Miranda Kerr at the 2011 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

Source: CBS News

Noviembre 30, 1956: El día que Santiago de Cuba se vistió de verde olivo

El viejo caserón de la policía en Santiago de Cuba arde
por los cocteles Molotov arrojados por los revolucionarios.
Como narró Vilma Espín, Frank País estuvo con Fidel en México en agosto y en octubre de 1956. En la última reunión, Fidel nombra a Frank Jefe Nacional de Acción y, a propuesta de Frank, se toma la decisión de preparar una fuerte acción insurreccional armada en Santiago, acompañada de acciones diversas en varios puntos de Oriente y otros lugares del país donde fuera posible.

Tras haber recibido el telegrama remitido desde México "obra pedida agotada", enviado a la dirección de Arturo Duque de Estrada, el 28 de noviembre Frank País había definido en una reunión con los jefes de grupo el objetivo de la acción: inmovilizar al ejército en Santiago de Cuba hasta que Fidel y los hombres del Granma desembarcaran. En la mañana del 29 se precisaron fecha y hora: al día siguiente, a partir de las 7:00 a.m.

El 30 de noviembre de 1956, Santiago de Cuba amaneció vestida de verde olivo, el uniforme que por primera vez usaban los soldados de la Revolución. Nunca antes en la historia del país, una ciudad cooperó, unánime y enardecida, en un levantamiento revolucionario como lo hizo la entonces capital de Oriente. El ejército batistiano se vio asediado tanto por las balas de los rebeldes como por el ojo avizor de la población, que informaba a los revolucionarios de cualquier movimiento de los uniformados.

El propio Frank relataría después, en apretada y modesta síntesis, lo ocurrido en Santiago de Cuba aquel 30 de Noviembre memorable e histórico:

"La ciudad amaneció bajo un tiroteo general. Armas de todos los calibres vomitaban fuego y metralla. Alarmas y sirenazos de los bomberos, del Cuartel Moncada, de la Marina. Ruido de aviones volando a baja altura. Incendios en toda la ciudad. El Ejército Revolucionario dominaba las calles y el ejército de Batista pretendiendo arrebatarle ese dominio. Los gritos de nuestros compañeros, secundados por el pueblo, y mil indescriptibles sucesos y emociones distintas. La población entera de Santiago, enardecida y aliada a los revolucionarios, cooperó unánimemente con nosotros. Cuidaba a los heridos, escondía a los hombres armados, guardaba las armas y los uniformes de los perseguidos; nos alentaba, nos prestaba las casas y vigilaba el lugar, avisándonos de los movimientos del ejército. Era hermoso el espectáculo de un pueblo cooperando con toda valentía en los momentos más difíciles de la lucha."

Ese mismo pueblo luego con dignidad, heroísmo y rebeldía, supo llevar en hombros hasta el cementerio a los caídos en el combate, jurando frente a sus tumbas continuar la lucha,

Baire, Puerto Padre y el central "Ermita", también fueron escenario de acciones revolucionarias durante la jornada insurreccional del 30 de Noviembre.

En la capital de Oriente, los revolucionarios lograron mantener el control de las calles durante varias horas, mientras las fuerzas represivas del régimen, desconcentradas y presas de temor en los primeros momentos, no se atrevían a salir de los cuarteles asediados. Los cuerpos armados de la tiranía, con superioridad numérica y material, se replegaron ante los primeros ataques de los jóvenes revolucionarios.

Aunque no logró coincidir con el desembarco del Granma —como era el propósito—, el levantamiento popular del 30 de Noviembre en Santiago de Cuba constituyó una victoria política indiscutible al patentizar la capacidad de organización del movimiento revolucionario y la plena identificación del pueblo con este, decididos a continuar la lucha hasta alcanzar la plena independencia de la Patria.

El alzamiento del 30 de noviembre se convertía en un puente histórico entre el Moncada y el Granma. Y fue una acción que contribuyó a devolverle al pueblo la conciencia de sí mismo. Honda fue la huella que dejaron tras sí aquellas horas difíciles y decisivas.

Y alto el precio que hubo que pagar, la pérdida de tres valiosas vidas: Pepito Tey, Otto Parellada y Tony Alomá, soldados infatigables de la Patria, quienes probaron, con su caída en combate, que para el revolucionario legítimo la muerte no es más que una forma de lucha, una prolongación y un triunfo de la vida.

Source: Granma

"An Empty Suit" for POTUS?

In my native country, Cuba, they have an old saying "Dime con quien andas y te dire quien eres." Translated literally it means "Tell me who you run around with, and I will tell you who you are. Colloquially, I would translate it as "Dumb people run with dumb people."

Barack Obama is beginning to look better and better, even if he continues the U.S. failed embargo against Cuba.

There is only one "moderate" among the eight GOP candidates for POTUS, Huntsman, and because the party of Lincoln has been taken over by religious and political fanatics -- who hate everyone and every country -- except the genocidal Zionists, he does not have a chance to win the GOP nomination.

CBS is reporting today the following news:

MIAMI, Fla. -- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney picked up the endorsement of three heavyweight Cuban Americans on Monday -- Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart, and former Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario's older brother.

