Venezuela Opposition: Audio Suggests Cuba Meddling. Really? No kidding!

May 21 - Venezuela's opposition has released an audio recording that it said contains a prominent member of the ruling party discussing political strategy with a Cuban intelligence officer.
Opposition lawmaker Ismael Garcia said Monday that the recording captures a phone conversation between state TV personality Mario Silva, a staunch government ally, and a Cuban identified as Lt. Col. Aramis Palacios.
Venezuela's opposition has long accused Cuban leaders of wielding influence behind the scenes in guiding government decisions. For its part, the Venezuelan government accuses opposition leader Henrique Capriles of being a puppet of the U.S.
At a news conference, Garcia didn't say when the conversation was recorded or how he obtained it.
In it, a man identified as Silva is heard discussing a split in the ruling socialist party between parliament leader Diosdado Cabello and President Nicolas Maduro, the late President Hugo Chavez's successor.
The man says he worries that Cabello, a former army officer, is conspiring against the president, who narrowly defeated Capriles in an April 14 election that the opposition refuses to accept, claiming fraud. For example, the voice says, Maduro's opponents in the party want to remove Defense Minister Diego Molero.
"Why do they want to remove him, Palacios? To be able to take the armed forces and put pressure on Maduro or to behave as they please or to pull a coup d'etat," the man says.
Silva dismissed the recording on Twitter as a "montage" and suggested U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies were behind it. In a statement later Monday, he insisted that the recording was "absolutely false," and pledged his support to both Maduro and Cabello.
Cabello also dismissed the recording, calling on the opposition to present real evidence, "not a show."  Read more

Ladies in White say they want both material and moral support

May 20 - Leaders of Cuba’s dissident Ladies in White group rejected Havana’s claims they are mercenaries and said on Monday that there is nothing wrong with receiving help from abroad because the Cuban government “is trying to asphyxiate us.”
Berta Soler and Belkis Cantillo also called for forgiveness of low-level repressors in a post-Castro era but punishment for those “with blood on their hands” during an appearance at the Freedom Tower, symbolic heart of Miami’s exile community, on Cuba’s traditional Independence Day.
Soler, Cantillo and Laura Labrada got louder and longer applause than even Miami’s own Gloria Estefan, who wore a white dress and presented the women with a large photo of the massive march she helped organize in Miami in 2010 to support their group.
The audience of several hundred at the Freedom Tower broke repeatedly into applause and shouts of “Viva Cuba” as the three women, also dressed in white, laid out their thoughts on the communist-run island of 11 million people.
Cantillo said that as a Christian she could forgive the young State Security agent who punched and shoved her to break up a protest last month by several members of the Ladies in White in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba.
Soler said, however, that in a democratic Cuba “those with blood on their hands must go on trial.” She gave no details, but Cubans often point to the boats that rammed and sank the tugboat “13 de Marzo” in 1994 to keep it from escaping the island. More than 30 people aboard the tugboat drowned.
Soler and Labrada also repeated their pleas for material and moral assistance for the Ladies in White and other dissidents, rejecting Cuban government allegations that Washington finances their activities to undermine the communist system.
“We are not paid. We are not mercenaries,” said Labrada. “And we are grateful for all of those who want to help us.”
Soler added that the dissidents need “oxygen” because the Cuban government “wants to asphyxiate us,” often by denying jobs, educational benefits and other government services to opposition activists and relatives.
Journalist Maria Elvira Salazar, who moderated the presentation, noted in a question that Havana received huge subsidies from the Soviet Union and Venezuela and supported guerrillas in almost every Latin American country during the 1960s and 70s. The Miami Herald

A taped phone conversation shows the Cuban government is running Venezuela

May 20 - Venezuelan opposition congressman Ismael Garcíamade public on Monday a taped conversation between Mario Silva, a hardcore government supporter and anchorman of "La Hojilla" a TV show aired on state-run TV channel VTV, and Aramis Palacios, a lieutenant colonel of Cuban G2.

Here is a report from El Nacional:

García explained that a "very serious situation" was mirrored in the conversation. The material, García said, "was going to be handed over to Raúl Castro, since he is the one who leads and directs the policy of this country."
On the tape, Silva is heard saying: "Speaking of devaluation, the problem is the flight of capital in some enterprises owned by (Congress Speaker) Diosdado Cabello."
The Congress Speaker is "corrupt, together with the '85 generation' " the army."
He added that inside the Venezuelan army "middle-level cadres hate, despise Cabello's attitude;" therefore, "not everything is lost."
Silva commented that President Nicolás Maduro and his partner Cilia Flores skipped a meeting with Defense Minister Diego Molero, who seemingly tried to talk about a "serious internal situation" inside the army caused by rumors going around.
Silva said that Fidel Castro once lamented that late President Hugo Chávez did not end all further elections. "We put ourselves the Sword of Damocles saying that the CNE (National Electoral Council) is impregnable. How could I say then that it was hacked?
Because people make mistakes and I fully agree with it. Elections here as they stand right now, they can blow us and can bring our revolution down."
Silva pointed out that José Vicente Rangel, a government supporter who held several incumbencies under the government of President Chávez, anticipated before Chávez's death that Jorge Arreaza would be the next Venezuelan Vice-President; therefore, "there is the need to speak with him to facilitate some building contracts."

