6.6.17

America's Cuban Debate

NY Times vs. Miami Herald!
{Thursday, June 8th, 2017}
        This week -- June 5th, 2017 -- the New York Times used the above graphic created by Daniel Zander to illustrate a long and important article written by the Times' Editorial Board. The article is entitled: "Undoing All the Good Work on Cuba." It sanely and decently laments the insatiable work currently underway by counter-revolutionary Cuban-American extremists to erase...or "undo"...the sane and decent overtures towards Cuba undertaken by former President Barack Obama. In other words, this Editorial shows deep respect for both the United States of America and for democracy. BY CONTRAST, the very same day -- June 5th, 2017 -- the Miami Herald quite typically featured a major article penned by a renowned counter-revolutionary extremist to goad and lobby for current President Donald Trump to erase...or "undo all the good work"...the brave Mr. Obama did on behalf of AMERICA, DEMOCRACY and innocent CUBANS.
           Yes, this week -- June 5th, 2017 -- the Miami Herald very typically countered the sane and decent Editorial in the New York Times with an insane, indecent, anti-Cuban propaganda spiel written by notorious Cuban-American counter-revolutionary Frank Calzon. His article is entitled: "Cuba Continues to Support Terrorism." It reflects two things: {1} The latest tactic to push President Trump into targeting Cuba and keeping the voluminous cash pipelines flowing steadily to anti-Cuban Cuban-Americans; and {2} to continue the time-honored tactic of Cuban-American extremists, since 1959, believing they can say anything about Cuba and assume the American people are too stupid or too scared or too unpatriotic not to believe them. Calzon was born in Cuba in 1947 and came to the U. S. in 1960 shortly after the Cuban Revolution overthrew the Batista-Mafia dictatorship. Any Google search of "Frank Calzon, Cuba" will reveal that, since his days as a student at Georgetown University, he has been tied to just about every devious, well-funded {by U. S. taxpayers} counter-revolutionary effort in America -- with the CIA, infamous groups such as Alpha 66 and Abdala, steady streams of USAID dollars, the Bush dynasty, the Cuban American National Foundation, anti-Cuban propaganda tax-bunnies in Miami such as the still-lucratic Radio-TV Marti, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc. Frank Calzon epitomizes how lucrative the counter-revolutionary Castro Cottage Industry in the United States has been for an elitist cast of Cuban-Americans since January of 1959. The title of Calzon's propaganda article in the Miami Herald June 5th-2017 is interesting: "Cuba Continues to Support Terrorism." It is also interesting, I believe, that THE VERY FIRST COMMENT beneath that article was from a Cuban-American who fired back at Calzon with a stark reminder of extreme terrorism against innocent Cubans and the Comment specifically mentioned the bombing of the civilian Cubana Flight 455 airplane and the fact that the well-known alleged bomber is to this day walking free as a celebrated celebrity in Miami. 
       Since 1959, rich and powerful counter-revolutionary Cuban-Americans like Frank Calzon have been able to use such assets as the mainstream media; a handful of right-wing Congressmen like Jesse Helms, Dan Burton, and Bob Torricelli; the Bush dynasty; and the Tea Party to perpetuate their usually unchallenged agendas. More and more the prime agenda seems to be to keep the pipelines of tax dollars flowing unimpeded for projects such as Radio-TV Marti or any other propitiously named and always lucrative anti-Cuban enterprise. Secondly, seeking revenge against the Cuban Revolution from 1959 till today remains a bulwark of the counter-revolutionary architects. All the while, considering that the Cuban Revolution has yet to be countered, the primary victims have been totally innocent Cubans on the island, the U. S. tax-payers, and America's reputation. IF THAT IS NOT SO, then perhaps Frank Calzon should be asked to explain the current 191-to-0 condemnation of America's Cuban policy in the United Nations, with the very judicious reminder that the 191 number includes ALL of America's best friends in the world.
       When a decent U. S. President, Mr. Obama, bravely and decently tried to correct the insults to democracy caused by America's Cuban policy, well-funded counter-revolutionary zealots like Frank Calzon were anxious to pounce on Mr. Obama's pro-American advocacy. And the same day -- June 5th-2017 -- the NY Times Editorial Board penned a sane and decent article regarding Cuba, Frank Calzon countered it with a brazenly insane and indecent assault in the always available pages of the Miami Herald.
