of Cuba will be Miguel Diaz-Canel, a non-Castro who was born in Revolutionary Cuba in 1960 -- meaning he is also a non-revolutionary like 54-year-old Luis Alberto Rodriguez, Raul Guillermo's dad. Fidel Castro's 8 sons have no political leadership ambitions.

Bluebirds photographed by Linda Bumpus for Birds & Blooms Magazine.

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Crucial Days for Cuba

Anti-Cuban Forces Align In Venezuela
{Tuesday, March 18th, 2014}

     The AFP/Juan Barreto photo above shows Venezuelan opposition activists marching toward the Cuban embassy in Caracas Sunday, March 16th. The protesters, at least for a day, shifted their venom to focus on Cuba, a major supporter and benefactor of President Nicolas Maduro's now shaky Venezuelan government.

     On national television President Maduro has told the Venezuelan people that Cuban-exile extremists in the U. S. are behind an attempted coup against him just as they "for a few hours" successfully executed a coup against the late President Chavez in 2002. He also used a television address to invite the U. S. to discuss the issues with his government. The protests began in student enclaves on February 12th and now have killed at least 28 people and injured about 300. Maduro is solidly backed by the Venezuelan military and it would take an extremely bloody coup to overthrow him. He considers Sunday's anti-Cuban protests to be proof that Cuban-exile extremists in the U. S. are "funding and encouraging this stuff in hopes of getting a reaction that would get the U. S. to attack us or the CIA to assassinate me, a bus driver who has African bloodlines like President Obama." Maduro, however, was narrowly elected a year ago over a U.S.-educated opposition leader and Venezuela is suffering mightily from excessive crime, high inflation, and shortages of food, diapers, and other necessities. The bulk of Maduro's support lies with the military and the poorest Venezuelans. He is also bolstered by the fact some of the key opposition leaders are now ashamed of the prolonged, ongoing violence.  

   
      Josefina Vidal is Cuba's Minister of North America Affairs and as such she has a primary responsibility for assessing threats to Revolutionary Cuba from anywhere in the region. Vidal, who has worked as a Cuban diplomat in Washington, is a key reason the revolutionary government has, against all odds, survived for 55 years and counting. This week Vidal's assessment of America's Cuban exile-dictated Cuban policy focuses on the violent demonstrations that have stricken Venezuela, a key Cuban ally, since February -- resulting in 28 deaths and at least 300 injuries.

     Josefina Vidal is a student of both American and Cuban history. After a 2002 speech at the Kennedy Library in Boston, she received by far the longest and loudest standing ovation at a session that was hosted by Caroline Kennedy and featured a roster of some of America's best historians, such as Arthur Schlesinger Jr. So, what's happening in Venezuela is not surprising to Ms. Vidal and, perhaps, her assessment is most pertinent of all considering that she is a Cuban firewall against invasion. Because Cuba is a two-pronged {not one-sided} equation, topical compendiums of what Josefina Vidal is thinking are worthwhile but generally foreign to Americans.

   "The three main opposition leaders fueling the violence in Venezuela," according to Ms. Vidal, "are all closely associated with the Cuban-exile extremists in the U. S. Congress and the operatives related to the Bush political dynasty in America. All that is well known. We understand their frustrations, through two generations now, over not being able to re-capture Cuba for use once again, as in the 1950s, as a piggy-bank and playpen. The Cuban exile leaders and Bush people also realize that, after all these decades, the worldwide UN vote each October sharply condemns, in unanimity, America's Cuban policy. Further, America's influence in the Caribbean and Latin America is amazingly small considering it is the strongest and richest nation in the world...and its Cuban policy is one reason for its lack of overwhelming regional influence, I think. And further, recent national polls in America show more and more majority opinions oppose the U. S. Cuban policy. And further still, the two top pollsters in Florida, as reported by even the Miami Herald, reveal that Cuban Americans in South Florida, even more strongly than the national average, oppose America's Cuban policy."

