Rubio Lies Hurt Cubans

While Defaming America & Democracy!!
{Updated: Monday, June 18th, 2018}

     The world's most renowned Travel Writers/Authors -- Chris Baker, Tony Perrottet, and Heidi Hollinger -- don't have a drop of Cuban blood in their veins but they deeply love and are utterly fascinated with Cuba. That also means they are not afraid of incurring the wrath of the Cuban Counter Revolutionaries who dictate most of America's Cuban narratives via intimidation, propaganda, and other unsavory methods. Baker, for example, wrote a major international article explaining why he agreed with the highly respected Madrid International Tourism Fair, which advises nations about tourism safety AND WHICH in 2018 named Cuba the world's "SAFEST" nation for tourists. At about the same time, of course, the U. S. media was highlighting Miami's U. S. Senator Marco Rubio's designation of Cuba as "unsafe" in order to destroy the island's vital tourism industry.  In May-2018 the famed Travel Writer/Author Tony Perrottet had an 18-page article in Smithsonian Magazine that heralded Cuba as one of the world's greatest tourist attractions. And now Heidi Hollinger has followed the legendary Baker and Perrottet as a world-famed Travel Writer touting Cuba as a world-class destination for tourists.

       In her current article, Heidi Hollinger used 11 photos that she took herself, like this one, to illustrate Cuba. She wrote: "Cuba's capital is changing and a lot of cutting-edge art and new wave restaurants are in characterful districts away from  the much-visited city. Havana will be 500 years old next year. I have been coming here for 30 years, and while I have experienced just a small part of the city's history it has had an out-sized impact on my life. I fell hopelessly in love with Havana on the spot -- hooked by its openhearted people and weathered beauty. Come here to be mesmerized..."

      Heidi Hollinger used the photo above to remind tourists, when they visit Cuba, to not be satisfied with just visiting Havana. Using her above photo as an illustration, she wrote: "And whatever you do, explore beyond the borders of beautiful Habana Vieja {old Havana} to discover the city's distinct neighborhoods."

        As a best-selling author, Heidi Hollinger wrote the book  "300 Reasons to Love Havana." But as she makes very clear in her updated article, she loves all of Cuba.

         Obviously, the world's greatest Travel Writers and tourism experts like Heidi Hollinger, Chris Baker, Tony Perrottet, and the Madrid International Tourism Fair do not have to get permission from Marco Rubio to freely express their opinions about Cuba. Heidi and other great Travel Writers earned their reputations by being unbiased about the countries they visit. Rubio and other Cuban American anti-Cuban extremists have built their political and economic fortunes on being biased against Cuba and particularly against the Cuban Revolution that in 1959 kicked the Batista-Mafia extremists to U. S. soil, namely Rubio's hometown of Miami. Rubio, a second generation anti-Cuba extremist, has never set foot on the island of Cuba; Heidi Hollinger has been visiting Cuba on a regular basis for "30 years." So...who knows more about Cuba and its people--Heidi or Rubio? And who is the most biased about the fascinating island? As Heidi Hollinger suggests, Americans should defy Rubio and visit the island...if only to discover WHY the U.S.-based Batistianos and Mafiosi want so DESPERATELY to recapture it!!

      Heidi Hollinger took the above photo of Cuban artist Niels Reyes to illustrate how, when the decent Obama was the U. S. president, young Cuban artists and entrepreneurs began to thrive on the island. Now with President Trump anointing Marco Rubio as America's latest Cuban dictator, young Cuban entrepreneurs like Niels are being assaulted from the soil of the nearby Superpower. Heidi Hollinger wrote: "Niels Reyes is one of the most exciting artists on the roaring art scene in Cuba, prized by collectors from New York to Beijing." Should young Cubans on the island, like Niels, be assaulted by a handful of powerful Cuban-Americans in the United States? Rubio apparently THINKS SO; Heidi Hollinger obviously THINKS NOT. 

