Cuba Welcomes Foreign Journalists

To Counter Anti-Cuba Propaganda!

      One of the very best broadcast journalists in Miami, Hatzel Vela, is now stationed in Havana and makes regular reports from Cuba for WPLG Channel 10, the ABC Network's affiliate in Miami. Like great BBC & Reuters journalists stationed in Cuba, Hatzel Vela faces no restrictions from the Cuban government regarding what he reports back to Miami on that nearby American city's best television newscasts.

     Whether reporting back to Miami from Havana or elsewhere around Cuba, Hatzel Vela is free to say whatever he chooses. His latest report  -- April 5th, 2018 -- on Miami's ABC Channel 10 was entitled: "Castro Loyalist Prepares to Make History in Cuba." That referenced the historic change in Cuba later this month, on April 19th, when Miguel Diaz-Canel -- a non-Castro and a non-Revolutionary -- takes over as Cuba's President. Vela's fair reporting on the important topic mentioned the fact that U. S. President Donald Trump has recently added Counter Revolutionary zealots John Bolton and Mike Pompeo as key and very militant anti-Cuban advisers and officials.

     America's top Latin American correspondents -- such as Leyla Santiago of CNN -- can fly into and out of Cuba anytime they choose and report on anything in Cuba.

         SO NO WONDER, frankly, that Cuba's own Superstar broadcast journalist and anchor -- Cristina Escobar -- has made headlines, both in Spanish & English and on both Cuban & U. S. soil, with headline-making quotations such as:

*****"Cuban journalists have more freedom to tell the truth about the U. S. than U. S. journalists have to tell the truth about Cuba."

*****"Cuba's fate is up to Cubans on the island, not Cubans in Miami and Washington."

      This is Cristina Escobar anchoring a newscast in Cuba, which actually has excellent journalism featuring many well-educated and talented journalists. Many non-Cuban impartial observers consider her the best all-around television periodista {journalist} in the Western Hemisphere. As Cuba's Superstar news anchor, reporter, and interviewer, she is practically nonpareil. I'm a retired USA television anchor and I consider Cristina Escobar the best all-around television journalist I've ever seen. She is also one of the most dedicated.

     As a matter of fact, it seems that former U. S. President Barack Obama and NBC News' long-time Chief Foreign Correspondent Andrea Mitchell agree with me regarding Cristina Escobar being the best broadcast journalist, or at least one of the very best, in the Western Hemisphere. That's why, during the Obama presidency, Cristina made history -- as shown above -- by being the only Cuban journalist to ask questions at a White House news conference. And she dominated the session by asking 4 pertinent questions plus two timely follow-ups. In Cuba, the brilliant Cristina anchors a major newscast in Spanish AND a regional newscast in English. She is so well respected in the U. S. that she has spoken at three American universities and been well received in major cities from Washington-D.C. to California. However, like Nelson Mandela she was treated rudely in Miami.

     In Miami, apparently because she is not about to defect, Cristina Escobar was rudely called "a Castro spy." Note her expression spawned by the words "con espia Castrista", which means "with Castro's female spy." And note in the photo on the right the red arrow pointed at Cristina as she tried to have a quiet, friendly meal at a Miami restaurant. Such typical Miami tactics, so typical since 1959, are perhaps more America's problem than Cuba's since 1959. Cristina Escobar, Cuba's Superstar broadcast journalist, is treated rudely in Miami because there is no chance she will defect. On the other hand, Miami's broadcast journalist, Hatzel Vela stationed in Havana, is treated well. Americans should not ignore that dichotomy.

      Meanwhile, back on her home turf in Cuba, Cristina Escobar remains the best all-around broadcast journalist that this old retired USA broadcast journalist has ever seen. The versatile Cristina's nonpareil skills as an anchor, reporter, writer, and interviewer -- along with her sheer dedication to honest journalism -- sets her apart in her very honorable profession.