        Cuban-Americans in Miami, like Frank Del Rio, are AMONG THE MAJORITY OF CUBAN-AMERICANS EVEN IN MIAMI who support former President Obama's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. Like most every one of the top Cuban-American business executives in Miami, Frank Del Rio is anxious for his cruise line to have the freedom to cruise back-and-forth to Cuba, providing jobs for Cubans and Americans.
        A Cuban-born businessman in Miami, Hugo Cancio, is "sick and tired" that his views, which parallel the opinions of MOST Cuban-Americans, are "not represented in Miami or Washington or very often in the media." He wonders aloud why only counter-revolutionary zealots get elected to the U. S. Congress from Miami and he wonders aloud why someone like him can't contribute to the Miami Herald while high-profile counter-revolutionaries like Frank Calzon can use it to pen huge counter-revolutionary propaganda.
       If you ask why Cuban-American Hugo Cancio in Miami sometimes "throws his hands in the air in disgust" when asked to discuss America's Cuban policy, the answer is: Like most Cuban-Americans even in Miami, like most Americans, and like all 191 nations that voted on the topic in the UN, Hugo Cancio wonders why the U. S. democracy is not strong enough to include his "majority opinion" when it comes to Cuba.
       America's belligerent Cuban policy has been a failure for 50+ years merely to sate the greed and revenge motives of a handful of miscreants. Most democracy-lovers, and that includes most Cuban-Americans, are still waiting for America to have enough guts, enough decency, and enough intelligence to correct this disgrace that has persisted for over half-a-century.
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5.6.17

Trump's Cuban Pressure

Dark and Threatening!
         This photo-graphic is courtesy of Scott McIntyre. The photo shows the Little Havana neighbor of Miami and it's fronted by the graphic of the Cuban flag. It highlights a major editorial in today's New York Times entitled: "TRUMP'S HYPOCRISY ON CUBA." The opening words are: "The appalling cynicism of the Trump White House is on display once again in 'citing human rights abuses by the Castro government as justification for a more punitive approach to Cuba.' Repeatedly President Trump has shown fervent admiration for leaders who abuse human rights to the extent of murdering their own citizens, such as Rodrigo Dutarte of the Philippines, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt and, of course, Vladimir Putin of Russia." The NY Times, of course, could also have pointed out this fact: Since 1952, while justifying its own dictatorial designs on Cuba, the U. S government supported many of history's most oppressive, thieving and  murderous dictators -- Batista, Somoza, Trujillo, Pinochet, Videla, Mobutu, etc. -- while blatantly lying about its reasons for supporting the Batista-Mafia rule in Cuba and, after that brutal dicatatorship was overthrown by the Cuban Revolution, for shamefully supporting the transplanted counter-revolutionary Batistiano-Mafiosi zealots headquartered in their new capital -- Little Havana in Miami. The NY Times editorial today -- June 5-2017 -- is merely a reminder that President Trump is on the eve of rehashing similar lies to justify doing the bidding of today's Batistiano leaders to erase former President Obama's sane and decent overtures to innocent Cubans. Obama, of course, was also trying to make a sane and decent gesture on behalf of America and democracy because he, unlike the Batistianos and unpatriotic Americans, was/is embarrassed by such things as the worldwide 191-to-0 condemnation in the United Nations of America's Batistiano-driven Cuban policies.
         Of course, in cities large and small across the U. S., there are demands calling for the impeachment of President Trump and that's a possibility but not before he lowers the boom on Cuba. The photo above is courtesy of WINA RADIO in the small university city of Charlottesville, Virginia. But far more emphatic than steady streams of anti-Trump protests like this is the full-time coup being waged 24-hours-a-day by powerful elements in the mainstream media -- led by the NY Times, Washington Post, CNN and NBC-MSNBC. Yet, if Trump is a threat to the U. S. as those entities claim, a media-powered coup is actually far more of a threat because it would leave in its wake a much more everlasting effect. Caught in the Trump-media vice in the world's superpower nation is poor little Cuba, which is still trying to chart its own sovereign course after finally gaining its independence with its remarkable 1959 revolutionary victory.
