Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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Cuba: Felipe & Rajoy to visit

Spain’s King Felipe and the prime minister will drop by “as soon as possible” before Raúl retires next year:

During their conversation, Rodríguez and King Felipe discussed the worsening situation in Venezuelawhere protesters have taken to the streets after the opposition-controlled national congress was briefly stripped off its powers. Speaking at a press conference afterward, Rodríguez said Cuba would continue supporting the government of President Nicolás Maduro to find the best “solutions and decisions.” He also referred to the 2002 coup that briefly toppled Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez.

Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis said after meeting with Rodríguez that the invitation “symbolizes the will of Cuba to increase links with Spain.”

As Carlos Eire points out,

Spanish hoteliers have invested heavily in Castrogonia’s apartheid tourist monopoly, and Comrade [Cuban foreign minister] Bruno [Rodríguez] would love for these neocolonialist Spanish businessmen to invest even more.

Good luck with that. Here’s a headline from two years ago: Cuba to compensate Spanish firms that stayed loyal in “difficult years”
Havana makes pledge to Spain’s top trade official as he leads investors’ delegation.

That check is still in the mail.

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Cuba: Gru goes to Paris

Despicable Me fans thought Gru was visiting Paris incognito while wearing a black wig. The sighting took place when a Gru-like figure shadowed Cuban dictator Raul Castro during his official visit to France‘s Socialist president Hollande:

Alas, it was not Gru, it was Raul’s grandson.

Hollande called for sanctions to be lifted.

Hollande ought to read – but, as a good socialist, won’t – the Washington Post’s editorial board look at the Obama administration’s Failure in Cuba:

What’s most evident over the past year is that the Castro brothers are effectively preventing real change and reform even as they reap the rewards of Mr. Obama’s opening. The president’s only response has been more unilateral concessions, along with talk of a visit to the island before he leaves office. Autocrats everywhere must be watching with envy the Castros’ good fortune.

Carlos Eire points out that

This encounter is all about profiting from Cuban slave labor. Nothing more, nothing less.

Cuba is ranked 169th out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. This is the lowest ranking of any country in Latin America.

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@OLPL: Cubans Freer than Puerto Ricans? Castro Must Think We’re Idiots

Last week at the UN, dictator Raul Castro repeated the regime’s usual meme that we Puerto Ricans are slaves to the U.S.’s “colonial rule.”

Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo writes, Cubans Freer than Puerto Ricans? Castro Must Think We’re Idiots. UN Sycophants Show Their True Colors, Lap Up “General” Raúl’s Lies. OLPL asks,

Does the Cuban general have his own plans for a Puerto Rico separated from US democracy? How can he speak so arrogantly about a nation capable of removing Yankee military outposts from its territory, while in Cuba, the people have never come together to protest the legal limbo of Guantanamo?

Does Raúl Castro allow Cubans who are residents or citizens of the United States, or any other country, to reside permanently in their home country of Cuba? Of course not. On the other hand, Puerto Ricans have always been able to live in Puerto Rico.

Does Raúl Castro allow Cubans residing on the island to invest in the national economy? Once again, the answer is “no.” Meanwhile, Puerto Ricans have always been able to invest in their own country or wherever else they please.

How many political parties enjoy legal status in Cuba? How many media outlets are not state owned? How many Cuban schools teach something other than communism, the ideology of hate towards difference and dissent? Are Cubans able to use the internet freely, from their mobile devices or their homes?

OLPL is barely getting started, so you must read his article in full, but I must emphasize a few rights Puerto Ricans can exercise which Cubans in the island-prison can not:
1. First and foremost, all Puerto Ricans can own assets anywhere in the free world in their own names individually or as part of a private enterprise, and can freely buy/lease/mortgage/dispose of those assets at they best see fit.

2. Puerto Ricans choose where they want to live, without the government’s permission. Members of my extended family live in Puerto Rico, the continental United States, and in foreign countries in Europe and South America. They may (and do) own properties in those locations, and in Puerto Rico (see 1 above).

3. Puerto Ricans are free to travel. Some even vacation in Cuba.

4. Puerto Ricans can freely access worldwide media, from electronic devices they can buy with their own money, anytime, anywhere.

And add these three,

5. Puerto Ricans deal directly with their employers, and get paid directly without the government handling/impounding the funds as part of the transaction.

6. Puerto Rican routinely mock the politicians and ruling class mercilessly and don’t get dragged off to a dungeon.

7. Puerto Ricans, such as myself, are bored of propagandist tyrants of failed states mouthing off at the UN on Puerto Rico’s “status” for their own mercenary purposes.

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Cuba: Victory lap, and more gimme gimme

Raul Castro is on a roll:
Cuban Dictator Castro Thanks U.S. With Insults And Grievances, since too much is never enough,

“After 56 years in which the Cuban people put up a heroic and selfless resistance, diplomatic relations have been re-established between Cuba and the United States of America,” the military dictator said.

Normalization of relations “will only be achieved with the end of the economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba; the return to our country of the territory illegally occupied by the Guantanamo naval base; the cessation of radio and TV broadcasts and of subversive and destabilizing programs against the island; and when our people are compensated for the human and economic damages they still endure,” he said.

After a speech, there’s always a photo-op:

Capitol Hill Cubans want to know, Which Conditions for Lifting the Cuban Embargo Does Obama Disagree With?

Related:
Want to Do Business in Cuba? All Roads Lead to Raúl Castro’s Son-in-Law

[Post corrected to add two final links]

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Cuba UPDATED

Secretary of State John Kerry is in Havana today for the opening of the U.S. Embassy. Read my article and roundup here.


Politico’s “formidable agent of change” on the job

UPDATE

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If the Pope were working for the other side, what exactly would he be doing differently?

Recently, Pope Francis

  • met with Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutierrez, the self-declared founder of liberation theology.
  • Restored to the priesthood Miguel d’Escoto, the Sandinista who expounded liberation theology as a priest and turned Nicaragua into a Cuban-ruled hellhole. D’Escoto also considers Fidel Castro a saint.
  • Brokered the “easing” of U.S.-Cuba relations that left the Cuban dissidents out in the dark.
  • Welcomed Raul Castro for an hour-long private audience.
  • UPDATE: Recognizes the Palestinian state.

To quote the estimable Mark Steyn, “If he were working for the other side, what exactly would he be doing differently?”

More on the Pope and liberation theology at IBD: Liberation Theology’s Comeback Comes With A KGB Caveat

UPDATE
Linked to by Babalu. Thank you!

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Cuba: The annotated Raul-Pope Francis meeting

The excellent Carlos Eire translates, annotates, and interprets a report on Raul Castro’s meeting with his new BFF, Pope Francis,
King Raul : “If the pope stays on the same path, I might join the Catholic Church!”

King Raul and the Holy Father exchanged gifts during this “cordial” visit.  The tyrant gave the pope a rare medal commemorating the 200th anniversary of Havana’s cathedral — of which only 25 exist.

The tyrant responsible for driving 20 percent of his subjects into exile also had the audacity to give the pope a contemporary painting by an unnamed Cuban artist that depicts a kneeling migrant praying on a beach, at the foot of a cross made from boats.

(Le Rrrrronca!)

Read the whole thing.

Exit question:
Is Francis granting a private audience to the Ladies in White when he goes to Cuba next September?

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