   As an anchor, interviewer, and reporter, Cristina Escobar personifies the very best in broadcast journalism. She doesn't rest on her laurels as a star studio anchor; she readily goes out on the streets and byways of Cuba to cover important events. In this photo, beyond her studio desk, Cristina is shown covering a recent impromptu news conference in which Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez was being quizzed about the island's recent municipal elections held at some 24,000 polling places. Cristina takes tremendous pride in journalism and she is not adverse to criticizing the government if she thinks criticism is warranted. Needless to say, Cristina is one of the most beloved and respected young adults on the island, and the island's fate in transitioning to a new President and in the Age of Trump rests largely on the young adult generation of Cubans IN CUBA.

      Very studious, Cristina Escobar is often interviewed in English or Spanish by international networks because of her expertise in journalism AND IN the always contentious U.S.-Cuba relations. Her thesis at the University of Havana eerily predicted the exact effect that President Obama would have on Cuba.

      The first time I saw the ultra-talented Cristina Escobar anchor a newscast on Cuban television, I thought she was something special and a credit to broadcast journalism. And I still do.

Happily married on her island, Cristina Escobar!

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Cuba's Historic April-2018 Transition

To A Non-Castro Leader!!

      In a few days -- on April 19th, 2018 -- the 86-year-old Raul Castro will retire as Cuba's President and be replaced by mild-mannered 57-year-old Miguel Diaz-Canel.

   The best article this week related to the upcoming monumental change in Cuba is written, not surprisingly, by William LeoGrande. A renowned Cuban expert, Dean LeoGrande is the Professor of Government at American University and he has been a prolific writer & author on Cuba for the past four decades. His article this week is entitled: "Cuba's New President: What to Expect?" The sub-title is: "For the First Time in Six Decades His Last Name Will Not be Castro." The article includes this sentence: "This is a momentous occasion -- one of the most important I've seen in 40 years of studying and writing on Cuba." Dean LeoGrande explains that Miguel Diaz-Canel will face two monumental challenges: {1} "growing Cuba's economy" and {2} "contending with the United States." And that's terrific insight.

    In the United States for 6 decades the U. S. government and the mainstream U. S. media have allowed only Counter Revolutionary extremists in Miami and in the United States Congress to dictate America's Cuban narrative and much of America's Cuban policies, which have centered around revenge against the Cuban Revolution and continuous, unsavory, and fervent attempts to regain control of the nearby, pugnacious island. Thus, Americans are usually devoid of unbiased data regarding Cuba, a topic that resulted in a 191-to-0 condemnation of the United States in the United Nations, a denunciation that was approved by then President Barack Obama. But, as William LeoGrande vividly explains in his insightful article this week, this month's voluminous change in Cuba's leadership should finally, at the very least, be treated even in the United States with at least modicums of intelligence and honesty.

 Another renowned award-winning journalist, Mimi Whitefield at the Miami Herald, also has a well-written, knowledgeable, well-researched, and unbiased article this week on Cuba's impending presidential transition later this month. Ms. Whitefield's article is entitled: "Cuba Desperately Needs to Reform Currency System. But Timing Couldn't be Worse." She agrees with William LeoGrande that Cuba's first non-Castro President since 1959, Miguel Diaz-Balart, will be tasked with improving Cuba's economy and doing so even though the friendly Obama administration in Washington has been replaced by yet another Counter Revolutionary Republican assault led by President Donald Trump. Mimi Whitefield's update is both fair and solidly informative.

     And by the way, Jon Lee Anderson for the past two decades has been one of the greatest writers-authors regarding Cuba, Latin America, and other important topics. That's why, at least among fellow journalists, the caricature above readily distinguishes Jon Lee Anderson from everyone else. His latest essay in The New Yorker emphatically explains why it is not only High Time but Long Past Time for the United States to finally attach some decency and sanity to its Cuban policies.

