U.S. Media's One-Sided Cuban Diatribes

 

     Since the 1950s Americans have been spoon-fed distorted accolades -- "Sooo Beautiful"/"BRAVO" -- about how wonderful Cuba's Batista dictatorship was from 1952 till 1959 and then how terrible Revolutionary Cuba has been since 1959. 

      From 1952 until 1959, when he was overthrown by the Cuban Revolution, Fulgencio Batista was Cuba's brutal and thieving dictator. During that time the Caribbean's largest island nation was a mammoth Cash Cow for the Batistianos and for the Mafia and for rich U. S. businessmen who supported the dictator and were lushly rewarded in exchange for military and financial kickbacks. To this day in July of 2022, more than six decades after the overthrow of Batista, Americans are still being told that Batista's Cuba provided everyday Cubans one of Latin America's all-time best financial standards of living. That's like saying that a multi-billionaire and a penny-less person living under a bridge have similar financial standards. For sure in Batista's Cuba, the Batistianos, the Mafiosi, and the U. S. businessmen amassed fortunes. Of course, that ignores the plights of everyday Cubans in Batista's Cuba...including the two main reasons -- extreme poverty and extreme brutality -- that spawned Latin America's most historic and longshot revolution.

    There are numerous black-and-white photos such as this that document the extreme poverty of everyday Cubans in Batista's Cuba from 1952 till 1959. The ultra-powerful Batista simply saw no need to toss a few crumbs to the peasants.

     Instead of tossing a few crumbs to the non-Batistiano Cubans...and even providing some decent healthcare and educational opportunities...Dictator Batista chose to quell dissent with extremely brutal tactics...tactics -- murdering children as warnings -- that outraged Cuban mothers who bravely took to the streets to tell the world, including the famed New York Times reporter Herbert L. Matthews, what Batista was doing to their children. Photos like the ones directly above explain what created the long-shot revolution that ended up overthrowing Batista...an event that changed Cuba and the United States forever.

    For over six decades Cuban exiles and the U. S. government have desperately tried to overthrow the Cuban Revolution. Incredibly, it hasn't happened although the super-powerful and super-rich U. S. has had its own controversial military base on Cuban soil at Guantanamo Bay since 1903. The endless attempts to overthrow the Cuban Revolution have comprised no-holds-barred strategies...such as bombing Cuba's vital sugar fields starting in January of 1960; the famed Bay of Pigs military attack in April of 1961; etc., etc., etc., etc.!!! After such drastic efforts failed, beginning in 1962 the U. S. began a massive economic Embargo-Blockade of Cuba designed to starve, deprive, and make miserable Cubans on the island to induce them to rise up and overthrow their Revolutionary government.

      The U. S. economic Embargo, which Cubans call a Blockade, has existed since 1962. For sure, it has starved, deprived, and made miserable generations of Cubans on the nearby island, but so far it hasn't accomplished it primary goal.

     Yet...from January of 1959 until July of 2022 the mainstream U. S. media has told Americans how wonderful and rich Cuba's Batista dictatorship was in the 1950s while how terrible and POOR Cuba has been since the wondrous and lucrative  1950s. An example is shown above today -- July 8th, 2022 -- when the John Suarez article in the Orange County Register refers to an Editorial in Jose Bezos' Washington Post that lavishly condones anything and everything that U. S. Cubans and the U. S. media say about U.S.-Cuban Relations. In other words, since the 1950s it doesn't matter what U.S.-Cuban relations are or have been. But...what does matter is who GETS to write about it.

    "Cuba vs. Blockade." Arianny Tellez Lamothe posted this photo on Facebook today -- July 8th, 2022. Arianny lives in Guantanamo, Cuba. She is a mother of two children, and she has opinions about things such as the U. S. Embargo/Blockade of her town. I believe that her opinions count too.

     These are Arianny Tellez Lamothe's two children in the town of Guantanamo, Cuba. I believe that children like these should be factored into the equation when rich people in a nearby powerful nation impose an economic blockade or other injustices that impact the precious lives of children such as these.

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Is Cuba STILL Beautiful????

YES! 

     This bashful little girl in Havana today...her name is Ambar Hernandez...epitomizes the fact that Cuba -- on July 7th, 2022 -- is still beautiful although it has gone through many iterations since 1492 when the Spanish explorer Columbus called it "the most beautiful land these eyes have ever seen."

     But the things that made Cuba unique -- its incomparable beauty, its pugnacious people, its strategic location, its shining luminosity as the largest island in the Caribbean, etc. -- also made it the most coveted prize for the world's greatest imperative powers, including most notably the nearby United States!! The great T. J. English best documented why and how the United States {as well as the Mafia} -- which dominated Cuba from 1898 till 1959 -- "Lost It to the Revolution."

     But if you fast-forward from Columbus's 1492 comment, written down in his historic diary, all the way to July 7th of 2022, you will be appalled at the blaring headlines about Cuba that daily and typically spew from the United States. Those July 7-2022 headlines {above} reflect that the superpower United States and the rich Cubans in nearby Miami are still mightily trying to regain control of Cuba since they lost it to the Cuban Revolution way back on January 1st, 1959!!