         The gruesome Batistiano grip on America's Cuban policy is reflected by the photo above. It shows Alan Gomez, the primary writer on all things Cuban for America's largest newspaper, USA Today, which I have subscribed to since it was founded by Al Neuharth in 1982. Alan Gomez is a counter-revolutionary Cuban-American based in Miami. The intimidated, incompetent or politically correct mainstream U. S. media does not have the guts or integrity to have unbiased reporters report on Cuba. In fact, if a mainstream journalist in the U. S. wrote an unbiased article about Cuba, that journalist would likely be fired {like Jim DeFede was} or car-bombed {like Emilio Milian was} when they famously criticized deadly terrorist acts against totally innocent Cubans. In the past 24 hours the latest Alan Gomez article in USA Today blared this headline: "YOUR WINDOW TO VISIT CUBA MAY BE CLOSING." It began: "President Trump likely will fulfill a campaign promise this month by curbing some of the ties with Cuba that former President Barack Obama adopted..." An earlier article co-published with its affiliate newspaper in Naples, Florida, blared this headline: "PRESIDENT TRUMP'S CUBA POLICY, LARGELY INFLUENCED BY TWO FLORIDA LAWMAKERS, IS..."
        First off, the Trump "promise" that the mainstream media brags about refers to the above Al Diaz-AP photo taken in Miami's Little Havana on October 25, 2016. Standing before a huge Brigade 2506 Assault banner, Trump promised survivors of the April-1961 Bay of Pigs attack on Cuba that he would, as President, reverse the outcome of that historic attack, which resulted in a monumental victory of Revolutionary Cuba over a U.S. government-CIA-Batistiano air-sea-and-land military assault funded by U. S. taxpayers with the expectation of recapturing Cuba. Tax dollars still fund further regime-change efforts.
          Secondly, when the mainstream U. S. media this week flashed the headline about the "TWO FLORIDA LAWMAKERS" dictating President Trump's anti-Obama and anti-democracy Cuban policy, it was referring to U. S. Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart and U. S. Senator Marco Rubio -- both from Miami and both Cuban-American counter-revolutionary zealots. USA Today did at least have the courage to report that Mario and Marco have some blackmail pressure on Trump because Mario sits on the powerful House Appropriations Committee that doles out federal funds Trump needs while Marco sits on the Senate committee currently investigating Trump's alleged ties to Russia. Such articles remind many that only counter-revolutionary zealots can be elected to Congress from Miami EVEN THOUGH POLLS SHOW THAT MOST CUBAN-AMERICANS IN MIAMI STRONGLY FAVOR THE OBAMA APPROACH OF NORMALIZING RELATIONS WITH CUBA. When the mainstream media refuses to point out such facts, it is lying; and when the mainstream media refuses to tell the truth about Mario, such as his father was a key Batista minister in Cuba and then a rich and ultra-powerful counter-revolutionary operative in South Florida, then it is lying. And when the mainstream media refuses to tell the truth about Marco, such as his myriad of real estate, credit card and other controversies in Miami, then it is lying. But America's Cuban policy, dictated since 1959 by the likes of Mario and Marco, has shamed democracy-loving Americans AND America's best friends all around the world, as evidenced by the current 191-to-0 condemnation of America's Cuban policy in the United Nations, a unanimity that PROBABLY no other international issue could gain in a diverse world.
       From the Eisenhower administration in the 1950s till the 2-term, 8-year Obama administration that began in January of 2009 and ended in January of this year, America's Cuban policy was purely and undeniably crafted by self-serving, right-wing extremists to sate their economic greed and fuel their extreme right-wing political ideology and agendas. Prior to Obama, not a single U. S. President...not even the very smart and the very decent Jimmy Carter...could rally enough decent and patriotic Americans to correct a Cuban policy that defies all the great aspects so painstakingly enshrined in the U. S. democracy. In 1952 powerful entities in the malleable Eisenhower administration...including Vice-President Nixon and the Dulles brothers John and Allen, who were the Secretary of State and CIA Director -- teamed the U. S. government with the highest echelons of the Mafia to support the thieving and brutal Batista dictatorship in Cuba. In January of 1959 the Cuban Revolution overthrew the Batista-Mafia regime only to have the primary leaders flee and then quickly create a new capital...Little Havana in Miami...with the continued support of their sycophants in Washington. This means, since January of 1959, they have continued to have the support of unlimited tax dollars, the world's strongest military, and America's two most unpatriotic generations. Therefore Cuba...poor little embargoed Cuba...in June of 2017 still is the catalyst in presenting to the world the ugliest image of the United States of America, a fact that galls and embarrasses democracy-loving Americans but certainly doesn't faze the Batistianos and their self-serving supporters.
       Way back in 1952 miscreants in the U. S. government were allowed to sic the Mafia on Cuba. Today {in June of 2017} the remnants of that devious deed are still being sicced on Cuba but also on the U. S. government, both in Trump's Republican White House and in the Republican-controlled U. S. Congress. The end-result has yet to be determined but don't discount an ever-growing Batistiano-like influence on the United States of America, the world's most renowned democracy. With no interference to be feared or anticipated from either the U. S. media or unpatriotic U. S. citizens, a U. S. government dominated by a Mario or a Marco might be what Americans deserve but those same Americans would likely soon be reminded of the image depicted above, which spawned a rather famous revolution on a nearby island.