      This photo shows the real Jon Lee Anderson, a heralded staff writer for The New Yorker since 1988. His latest article in that esteemed publication is devoted to the changes in  Cuba. It is one that should be read by anyone interested in Cuba and its relations with the USA. It is entitled: "As Castro Prepares to Leave Office, Trump's Cuba Policy Is A Road to Nowhere." Somehow Revolutionary Cuba has survived for six decades and IF it can survive Trump, Jon Lee Anderson's thoughts are revealing.

Photo courtesy: Calvin Abe/Los Angeles Times.

     Meanwhile, Cubans on the island -- like the man driving the blue 1950s vintage convertible above -- will try to survive man-made or natural hurricanes that will target the coveted island.

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USA Warmongers Target Cuba

Pushing Trump's War Capabilities!!
{Thursday, April 5th, 2018}

Photo courtesy: Jose A. Iglesias/Nuevo Herald.

     The photo above highlighted a big article this week -- April 2nd, 2018 -- in the Miami Herald entitled: "Travel to Cuba Is Getting Popular Again -- Just in Time For a Slew of New Havana Flights." The article referenced a recent and very surprising decision by the U. S. Department of Transportation to award new U.S-to-Havana flights to five major airlines from airports in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Boston, Houston, etc. However, each time there is a positive in U.S.-Cuban relations, there is sure to follow counter-actions by a handful of rich and powerful Counter Revolutionary extremists. Another major article this week, April 2nd, is an example.

******* 

Photo courtesy: Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters.

     The photo above is innocent enough. It shows a young Cuban wearing a USA T-shirt, a common sight in Cuba after former U. S. President Obama tried so hard to normalize relations with Cuba. That process would still be ongoing except for the fact that another Republican administration, Trump's, has once again aligned the U. S. government with the unending 6-decades-old attempt by Miami-based remnants of the Batista-Mafia dictatorship to, at long last, recapture the nearby island. The benign photo above was used to illustrate a major and extremely dark, war-mongering article published yesterday by a leading USA warmonger determined, now that Obama has been replaced by the Donald Trump presidency, to help the elderly Bay-of-Pigs Batistianos regain control of Cuba before the last of them die of old age in Miami. In a bitter article Tuesday that originated from the Council on Foreign Relations, Elliott Abrams, a right-wing disciple from the Bush dynasty, promoted war with Cuba using this title: "Time to Tighten the Screws on Cuba?" 

     The aforementioned article was written this week -- April 2nd, 2018 -- by famed warmonger Elliott Abrams in which he laid out a case for U. S. Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump to recapture Cuba for the Batistianos. Now 70-years-old and still warmongering, Abrams is yet another product of Harvard University, Harvard Law School, and the extreme {not the beloved moderate} Jewish lobby. He represents a perhaps fatal weakness in the incomparable Democracy created by America's Founding Fathers. That flaw is this: Powerful thugs within the bowels of the U. S. democracy can influence even criminal government policies against foreign countries and easily cover it up via so-called CLASSIFIED -- or hidden -- information. Or, AS IN THE CASE Of ELLIOTT ABRAMS, ACTUALLY BE CONVICTED OF SUCH CRIMINAL ACTS AND THEN BE PARDONED BY A CONSPIRATORIAL REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT. After such a judicious pardon, of course, such reprieves, as in the case of Elliott Abrams, can create high-paid executives at lobbying "Think Tanks" in Washington.

     And so, as an affront to Democracy, the pardoned Elliott Abrams, still a vicious warmonger, is today at age 70 a high-powered "Senior Fellow" at the high-powered "Council on Foreign Relations" propaganda Think Tank in Washington.

      As in previous War-Mongering Republican administrations, war-mongerers like ELLIOTT ABRAMS come out of virtual anonymity when another Republican, this time Trump, occupies the White House in America's flawed two-party system. {I was a lifelong Republican until cured by the war-mongering antics of the Bush dynasty}. So, aligned with Trump, an Elliott Abrams can emerge from beneath the wood-work and openly revert back to his war-mongering DNA characteristics, fully using the power of his Think Tank as well as the acquiescence of the milquetoast U. S. media.