WOW! Picking up the support of the Batistianos in Miami is a good thing?

My older son calls Romney "An Empty Suit." Now I see what he really meant.

Politically Incorrect Santas

PINCH ME! Good News About the Obama Administration

The Chief of Cuba's Interest Section in Washington, D.C.
Jorge Bolaños Suarez
Photo: (Anita Waters/PW)
In a first, U.S. allows Cuban envoy to travel to Ohio
The on-line publication People's World has reported the following:

by: Anita Waters

November 28 2011

COLUMBUS, Ohio - In a small sign that U.S. relations with Cuba may be improving, Ambassador Jorge Bolaños Suarez, head of the Cuban Interest Section in the United States, traveled to Ohio last week. It was first time in 10 years that the United States has permitted Cuba's highest ranking diplomat to travel away from the Washington D.C. area, where the Interest Section is based. Bolaños spoke on Thursday to a small audience at the Ohio State University's Mershon Center, in a talk that revisited key points of common history shared by the U.S. and Cuba, described some of Cuba's outstanding achievements, and contemplated the long-term future of relations between Cuba and the United States.

Bolaños reminded the audience of the close relationship that the U.S. and Cuba have shared over two centuries, beginning in the American Revolutionary War when a Cuban military hero fought in George Washington's army and ultimately died in Washington's home. U.S. participation in Cuba's wars of independence from Spain ultimately led to a diminution of Cuba's national sovereignty, until the victory of the revolution in January 1959 restored the nation's self-determination.

Cuba is an internationally respected nation with outstanding achievements to its credit, Bolaños said. He cited its 35,000 professionals - doctors and teachers - who are at work abroad in poorer countries where help is desperately needed. Cuba has achieved accolades for its high ranking among Latin American countries in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The international community overwhelmingly supports Cuba, as evidenced in consistent calls in the United Nations for the end of the US embargo against Cuba. Bolaños recalled that Cuba was the first foreign destination for Nelson Mandela when he was finally elected president of a free South Africa. Ambassador Bolaños was at the UN when Mandela spoke there and recognized Cuba as the leader in the international fight against apartheid.

Bolaños' discussion of U.S./Cuba relations centered on the embargo, which has both economic and moral costs to both Cuba and the United States. Bolaños reminded his audience that the original purpose behind the U.S. embargo against Cuba was to cause suffering amongst ordinary Cubans. U.S. officials hoped and expected that when Cubans were hungry and desperate, they would rebel against their government. That of course never happened, and more than 50 years later, the policy is still preventing Americans from buying Cuban products and from visiting Cuba for themselves.

Cuba is linked closely by geography, culture and history to the United States, Bolaños noted. Cuba has never been at war with the U.S. and poses no threat to U.S. security, he said, adding that Cubans hope the two countries can live in peace based on mutual respect for each other's sovereignty and self-determination.

Bolaños credited Ohio State University President Gordon Gee for organizing his visit to Ohio. He went on to speak at Youngstown State University on Friday before returning to Washington.

------

JG: Any positive step should be commended and applauded. But the Cuba embargo is a failed U.S. policy. GET RID OF IT MR PRESIDENT! Give us a new Profile in Courage: send a written message to the U.S. Congress that says: "It came a time when the United States recognized that The People's Republic of China was the only true government of mainland China. The reality of Cuba is that the Cuban Revolutionary Government is the only true legitimate government of the island, and it has the overwhelming support of the population. The embargo must be LIFTED, and let the remnants of the Cold War be repealed!"

International Journal of Cuban Studies: Reforms Do Not Threaten Socialism, Says Research

The current reforms being undertaken by the Cuban government to increase the non-state sector and introduce market solutions do not threaten the socialist nature of the revolution according to research published this month in the International Journal of Cuban Studies.

Professor Michael O’Sullivan of Brock University in Ontario, Canada, interviewed Cuban young people about their attitudes to the revolution, socialism and their future following the reforms announced by Cuban President Raúl Castro in 2010 and implemented by the Cuban Communist Party in April this year.

His findings conclude that the reforms are part of a continuing process of renewal of the revolution that has gone through four distinct phases since 1959 and is now entering its fifth:
“Each of these phases constitute a continuation of the historical process and does not constitute a rupture with that process,” says O’Sullivan. “The most obvious of the ongoing characteristics is the socialist character of the country which is not threatened by creating a large non-state sector.”

‘Educated Cuban youth and the 2010 economic reforms: reinventing the imagined revolution’ is published in Volume 3 Number 4 of the IJCS. To subscribe visit the journal website or join the International Institute for the Study of Cuba.

Stop police brutality against peaceful protesters!

by: People's World Editorial Board

November 23, 2011

tags: Civil liberties, civil rights, Occupy Wall Street, students, history

Since Saturday night, millions of Americans have watched blast after blast of pepper spray directed at seated, passively resisting protesters at the University of California, Davis. The chemical was fired into their faces and on their bodies at point-blank range.

Two campus police officers are captured on video spraying the poisonous chemical.