     This beautiful and bashful little Cuban girl in Havana, Ambar Hernandez, on July 7th-2022 perhaps says more about Cuba today than what the U. S. headlines say or even what T. J. English says.

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Ignore US Problems While Starving Cuba!!!

 

     Yesterday -- Monday, July 4th, 2022 -- Democracy-lovers like me celebrated the 246th year of the United States democracy. Billions of people around the world...whether or not they were allowed to admit it...probably agree that it has been the greatest government in the entire history of the world. 

     In the past two-and-a-half centuries the fifty states that comprise the United States had long-ago enjoyed a democracy that emerged as the richest and strongest nation in the history of the world. Incredibly, the richest and strongest nation in the world was also considered the best and most decent nation in the world.

But in July of 2022 question marks emerge.

      In the United States in July of 2022 there are a multitude of mammoth problems...a huge number of unpopular politicians safely control high offices only because the U. S. political system revolves around mass amounts of political donation money; overwhelming chaos on the southern border with Mexico runs rampant; overwhelming and seemingly uncontrollable crime inundates and roils U. S. cities; the U. S. seems to have evolved into a political and media situation that serves the 10% of extreme left-wingers and the 10% of extreme right-wingers while ignoring the needs and opinions of the 80% of more decent middle-of-the-road Americans; dangerous and uncontrollable divisions pitting the extreme left-wingers vs. the extreme right-wingers while the rest of the majority population of 330 million citizens seem to be entirely left out in the cold; etc., etc., etc.

    In 1492 Spanish explorer Columbus discovered both Cuba and the United States...and virtually since then the U. S. relations with Cuba have done, perhaps, more than anything else to shape and color images of the U. S. democracy. Thomas Jefferson and other U. S. leaders dating back to the 1700s craved U. S. domination of Cuba. But Spain was the imperative power that most dominated the island until 1898 when the U. S. used the bombing of the US Maine warship in Havana Harbor to launch the easy Spanish-American War in Cuba, drastically changing who dominated Cuba. After 1898 those who anticipated a GREAT DEMOCRACY in Cuba have been rudely surprised. By 1903 the U. S. had ruled Cuba militarily and, uh, took perpetual control of the lush Guantanamo Bay that to this day is home to an unwanted and controversial U. S. military base and prison. But, incredibly, 1952 turned out to be, perhaps, the all-time most undemocratic year involving the U. S. domination of Cuba: IN 1952 THE U. S. TEAMED WITH THE MAFIA TO SUPPORT THE BRUTAL AND THIEVING BATISTA DICTATORSHIP SO RICH U. S. BUSINESSMEN COULD PARTAKE IN THE WHOLESALE RAPE AND ROBBERY OF CUBA, the Caribbean's largest and most beautiful island nation!!

     On January 1st, 1959 the Cuban Revolution shocked the world {and history} by overthrowing the powerful Batista dictatorship that had been supported by the Mafia, the most powerful criminal organization in the world; and by the United States, the most powerful nation in the world. Since January 1, 1959...incredibly...massive measures and attempts to destroy Revolutionary Cuba and regain control of the pugnacious island have yet to be consummated!! Yet, in the past 60+ years politically correct U. S. Cubans have grown ultra-rich and ultra-powerful...mostly the ones in Miami and Newark. Meanwhile, since January 1 of 1959 Americans have been successively told that all the good Cubans were in the U. S. while all the bad Cubans were still on the island, justifying U. S. efforts to starve Cubans in Cuba to induce them to overthrow their Revolutionary government! In a Caribbean nutshell, that is where U.S.-Cuban Relations are in July of 2022.

     In this first full week of July-2022, the headline shown above helps explain, perhaps, the major weakness of the U. S. democracy...namely, the U. S. media. The massive article headlined above comes on a day this first week in July-2022 when there are a plethora of non-Cuba stories that direly concern the daily issues that Americans are facing. But, of course...as usual...the U. S. media devotes abundant space in shaming and defaming Cubans in Cuba. Above, as you can see, the first paragraph says: "'When we go to sleep, it is with the fear of not waking up again,' says Elisa Bacyan, a resident in one of about 700 apartment buildings deemed unsafe in the Cuban capital, where collapses are frequent." As this headline/article reveals, the U. S. media loves to report drastic problems for Cubans in Cuba BUT IT FAILS TO REPORT THAT A SIX-DECADE GENOCIDAL U. S. EMBARGO/BLOCKADE OF THE ISLAND IS LARGELY TO BLAME. For example, if the superpower U. S. had treated Canada and Mexico -- the massive U. S. trading partners -- the way it has treated Cuba for more than six decades -- there would also be frequent collapsing buildings in Canadian and Mexican cities too!!

      For sure...tropical rains, storms, hurricanes, and other calamities often assault Cuba's capital city of Havana -- not to mention disasters such as the COVID-19 Pandemic!!!! But in July of 2022 most of the everyday Cubans most dread the U. S. blockade of the island. And if the U. S. media was an unbiased source...as it once was...honest reports regarding Cuba would again be welcomed by America's democracy-lovers. Cuba is America's neighbor but, unwittingly, it also says much more about the United States than it should say. Mostly, Cuba and the United should be NEIGHBORS.