    In regards to Venezuela, Josefina Vidal said: "The Cuban exiles in the U. S. Congress are quite aware that Cuba has good to excellent relations with every nation in the region except the United States and, with that new poll in Florida, I'm sure they feel the need to tighten their grasp on control of the U. S. policy regarding Cuba. After a half century, they probably realize Cuba will not be re-captured as soon as next week. Thus, they attack our friends when they see an opening -- such as their bills recently to sanction/punish Argentina and President Cristina Fernandez. The U. S. should not assail Cristina because she is Cuba's friend and a few Cuban exiles don't like that. They see this week that Michelle Bachelet, one of Cuba's best friends, has been overwhelmingly re-elected President of Chile. They see that President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil is doing all she can to help Cuba. So, it is no surprise to me that the usual suspects -- the Bush-related Cubans from Miami and Union City entrenched in the U. S. Congress -- jump at an opening to overthrow President Maduro in 2014 similar to their short-lived coup against President Chavez in 2002. However, as in 2002, I believe the region tired of U. S. dominance in decades past when America saddled us with the Mafia, Batista, Pinochet, Trujillo, Samoso, Videla and all the other so-called U.S.-friendly thieves and fiends. And to allow two generations of Batistiano and Mafiosi exiles to rule America's Cuban policy is not exactly what I would call a feather in America's democratic hat. Of course, being the world's economic and military superpower, they can ignore regional and world opinion. That doesn't make it right. And fanning the flames of violence in Venezuela is not right. For two generations now, the Batistianos and the Mafiosi have denigrated American democracy."

   And lastly, in echoing a sentiment she expressed in that Kennedy Library speech in 2002, Ms. Vidal said, "We are merely an island trying to maintain our sovereignty when our nearest neighbor, the strongest nation in world history, threatens it on a daily basis at the behest of a handful of the last foreigners who ruled us. We did not extricate ourselves from them, nor have we shocked the world by keeping them at bay for so long, by being stupid or cowardly. In my capacity I spend much of my time, maybe most of it, anticipating what the most visceral Cuban exiles in Miami and Union City will concoct to provoke us into a reaction that, they hope, will have the full weight of the CIA, the U. S. treasury, and the U. S. military thrown at us. That's what, I believe, history confirms what such things as the Brothers flying over Havana and dropping leaflets was all about, that's probably what the bombing of Cubana Flight 455 was all about. And that, I believe, is what the Cuban exile support of the Chavez coup was all about. So, yes, that's what the Maduro coup is all about. Naturally, all along the way, my hope has been, and remains, that the American people will understand that there are two sides to the Cuban story...and two sides to the Venezuelan story that is now unfolding."

      As the violence in Venezuela roars through a second month, the New York Times used the photo above {by Leo Ramirez/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images} to illustrate its report from Caracas heading into last weekend. It shows an anti-government protester after her arrest being taken away by Venezuela's national police. The NY Times article said the protests "began in February with student demonstrations against the country's high rate of violent crime." Whatever the reasons, Sunday, March 16th was an especially crucial day. It revealed to many Latin Americans that the influence of a few Cuban-American zealots in the U. S. Congress can have dire ramifications against any of Cuba's vulnerable friends in the region. Like sharks reacting to blood in the ocean, the Menendez/Ros-Lehtinen/Rubio/Diaz-Balart anti-Castro coalition in the U. S. Congress in the past two weeks has marshaled the incomparable might of the United States against what they perceive as vulnerable Cuban-friendly governments, particularly Venezuela but also Argentina...or so Presidents Maduro and Fernandez believe. Presumably, Presidents such as Bachelet in Chile and Rousseff in Brazil are safe...for now. At the moment, Latin American political blood is being shed only in Venezuela and the majority of the U. S. Congress should, perhaps, try to stop it, not increase it. However, don't hold your breath! For over a half century now, the U. S. Congress has not reacted to such anti-democracy catastrophes as...the Bay of Pigs, the bombing of Cubana Flight 455, the 2002 coup in Venezuela, etc. Thus, whatever happens in Venezuela will be permitted...to happen.