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2.6.17

Cuba Truth, Cuba Lies

Deciphering Them in 2017!
        This is the Tampa Bay Times building. It's a very important building in Florida because it is actually an anomaly in the United States of America because it is the place where the TRUTH about Cuba is actually published. I know of no other mainstream American newspaper that has both the guts and the integrity to do that. Also, it's a great newspaper that has recently won twelve Pulitzer Prizes for its excellence.
      A great writer-editor at the Tampa Bay Times is Ron Brackett. While the Miami Herald and most of the rest of the mainstream American newspapers merely act as conduits for anti-Cuban propaganda, the Times and Ron Brackett dismiss the lies and actually tell the truth about Cuban issues, whether the truth is pro-Cuban, anti-Cuban or something in between. Ron Brackett's first major article this month -- on June 1, 2017 -- was entitled: "Trump's Cuba Plans Would Reward Marco Rubio, Mario Diaz-Balart." Any journalist, especially in Florida, who has the guts and the integrity to point out that President Trump's upcoming gutless capitulation to Marco Rubio and Mario Diaz-Balart in reversing President Obama's decent and sane overtures to Cuba is not only a great journalist but also a truly great, democracy-loving American.
       In stark contrast to the guts and integrity of the Tampa Bay News in reporting the gutlessness of allowing self-serving counter-revolutionary zealots like Congressmen Mario Diaz-Balart and Marco Rubio from Little Havana in Miami and from the U. S. Congress to dictate America's Cuban policy, consider such anti-Cuban propaganda conduits as the Naples {Fla.} Daily News and USA Today. Those latter two newspapers combined, these first two days of June-2017, to publish such propaganda articles as: "Trump's Cuba Policy Likely to be 'Drastically Different' Lawmaker Says." Of course, that "Lawmaker" is Mario Diaz-Balart. The U. S. media, with the Tampa Bay Times being the rare exception, doesn't have the guts to explain that Mario's father Rafael was a key Minister in the Batista dictatorship in Cuba and then, after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, one of the richest and most powerful counter-revolutionaries in Florida. That article heralding Mario also, of course, liberally quote Marco and pretended his extreme belligerence directed at Cuba is not intended to sate Marco's nefarious goals but to show respect and concern for everyday Cubans on the island, which I believe is a purposeful and cowardly lie. While the mainstream U. S. media makes Marco out to be a choirboy, a highly respected veteran journalist named Ken Silverstein penned a long, deeply researched article depicting Marco as quite possibly the most corrupt and "for sale" politician ever to make it to the U. S. Congress or to run for President. Marco also got all the way to the U. S. Congress from Miami claiming his parents escaped the Castro tyranny in Cuba...till it was pointed out that his parents escaped the Batista tyranny long before Americans ever heard of Castro.
      Americans...via cowardice, stupidity or a sheer lack of patriotism...have allowed since 1959 a handful of self-serving counter-revolutionary Cuban-Americans in Miami, and eventually the U. S. Congress, to largely dictate an American Cuban policy that currently has earned a resounding 191-to-0 condemnation in the United Nations. In the above photo that is Rubio assaulting the bank of microphones. The man on the left is the Havana-born former U. S. congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart. The man on the right is current Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart. The lady on the lower-right is the Havana-born Ileana Ros-Lehtinen who has been entrenched in the U. S. Congress since 1989 when her Campaign Manager was Jeb Bush of the counter-revolutionary Bush dynasty. The politicos above are all from the Miami area, an area in which MOST Cuban-Americans want normal relations with Cuba, not wicked anti-Cuban laws or cruel anti-Cuban acts paid for by both America's reputation and by American tax dollars. But as far as I can tell, moderate Cuban-Americans cannot be elected to the U. S. Congress from the Miami area. If that is a problem for Cuba, I believe it is much more of a problem for the United States of America and its democracy.
      This 1989 photo indicates how Jeb Bush and the Bush dynasty have for many decades ingratiated themselves to the most extreme Cuban-Americans in Miami, including greasing the skids to put Havana-born Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in the United States Congress from 1989 till today.