     The photo above was used by Heidi Hollinger to illustrate how Cuba, after peaceful and historic overtures from former U. S. President Obama, has encouraged thousands of private businesses, creating thousands of new entrepreneurs. Heidi said the hotel above was "brain-childed by Sandra Esposito and her husband Orlandito Mengual. The roof terrace has great views of the Malecon, Havana's famous promenade, and it has a cocktail and tapas bar on the ground floor..." Rubio and six Cuban-American extremists in the U. S. Congress, 4 from Miami, have gained permission from the Trump administration to destroy Cuba's vital tourism industry, which was robust when Obama was President. The U. S. extremists incessantly repeat the old refrain about "hurting Castro" when, of course, they well know they are hurting everyday Cubans, like Sandra and Orlandito who struggled to make a success of their little hotel. So, again the question is: Should Americans have the courage, patriotism, and intelligence to believe Heidi Hollinger or should Americans continue to believe the likes of Marco Rubio?

       Although President Donald Trump successfully belittled Senator Marco Rubio as "Little Marco" when they competed against each other in the Republican presidential primary, now as President of the United States Trump has shamefully anointed "Little Marco" as America's latest Cuban dictator. Some of the most informed sources in both Miami and Havana believe Rubio..."Little Marco"...has been chosen by Trump to be the most powerful Cuban dictator on U. S. soil since the 1980s when the Bush dynasty anointed Jorge Mas Canosa to that infamous position for the purpose of having Batista exiles and the Mafia regain control of their 1950s-era piggy-bank -- CUBA!! Of course, without recapturing Cuba, the vast Castro Cottage Industry in the United States since 1959 has become a gold-mocked piggy-bank and a rampaging political bonanza for the likes of "Little Marco," so, paradoxically, recapturing Cuba might put some dents in that lucrative enterprise on U. S. soil.

        With biased extremists like Senator Marco Rubio dictating America's Cuban Policy {as well as America's Cuban narrative} since 1959, perhaps it is time Americans summoned up enough respect for AMERICA and for DEMOCRACY to correct a wrong that has shamed both AMERICA and DEMOCRACY for going on seven decades. Supposedly, Rubio is abundantly aware of that shame but if he addresses it his political and economic fortunes might suffer. So, as this week's Heidi Hollinger article suggests, don't hold your breath waiting for Rubio and his cohorts to forsake their Golden Goose. Preying on Cubans on the island is simply too easy and too uncontested in the once-sacred Land of the now-less Free and the Home of the now-less Brave.

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Cuba's Story in Photos

       More Factual Than Words!!!
{Concluded: Friday, June 15th, 2018}

    In June of 2018 -- now going on 7 decades since the Cuban Revolution booted the Batista-Mafia leadership to Miami -- 320 million Americans are still wondering how in the world the Cuban Revolutionary flag still waves on the very vulnerable and massively targeted island. Words & sentences spoken as lies have controlled the U. S. Cuban narrative since January of 1959 when...essentially...the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba became the Batistiano-Mafiosi dictatorship on U. S. soil with Little Havana in Miami having replaced Havana in Cuba as their new capital & headquarters. But photos are far more definitive than lying words and their easily crafted sentences in telling the true story of Revolutionary Cuba's amazing survival. I'll try to explain via key photos.

     {YES!! Pre-Castro Cuba was run by Mother Teresa-like angels -- Batista, Luciano, Lansky, etc. We all know that, don't we?}

         Since 1959, with the concurrence of the U. S. government and an intimidated or politically correct U. S. media, Counter Revolutionary Cuban-Americans have dictated America's Cuban narrative and most of America's Cuban policies. It's the first time such propaganda has ruled the U. S. media and the first time, for example, America has been condemned 191-to-0 in the United Nations for a perverse policy -- namely its Batistiano-directed Cuban policy. So today -- June of 2018 -- Americans have been propagandized for decades to believe that Batista's Cuba was a great democratic government while Revolutionary Cuba was/is the worst govenment in history, or at least the only government in history in which proselytized Americans have meekly accepted extreme terrorism against totally innocent Cubans -- such as murders, civilian airplane bombings, deadly hotel bombings, and even a car-bombing of a decent Cuban-American newsman in Miami {Emilio Milian} who had the guts and decency to complain about such horrific things. THAT BEING SAID, I am a democracy-loving American who believes the Cuban Revolution says a lot more about America than it says about Cuba!! To prove my point, I believe authentic photos and honest, irrefutable captions can counteract the litany of cacophonous lies so easily and, yes, ceremoniously showered upon Americans by Cuban-born Counter Revolutionaries {and their offspring} since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution.