    Maria Corina Machado, Venezuela's leading U.S.-backed right-wing congresswoman, called for the most massive anti-government protests to commence on a memorable day -- Sunday, March 16th. And her themes for the huge demonstrations were aimed directly at Cuba, perhaps to appease her Cuban-American allies. She claimed that Venezuela's "brutal repression orders come from Havana." Thus she said Sunday's mass protests were "against Cuban repression and for Venezuelan dignity." It is believed that the genesis for Corina Machado's anti-Cuban belligerence recently had its origin in the U. S. Congress where the usual contingent of the most virulent and revengeful Cuban-Americans -- Menendez, Rubio, Diaz-Balart, and Ros-Lehtinen -- backed bills demanding that the U. S., at the least, institute drastic sanctions against Venezuela and anything attached to Venezuela, an important Cuban ally. While Corina Machado and her Cuban-American backers in the United States Congress are fully capable of fanning the fires in Venezuela, it should be noted that they are also capable of creating and fomenting backlashes that might well rally the majority of Venezuelans to support Corina Machado's mortal enemy, the besieged democratically elected President Nicolas Maduro, the former bus driver and band member.

     While it is politically incorrect in the United States to say so, throughout Latin America Maria Corina Machado is considered to be closely allied with the Bush dynasty that has always been tightly allied, economically and politically, with the most radical Cuban exiles. That fact has greatly enhanced Corina Machado's power in Venezuela but it also represents a colossal warning to Venezuela's masses that she yearns for a return to the days when Venezuela was ruled by foreign-backed elites who happened to be Venezuela's richest families, such as the one that produced Congresswoman Maria Corina Machado herself. Furthermore, most Venezuelans and Latin Americans firmly believe that the coup that briefly overthrew the presidency of Hugo Chavez in 2002 was inevitable from the moment President George W. Bush named anti-Castro, Cuban-born zealot Otto Reich to a recess {without Senate approval} appointment to essentially dictate America's Latin American policy. Although the coup lasted a mere 72 hours, the U. S. quickly and embarrassingly recognized the new government and documents later proved it was a a new government supported by...Maria Corina Machado. Beyond doubt, Maria Corina Machado is the most important opposition leader in Venezuela and she holds a strong hand. However, as was quickly revealed during the 2002 coup, it remains to be seen if the majority of Venezuelans will capitulate to being ruled by a rich elite supported by the foreign coalition powered by the Bush dynasty and Cuban exiles.

The protests in Venezuela will provide clues.
Meanwhile..........

     Juan Orlando Hernandez has taken over as the new President of Honduras, which is very interesting from Cuba's and Venezuela's standpoints. After the 2009 coup that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, Cuba and Venezuela withdrew their ambassadors to Honduras. But the first thing President Hernandez did in March was to fully normalize diplomatic ties with Cuba and Venezuela. Hernandez, a lawyer and businessman, is only 45-years-old and he got his Masters degree in public education at the State University in New York. Also, he is the leader of the right-wing National Party of Honduras.

   
   54-year-old firebrand Xiomara Castro lost the Honduran election to Juan Orlando Hernandez by only 250,000 votes.

Since 1976 she has been married to Manuel Zelaya, the Honduran president ousted by the 2009 coup. Honduras is a troubled nation with the continued marginalization of indigenous communities. And Xiomara Castro will doubtlessly remain a political force.

      This photo is a reminder of just how fascinating, odorous, audacious, and unpredictable the volatile mix of love, war, and politics really is in the Caribbean and Latin America. On the left, that's Manuel Zelaya, the Honduran president ousted by a coup in 2009. On the right is his wife, the fiery Xiomara Castro. In a heated and contested election, she barely lost to new Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez. Considering the turmoil in Honduras, allow me to make a prediction: Xiomara is a future President of Honduras!

      This AFP/Adalberto Roque photo shows U. S. Congressman Jim McGovern in Cuba this week listening to Ada Rosa Alfonso, the head of the Ernest Hemingway Museum outside Havana. The U. S. and Cuba are engaged in a joint effort to preserve and digitize the Nobel Prize-winning author's personal effects.

This Getty Images photo shows Congressman McGovern admiring Hemingway's typewriter.