The attack on the protesters was completely unjustified even according to the questionable standards of law enforcement, which allow the chemical's use in cases of a clear threat to the life and safety of police carrying out legitimate duties.

Criminologists across the country have joined in expressions of outrage, noting that police pepper spray can be even more dangerous than a Taser.

A victim of pepper spray first feels sharp burning and pain and then coughs as breathing becomes more difficult. Soon the victim's lungs begin to bleed, as was the case with several of the victims at the University of California last weekend.

This is not an isolated incident.

Police in New York used pepper spray on the first day of the Occupy Wall Street protests. When New York's billionaire mayor eventually evicted protesters from Zuccotti Park, it was supposedly out of concern for public safety.

In Portland, Ore., protesters were hit with pepper spray last week. Photographers captured the horrific image of a young woman having the spray pumped directly into her mouth, nose and eyes.

The same dangerous chemicals were also sprayed on Occupy protesters in Seattle.

We believe that it is time for the federal government to move in and stop what has become a pattern of attacks on the fundamental rights not only of Occupy Wall Street protesters across the country, but on the rights of all Americans to engage in peaceful protest.

This has historical precedent. When workers occupied an auto plant in Flint, Mich., in the 1930s, U.S. troops were sent in to protect the occupiers from the police who were attacking them.

During the upsurge of the civil rights movement in the 1960's, our government again sent troops in to protect the public against police who used tear gas, water canons and attack dogs against civil rights demonstrators in the South.

As more and more members of the 99 percent majority exercise their rights to public assembly and free speech, we should, in a democracy, expect nothing less.

We are clearly in an era now where protests are becoming a daily, business-as-usual event. This demands a reassessment of how police forces, nationally, need to change the way they behave when "protecting" the "public." Even the definition of the "public" itself has changed as, more and more, the public and the protesters become one and the same.

One of the big issues for Occupy Davis students is the ceaseless round of tuition hikes resulting from the state's cuts to education. Previous generations of working-class youth attended that institution for free. Today, the tuition stands at almost $14,000 a year and it is climbing.

On Monday, New York City students at CUNY protesting tuition increases were also victims of police brutality at the Baruch campus.

Students all across America, asking for nothing more than what was granted to generations who came before them, should not have to face the threat of police attacks on their peaceful protests.

There are demands to fire the police chief, the officers involved and the University's Chancellor at Davis. While we support all of those demands, they are only first steps.

It's time for our elected leaders to speak out and take action against police brutality. The Justice Department today needs to step in with strict guidelines that protect all the people. And it should investigate the police departments involved for violating protester's civil rights.

Photo: One of the many pepper spray memes that popped up and went viral, this one depicting spraying at the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Barack Obama is a perfect example of "there's none so blind as those who will not see"

The world has changed. It is completely different from the world in the late 1950's. Constant transformations and new ideas are sweeping the planet. Technological advances are taking place practically everyday. And yet, there are blind people hat refuse to see.

Barack Obama is a case in point. His avowed "change you can believe in" was total fakery, specially on the Cuba issue. He continues to promote the Cuba embargo of Dumb Dubya and his eight predecessors.

The real problem, you see, is that Barack Obama does not really wants "reforms" in Cuba. What he wants is the total surrender of Cuba's sovereignty. To him reform and/or transition is total capitulation and the return of dog-eat-dog U.S. capitalism to the island.

Here is what one Cuba analyst, Anya Landau French, said today about the Obama administration: "when Raul Castro’s government released more than 50 political prisoners last year imprisoned in 2003 for their alleged cooperation with the United States (in fact, it released more than 100, all of its political prisoners according to Amnesty International, except those convicted of violent crimes), the Obama administration hardly acknowledged its significance."

[The U.S.responses] "were sold as a more effective way to get around the Cuban government, reinforcing Cuban officials’ perception that all the US government is interested in in Cuba is regime change – hardly an incentive to serious negotiation."

Barack Obama is very busy. Collecting money in Miami for his re-election campaign, promising the extremists in that cesspool of a city that he is "going to liberate Cuba." The gusanos, gullible suckers that they are, send him money. All I am want to do is to get a refund of the money that I sent Obama in 2008.

Based on what he promised in 2008, can anyone believe Barack Obama today?

A "new beginning" with Cuba is not going to happen under Barack Obama.

He is a consummate liar.

A Mi Patria

Mi Patria es el amor, no el odio.

Mi Patria es belleza, no nube negra.

Mi Patria construye, no derrumba.

Mi Patria es alegria, no tristeza.

Mi Patria es salud, no enfermedad.

Mi Patria es educación, no mezquinidad.

Mi Patria te brinda su mano de amistad,

no el puñal de desverguenzas.

Ya lo dijo bien nuestro Apóstol:

“Y para el cruel que me arranca,

El corazón con que vivo,

Cardo ni ortiga cultivo,

Cultivo una rosa blanca.”

Funny 4 the Day ~ Cyber Monday

Funny 4 the Day ~ Sexy Santas

~ I'm 2 sexy 4 my sleigh! ~

♫ 1980's Music Veekend Begins! ~ Black Friday

~ Shop till U drop! ~

Happy Thanksgiving!