      Any American who doesn't understand the photo above very conveniently for the Cuban Counter Revolutionaries also don't comprehend the vile nature of the transplanted Batistianos & Mafiosi...and particularly the right-wing thugs in Miami and Washington who support them. The man depicted above is James Bamford, surely one one of America's all-time greatest investigative journalists and authors. In 2000, after DE-classifying U. S. documents that had protected right-wing thugs for decades, he informed the world that: Vile right-wingers in the Eisenhower administration who had sicced the Mafia on Cuba in 1952 were still around to use tax dollars, the U. S. military, and the CIA to help the ousted Batista-Mafia leaders in South Florida RECAPTURE Cuba in 1959 after they fled to safe havens on U. S. soil.

      Like other truly great investigative journalists-authors such as Peter Kornbluh, James Bamford has brilliantly served America and Democracy by DE-classifying numerous classified U. S. documents that had, for decades, protected well-known right-wing thugs who had supported Batista's Cuba and then viciously tried to overthrow Revolutionary Cuba starting in 1959 with planned murderous acts.

     In 1997-2000 starting with a massive article in USA Today and then in a best-selling book minutely reviewed by the NY Times and other publications, James Bamford revealed via DE-classified U. S. documents that Democratic President John Kennedy had inherited from the Republican Eisenhower administration not only the 1961 Bay of Pigs military attack on Cuba but also Operation Northwoods' schemes.

     Operations Northwoods was a U. S. government plan concocted unanimously by General Lyman Lemnitzer and his 7-member Joint Chiefs of Staff to spread terror across America, including the murders of totally innocent Americans so it could be blamed on Cuba's revolutionary leader Fidel Castro so the mayhem could serve as a pretext for an all-out military attack on the nearby island of Cuba. Amazingly, both BEFORE and AFTER such revelations -- and right up until this day -- those right-wing U. S. thugs have been projected as the GOOD GUYS and anyone who opposed them were-are labeled as the BAD GUYS. The power of mostly unchecked propaganda, even in a Democracy, is indeed omnipotent and has ruled the USA's Cuban narrative.

     Instead of learning from Operations Northwoods to correct at least some of America's Batistiano-directed Cuban policies since 1959, propaganda and intimidation have dictated a Cuban narrative and policy that forever shames the United States.

     America's young and decent Democratic President, John Kennedy, in 1961 inherited America's murderous Cuban policies from the previous Republican administration. In the amazing Operations Northwoods photo above, President Kennedy is reportedly being grilled by hard-line military operatives about the necessity of recapturing Cuba...and the necessity of murdering innocent Americans in order to justify an all-out military attack on Cuba.

      The DE-classification of U. S. documents that exposed the evil intent against Cuba -- such as Operation Northwoods -- remains to this day a lesson unlearned because since the 1950s until today America's basic Cuban policies and narratives have been dictated by self-serving Cubans, Mafiosi, and their American right-wing sycophants.

     Out-numbered but not out-smarted, President John Kennedy, shown third from the right above, in the early months of his presidency to start the decade of the 1960s was forced to march to the beat of the right-wing thugs he had inherited in the gross targeting of innocent Cubans and innocent Americans who opposed murders, bombings, assassinations, military attacks, and all other efforts to recapture Cuba. By 1963, assured of being re-elected to a second presidential term, President Kennedy was so outraged by the murderers around him that one day in the Oval Office he bellowed, "If I could I would blow the CIA to smithereens!" It is also a well-known historic fact that in early November of 1963 Kennedy informed top aides that "our top priority when we return from Dallas is to normalize relations with Cuba." Of course, he returned from Dallas on Nov. 22-1963 in a coffin and no one has to be a conspiracy theorist to know that an array of powerful enemies -- the usual suspects -- targeted him as soon as his announced plans to normalize relations with Cuba were secretly unveiled at the time but later confirmed by top Kennedy aides including Pierre Salinger, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., etc.