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Food Production Is Key to Cuba's Future

And Vital to Its National Security

   Christina Polzot {left} is one of the most important people on the island of Cuba. In July of 2012 she left her position at Care International in Ottawa, Canada for Cuba. Her assignment: Put Cuba on the path towards attaining food security. It was, she knew, a daunting task. But she is making enormous strides in the right direction. Yet, Cuba still spends $1.6 billion a year importing about 60% of the food it consumes. Christina longs for the day when the plush island of just over 11 million people can begin exporting vegetables and fruit along with other profitable products such as nickel and tobacco. But Christina found an island where much of the soil had been neglected for decades without proper nutrients such as fertilizer. She also quickly realized that the Cuban people, well educated otherwise and buffeted by guarantees of food, health care and shelter, were sorely lacking in knowledge when it came to farming. With Cuba realizing it can't depend on the rhythms of foreign support forever, Christina has been afforded a strong hand in re-vitalizing the island's food production, which she believes starts with educating the farmers and providing them financial incentives to both learn and to produce. By all accounts, her efforts are slowly producing tangible and very positive results although she says, "After four months on the job, just as I was starting to feel like I was getting a grasp of it all, Hurricane Sandy struck the eastern end of the island, leaving behind extensive devastation. But thankfully, we have had the support of Care International, the European Union, Canada, France, and Japan." 

  As Care International's representative in Cuba, Christina Polzot is doing an outstanding job helping the island to become self-sustaining when it comes to food production. She says, "Building management capacity at the local level is vital and we are accomplishing that. The government and the people want this to happen, so it will." The collapse of the Soviet Union entering the 1990s coupled with the U. S. embargo virtually deprived Cuba of necessary equipment, pesticides and fertilizer. The Cuban government still controls 70% of the island's land -- 6.7 million hectares {1 hectare = 2.47 acres}. In 2007 40% of that land was idle. Since 2010 Cubans have been encouraged to farm in rural and even urban areas and sell produce directly to customers without having to deal with cumbersome state bureaucracy. 

   
   More and more Americans are helping Cuban farmers to become more efficient at producing food. A contingent of 18 members of the Illinois Farm Bureau spent valuable days on the island working directly with diligent Cubans on farming techniques. The Cuban government is leasing hectares of land on easy terms and, in some cases, giving the land to farmers who meet certain quotas. 

 Some outdoor Farmers Markets in Cuba now stay open 24 hours a day.

This Jim Kane/Culture Xplorers photo captures a girl skipping rope in Trinidad, Cuba.

      This AP photo shows Robert Taber of CBS News interviewing Fidel Castro on May 17, 1957 in the Sierra Maestra Mountains of eastern Cuba. A few months earlier -- back in December-1956 -- Fidel was one of 17 rebel survivors out of the 82 who had left Mexico on the old, leaky yacht Granma to rendezvous with Celia Sanchez's guerrilla unit that was intent on ousting the Batista dictatorship. But the yacht began sinking about fifteen miles from where Celia waited and a Batista reconnaissance plane had spotted the yacht and set up an ambush, which devastated the rebels, some of whom were swimming ashore without their rifles as they were being targeted by machine guns. This interview with Taber was widely shown on American television on multiple news programs and on a CBS special entitled "Rebels of the Sierra Maestra." Taber afforded Americans their first look at Fidel Castro. His venture high up into the Sierra Maestra was orchestrated by rebel leader Celia Sanchez. Batista had told Cubans and Americans that Fidel Castro had been killed along with 65 others when the Granma was ambushed. In addition to her other duties as a rebel leader and guerrilla fighter, Celia Sanchez was also the primary rebel recruiter of weapons, fighters, and supplies. She realized that Cubans and Americans who supported her revolution were, as Batista intended, holding off on their crucial support because they believed Fidel, the face of the revolution, was dead. So Celia arranged for Robert Taber of CBS News as well as Herbert L. Matthews of the New York Times to trek high up into the Sierra to interview Fidel, proving he was alive! The two great female guerrilla fighters -- Celia Sanchez and Haydee Santamaria -- personally met Taber and Mathews at a rail-head and then escorted them to the guerrilla hide-out. And, as chroniclers like to say, the rest is history.

    
   This is Herbert L. Matthews of the New York Times with his favorite revolutionary fighter, Fidel Castro. During the Revolutionary War and later in Revolutionary Cuba, Celia Sanchez took full advantage of Mr. Matthews' insatiable and unending admiration of Fidel.