~ Gobble Gobble! ~

Things that you'll hardly ever see reported in the U.S. capitalist corporate-controlled press

All the major sources of the news media in the United States are controlled by die-hard capitalism fanatics. Examples are: The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, among others. To them capitalism is a religion, with strict dogmas that most be adhered to.

When they talk about advanced civilized societies that are not non-capitalist they usually dust up disparaging or belittling comments. A case in point is The Washington Post. The Cuban postal service is "rickety." I could probably give you hundreds of examples. When they talk about the Cuban government it is always referred as "the communist government" of the island. Have you ever seen a news article at the Washington Post where they say "the capitalist government" of United States? It is as if they were ashamed their dog-eat-dog society and economic and political system.

You will never see The Washington Post say the following: "Cuba has the best health care and educational system of any developing-world country and its infant mortality rate for the whole Republic is below that of Washington. D.C."

Worse than a religious fanatic -- remember when they burned heretics at the stake? -- is a political fanatic: Hitler and Mussolini in the 1930's and Bush and Obama in the first decade of the XXI century.

Funny 4 the Day ~ Carved Turkey

Now this is my kind of turkey!

Funny 4 the Day ~ Birkenstuck

Socialists Lose Control of Government in Spain

The Partido Popular (right-wingers) defeated the Partido Socialista Obrero de España 186-110.

That is what the PSOE gets for governing like capitalists. They deserved to lose. The same thing is going to happen to the Democratic Party in the United States in November 2012.

The Political Posturing of U.S. Senator Bill Nelson

U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat from Florida, is a typical corrupt Democratic Party politician. He has always been a "buddy" of the Batistianos in Miami, and is a good friend of Robert Menendez, another corrupt Democrat, this one from New Jersey, a state where politicians are usually allies of the American Mafia.

Nelson is upset because foreign companies are going to explore for oil in Cuban territorial waters in the Gulf Of Mexico. So he has introduced a silly bill in the U.S. Senate which does not amount to a hill of beans, and is the trademark of failed politicos, who usually introduce bills for political posturing and to collect graft money under the table.

He is also strongly in favor of continuing the failed embargo against Cuba. He has no shame, doesn't he?

So I am adding him to my little list of incumbent politicians who will not get my vote in November 2012.

NOTA, HERE I COME!

Funny 4 the Day ~ Eat mE!

~ Eat mE! ~

VERSI TERBARU SKYPE UNTUK ANDROID 2.1.0.46 FREE DOWNLOAD 2011

Sekarang telah hadir Skype versi terbaru untuk Android 2.1.0.46. Seperti kita tahu bahwa Skype untuk Android adalah aplikasi gratis yang memungkinkan Anda untuk menggunakan instant messaging populer di smartphone Anda dari Google.

Dengan Skype versi terbaru untuk Android 2.1.0.46 (Free Download 2011) diinstal pada ponsel Anda, pertama Anda dapat menghubungi. Memang, jika salah satu kontak Anda sedang online, maka Anda tidak perlu memanggil dengan cara konvensional pada nomor telepon namun hanya panggilan pengenal sejak itu gratis. Namun, Anda dapat menghubungi melalui telepon Skype tetapi layanan ini dibayar.

Versi terbaru Skype untuk Android 2.1.0.46 Free Download 2011 juga memungkinkan Anda untuk membuat panggilan video ke kontak Skype. Perlu diketahui fitur ini hanya tersedia jika telepon terhubung ke jaringan WiFi.

Di sisi lain, dengan Skype versi terbaru untuk Android 2.1.0.46 Free Download 2011 Anda tentu saja dapat memancarkan dan menerima pesan instan dengan baik satu kontak atau grup. Skype untuk Android bisa sangat berguna sebagai program terutama jika Anda tidak di komputer Anda dan Anda harus berpartisipasi dalam panggilan konferensi pada instant messaging. Sekarang klik di sini Versi terbaru Skype untuk Android 2.1.0.46 Free Download 2011.

Dari pasar website resmi android, yang ada dalam versi ini di bawah ini. Panggilan video sekarang tersedia pada perangkat Android berikut:

1. Samsung Galaxy S II
2. Samsung Galaxy S
3. Samsung Droid Charge - Verizon
4. Samsung Galaxy Tab
5. HTC Desire (2.2)
6. HTC Thunderbolt - Verizon
7. HTC Sensation
8. HTC Evo 4G
9. HTC Evo 3D
10. HTC Incredible S
11. HTC Desire HD
12. HTC Flyer
13. LG Revolution - Verizon (2.2)
14. Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY
15. Sony Ericsson Xperia ray
16. Sony Ericsson Xperia mini pro
17. Acer A5

An empire that can not pay its debts: U.S. Debt Tops $15 Trillion Mark Today

Members of the congressional “super-committee” are battling the national debt, but they are not able to reach any agreement so far.

The amount the U.S. owes topped the $15 trillion mark Wednesday afternoon.

Read the ABC News article.

Is the U.S. the next Greece or Italy?