     While he dis-honored America with his war-mongering during the Iran-Contra Scandal as well as well-documented Bush-related foreign operations in countries like Nicaragua and El Salvador, Elliott Abrams gets resurrected by the Trump presidency after first, of course, getting the prerequisite pardon from President George H. W. Bush who also issued many other pardons including one that made famed Cuban-American terrorist Orlando Bosch a lifetime heralded citizen of Miami. And so, with that backdrop, perhaps you can understand why Elliott Abrams this -- April 2nd, 2018 -- was openly making the case for the Trump administration to recapture Cuba -- YOU KNOW...FOR DEMOCRACY AND NOT JUST TO RETURN THE BATISTIANOS AND THE MAFIOSI TO THE NEARBY ISLAND.

     Once as a young-adult my favorite conservative two-term President, Ronald Reagan allowed powerful Counter-Cuban Revolutionary elements high-up in his administration, like Vice President George H. W. Bush, to dictate America's vile Cuban policy even while the Reagan presidency was mired down with huge scandals such as the S & L thefts, the Iran-Contra Affair, and the scurrilous Stock Market Crash.

     But I believe the George H. W. Bush anointing of future billionaire Jorge Mas Canosa, Miami's most vehement Cuban-American Counter-Revolutionary, as essentially America's Cuban dictator best defines why the U. S. Cuban policy got condemned 191-to-0 in the UN in 2016, the last year of the decent Obama presidency.

     And then, one of President Trump's first acts in 2017 was to annoint Senator Marco Rubio, another vicious Miami Counter Revolutionary, as essentially America's new Cuban dictator. Many find this anointment interesting because, back during the Republican presidential race in 2016, presidential-candidate Trump had demeaned Rubio by repeatedly calling him "Little Marco." Now "Little Marco" is a Big Man dictating many of America's most hurtful and controversial Cuban policies.

     This week as President Trump takes war-mongering Cuban advice from the Bush-pardoned war-mongering Elliott Abrams, the Bush-era war-mongering John Bolton is set to become next week, on April 9th, 2018, President Trump's top National Security Adviser. Bolton has long advocated the overthrow of Revolutionary Cuba, once claiming Cuba possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction as a pretext. The extreme Dangers of having a collection of well-known war-mongers like Bolton and Abrams as top advisers to President Trump should indeed scare Cubans but it should also scare Americans and many other citizens of the world.

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A Boost for Cuba's Economy

Vietnam Pledges Aid & Advice!!
{Sunday, April 1st, 2018}

      A very important airplane landed in Havana this week -- Thursday, March 29th, 2018. Vietnam's General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, in the center, was warmly greeted by Jose Ramon Balaguer Cabrera, the head of Cuba's Central Commission of Foreign Affairs, at Havana's Jose Marti Airport. Phu arrived with gifts of cash and computers but, more importantly, he provided two-days of economic advice.

      Vietnam's Phu spent public and private time with Cuban President Raul Castro. Both agreed that it is vital that Cuba develop a Vietnamese-style market economy.

  But the March 29th highlight of Secretary General Phu's arrival in Cuba came when he was hosted at the University of Havana by Miguel Diaz-Canel, the 57-year-old education-minded and soon-to-be {on April 19th} the next President of Cuba and the first non-revolutionary and non-Castro leader since 1959. Also in this significant photo, just at Phu's left, is Gustavo Cobreiro, the rector at the University of Havana.