     
      
      In other words, Celia Sanchez used her wits, guts, and do-or-die resolve to overthrow the powerful Batista dictatorship that was supported by the United States, the strongest nation in the world, and the Mafia, the strongest criminal organization in the world. Using Taber and Matthews to inform Cubans and Americans that Fidel Castro was still alive was merely one of her stratagems. 

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CNN Covers Latin America, Kinda

But first...sad news from Havana:

     
     
     Melba Hernandez has died in Havana at age 92. She will remain a legend as one of the greatest heroines of the Cuban Revolution. Born on July 22, 1921, Melba graduated from the University of Havana Law School in 1943. She was one of two women who helped plan and who participated in the ill-fated attack on the Moncada Army Garrison on July 26, 1953 -- the first rebel thrust to overthrow the Batista-Mafia dictatorship. Melba was a key factor in the triumph of the revolution on January 1, 1959. She lived out her life officially listed as "A Heroine of the Cuban Revolution." She never left the island except to make numerous trips to aid women and children in Asia, particularly in Vietnam.

     Till the day she died, Melba Hernandez remained fiercely loyal to Fidel Castro and to the Cuban Revolution that she helped forge.

    

    
    The photo on the left shows Melba Hernandez {on the left} with Haydee Santamaria after they were captured during the Moncada attack on July 26th, 1953. Haydee died in 1980.

Melba and Haydee the day they were arrested.

Melba and Haydee in prison.

Melba and Haydee leaving prison for the last time.

    The photo on the right shows Fidel Castro comforting Melba Hernandez {Melba is on the left} and Haydee Santamaria as Fidel exited the Presidio Modelo prison on May 15, 1955.

Melba and Haydee: superstars in Revolutionary Cuba.

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     CNN's incomprehensible coverage of the fiery street protests in Venezuela the past three weeks has been quite interesting. Here's why: Unlike Fox News, CNN is not a right-wing propaganda machine; and unlike MSNBC, CNN is not a left-wing propaganda operation. CNN is center-left but mostly it adheres to a middle-of-the-road posture, which normally is good but CNN takes that approach to an extreme level. Trying hard not to displease anyone, CNN -- at least since founder Ted Turner was bought out and fired -- seems bent on providing its viewers only what it perceives they expect to see and hear even when CNN is fully capable of being more truthful. Take Latin America, for example. More specifically, take Venezuela. As a middle-of-the-roader in the American media, which overall is on a precipitous decline, CNN has sternly projected the turmoil in Venezuela as a popular uprising intent on overthrowing a vile, cruel dictatorship. That, of course, is a lie and CNN knows it but CNN's defense for telling the lie is...well, that's what Americans believe and if we tell the truth Americans wouldn't believe us, so we'll stick with the lie.

    Nicolas Maduro is the democratically elected President of Venezuela. He succeeded the late Hugo Chavez who was democratically elected multiple times and was overthrown by a U.S.-backed coup just once. That coup in April of 2002 lasted only a few hours before it was overturned by street protests that restored Chavez to his democratically elected Presidency. Maduro, a bus driver and member of a band, had supported the protests that returned Chavez to power. CNN was kicked out of Venezuela in the first week of this month {March, 2014} because President Maduro believed it was presenting a biased and slanted view of the protests in his troubled nation just as it and the rest of the U. S. media, Maduro believes, has lied about the 2002 coup against Chavez. But guess what? CNN informed Maduro if he would allow its reporters back in Venezuela CNN would actually interview him! In other words, CNN offered to afford him an opportunity to air his side of a two-sided story. To CNN's surprise, he accepted!

   CNN then sent its top international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, to interview President Maduro! Although Ms. Amanpour spent about a third of her time justifying the U. S. media's portrayal of Venezuela as a disgraceful, oppressive dictatorship {apparently because the U. S. hasn't selected its recent leaders}, President Maduro actually was indeed afforded ample time to express his government's views -- which represents one of the rare instances in which both sides of two-sided Latin American stories have seen transparency in the U. S. media. So, at least CNN deserves a modicum of credit regarding the ongoing crisis in Venezuela.

