Yes, Cubans STILL LOVE Their Independence Fighters!!

     All across Cuba all this week Cubans are honoring the life of Jose Marti, the famed poet who was born in Havana on January 28th, 1853. He could have lived out his rich life in Paris, London, New York or wherever he desired but he returned to his beloved Cuba to fight in the island's Independence War against Spanish soldiers. He died in the Battle of Rio Cauto on May 19th, 1895. To this day in 2023 Jose Marti is roundly heralded on the island every day, especially on his BIRTHDAY. The children in Cuba particularly still celebrate Jose Marti's BIRTHDAY, as shown above by 9-year-old Mariana who is shown today in her favorite Spanish Dancer dress so she can dance in honor of the child-loving Jose Marti.

     For sure, Jose Marti left behind many, many quotations that still resonate around the world, but the one above is the one that means the most to Cuban mothers in Cuba today: "Children are the hope of the world." 

    This was Mariana, the now 9-year-old Spanish Dancer who is dancing this week to honor Jose Marti's January 28th birthday. Even at Age 4, as she was when the photo above was taken, Mariana's mother posted on Facebook a truly beautiful video that showed the 4-year-old Mariana beautifully singing a song entitled "Marti!! Marti!!"

January 28th-1853 -- May19th, 1895!!!

     The photo above was taken today -- January 27th, 2023 -- in Havana,  the city where Jose Marti was born on January 28th, 1853. The 9-year-old Spanish Dancer Mariana today in Havana was dancing to honor Jose Marti's birthday, which is tomorrow!!!!

     In Spanish the word "Patria" means "Homeland" and it was appropriately headlined around the world when the internationally renowned poet Jose Marti died on his return to Cuba to fight for Cuban independence against Spanish soldiers. Jose Marti died in the Battle of Rio Cauto on May 19, 1895...a bloody battle in which Spain won to keep control of Cuba. But the love that Jose Marti had for Cuba surely inspired future Cuban independent fighters...including a young lawyer named Fidel Castro in 1952!!

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Why Does the US Hate Dr. Velez?

 Because he hasn't defected to Miami?

    Beyond doubt, Dr. Vicente Velez is one of the world's most brilliant and most successful doctors and medical researchers. He is famed for developing treatments and vaccines that have saved millions of people, especially focusing his energy on childhood diseases. Dr. Velez is also listed as a terrorist by the United States, apparently designated as such to appease some unknown but zealous Counter Revolutionary in the U. S. that promotes the six-decade-old economic Embargo/Blockade of Cuba. Thus, while the world loves and respects Dr. Velez, the U. S. hates him as he continues his vital work at Cuba's famed Findlay Institute in Havana.

    In mid-January of 2023, this massive headline {and article} in the WASHINGTON POST tells the world "How Cuba became a pioneer in covid-19 vaccines for kids." Of course, the answer is the brilliant Dr. Vicente Velez!! Yes, somehow at Havana's Findlay Institute Dr. Velez, despite the U. S. Embargo that tries to starve Cuba's economy, developed Covid-19 vaccines that have saved the lives of MANY children in Cuba and elsewhere. The WASHINGTON POST confirmed and updated these facts in these early days of 2023.

 From Havana in January of 2023 the WASHINGTON POST says: "Long before he was declared a U. S. national security threat, Vicente Verez was a Cuban chemist who loved kids. His specialty was vaccines. In the 1990s, he helped create an inexpensive vaccine targeting the bacteria known as haemophilus influenzae type b, or Hib, which had been killing children under 5. It was a global hit. So when covid-19 came along, Verez knew what he had to do." Then if you dial up the very long article in the WASHINGTON POST and study it, you will learn how once again, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the brilliant Dr. Velez developed more vaccines that have saved and are saving the lives of children. "So when covid-19 came along, Verez knew what he had to do." And so, as he so brilliantly did in the 1990s when so many children were dying from haemophilus influenzae, Dr. Velez quickly developed successful vaccines to fight Covid-19.

  The WASHINGTON POST: "Most of Cuba's youngsters got their shots months ago. His Soberana 02, used in children as young as 2, is one of a pair of homemade vaccines credited with taming covid-19."

A precious jewel from Dr. Velez.

     His love for Cuba's children inspired Dr. Vicente Velez to devote his life to creating vaccines that are fighting dreadful diseases, such as Covid-19.

Dr. Vicente Velez

     And by the way, this photo courtesy of Flickr shows the Findlay Institute in 1991 right after it was opened. Fidel Castro named it to honor Carlos Juan Findlay, the doctor who pioneered the research that resulted in the life-saving Yellow Fever vaccine.

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Cuba Allowed Fair Treatment in the World Baseball Classic!!

 DESPITE THE U. S. EMBARGO!!