    At the University of Havana this week, the Vietnamese leader Nguyen Phu Trong made a powerful and well-received economic speech. He said, "Vietnam was also sanctioned-embargoed by the United States after we won the Vietnam War, uniting the North and South into one independent nation. But the U. S. lifted our sanctions two decades ago and became our nice trade partner, and the last three U. S. Presidents have flown to Vietnam to congratulate our still-burgeoning market economy. Raul Castro and Miguel Diaz-Canel have both assured me that is the direction Cuba will go. So, we will help Cuba survive and thrive despite six decades of the longest and harshest embargo any small nation has ever had to confront from a strong nation, in this case the world Superpower. With such tenacity, the Vietnamese people believe the Cuban government and the Cuban people deserve all the help we can provide to our friends on this beautiful and sovereign island. No small nation has so many deserving people. We fought and won a long war against USA imperialism. Cuba fought and won a revolution against the same thing. I am proud of independent and united Vietnam and of Cuba."

      Cuba's Ambassador to Vietnam, Lianys Torres Rivera, had prepped Vietnam's General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong prior to his trip to Cuba this week. In the past two days Phu has made it a point to meet not only with top Cuban government officials but also with Cuba's leading educators. Phu brought with him a hefty cash gift for those educators and a large supply of educational tools, especially brand-new computers and laptops. During the exchange above, Phu told Ms. Torres, "After our war victory, the U. S. still sanctioned and embargoed us for 20 years, but then dropped them and became our nice trade partners. In the last 20 years we have lifted 30 million Vietnamese out of poverty. The U. S., after 60 menacing years, will not drop its revenge sanctions against Cuba but Cuba has proven it still deserves to survive as an independent nation free of Washington and, we think, with help it can soon thrive." 

     In Cuba this week, Vietnam's Nguyen Phu Trong asked if he could visit a Cuban elementary school. At this stop he said: "We in Vietnam, and the rest of the world outside the U. S., marvel at Cuba's free and excellent education and health systems. I personally am astounded it has provided such things against America's wishes."

Vietnam's Phu with Cuban students.

Phu visiting more Cuban students.

     One of the most dynamic and powerful Cubans is Ena Elsa Velazquez, the island's Education Minister. She thanked Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam's General Secretary, with these words: "I receive these gifts on behalf of the students, professors, and teachers who have some nearby enemies but also, as you have shown today, some sweet, sweet friends. And the noble and generous Vietnamese people are our dearest friends. Be certain as we furiously protect our revolution and the independence it bequeathed to us, know too that we will continue to preserve the indissoluble bonds of friendships and solidarity that unites the great and bold people of Cuba and Vietnam."

The key Phu speech in Havana.

Listening to Phu's speech, Miguel Diaz-Canel.

Phu congratulated by Miguel-Canel. 

     While Miguel Diaz-Canel, who has already closely studied Vietnam's market economy, will be Cuba's President starting next month, rest assured that Revolutionary Cuba's dependence on powerful women will continue. The island's Education Minister, Ena Elsa Velazquez, is both a powerful and truly brilliant woman.

     When Cuba's Minister of Education, Ena Elsa Velazquez, speaks, the leaders of a lot of countries, including Vietnam, listen. And so does Cuba's Miguel Diaz-Canel.

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Laughing at Counter Revolutionaries

But NOT at the Harm They Do!!
{Thursday, March 29th, 2018}

Photo courtesy: Claudio Pelaez/On Cuba Magazine.

     The photo above accurately reflects what American tourists see and experience if they get permission from Marco Rubio and other Counter Revolutionary extremists to visit the Caribbean's largest, most beautiful, and safest island. This tourist at Havana's famed Malecon seawall is being serenaded by a Cuban musician. Day or night, music is such an indelible part of the DNA in Cuba that you can hear it being played in nightclubs, on the streets, or in homes almost 24-hours a day. Of course, Rubio and a handful of Cuban-American Counter Revolutionary extremists, since 1959, have dictated that everyday Americans are the only people in the world that should be denied the freedom to visit Cuba. That, of course, is so Rubio and his ilk can dictate the Cuban narrative, as they have mostly done for six decades. In that vein, the photo above was used to illustrate an article in On Cuba Magazine/Website this week -- March 27th, 2018. Written by Julio Antonio Fernandez Estrada, the article is entitled: "Sonic Attack...Against Peace." The first line is: "If it were not that it increasingly distances us from the hope of normal relations with the United States, one would choke to death laughing with this thing about the sonic attack. Or not." In other words, Rubio's latest very successful ploy -- weird sonic attack accusations -- are designed to hurt Cubans on the island, Cuban-Americans in Miami, and everyone else except of course a handful of extremists Cuban-Americans who, for six decades, have benefited revengefully, economically, and politically from cruel, weird dictations of America's Cuban policies. As the insightful article by Julio Fernandez explains, such manufactured and absurd pretexts to hurt Revolutionary Cuba would be laughable IF THEY WERE NOT SO PAINFUL AND HARMFUL.