Does anyone want to make an educated guess as to the exact date when the President of the United States or his Treasury Department Secretary goes on national TV and announces: "My fellow citizens: the United States federal government has filed for BANKRUPTCY!"

In the meantime, capitalist millionaires and billionaires keep buying more yachts and palaces, while millions of working-class citizens are losing their homes and have to apply for food-stamps.

LONG LIVE THE AMERICAN DREAM!

Dos generales, dos grandes Héroes de la Patria

General Máximo Gómez
General Máximo Gómez
Nacido el 18 de noviembre de 1836, en Baní, Santo Domingo, Máximo Gómez emigró a Cuba el 13 de julio de 1865. Después de residir unos meses en Santiago de Cuba, se ubicó en El Dátil, jurisdicción de Bayamo. Allí comenzó a conspirar con los revolucionarios cubanos que aspiraban a la emancipación de la Patria.

En la propia provincia oriental, Máximo Gómez desarrolló sus actividades militares como jefe y realizó el 4 de noviembre de 1868 la primera carga al machete en Venta del Pino de Baire al frente de bisoños combatientes campesinos y aniquiló al enemigo colonialista, superior en número, armamento y entrenamiento. Desde entonces, ese método de lucha se convirtió en el instrumento fundamental de lucha mambisa durante treinta años (1868-1898).

General de mil batallas, formador de grandes jefes. Su disciplina y valentía le merecieron el respeto de las fuerzas mambisas con las que realizó la primera invasión del Ejército Libertador a Occidente.

El cese temporal de la campaña independentista por el Pacto del Zanjón le obligó a marchar al extranjero. En medio de muchas penurias, donde incluso perdió a varios de sus hijos, no doblegó sus ideales y se dedicó a los preparativos de una nueva contienda.

Identificado con el pensamiento de José Martí en sus ideales de unidad latinoamericana, Máximo Gómez consideraba de gran importancia la confraternidad de los pueblos antillanos para enfrentar la expansión imperialista yanki.

El intervencionismo militar yanki frustró el ideal de plena soberanía de Cuba y Puerto Rico, y con certera visión manifestó su repudio contra la ocupación militar norteamericana en nuestra Patria. El 8 de enero de 1899, en su Diario de Campaña anotó:

"Los americanos están cobrando demasiado caro con la ocupación militar del país... el día que termine tan extraña situación, es posible que no dejen los americanos aquí ni un adarme de simpatía".

Serafín, general de tres guerras

General Serafín Sánchez
Serafín Sánchez Valdivia cayó combatiendo el 18 de noviembre de 1896.

Sobre él, escribió José Martí en Nueva York: "De sólidos méritos y limpio corazón el valiente y sensato cubano Serafín Sánchez. De soldado anduvo toda Cuba, y adquirió gloria justa y grande. Es persona de discreción y de manejo de hombres, de honradez absoluta y de reserva, y tiene de columna hasta la estatura".

Serafín nació el 2 de julio de 1846 en la villa de Sancti Spíritus. Antes del estadillo de la guerra de 1868, trabajó como maestro y el 6 de febrero de 1869 se alzó en armas contra el colonialismo español, seguido por 45 hombres y fue General del ejército mambí en las tres guerras.

Vinculado estrictamente a Máximo Gómez, sirvió de enlace entre el héroe de mil batallas y el apóstol José Martí. Por su gran prestigio revolucionario, contribuyó decisivamente, siempre al lado de Martí, a unir a los viejos combatientes con los conspiradores civiles, y por su autoridad en el centro de la Isla, a vertebrar el movimiento clandestino.

Aquel 18 de noviembre de 1896, el General Serafín, Inspector General del Ejército Libertador, participa en el combate reñidísimo que sostienen las fuerzas mambisas durante cuatro horas contra dos numerosas columnas enemigas en el paso de Las Damas sobre el río Zaza.

Una bala atravesó al mayor general Serafín Sánchez, del hombro derecho hacia el izquierdo, cortando la arteria pulmonar y produciendo de manera casi instantánea la muerte. Solo tuvo tiempo para decir: "Me han matado", y luego "eso no es nada; sigan la marcha".

Source: Granma, November 18, 2011

Related Article at Juventud Rebelde

Think tank advocates international support for Cuba

Cuban President Raul Castro
TV New Zealand

Published: 8:35PM Friday November 18, 2011 Source: Reuters

The international development community, especially financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank, and the United States should reach out to communist Cuba as it pursues economic reforms and bring it "in from the cold," a new think tank report says.

The report published by the Brookings Institution in Washington says incipient economic reforms set in motion by Cuban President Raul Castro should be encouraged by the world's economic policy makers because history suggests that such reforms can foster political pluralism.

"In approaching Cuban economic reform, the United States should join with the international development community in nudging forward that irresistible flow of history," said the report, which will be released tomorrow.

The report's author, Richard Feinberg, is a non-resident senior fellow with the Latin America Initiative at the Brookings Institution. He served as special assistant to President Bill Clinton for National Security Affairs and senior director of the National Security Council's (NSC) Office of Inter-American Affairs.