      The most popular American president, John Kennedy, was murdered on Nov. 22-1963 without completing his first term in office because he exposed too much of what the great Kennedy aide and biographer Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. called, "The dark underbelly that courses through American politics." Indeed, as Kennedy and many others have discovered since the 1950s, nothing...absolutely NOTHING...has exposed the "dark underbelly" of the United States of America as have America's long-standing Batistiano/Mafiosi-ruled Cuban policies and narratives. Other blights, blemishes, and pimples on the U. S. Democracy have, over time, been addressed and corrected. But not Cuba. But not Cuba. But not Cuba. But not Cuba. BUT NOT CUBA!!! Thus, keeping Americans in the dark about the USA's Cuban policy since the 1950s includes trying to classify...hide...un-American, un-Democratic, and murderous policies such as Operation Northwoods.

      The U. S. embargo against Cuba is the longest and cruelest embargo ever imposed by a strong nation against a much weaker nation. It has been in existence since 1962 to appease three generations of Counter Revolutionary miscreants. De-classified U. S. documents reveal that the purpose of the embargo was/is to starve, deprive, and make miserable the lives of Cubans on the island to induce them to rise up and overthrow their revolutionary government. BUT THEN WHAT? A return of the U.S.-backed Batistianos and Mafiosi?

      The Batistiano-directed narrative in the United States since 1959 maintains that during the Batista years-- 1952 till 1959 -- Cuba was one of the richest nations in Latin America. But that's like saying "Jeff Bezos and the man living under the bridge are worth $130 billion" without explaining that Bezos is worth $130 billion and the man under the bridge doesn't have a dime to his name. Yes, Batista's Cuba was awash in ill-gotten money that ended with the Batistianos, the Mafiosi, and rich U. S. businessmen usurping all of it. As indicated by the photo above, none of that wealth filtered down to everyday Cubans who were generally destitute without health or educational help.

      The Cuban narrative in the U. S. since 1959 does not address such photos as the one above that contradict the litany of lies Americans have been told about Batista's Cuba ever since the Batista-Mafia leaders fled to safe U. S. havens.

     This January 1-1959 headline in the New York Daily News chronicled an historic event that has, in the decades since, changed America every bit as much as it has changed Cuba. That is particularly so because Revolutionary Cuba has shocked the world by {1} winning the revolution and {2] sustaining it for going on 7 decades, both against absolutely overwhelming odds.

       But this photo-essay would be remiss, I believe, if it did not explain why there was a revolution in Cuba at a period in time when no one thought it was possible to overthrow a dictator backed by the world superpower United States. Moreover, Batista was not only supported by the strongest nation in the world but also by the Mafia, the strongest criminal organization in the world. But the photo above reveals the biggest mistake Batista and the Mafia goons made in Cuba, a mistake the U. S. government condoned and a mistake that spawned the Cuban Revolution. In order to quell dissent, Batista thugs murdered Cuban children to serve as warnings not to resist what was happening on the island. But the gruesome stratagem backfired because brave Cuban mothers took to the street in protest marches supported by and covered by Herbert L. Matthews of the New York Times, and there were too many mothers for Batista to publicly mow down. The marches by the "Madres Cubanas" -- "Cuban Mothers" -- to protest the murders of "Nuestros Hijos" -- "Our Children" sparked the long-shot revolution, especially after the marches caught the attention of a young lawyer named Fidel Castro who had first tired to run for elective office but Batista, of course, denied him the chance.

     The Cuban narrative in the United States since 1959 fails to acknowledge such photos as depicted above because they are the images that not only spawned the Cuban Revolution but justified it. And the photos also explain something else, which is why the Cuban Revolution has not been overthrown although the U.S.-backed Batistianos-Mafiosi from U. S. soil have tried mightily to recapture the island every single day for going on seven decades. The photos above, you see, remained seared in the minds and hearts of three generations of Cubans who have remained on the island and who do not want a return of foreign-backed dictators who didn't "stop killing our children" until January 1 of 1959 when the Cuban Revolution stopped it.