     The 20-team World Baseball Classic 2023 starts in March. Baseball-loving Cuba, per capita, has the best players in the world and, on fair playing fields, the island nation regularly won most international tournaments...including three consecutive Gold Medals in the Olympics. But the U. S. embargo kept enlarging the Embargo/Blockade sanctions against Cuba, including making the island uncompetitive in recent international baseball events, including the World Baseball Classic. But, lo 'n behold, the U. S. in 2023 incredibly has allowed Cuba to finally include Cuban Major League players, giving the island nation a fighting chance in the WBC 2023 starting in March.

   Above are recent articles from sources such as Reuters that explain how Cuba, like the other 19 teams in the World Baseball Classic, can use some native players that are currently stars in the U. S. Major Leagues.

    Thus, Cuba's preliminary starting line-up for the World Baseball Classic -- as shown above -- includes some Cuban-born players that are superstars in the U. S. Major Leagues. Luis Robert will be anchoring the Cuban outfield in Center Field and Yoan Moncada will be anchoring the Cuban infield at Third Base. This drastically improves Cuba's chances in the World Baseball Classic. Cuba's first game in the WBC will be March 7th against the Netherlands in faraway Taiwan.

     This is Luis Robert, the superstar Center Fielder for the Chicago White Sox. Born 25 years ago in Abreus, a town of 30,000 on Cuba's southern coast, Luis is one of the most talented outfielders in the U. S. Major Leagues and will be one of the top players in the World Baseball Classic.

    This is Yoan Moncada, the superstar Third Baseman for the Chicago White Sox in the U. S. Major Leagues and for Cuba in the World Baseball Classic. Yoan was born 27 years ago in Guantanamo, Cuba. Both Yoan and Luis combine superb power and speed. Both had injury-plagued 2022 seasons for the White Sox but are now healthy as the Cuban National Team begins to practice for the WBC, including exhibition games in the Dominican Republic and Mexico before flying to Taiwan to face the Netherlands on March 7th.

    The aforementioned Reuters article depicted above mentions that over "650 Cuban players have defected to the U. S." to pursue their dreams of becoming multi-millionaire stars in the Major Leagues. Many of them now own lavish mansions, especially in Florida. The photos above show Luis Robert and his mansion in nearby Florida. Luis, of course, has plenty of money to buy such things as the mansion shown above but, at age 25, he is still not quite eligible for Free Agency. When he reaches Free Agency -- meaning all 30 MLB teams can bid for him, Luis Robert will be able to purchase ten mansions like the property shown above. Below are some more photos of Luis Robert's current mansion in Florida.

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Not ALL Cubans Want to leave Their Island.

 

   Today -- on Jan. 21-2023 -- all the U. S. Cuban Headlines, as usual, herald news that all Cubans in Cuba are anxious to get to nearby Key West-Miami by crossing the Florida Straits or crossing the U.S.-Mexican border on their longer and costlier journeys to Florida. But, since 1959, there also have been enough Cubans in Cuba who, come HELL or HIGH Water, love Cuba and the Revolution enough to remain on their beloved island at all costs. The photo above today was taken in a TV Studio in Havana in which anchor Rosy Amaro  had just interviewed famed singer Israel Rojas. After a recent journalistic trip to Dubai, Rosy, either working or on vacations, has also visited seven top European cities. Israel, as the lead singer of the Buena Fe Band, has also had many chances to defect. But neither of them will ever do so...come hell or high water. So, perhaps, at least one headline and article in the U. S. might explain that key phenomenon...or otherwise Americans will never understand why, since 1959 come hell or high water, millions of Cubans in Cuba have actually never contemplated forsaking their island for the riches in the nearby USA. {And if that is not so the Revolution would have ended many, many decades ago instead of now being in its 64th year since overthrowing the U.S.-Mafia-backed Batista dictatorship in 1959}.

The Buena Fe Duo singing the Revolution's praises.

{Video from YouTube}

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Embargo Designed to Block Cuba's Tourism!!

 So it doesn't overwhelm Florida's tourism?

    This week -- now into the third week of 2023 -- the New York Times, the USA's most famed newspaper, recommended that Cuba should be a top tourist destination this year. The photo that illustrated the article shows the Cuban beach at Cayo Coco.

    This map shows the location of Cayo Coco, Santa Clara, and Varadero. These three ultra-beautiful beaches on Cuba's northern coast are due southeast of Havana and just below Florida. While the New York Times this week spotlights Cayo Coco, the two beaches just northwest of Cayo Coco -- Santa Clara and Varadero -- have each been voted The Best Beach in the World by international tourist publications. In other words, Cuba has a plethora of beaches rated more beautiful than the beaches in Florida!!! The New York Times article this week reminds some people that one reason for the six-decades-old U. S. Embargo against Cuba is to PROTECT Florida's tourism against having tourist competition from nearby Cuba!!!

JUST ASKING?