The Brookings publication is one of several reports by US think tanks and institutions that have appeared in recent weeks urging President Barack Obama's administration to pay close attention to the reforms currently under way in Cuba, which remains the target of a long-running US economic embargo.

Liberalisation

President Castro's reforms, endorsed by Cuba's ruling Communist Party in an April Congress, include ground-breaking measures such as allowing Cubans to buy and sells cars and homes. They also widen self-employment and private business opportunities for tens of thousands of Cubans in a bid to soak up worker layoffs in the stagnant centralised state economy.

Feinberg said Cuba's moves to promote more market-oriented systems and its increasing openness to the international economy provided a "golden opportunity" for engagement, despite the persistence of conservative elements in the leadership resistant to significant political and economic change.

"My argument precisely is not to deny that there are forces of inertia there; clearly there are and they remain strong. But it is the role of the international community in circumstances such as this to lend their weight to the positive forces of change," Feinberg told Reuters.

He cited the examples of Nicaragua and Vietnam, which despite their socialist governments still maintained successful relationships with international financial institutions (IFIs) like the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.

"IFI staff economists and sector specialists are chomping at the bit to engage in Cuba - they should be allowed and encouraged to do so," the report said.

Revolutionary Cuba withdrew from the World Bank in 1960 and from the IMF in 1964, and since then has kept up a thunderous propaganda drumbeat against financial institutions which its leaders dismissively refer to as "tools of imperialism".

The report blamed what it called "the unyielding Cuban-American lobby" in the United States for bullying the US government into blocking any outreach towards Cuba from the Washington-based IMF and World Bank.

------

JG: The Brookings Institution website has the complete report on PDF format. Click on the link in the second paragraph.

Thoroughly unqualified POTUS candidate, Herman Cain, thinks Cuban is a language and stumbles on Cuba policies

www.chicagonow.com

By Teresa Puente, today at 7:51 am

Here's a quick lesson for Herman Cain.

1) They speak Spanish in Cuba, not Cuban.

2) Cuba is an island.

3) If Cubans make it to U.S. soil, they become eligible for legal status.

Why does Cain need these basic facts?

On a visit to Miami this week he munched on a Cuban croqueta and asked with a mouthful of food, "How do you say delicious in Cuban?"

Cain also struggled to answer basic questions about U.S.-Cuba foreign policy accusing one reporter of asking a "gotcha question," according to CNN.

Cain continues to show gross ignorance about the world and human rights. Let's not forget his suggestion that we build an "electrified" fence at the U.S.-Mexico border that could zap to death undocumented immigrants.

Turns out he later said he was just joking. Right!

That's probably what he'll say about speaking Cuban.

I wonder what he thinks they speak in Brazil - Brazilian or Spanish?

I bet if you asked him in which countries they speak Portuguese, he'd say that's a "gotcha question."

It's obvious from his recent Libya gaffe, where he had a giant brain fart before answering the question, that he doesn't understand world events.

If he became president, imagine a trip to the Middle East. He would probably think he'd have to learn Egyptian, Israelian and Tarabian.

Hey I'm just making up words like Cain himself. He joked about not knowing who is the president of "Ubeki-beki-beki-stan-stan."

All of this makes me wonder how he thinks he could be qualified to be president of the United States.

This is without even factoring in the very serious accusations of sexual harassment.

And anybody who calls House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi "Princess Nancy" should be sent to sensitivity training.

Apologies not accepted.

Maybe Cain was brought up at a time when only "American" was taught in school. I doubt he paid much attention in history class. Maybe he studied pig Latin instead.

Cain may think all of this is funny.

I find it frightening, no matter what language you speak.

------

Cain Stumbles Over Cuba Policy

Wall Street Washington Wire

Herman Cain raised more questions about his grasp of foreign policy during a campaign stop in Florida Wednesday.

Between events with groups of Cuban Americans, Mr. Cain was asked about the U.S. “wet-foot, dry-foot policy,” which allows Cubans who make it to U.S. soil to stay, while those that get caught in transit (in the water) are sent back. Cuban immigration policy is a key topic for White House hopefuls stumping in South Florida.

From the Miami Herald:

His campaign kept reporters at bay, and when asked about the Cuban Adjustment Act and the so-called wet-foot, dry-foot policy, Cain seemed stumped…

“Wet-foot, dry-foot policy?” Cain asked. His press handlers interrupted as Cain diverted his course and ducked back into the building. Later, when he emerged, he was asked again by another reporter. Cain didn’t answer.

“Gotta run, gentlemen,” he said.

Mr. Cain also deflected a question on what he made of President Barack Obama easing travel restrictions to Cuba. That is a “gotcha question,” Mr. Cain said.

Later Wednesday, Mr. Cain said he didn’t think it was right to send back Cubans who had almost made it to U.S. shores.

------

The views on Cuba of four POTUS GOP Candidates
(The above website does not know the difference between a coup d'etat and a revolution.)

JG: POTUS is an an acronym for "President of the United States."