     The Miami Cuban Mafia, aligned with right-wing sycophants in the U. S. Congress as well as in the White House during six Republican administrations, have been allowed to dictate America's Cuban policies and America's Cuban narratives since 1959. The fact that the U. S. democracy, through three generations, has been unable to correct or even temper that situation still shocks America's best friends around the world, a fact illustrated by the loud United Nations unanimity -- 191-to-0 -- that condemned the vile U. S. Cuban policy in  2016, the last year of the 8-year Obama presidency.

 The decent President Obama and his top three advisers regarding Cuba briefly corrected much of America' internationally condemned Cuban policy. Obama became the first sitting U. S. president to visit Cuba since 1928 when President Hoover arrived on a warship. Obama arrived on Air Force One and showed loving respect for the Cuban people. He reopened the embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time since 1961 and did many other decent things for the Cuban people in brave defiance of the Batistiano-directed U. S. Congress and the Miami Mafia. But the Obama presidency ended on January 20th, 2017...and so did America's decency towards the Cuban people on the island.

     On January 20th, 2017, a Republican -- Donald Trump -- replaced the Democrat, Obama, as President of the United States. In April of 2017, as shown above, President Trump did one of the easiest but most gutless things he has ever done: He went to Little Havana in Miami and, with the Counter Revolutionary Cuban choir praising his every vile gesture, Trump signed documents that began the unraveling of all the decent Cuban measures his predecessor, Mr. Obama, had done on behalf of innocent Cubans and on behalf of the U. S. democracy. For three generations now, pusillanimous Americans have been unable or unwilling to prevent Batistiano-aligned Republican presidents from selling out...politically and economically...to a mere handful of extremists Counter Revolutionary Cubans hiding behind the skirts of the world superpower. That fact is all the more glaring because the majority of the two million+ Cuban-Americans even in Miami favor Obama-style decency towards Cubans on the island.

     And therefore, a third generation of pusillanimous Americans is programmed to accept the tightly controlled Cuban narrative as dictated by a few Cuban-American hardliners. If, for example, they are told "The mob did not run pre-Castro Cuba," Americans are supposed to meekly reply, "Of course, Mother Teresa-like saints ran pre-Castro Cuba and after the Revolution all those good guys came to America where we are still trying to help them recapture Cuba." It's been that way since 1959 in The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. And in America's money-crazed two-party political system, there is no end in sight. BUT REMEMBER: "The mob did not run pre-Castro Cuba." Mother Teresa, of course, was democratically elected President of Cuba in 1952.

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A FEW Cuban Photos

Each Worth A Thousand Words!!

     The photo above was taken June 7th, 2018. It shows Ines Maria Chapman inspecting ongoing recovery efforts after Hurricane Alberto devastated significant areas of Cuba in the last week of May, prior to the official start of the Caribbean hurricane season that normally runs from June 1st through November 30th. But Alberto killed 4 Cubans and destroyed or damaged many homes and wiped out several important bridges. Ines Maria Chapman is Cuba's Vice President in President Miguel Diaz-Canel's nascent government on the very vulnerable island.

      This Shutterstock photo illustrates that there are beautiful Cubans who actually love their lovely Caribbean island, contrary to what the politically correct U. S. media tells Americans.

    This Shutterstock photo indicates that American tourists fortunate enough to visit Cuba actually enjoy the experience.

  Freelance American journalist A. C. Grimes used the above two photos, which illustrated how brave and how politically incorrect Mr. Grimes really is in The Land of the Free & The Home of the Brave. He wrote an article entitled: "False Things About Cuba That Americans Believe." He explained that since the Cuban Revolution in 1959 chased the Batista-Mafia dictatorship to U. S. soil, the Batistiano-Mafiosi exiles -- headquartered in Miami's Little Havana section since 1959 and in the U. S. Congress since the 1980s -- have dictated America's Cuban narratives and America's Cuban policies. Mr. Grimes wrote: "Since that 1959 schism, myths and misconceptions have enveloped Cuba like a thick mist."

Uh, NO KIDDING!!!