        If you pretend to care about the U. S. democracy, you might want to Google this: "Ken Silverstein Article About Marco Rubio's Corruption." It's a long article because Ken Silverstein says the corruption has been extensive. And, oh yes, also Google "Ken Silverstein" to ascertain his journalistic credentials.
       The above photo reflects the shameless propaganda aspect of the mainstream U. S. media, certainly when it comes to anything related to falsely vilifying Revolutionary Cuba while, of course, also supporting the counter-revolutionaies. For example, the Morning Joe co-hosts -- soon-to-be wife and husband Mika and Joe -- are shown above on MSNBC white-washing corruption charges against their choirboy, Marco Rubio. On one such program Joe and the Diaz-Balart brothers waxed endlessly about Fidel Castro being a murderous thug while the Batista-Mafia thugs that preceded Castro were depicted as being Mother Teresa-type sweethearts. Such mainstream propagandists in the U. S. actually posture themselves as being real broadcast journalists in the fashion of real broadcast journalists such as Walter Cronkite. 
         A great journalist and renowned Latin American expert, Penelope Purdy, I believe, has coined the best quotation ever applied to America's Cuban policy. I also believe any American who loves the U. S. democracy should know and memorize that quotation. It is: "The U. S. Cuban policy has been conducted all these decades with the IQ of a salamander." If Rubio, Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balarts have their way, that "policy" will be "conducted" for many "decades" to come, something that would displease Ms. Purdy.
       The photo above shows a contemplating Cristina Escobar awaiting the signal from the camera's red light to inform her it's time to start her main job, which is to anchor Cuba's most popular television news program. By the time she graduated from the University of Havana she had written a thesis eerily predicting almost precisely what President Obama's effect on Cuba would be. By the time she was in her mid-20s she was already perhaps the best broadcast journalist in North America. In Spanish or in English, on Cuban soil and on American soil, Cristina Escobar has made these quotations: "Cuba's fate is up to Cubans on the island, not Cubans in Miami and Washington;" "Journalists in Cuba have more freedom to tell the truth about the U. S. than U. S. journalists have to tell the truth about Cuba;" and "Americans who have not been allowed to visit Cuba have a distorted opinion of Cuba and Cubans. Drinking rum, hopping into 1950s-era convertibles and being unhappy with our lot in life is not who we are. We are well-educated, opinionated, and we love Cuba -- especially our hard-earned sovereignty and independence. The Cubans I know and respect the most are the Cubans who would die fighting to maintain our independence while also working to make the revolutionary gains even more emphatic and less influenced by foreign obstacles." In Washington while covering the last of the four Vidal-Jacobson diplomatic sessions; in California at a journalism seminar; in Alabama in speeches before students at two universities; and on YouTube and Pulitzer Center videos, Cristina Escobar has made such comments. And as long as Cuba has Cubans like Cristina Escobar, the counter-revolutionaries in the U. S. may continue to have trouble in their quest to recapture the island.
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1.6.17

U. S. Democracy Fails U. S.

Putting Cuba in Its Crosshairs!
Photo courtesy: Adalberto Roque-AFP-Getty Images.
        The photo above was used to illustrate a major article yesterday -- May 31, 2017 -- in Billboard Magazine. It shows a Cuban standing on the Malecon waterfront proudly waving a Cuban flag at a cruise ship entering Havana Harbor. The article in America's top entertainment magazine was written by Judy Canto-Navas and entitled: "5 Cuba Music Tours to Book Before Possible Travel Tightening." Ms. Canto-Navas lamented the fact that President Trump is about to announce his Batistiano-pressured plans to roll back the thawing of U.S.-Cuban relations that had been stamped by a more decent, more intelligent and more democracy-loving President, Barack Obama. Even after Obama's brave challenge to the long-standing Batistiano dictation of America's Cuban policies, everyday Americans remain today the only people in the world without the freedom to visit Cuba. That assault on democracy has been designed to prevent Americans from judging U.S.-Cuban relations themselves and instead forces them to mainly rely on the self-serving distortions and propaganda of a few counter-revolutionaries who reside mostly in Miami and in the U. S. Congress. Obama eased as many of those cruel and undemocratic restrictions as he possibly could, opening up extremely popular slivers of democratic daylight regarding Cuba. Obama's Cuban overtures are supported by a vast majority of Americans, Cuban-Americans and, of course, by ALL of America's best friends around the world, friends mightily embarrassed by America's Bastistiano-driven Cuban policy, which is reflective of how the Batista-Mafia dictatorship ruled Cuba in the 1950s prior to the victory of the Cuban Revolution. Beyond that, America's biggest enemies in the world gleefully point HUGE FINGERS at America's Cuban policy whenever the U. S. criticizes other nations that deserve criticism.