    After recovering from the shock of learning that CNN was actually serious about presenting the other side of the two-sided Venezuelan saga, I found the Amanpour interview with President Maduro to be quite enlightening. You probably would too. It was quite long and Ms. Amanpour prefaced many of her questions with in-depth and biased observations about how terrible the Venezuelan government is, but President Maduro maintained a calm demeanor and presented his views in a firm but, tuh, presidential manner. Democracy-loving Americans, I believe, should take advantage of this rare attempt by the U. S. media to present balanced coverage of an important and ongoing Latin American event, such as the Venezuelan crisis. Havana Times.org has every word of Amanpour's questions and Maduro's answers translated from Spanish to English.

Here are some points CNN allowed Maduro to make:

***Maduro mentioned the Venezuelan and Latin American view concerning the U. S. involvement in the 2002 coup that briefly overthrew Venezuela's democratically elected government.

***Maduro was able to remind Amanpour that Venezuela and other Latin American nations are aware of the U. S. tendency to overthrow democratically elected Latin American governments to install U.S.-backed dictators. He said it was "the very same policy against Salvador Allende in the 70's in Chile." Maduro specifically mentioned "Nixon and Kissinger" as orchestrators of the Chilean coup. {Allende's very popular democratically elected government was over-turned in a U.S.-backed coup to install for 17 bloody years the murderous Pinochet dictatorship. Latin Americans understand that; Americans are not supposed to.}

***Maduro told Amanpour: "With the U. S. government, it is well known via the Pentagon papers, Wikileaks and Snowden's papers...there is sufficient evidence you have conspired to put an end to the Bolivarian Revolution. This is not news. This is well known. Financial power is at the helm in the United States. We want a new relationship based on respect. These elites cannot continue to make South America like a backyard. I am certain that the American people who can hear us today can agree with these ideas that we respect each other. We must stop these conspiracies of the NSA, the Pentagon to reconquering Latin America."

       Amanpour took exception to that last sentence in the above paragraph. Incredulously, she asked: "Do you really believe that? They want to reconquer Latin America?" Maduro began his long answer with a 4-word sentence: "Of course, I do." 

In other words.......

......Maduro knew how and why Chilean President Allende died on September 11, 1973.
Christiane Amanpour pretended that she didn't.
But at least CNN permitted President Maduro to mention President Allende.
So, thanks CNN and congratulations.

      23-year-old shortstop Aledmys Diaz is the latest from Cuba's unending supply of baseball talent to become an instant American millionaire. On Sunday he signed a 4-year, $20 million contract with St. Louis and reported to the Cardinals' Major League Spring Training camp Monday {March 10th}. The almost instant Major League super-stardom of Cubans like Joenis Cespedes, Yasiel Puig, Aroldis Chapman, etc., has created a virtual pipeline of covetous American teams trying, with success, to lure Cuban talent.

    

    Yarisley Silva won't become an instant millionairess, but Sunday {March 9th} this AP photo shows her seconds after she had won the gold medal for Cuba in the women's pole vault at the World Championships in Sopot, Poland. 

    While much of the world's attention focused on the crisis in Crimea and the Ukraine, this Russian warship very quietly docked in Havana Harbor.

      This is the latest contingent of Cuban doctors arriving in Brazil to join the 7,400 already there. Brazil's pro-Cuban President Dilma Rousseff plans to hire a total of 11,000 Cuban doctors needed to service poor regions of Brazil not served by other doctors. The Brazilian Ministry of Health says areas already benefiting from the Cuban doctors include Sao Paulo, Fortaleza, Porto Alegre, Guarapari, Gravata, and Brasilia. Brazil pays the Cuban government and both governments this week announced that the Cuban doctors in Brazil have been given substantial pay increases. Cuba has the world's largest medical school and the world's highest per capita number of doctors. Thousands are working throughout Latin America.

       The 2014 Cigar Festival in Havana was a huge success. {Photo: AFP/Adolberto Roque} Cuban cigars experienced an 8% growth in 2013, worth $447 million to the economy.

Cubans preparing a tobacco field. {AFP/Roque photo}

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