♫ 1980's Music Veekend Begins! ~ Skinny Tie

~ Vintage Skinny Piano Tie ~

The feminazis at Huffington Post are helping Maurice Claver-Carone

Huffington Post self-promotes its blog as a "progressive" voice.

DON'T BELIEVE THEIR SPIEL!

When it comes to the Cuba issue, they are one of the most right-wing branches of the Democratic Party. Ariana Huffington and her gang are certified Cuba haters.

Their latest anti-Cuba garbage, by Maricio Claver-Carone, is the usual talking points of the Miami ultra-conservative Cuba haters, which are the remnants of General Fulgencio Batista, who live in South Florida. They stole millions of dollars from Cuba's Treasury Depasrtment on January First, 1959, and then fled to Miami, Florida, with their buddies in the American Mafia. They still dream of returning "democracy" to Cuba, but they are all slowly dying in Calle Ocho.

His latest hate campaign is as follow:

"Reasonable minds should be able to agree that it's not in the United States' national interest to assist anti-American dictators in searching for oil to support their repressive, failing regimes. It won't drop the price of gas in the United States or do anything to enhance our "energy independence."

Yet American assistance to make oil-drilling in the Florida Straits profitable is exactly what Cuba's dictators Fidel and Raul Castro hope to gain as they use the threat of oil-drilling to maneuver the Obama Administration into once again unilaterally lifting U.S. sanctions on Cuba."

Mauricio's last name may be Claver, but he is not very clever.

Funny 4 the Day ~ Will Work...

Brooklyn Dodgers in Cuba

Book Description: The Brooklyn Dodgers held spring training in Havana in 1947 so Jackie Robinson could practice safely. Yet that was hardly the beginning: the Bums played in Cuba over 60 seasons, from 1900 to 1959. Ballplayers drank hard with Hemingway. Some found themselves in Cuban jails. Pitcher Van Lingle Mungo, barricaded in the Hotel Nacional with two women, fended off an angry husband (and his machete). Leo Durocher got into a brawl with an umpire, after Lippy's translator correctly cursed him in Spanish. Vin Scully watched machine gun-toting barbudos enter the room. An outfielder leaped into the stands, with a loaded gun, to chase a fan. Several players encountered Fidel Castro, who once walked onto the field in his fatigues, patted his pistol, and said to Lefty Locklin, "Tonight, we win."

Author Bio: Jim Vitti has written several baseball books and received the Sporting News/Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) Award in 2004. He longs for the day when Havana can rejoin the International League.

------

JG: This book is superb! I got my copy on the mail on Saturday. It has a big treasure of outstanding photos of great MLB players while they were "spring training" in Havana. If you like Cuba and baseball, this book belongs in your library.

Taíno Indian Queen

Taíno People Wikipedia Page

Cuba's Rafael Tenreiro: "It is not a matter of if we have oil, it is a matter of when we are going to start producing"

Cuba hopes the Scarabeo 9 rig
will help to expand its oil industry
By Michael Voss - BBC News, Havana

15 November 2011 Last updated at 08:20 ET

15 November 2011

A massive $750m (£473m) Chinese-built oil rig, the Scarabeo 9, is due to arrive in Cuba before the end of the year, to begin drilling a series of exploratory wells.

A whole range of international oil companies from Spain, Norway, Russia, India, Vietnam, Malaysia, Canada, Angola, Venezuela, and China - but not the US - are lining up to hire the rig and search for what are believed to be substantial oil deposits.

"We will drill several wells next year and I'm sure we will have discoveries. It is not a matter of if we have oil, it is a matter of when we are going to start producing," Rafael Tenreiro, head of exploration for the Cuban state-owned oil company Cupet, confidently predicts.

The Spanish company Repsol will be the first to drill, with an exploratory well in extremely deep water just 50 miles (80km) off the coast of Florida.

Be prepared

It has sent alarm bells ringing in the United States because if there were an accident, the ocean currents would push any oil spill onto Florida's beaches and the Everglades.

Yet under the US trade embargo, neither American firms nor the Coast Guard could come to Cuba's assistance or provide much needed equipment such as booms, pumps, skimmers and oil dispersant systems.

The Cubans would need to turn to the Norwegians, British or Brazilians for help.

"In the event of a disaster we are talking a response time in terms of equipment of four to six weeks as opposed to 36 or 48 hours. This is a serious impediment," warned Lee Hunt, president of the Texas-based International Association of Drilling Contractors.

Mr Hunt was part of a team of oil industry and environmental experts who were given permission by the Obama administration to visit Cuba to discuss safety issues with the authorities in Havana.

Leading the group was William Reilly, a former head of the US Environmental Protection Agency and co-author of the government report into last year's BP oil disaster.

He was impressed with Cuba's awareness of the risks and knowledge of the latest international safety measures.

The explosion and blow-out aboard BP's Deepwater Horizon rig off the coast of Louisiana killed 11 people and spilled 5m barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. It was one of the worst environmental disasters ever to hit the Gulf Coast.

It took 85 days to cap the well head, which was 5,500 feet beneath the surface. The Scarabeo 9 will be drilling in even deeper water.