     Today -- June 1, 2017 -- on the eve of President Trump's capitulation to Batistiano extremists -- Pearl Seas Cruises has full-page color ads appearing in America's top magazines advertising its upcoming cruises to Cuba. The Pearl Seas ads stress these points: "THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE CUBA EXPERIENCE: Be the very first to experience the captivating heritage of this fascinating island nation on our exclusive 10-night Cuba Cultural Voyage. Relax as you cruise aboard the most modern small cruise ship, Pearl Mist."
       Each time the Pearl Mist would have the freedom to sail from Fort Lauderdale-Miami to Cuba, a lot of Americans, including many Cuban-Americans, would be making money off the trips. Because of Obama, 12 major U. S. airlines and cruise lines are currently taking eligible Americans and Cuban-Americans to Cuba. Other major U. S. companies -- including Marriott Hotels, Google, AIRbnb, etc., etc., are already deeply involved in Cuba creating jobs on the island and across the U. S., but the Batistiano-faction in Miami and Congress -- which represents a decisive MINORITY of Cuban-Americans even in Miami -- could care less about America and democracy as long as they can dictate a revengeful, self-serving and extremely hurtful Cuban policy, apparently because since 1959 they have been unable to recapture Cuba even with massive support from sycophants in the U. S. Congress such as Robert Torricelli, Jesse Helms, Dan Burton, etc. Also, of course, the cowardice and lack of patriotism on behalf of large segments of two generations of Americans have fueled the Batistiano-dictated damage to America's and democracy's image...with that segment of Americans not even embarrassed by the 191-to-0 pro-Cuban/anti-American vote in the UN.
      The aforementioned full-page, expensive color ads in America's major magazines by Pearl Seas Cruises include the above map. It shows its planned cruises from Fort Lauderdale-Miami that would circle the nearby island of Cuba with stops in six cities -- Havana, Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Casilda, El Cobre, and Santiago. Every port and almost every business in South Florida -- with many or most of them owned and/or managed by non-hostile Cuban-Americans -- strongly desire normal relations and commerce with Cuba. But it is most evident -- IN THE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL DEMOCRACY -- that such moderate Cubans and the vast majority of Americans are over-ruled by just a mere handful of extremists in Miami and in Congress.
      With all polls showing that a clear majority of Cuban-Americans in the Miami area support normal relations with Cuba and an end to the embargo, Americans are not supposed to be brave enough or smart enough to ask, "Why is it that only visceral pro-embargo {and worse} Cuban-Americans, as depicted above, seem eligible to be voted into the U. S. Congress?" But in both topical and historic pantheons and judgments of U.S.-Cuban relations, the greatest sin, I believe, is the decades-long cruel punishments of totally innocent Cubans by a self-anointed, mostly unchecked band of counter-revolutionaries.
     Study the above AP photo and the AP caption. The photo was taken in January of 1960 in South Florida. It was one year after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, which booted many of the leaders of the Batista-Mafia dictatorship mostly to eternal sanctuaries in South Florida. Immediately, still backed by the Washington-based politicos that had backed the Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba, tax-supported paramilitary units flared up in the Miami area intent on recapturing Cuba. They had access to U. S. warplanes, military bases, etc., as well as the apathy of a post-World War II generation of U. S. citizens. Most Americans are aware of such things as the Bay of Pigs attack on Cuba in April of 1961 and the constant reports of assassination attempts against Fidel Castro, a number that reached 638 according to the Guinness Book of World Reports. But re-study and re-read the AP photo and caption depicted above. You will note the date -- January of 1960, long BEFORE the Bay of Pigs attack, etc. -- when warplanes from South Florida began regularly attacking "Cuban fields with napalm-type bombs." The bombs were not meant to assassinate Fidel Castro; they were meant to recapture Cuba and harm innocent Cubans.
   That brings us to today -- June 1, 2017
      From January 1 of 1959 till June 1 of 2017 counter-revolutionary tactics centered in Miami and the United States Congress have failed to recapture Cuba but the ceaseless efforts have been "successful" in creating the current 191-to-0 condemnation in the United Nations of America's Batistiano-driven Cuban policy. The graphic above was created by Garrett Evans. It was used to highlight a major article in The Hill, an influential publication in Washington. The article was written on May 30-2017 by Melanie Zanona and it pointed out that President Trump's impending plans to cave in to Batistiano demands regarding Cuba will turn back the widely popular and pro-democracy advances instituted by former President Obama that are "widely popular with the U. S. business community and a growing number of {even} Republican lawmakers." 