        Meanwhile, study the photo above from this week's On Cuba Magazine. The tourist seems to be enthralled and entertained by the trumpet-playing Cuban sitting on Havana's Malecon wall. Marco Rubio thinks she does not deserve that right and, sadly, that is an example of the cruel, self-serving opinions from a handful of Counter Revolutionary extremists that have shamed America and Democracy since the 1950s...all while gleefully hiding behind the skirts of the world's Superpower.

     For hurting Cubans on the island and hurting Cuban-Americans in Miami, even the Miami Herald has had three recent articles assailing Rubio's cowardly but extremely profitable Counter Revolutionary zealotry. The banner above pulled by an airplane flying over Rubio's home turf assailed Rubio for taking $3.3 million in alleged bribery money from the NRA, a typical tactic that led notable journalist Ken Silverstein to write a mammoth article labeling Rubio "head and shoulders" above everyone else in Washington when it came to "corruption and chicanery."

      Yet, courtesy of President Trump, not only is Rubio today essentially America's new dictator of Cuban policy, he is forever entrenched in the U. S. Senate from Miami even though a recent poll showed his approval rating in Miami dipping below 35%. All polls show that most Cuban-Americans even in Miami desire Obama-like normal relations with Cuba but ONLY COUNTER REVOLUTIONARY EXTREMISTS LIKE RUBIO APPEAR CAPABLE OF WINNING ELECTIONS. All the while the intimidated or incompetent mainstream United States media continues to portray Rubio as a choirboy, which keeps his insatiable presidential hopes alive along with Rubio's obscene campaign donations from right-wing billionaires.

     And that brings us back around to this week's insightful article by Julio Antonio Fernandez Estrada in On Cuba Magazine, which is one of the best and most influential publications related to the Caribbean island. Julio astutely explains that the Counter Revolutionary dictation of America's Cuban policies would be "laughable" except for the fact they hurt so many totally innocent Cubans, Americans, and Cuban-Americans. If Americans don't have the intelligence and the courage to agree with Julio, it says a lot more about America and its defrayed Democracy than it says about either Cuba or its Revolution.

And by the way:

      President Trump's appointment last week of John Bolton as America's top National Security Adviser threatens America and other countries, including Cuba. An extreme right-wing warmonger, Bolton has long advocated attacking Revolutionary Cuba and it is assumed that will be his advice to Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump.

      This week -- March 27th, 2018 -- a front-page article in USA Today was dedicated to quoting former President Jimmy Carter's outrage over the John Bolton appointment. He said: "The worst mistake that President Trump has made since he's been in office is his employment of John Bolton. He's a disaster for our country."

       All sane and patriotic Americans should agree with Jimmy Carter concerning Trump's appointment of Bolton. Mr. Carter is now 93-years-old but still mentally alert and physically helping build homes for the poor. His IQ stands tallest among America's 45 Presidents and he also rates as the all-time most decent President. He deserved a second 4-year term as President in 1981 but was, unfortunately, brushed aside by the Bush dynasty. The Carter-to-Bush transition marked a precipitous rise of dangerous Bush-anointed right-wingers...like the war-mongering John Bolton. 

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