    But for sure the U. S. EMBARGO of Cuba, which began in 1962, is still very much alive in January of 2023 and for the last six+ decades it has powerfully enriched Cubans in Florida while starving Cubans in Cuba. And for sure, promoting and protecting Florida tourism while blocking and starving Cuban tourism is a prime offshoot. Of course, with Florida having dictated the USA's Cuban policies and narratives since 1959, Americans are programmed to lavishly support tourism and dollars to Florida while cowardly supporting starvation in Cuba, which, of course, includes blocking Cuban tourism.

     And that is why Cubans in Cuba use the Spanish word "bloqueo" to describe the EMBARGO.

     And meanwhile, by all means, Americans are programmed not to be ashamed of the EMBARGO.

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Ana Belen Montes Will Live in Puerto Rico

 

   On 09-21-2001 the top Cuban expert in the U. S. government, Ana Belen Montes, was arrested and charged with being a spy for Cuba. After serving 20 years in a U. S. federal prison, Ana this month of January-2023 was released and quickly she flew from Texas to the Caribbean U. S. Territory of Puerto Rico.

     Two sources -- the BBC and CBS -- now indicate that Ana Belen Montes, now 65-years-old, will live in Puerto Rico now that she is free again. For over 20 years, or ever since her arrest as the ultra-highest profile U. S. Cuban spy, she has repeatedly expressed her abiding concern for how the United States government treats the people in both Cuba and Puerto Rico.

    During the massive saga of Ana Belen Montes the U. S. media, not surprisingly, has focused on how her story helps prove how and why the Cuban Counter Revolutionary zealots in the U. S. should continue to be vastly funded and vastly supported so, presumably, they and U. S. businessmen can regain control of the Cuba that they lost when the Cuban Revolution in 1959 defeated the U.S./Mafia-backed Batista DICTATORSHIP. Since Ana Belen Montes was arrested in 2001 the U. S. media has used her as a propaganda tool to cement the USA's Cuban policies that appease prime Counter Revolutionaries, especially those in Miami and Congress. Therefore basic truths about Ana that didn't fit that narrative were not revealed. She was, in fact, a brilliant graduate of the University of Virginia and John Hopkins University that quickly emerged as the top Cuban expert in the highest realms of the U. S. government's defense and intelligence areas. As such a unique expert, Ana firmly came to believe that the U. S. Cuban policies, after the fall of the Batista dictatorship, was acutely "cruel and immoral." She then used her exalted position within the U. S. government to spy for Cuba, and not even her critics to this day claim that she did so because Cuba paid her to be their spy in Washington. The Cuban narratives in the U. S. since 1959 have been one-sided but above in the CBS/BBC update on Ana in January of 2023 there incredibly are some truthful facts regarding her release from prison. The first two paragraphs, for example, say:

      "In the first statement to the media since her release, Montes said she hoped the focus would shift away from her and towards what she said were 'serious problems' facing people in Cuba and Puerto Rico. I, as a person, am irrelevant. I don't matter,' Montes said in her statement, written in Spanish. 'There are serious problems in our global homeland that require attention.'"

       The day in 2001 when she was sentenced to 25 years in a U. S. federal prison, Ana Belen Montes calmly and sincerely read a long statement to the judge explaining that she would never regret what she had done. As you can see above, after serving twenty years in a U. S. federal prison, she still feels the same way.

    Now 65-years-old and living as a free woman in Puerto Rico, Ana Belen Montes remains uniquely a person of conscience: "I, as a person, am irrelevant. I don't matter. There are serious problems in our global homeland that require attention."

      In both 2001 and in 2023 Ana Belen Montes had the courage and insight to make this statement: "There are serious problems in our global homeland that require attention." She, of course, was referring to the USA's Cuban policies that from 1962  until 2023 have been allowed to exist and to be internationally depicted by the famed Carlos LaTuff image {above} that continues to saturate the world. Obviously, Ana Belen Montes believes this image of the U. S. insults both Cuba and the United States.

    Decade after Decade and Year after Year the nations of the world vote in the United Nations in New York for the United States to end the Embargo/Blockade of Cuba. And each Year the near-unanimity of the vote resounds around the world, but to no avail. In fact, in one year {2016} the vote was totally unanimous because the then U. S. President, Barack Obama, refused to support it!!! Yet, even in 2016, the U. S. Embargo/Blockade of Cuba continued and it still continues!!!

    When she was sentenced to 25 years in prison in September of  2001, Ana Belen Montes told the judge that she had no regrets because, as the USA government's top Cuban expert, she believed the USA's Cuban policies were "cruel and immoral." Now at age 65, and finally released from prison in January of 2023, she still has no regrets about what she did because she still believes that the USA's Cuban policies are still "cruel and immoral." For sure...it seems that a vast majority of the people in the world, including many that disagree with what she did as a spy, agree with her.

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