         This is a Cuban entrepreneur named Diana Elilanne Benitez. Taking advantage of openings provided by U. S. President Barack Obama and thus a less-pressured Cuban President Raul Castro, Deana has co-founded a successful company -- Knales. She and her company were spotlighted this week by the London-based BBC in an article written by Natalie Sherman and entitled: "How Cuba's Growing Internet Is Fueling New Businesses." Such articles, of course, are not permitted by the intimidated U. S. media that is, generally speaking, afraid to report on Cuban positives that might displease the counter-revolutionaries. But Cuba abounds with Cuban-loving and well-educated, talented young people like Diana. Her company provides updates on weather, news and other events via hook-ups involving text messages and phone calls. Diana, as well as her parents, waited for the day when extreme pressure from the U. S., such as the embargo, would no longer punish her and prevent the realization of her entrepreneurial dreams. President Obama bravely and decently eased that pressure; President Trump cowardly and indecently appears poised to restore it on behalf of a handful of extremists. But even then very decent and very talented Cubans on the island like Diana hope...that one day the American people will reclaim their superpower nation so a neighboring little nation can chart its own path. Below is an exact quote that Diana gave to Natalie Sherman in the aforementioned BBC article this week:
"Cubans are disrupters by definition."
     Perhaps Diana's five words explain how and why Cubans have, for six decades, disrupted the nefarious plans of far richer and more powerful foreign miscreants to reclaim their island.
      This Casey Strong photo shows a Cuban mother feeding pigeons while her precious daughter poses beautifully for the cameraman. Neither this Cuban mother, all her life, nor her little girl, all her life, deserve to be punished by rich, powerful and unchecked miscreants flourishing in a foreign country. 
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29.5.17

Trump Decides to TARGET Cuba

Caves In to Vicious Extremists!
{Wednesday, May 31st, 2017}
          In 1952 miscreants in the Eisenhower White House -- like Richard Nixon and the Dulles brothers -- teamed the United States democracy with the top echelons of the Mafia to support the thieving and brutal Batista dictatorship in Cuba. From that day to this day -- May 31st, 2017 -- Americans have been lied to and propagandized to distort history and to protect miscreants who can hide behind CLASSIFIED documents and materials to cover-up their dishonor or criminality. The distorted history mentioned above includes the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba and the Cuban Revolution that overturned it on January 1, 1959. Since then, as the Batistiano-Mafiosi leaders regrouped on U. S. soil -- especially Miami first and then the U. S. Congress -- the lies and distortions have proliferated concerning the six-decades of efforts in which the Batistianos-Mafiosi have attempted to regain control of Cuba, supported by such things as the Bush dynasty and the cowardice of two generations of Americans in whose names and tax dollars criminal acts against innocent Cubans have been perpetrated since the 1950s, such as the 73 innocent civilian souls aboard Cubana Flight 455, which was bombed into the ocean.
             WITH THAT BEING SAID, you may ask who the lady depicted above is. It's a fair question. Her name is Dailyn Sordo Petaez. She is a proud Cuban, made in Cuba, and a Cuban who has no intention to get an inter-tube or some other means so she could possibly cross the Florida Straits and partake of the controversial riches and other discriminatory incentives designed to entice her to Miami. BUT FOR MERELY CHOOSING TO STAY IN HER BELOVED CUBA, SHE WILL CONTINUE TO BE SEVERELY PUNISHED BY MISCREANTS IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY WHO JOYFULLY HIDE BEHIND THE SKIRTS OF A SUPERPOWER. And yet...as May turns to June in the year 2017...miscreants in Miami, the U. S. Congress, and the Trump White House will very shortly be given the wherewithal by President Trump to not only ATTEMPT to regain control of Cuba but to ALSO EVEN MORE SEVERELY PUNISH DECENT, EVERYDAY CUBANS LIKE DAILYN SORDO PETAEZ. And that emerging fact begs this question: WHAT WILL THE AMERICA PEOPLE DO? The answer is:
NOT A DAMN THING!!
