November Flights to Cuba Increase

     Today is November 4th, 2022 and "early in November" supposedly American Airlines plans "to resume flights from Miami to Santa Clara, Varadero, Camaguey and Santiago de Cuba," along with its flights to Havana that even the Trump administration allowed.

     During his four years as President of the United States Donald Trump and Little Havana in Miami carved out 247 anti-Cuban provisions, including putting Cuba on the Sponsors of Terror list.

    The Biden presidency that followed Trump has kept most of the Trump provisions against Cuba in place, but not all.

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Cuba Recovers From LATEST Hurricane!!

 {Thanks to Mexico's Help}

     The Cubans in Cuba are pugnacious, resilient, and Lovely. Come hell or high water, they seem to recover from little things such as Hurricanes, Military Attacks, Embargoes, Blockades, etc., etc. This week Hurricane Ian pounded the island and only by October 1st-2022, after 5 days of blackouts, did millions begin to have their electric power restored...thanks to Mexico.

      Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel has worn his military uniform in the past five days as he toured Hurricane-ravaged areas of Western Cuba or reported back to the Cuban people on television, as shown above today. He thanked Mexico "most graciously."

     Meanwhile, while the U. S. tightens the six-year-old Embargo/Blockade against Cuba, the island searches where it can to keep its fragile economy afloat. This weekend Cuba's Prime Minister -- Manuel Marrero Cruz, 5th from the right above -- is faraway in Hanoi finalizing another financial deal with Vietnam that includes a livestock/agricultural mutual association on the island. Vietnam is already the biggest investor in Cuba's vital deep-water and ultra-modern Muriel Port Economic Development Zone located about 30 miles southwest of Havana.

    And meanwhile, on nationwide television Newscasts today on October 1-2022 Cuban reporters are thanking one particular nation -- Mexico -- for sending two huge transport airplanes to help Cuba restore power to the island after 5 days of blackouts caused by Hurricane Ian. Cuba earlier heaped massive praise on Mexico for sending helicopters and airplanes to help Cuba finally stop the fires that recently resulted from the drastic explosions that decimated the island's main Power Station in Matanzas 65 miles southeast of Havana. The two Mexican cargo planes shown above this weekend included cables and other material, as well as Mexican experts, that are helping Cuba to restore power to the island's 11 million people.

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Much of Cuba Still Dark

 

    As Thursday turned to Friday -- Sept. 29th and 30th -- much of Cuba remains in blackouts after the passage of Hurricane Ian, as reported above by the London-based Reuters News Agency.

    In the last paragraph above, Reuters says that Cuba's power plants are old and that "The country has also struggled to obtain fuel for those plants, as costs have risen with the Ukraine conflict and amid harsh sanctions from the United States."

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"Cuba Will Negotiate With The US"

   The quotation above has made headlines on September 29th, 2022. It was made by 64-year-old Bruno Rodriguez. Since 2009 Bruno has been Cuba's Top Foreign Minister, which means he has mostly been charged with dealing with Cuba's relations with the island's Superpower northern neighbor, the United States of America. Why would he make such a headline-making statement at the close of September-2022? He is aware that the U. S. has, during the Trump & Biden presidencies, expanded its six-decade-old Embargo/Blockade that, since 1962, has intended to starve, deprive, and make miserable Cubans on the island to encourage them to rise up and overthrow their Revolutionary government, which has somehow steadfastly held on to power since January of 1959 when the Cuban Revolution somehow overthrew the powerful Batista dictatorship that was supported by the powerful Mafia, the world's strongest criminal organization, and by the United States, the world's strongest nation. Recently Bruno has noted that the U. S. has been taking bids for the purpose of paying more tax dollars to anti-Cuban sources...and this comes on the heels of devastating explosions and fires that leveled a key tourist hotel in the heart of Havana, a key power station in Matanzas 65 miles southeast of Havana, etc. Coupled with that, Cuba in recent days has been trying to emerge as best it can from the expanded Blockade, from the Pandemic, from Hurricane Ian, etc., etc. So, at the end of September-2022 it is not surprising that Cuba "IS WILLING TO NEGOTIATE WITH THE UNITED STATES."

     The Hill, as you can see above, today -- Sept. 29, 2022 -- broke the story that Cuba has decided that "It will have to negotiate with the United States." The Hill and reporter Rafael Bernal are prime political sources in Washington.

     Also, as you can see above, Ben Rhodes is the man who persuaded Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez to admit that Cuba "will have to negotiate with the US."

     Of course, as you can see from the three photos above, Ben Rhodes was the man who persuaded President Barack Obama to fly to Havana in 2016. And Ben Rhodes was the man and speech-writer that persuaded President Obama to go on nationwide radio and television in Cuba and tell the Cuban people these words: "Cuba Does Not Need To Fear A Threat From the United States." Both Obama and Rhodes sincerely meant those words on behalf of the United States. But, unfortunately, they came near the end of Obama's 8-years as President.

    And, as it happened, in January of 2017 Donald Trump replaced Obama as President of the United States; and in January of 2021 the Democrat Joe Biden replaced the Republican Trump as the U. S. President.

     In the USA's two-party political system many, including Ben Rhodes, believed the Democrat President Biden, who had been Obama's Vice President for 8 years, would return to Obama's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. Of course, at the end of September of 2022, people such as Ben Rhodes, as well as Bruno Rodriguez, have given up on that prospect.

      Thus, as September turns into October in 2022 the U. S. Blockade of Cuba continues...and it doesn't seem to matter what Americans such as Ben Rhodes think about it.

    But let it be known that on September 29th of 2022 Ben Rhodes, a 44-year-old New Yorker, is still fighting to end the blockade and normalize relations with Cuba. The photo above shows Ben Rhodes writing the words that President Obama sincerely spoke directly to the Cuban people in Cuba in 2016: "CUBA DOES NOT NEED TO FEAR A THREAT FROM THE UNITED STATES." It took a great man to write those words and to persuade President Obama to deliver them directly to the Cuban people in Cuba. That great and brave man is Ben Rhodes. He should be saluted for his herculean efforts.

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Hell & High Water for Cubans

 

Photo: Reuters/Alexandre Meneghini

    The photo above shows a young Cuban father finding shelter for his two small children as Hurricane Ian began devastating the vulnerable island on Tuesday, September 27th, 2022. The suffering Cubans have been pummeled in recent years by the endless six-decade-old U. S. Blockade, the Pandemic, and again by the U. S. blockade that Cubans believe has been purposely expanded by the Trump-Biden presidencies to take advantage of the vulnerability left behind after the Pandemic.

     In the paragraphs above Mayelin Suarez told the London-based Reuters News Agency that Hurricane Ian's passage was the "darkest of her life." Indeed, recent days and nights have been very dark for millions of Cubans on the island.

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Havana Ravaged by Hurricane Ian!!

 

    Images by Yamil Lage, the great Cuban photojournalist who works for the Paris-based AFP News Agency, sent photos like these around the world today as Hurricane Ian began to ravage the vulnerable capital city of Havana.

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Cubans Approve "Progressive" Family Code

 

    The London-based BBC today -- Monday, September 26th, 2022 -- informed the world {above} that Cuban voters in a nationwide election yesterday passed a new Family Code law. Reuters calls it the "most progressive in Latin America" pertaining to Equal Rights for gays.

     "EL AMOR YA ES LEY. Codigo Si."/"LOVE IS ALREADY LAW. Code Yes." The First Lady of Cuba, Lis Cuesta, posted the above message on Facebook today regarding yesterday's election that legalized a new Family Code on the island.

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