     In other words, if Counter Revolutionary Cuban-American U. S. Senators Rubio & Cruz unleash ridiculous self-serving myths and misconceptions about Cuba, the mainstream U. S. media loudly broadcasts the lies without ever daring to question them.

    Meanwhile...OMG!!...these two young and well-educated Cuban television news anchors -- Rosy & Yanet, attending a concert in music-obsessed Havana -- seem to react in aghast after being told about yet another Cuban lie-myth-misconception on U. S. television about their much-maligned & lied-about island nation.

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Countering Trump's Batistianos

By 2 Democracy-Loving Americans!!
{Updated: Thursday, June 7th, 2018}

    The above photo is courtesy of the Associated Press Photographer Desmond Boylan. It shows two high-profile, Democracy-loving Americans -- U. S. Senator Jeff Flake and top Google executive Eric Schmidt -- in Havana this week. They met with Cuba's new President Miguel Diaz-Canel in an effort to combat the Trump administration's alignment with Counter Revolutionary extremists to once-and-for-all strangle Cuba by decimating its fragile economy...after the 1961 Bay of Pigs military attack, numerous assassination and terrorist attacks, the still-punitive 1962 embargo, etc., have failed to restore "democracy"  to Cuba -- meaning the return of the overthrown Batista-Mafia dictatorship that raped and robbed the island at will from 1952 till it was chased to Miami in January of 1959. Senator Flake has long battled the Batistianos who dictate America's Cuban policies in Miami and in the U. S. Congress. Eric Schmidt, as the top executive at the Internet superpower Google, wants to connect Cuba to the vital undersea fiber optic cables that run near the island to the benefit of every regional nation EXCEPT, of course, CUBA. Google is finding out that anti-Cuban extremists in the USA can dictate those undersea fiber optic cables too!!

   This EFE photo shows U. S. Senator Jeff Flake and Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel talking to each other {center} at that important meeting in Havana Monday, June 4th. It was so important that the mainstream U. S. media, very afraid of the Counter Revolutionary extremists, typically ignored it.

     As Cuba's new President, Miguel Diaz-Canel's primary task is to shore up the island's economy so it can withstand the efforts by the Batistiano-dominated Trump administration to strangle Cubans on the island to induce them to oppose Diaz-Canel.

     Soon after becoming President, Miguel Diaz-Canel sadly visited the site of the May 18th plane crash on the edge of Havana that killed 113 people, including 101 Cubans. On live television he reported from the site to update Cubans on the tragedy. Born after the 1959 triumph of the Revolution, Diaz-Canel is the island's former Education Minister and he is well-liked by everyday Cubans, which angers the Batistianos.

     Then two weeks ago a storm assaulted Cuba with raging rivers, like the River Zaza above, ravaging much of the island and killing four Cubans. Millions of people watched the YouTube video of the Zaza Bridge collapse in which two Cubans were one-step from where the span broke away. Because of the Batistiano-dictation of  U. S. Cuban policies, Americans are not supposed to react to such Cuban tragedies, which are exacerbated by the cruel restraints of the unending 6-decade-old embargo.

    Cubans in Sancti Spiritus Province who direly needed the Zaza Bridge could only study its demise, hoping it can be rebuilt.

      This photo of the Zaza Bridge was taken on June 4th, 2018, after the river subsided but had left behind major damage.

     Since 1959 extremists Cuban-Americans -- such as Havana-born Humberto Fontova above -- have been allowed to dictate the Cuban policies and the Cuban narratives in the United States. This has shamed America and Democracy, as registered with a 191-to-0 UN vote in the last year of the decent pre-Trump Obama administration. Thus, such tirades as depicted above, along with much more emphatic REMINDERS, have intimidated U. S. citizens in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave for going on seven decades now. So, Americans are programmed to ignore what democracy-lovers like Senator Jeff Flake and Eric Schmidt said in Havana this week. Instead, whatever self-serving extremists like Mr. Fontova say remains the absolute gospel regarding America's Cuban policies and, with help from an inept mainstream U. S. media, America's Cuban narratives. It's been that way for six decades now, with apparently six more decades on  the horizon as we await a more patriotic and democracy-loving generation of Americans.

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