         Epitomizing the unending counter-revolutionary members of the U. S. Congress from Miami, Mario Diaz-Balart yesterday -- May 30, 2017 -- told CNN, "I'm 100 percent sure President Trump is going to deliver on his commitment. I have no doubt that you're going to see in short order a different policy" -- "different" from the sane and decent Cuban policy so bravely enacted by former President Obama, whom the shameless Mario Diaz-Balart  stupidly called "the Appeaser-in-Chief" and other vile terms. The intimidated or politically correct mainstream media laps up whatever Diaz-Balart and his ilk say and readily accept whatever they say or do to innocent Cubans on the island -- all, of course, in the name of "hurting" Fidel Castro or, now, the Castro legacy. The U. S. media doesn't have the guts or integrity to, for example, tell the propagandized American people that Mario Diaz-Balart is the son of Rafael Diaz-Balart, who was a key Minister in the overthrown Batista-Mafia dictatorship and then one of the richest and most powerful counter-revolutionaries in the Miami area, and a man who had two sons elected to the U. S. Congress from Miami. The fact that zealots like the Diaz-Balarts can go to Congress and dictate Cuban laws and also dictate Cuban policy to Presidents is a joke against democracy. That is particularly true because of this: Most Cuban-Americans EVEN IN MIAMI favor Obama's sane and decent approach to Cuba but as far as I can detect such Cuban-Americans are not eligible to be elected to the U. S. Congress. BUT TIMID, IGNORANT AND PROPAGANDIZED AMERICAN CITIZENS WILL ALLOW SUCH INSULTS TO DEMOCRACY FOR ANOTHER SIX DECADES!!   
     A gutless, indecent and impeachable President Donald Trump has decided to reverse the positive overtures made to Cuba by his brave and decent predecessor, Mr. Barack Obama.
      Upon his return from his first foreign trip as President, Trump assured three vicious,  self-serving, counter-revolutionary, anti-Cuban zealots and Cuban-American U. S. Senators -- Cruz, Menendez, and Rubio -- that he has capitulated to their cruel, self-serving demands and will now lower the boom on Cuba.
    If a cowardly and unpatriotic generation of Americans in 2017 allows Trump to do what he this week promised those three Senators he will do, those Americans will deserve what Cuba  -- AS DEPICTED ABOVE -- got from 1952 till 1959, a thieving and brutal Batista-Mafia dictatorship. A U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba was one thing but a Batistiano-Mafiosi dictatorship in America will be another thing altogether.
      IF the American people allow Trump to do what he promised these three extremists he will do, America deserves Trump as President OR when he leaves office or is impeached, America will deserve Mr. Marco Rubio as President, Bob Menendez as Secretary of Defense, and Ted Cruz as Secretary of State. It's fair that if Cubans deserve Rubio-Menendez-Cruz to dictate to Cuba then Americans deserve for them to dictate to America too.
       The ill-wind blowing wickedly west-to-east across the Florida Straits at the sovereign Cuban flag has been exacerbated by President Trump's cowardly and gutless decision to allow a handful of visceral, self-serving, and revengeful Cuban-Americans to reverse gains the Obama administration had so bravely and decently created. But such revengeful zealots as Rubio/Cruz/Menendez/Ros-Lehtinen/Diaz-Balart/Curbelo in the U. S. Congress will still have trouble destroying or recapturing Cuba. The island has other options even if or when it totally turns away from America and even if it costs all the gains and commerce instituted by former President Obama. For one thing, in opposing belligerence from the United States, Cuba already has the support of the entire world, as indicated by the current 191-to-0 pro-Cuban/anti-American vote in the United Nations. Such unanimous worldwide condemnation, of course, doesn't faze the unpatriotic perpetrations of a cruel and dastardly Cuban policy by a band of miscreants. A vast majority of Cuban-Americans desire a sane and decent Cuban policy but the chances of one of them getting elected to the U. S. Congress is nil, such is the grip a handful of miscreants have on the United States democracy.
        The outside lights at the U. S. embassy in Havana had just come on when that lone car was passing by...and when word was just filtering in that President Donald Trump in Washington had decided to turn his Cuban policy over to Rubio-Cruz-Menendez and the rest of the counter-revolutionary clan that has thrived in the U. S. since January of 1959. The reaction inside the U. S. embassy...although only a few dedicated workers were still there...was quite somber, and sad. One female, about to leave, reportedly sat down and cried. Her male superior put his hand on her shoulder to console her. "It's not unexpected," he said, "but I feel like crying too...for Cuba, yes, but for America even more." Decent Americans like those two embassy workers, and like President Obama, had reopened the U. S. embassy in Havana for the first time since 1961. Now it might close. Now it should close. The miscreants in Congress and in the Trump White House have won. The rest of the world has lost. And the saddest thing of all is...most Americans don't give a damn.  
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