After his talks with Cuban officials, William Reilly said he found them serious about safety and aware of international best practice but lacking in experience.

He wants to see the US co-operate with Cuba on safety issues and ease the embargo to allow US companies to assist in case of an emergency.

"It is profoundly in the interests of the United States to prepare the Cubans as best we can to ensure that we are protected in the case of a spill. We need to make it 'Key West safe'."

But Florida's powerful Cuban-American lobby has other ideas and with the 2012 presidential election looming, Barack Obama is in a difficult position.

Oil windfall?

The anti-Castro groups want the administration to take action to halt the drilling altogether and not just for safety reasons.

A major oil find would make this communist-run Caribbean island financially independent for the first time since the revolution in 1959.

For more than half a century Cuba has been dependent on the largesse of its ideological allies. First it was subsidized by the Soviet Union, then more recently Venezuela and, to a lesser extent, China.

Cuba has long produced some oil from a series of small onshore and coastal deposits.

Cuba currently produces about 53,000 barrels of oil a day but still needs to import about 100,000 barrels, mainly from Venezuela.

Its deep territorial waters, though, lie on the same geological strata as oil rich Mexico and the US Gulf.

Estimates on just how much offshore oil Cuba is sitting on vary. A US Geological Survey estimate suggests 4.6bn barrels, the Cubans say 20bn.

Even the most conservative estimate would make Cuba a net oil exporter. A large find would provide untold riches.

It is one of the US-based anti-Castro lobby's worst nightmares.

"The decaying Cuban regime is desperately reaching out for an economic lifeline, and it appears to have found a willing partner in Repsol to come to its rescue," Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Cuban-born Republican and Chairwoman of the influential House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement recently.

[JG: Of course the BBC very conveniently forgets to mention that La Loba Feroz family participated in the Batista dictatorship in Cuba. She, and her imperialist masters, would like to be able to exploit Cubans again.]

The Florida Congresswoman and a group of 33 other legislators, both Republican and Democrat, wrote to Repsol warning the company that the drilling could subject the company to "criminal and civil liability in US courts".

Repsol responded saying that its exploratory wells complied with all current US legislation covering the embargo as well as all safety regulations.

It has also agreed to allow US officials to conduct a safety inspection of the Chinese rig before it enters Cuban waters.

Under the embargo it is limited to just 10% American technology.

The rig was fitted in Singapore and the one piece of US equipment which was installed was the blow-out preventer.

[JG: If the imperialists are so smart, how come that the American-made blow-out preventer at BP's platform did not work? The reason is that capitalists are only interested in making huge sums of money at all costs. They cut corners and they cut safety procedures. Result: the death of 11 innocent people a the Deepwater Horizon BP oil rig. But since the U.S. and the British are partners in crime, they look the other way. THEY ARE THE SCUM OF THE EARTH!]

It was the failure of BP's blow-out preventer which was at the heart of that disaster.

According to Lee Hunt, the Scarabeo 9 is a state of the art deep-water rig and there are six similar platforms built at the same Chinese shipyard currently operating in US waters.

For the moment environmental concerns appear to be taking precedence over politics.

The government will take up Repsol's offer to inspect Scarabeo 9 and a limited number of licences have been issued to US clean-up operators to enter Cuban waters and assist in the event of a spill.

But the arguments are far from over as environmentalists are pushing for greater co-operation while Cuban-American groups are looking at ways to place legal and legislative hurdles in the way.

Lluvia con Cerca, by Eduardo Estrada

Calles de Cuba

Cuba says US behind illegal wireless networks

JG: The greed and ambitions of American imperialism never stop. They still dream of returning to Cuba to exploit its inhabitants.

AFP – 17 hrs ago

Cuba accused the United States on Monday of enabling illegal Internet connections in its territory and said several people were arrested in April for profiting from the wireless networks.

The official communist party newspaper Granma said those arrested, who were not identified, "had for some time and without any legal authorization, been installing wireless networks for profit."

Using satellite connections to the Internet and equipment that was either stolen or brought to the island illegally, they set up a service to receive international telephone calls that bypassed the state telephone monopoly ETECSA.

"This activity is financed by the United States, which is where the necessary means and tools come from, evading the established controls," the newspaper charged.

Cuba has restricted access to the Internet, giving priority to universities, research centers, state entities and professionals like doctors and journalists.

Because of the US embargo, Cuba cannot connect to the underwater fiber optic cables that pass near the island, leaving satellite connections with high rates and narrow bandwidths as the main option available to Cuban Internet users.

To overcome those limitations, a Cuban-Venezuelan company laid an underwater cable between the two countries in February. It was supposed to have been activated in July, but it has been delayed for reasons the government has yet to explain.

Cuban authorities have previously accused the United States of illegally introducing technology in the island to enable the creation of wireless networks outside state control.

One such case was that of US government contractor Alan Gross, who was arrested in December 2009 and sentenced to 15 years prison for bringing IT equipment into the country and delivering it to various people.

"Cuba has every right to safeguard its radio-electronic sovereignty. Those who try to evade it will bear the weight of the corresponding administrative rules and criminal law," Granma said.

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