NEIGHBORS!!

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A Powerful Cuban Dies Unexpectedly

 

      On July 1st-2022 the death of Luis Alberto Rodriguez Lopez-Calleia in Villa Clara has shocked Cuban watchers on the island and in the United States. He was 62-years-old and he apparently died from a heart attack. For many years Lopez-Calleria has reportedly been in total charge of about 80% of Cuba's economy. He was personally sanctioned when the Trump presidency expanded the 60-year-old Embargo into what many observers consider to be a genocidal Blockade.

     The mainstream U. S. media, as shown above, is abundantly aware of what the death of  Lopez-Calleia means. Despite rampant speculations inside the wild and unknowing gazes of the media, there is simply no one on the island that has been groomed to replace the irreplaceable Lopez-Calleia and his passing at age 62 was unexpected.

     For decades any listing of the Power Elite of Cuba has included Luis Alberto Rodriguez Calleia. He was formerly married to Raul Castro's daughter Deborah but his power evolved from his position within the Cuban military, as well as his closeness to both Fidel and Raul Castro.

     Fidel Castro died six years ago at age 90 but Raul Castro, at age 91, is still alive. His main bodyguard has been his grandson, also named Raul, who is the son of Lopez-Calleia and Deborah Castro Espin. It is not believed by insiders that any of the Castro children have serious political ambitions or political support.

    The death on July 1-2022 of the 62-year-old Rodriguez Lopez-Calleia while his 91-year-old mentor and father-in-law Raul Castro still lives, adds immensely to the new equation in Cuba.

     But while Rodriguez Lopez-Calleia was still alive, Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel since 2018 has already carved out a strong niche as Revolutionary Cuba's leader as the predecessor to the Castro brothers Fidel & Raul. That is so, but often overlooked by analysts, even though Diaz-Canel, the island's former Education Minister, was born after the January-1959 triumph of the Cuban Revolution. Thus...Diaz-Canel will decide who inherits Lopez-Calleia's former, and unique, power in Cuba.

      Although he was not a rebel, President Diaz-Canel worships the Cuban Revolution because Fidel Castro is his all-time hero. From Havana to Santiago de Cuba on the other end of the island, Diaz-Canel often worships at Fidel's tomb.

    Contrary to what Americans are told, from the 1950s until July of 2022 there have always been plenty enough Fidel Castro worshippers in Cuba to keep the Revolution viable against staggering odds for seven decades. While counter revolutionary powers eagerly deny that fact, it remains the main reason -- against all odds -- Fidel's Cuba has not been overturned.

     Even though he died almost six years ago at age 90, Cuba remains Fidel Castro's Cuba...and that will remain so until someone overthrows or destroys his Revolution.

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Is Revolutionally Cuba Doomed...finally?

 

    Two prime left-wing U. S. news sources -- AP & NPR -- this week appeared to join the ubiquitous right-wing media that endlessly champions and predicts the demise of Revolutionary Cuba on a daily basis and does so ceaselessly. As noted above, the AP & NPR reported this week about Cubans being among the hundreds of thousands of migrants crossing the porous Rio Grande border that separates Mexico and the United States. The widely dispersed article shown above explained that virtually everyone is leaving Cuba and selling "all" possessions that they have to finance their trips to get into the United States. Yet, every day since January of 1959 the imminent demise of Revolutionary Cuba has been lavishly reported by the U. S. media...and it hasn't happened... Not Yet.

      And...meanwhile...every day since January of 1959 there also seems to be a few glimmers of hope that Revolutionary Cuba will, somehow, survive at least another FEW DAYS. For example, on July 1-2022 the airplane shown below provides a glimmer of hope for Revolutionary Cuba.

     In recent years two dire anti-Cuba perils -- the Pandemic and the Blockade -- have conspired and combined to wipe out Revolutionary Cuba once and FOR all time!! For over sixty years the U. S. Embargo has been imposed to starve Cuba's economy...a Superpower ploy that probably would have long ago overthrown most nations, including many that are much larger than Cuba. But at the start of July-2022 the airplane above offers a little glimmer that a Cuban lifeline -- tourism -- might blunt a little of the U. S. effort to starve Cuba. This week the Canadian airline Off We GO began flights by its Boeing 737-400 planes "from Montreal and Toronto from Thursday to Sunday to the destinations of Holguin, Villa Clara, Varadero and Cayo Coco in Cuba." Of course, the Miami Cubans who have dictated U. S. policy regarding Cuba for decades will seek to end these flights or anything else that might permit a peso or a euro or a dollar, etc.,  to enter Cuba's tourism lifeline.

    The Miami Cubans are also aware of the above headline and sub-headline that states: "American Airlines Eyes Return To Cuba: American Airlines is looking to resume five routes to Cuba in November 2022." Let's see? November 2022 is still five months away, so Miami Cubans have five months to dissuade American Airlines from its Cuban overtures. I mean...uh...the U. S. can't allow a tourist dollar to fly to Cuba, right???

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