Read the whole transcript of the call Noticias 24 (Spanish)

Images from Cuba Nostalgia

 May 20 - Well known dissidents Dr. Darsi Ferrer, Manuel Cuesta Morúa and Luis Felipe Rojas joined me this weekend at the Babalu booth during Cuba Nostalgia, to explain the importance of the Web Paqs for Cuba project.

Here are some photos taken during the event.

Alberto de la Cruz, George Moneo, Val Prieto and Ziva Sahl with Manuel Cuesta Morúa and Dr. Darsi Ferrer

Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White with other members of the group

Berta Soler reading the information about the Web Paqs for Cuba project.

Guillermo 'Coco' Fariñas, who is visiting Miami this week, was also at the Cuba Nostalgia event.

"Abajo el Hambre"

May 17 - This video was taken in the city of Holguín, Cuba on Mother's Day, May 12, 2013.

The sign on the house reads "Abajo el hambre" (Down with hunger). The woman who lives there, Angela Domínguez Rodríguez, explains that they can't find anything to eat and if it wasn't for some "mondongo" that someone gave them for Mother's Day, she and her children would have had nothing to eat.

This is happening in Cuba, just a few days after the head of the UN Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO), José Graziano, congratulated Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in a letter for the reduction of hunger on the island.

I wonder how many young jineteras he was offered in exchange for his letter.

Absolutely disgusting!

Trying to clean the mess? Venezuela to import 50 million rolls of toilet paper

May 16 - First milk, butter, coffee and cornmeal ran short. Now Venezuela is running out of the most basic of necessities — toilet paper.
Blaming political opponents for the shortfall, as it does for other shortages, the embattled socialist government says it will import 50 million rolls to boost supplies.
That was little comfort to consumers struggling to find toilet paper on Wednesday.
"This is the last straw," said Manuel Fagundes, a shopper hunting for tissue in downtown Caracas. "I'm 71 years old and this is the first time I've seen this."
One supermarket visited by The Associated Press in the capital on Wednesday was out of toilet paper. Another had just received a fresh batch, and it quickly filled up with shoppers as the word spread.
"I've been looking for it for two weeks," said Cristina Ramos. "I was told that they had some here and now I'm in line."
Economists say Venezuela's shortages stem from price controls meant to make basic goods available to the poorest parts of society and the government's controls on foreign currency.
"State-controlled prices — prices that are set below market-clearing price — always result in shortages. The shortage problem will only get worse, as it did over the years in the Soviet Union," said Steve Hanke, professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University.
President Nicolas Maduro, who was selected by the dying Hugo Chavez to carry on his "Bolivarian revolution," claims that anti-government forces, including the private sector, are causing the shortages in an effort to destabilize the country.
The government this week announced it would import 760,000 tons of food and 50 million rolls of toilet paper.
Commerce Minister Alejandro Fleming blamed the shortage of toilet tissue on "excessive demand" built up as a result of "a media campaign that has been generated to disrupt the country."
"The revolution will bring the country the equivalent of 50 million   Read more

Canadian entrepreneur who blew whistle on Cuban corruption faces 12-year term

May 16 - Sarkis Yacoubian, jailed as a ‘fall guy,’ warned Cuban officials about corruption. He and another Toronto-area man now are caught in a Havana-Ottawa standoff.
Speaking over a scratchy telephone line from inside a Cuban prison, Sarkis Yacoubian’s voice goes suddenly silent. He’s crying.
Behind his muffled sobs, the din of the crowded jail outside of Havana can be heard.
“I was so depressed at times, I wanted to commit suicide,” says the 53-year-old entrepreneur.
In exclusive jailhouse interviews with the Star from Cuba’s La Condesa prison, Yacoubian provides an insider’s view of a sweeping anti-corruption campaign by the government of Raul Castro that has seen several foreign businessmen — including himself and another Toronto-area businessman — jailed.
A joint investigation by the Star and El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish-language affiliate of the Miami Herald, has found that in a corruption-plagued country described in secret U.S. government cables as “a state on the take,” two jailed entrepreneurs from the GTAare embroiled in a high-stakes diplomatic and legal standoff between Havana and Ottawa. It potentially jeopardizes millions in taxpayer dollars that underwrite Canada’s trade with Cuba.
Arrested in July 2011 and detained for nearly two years without charges, Yacoubian, who ran a transport and trading company, finally was handed a 63-page indictment last month by Cuban authorities accusing him of bribery, tax evasion and “activities damaging to the economy.”
Yacoubian, a suspect who says he pointed the finger at widespread wrongdoing by other foreign businesses as well as his own, now faces as many as 12 years in prison after he pleads guilty at his trial set to begin next Thursday.
The charges were filed in a special Havana court for Crimes against the State, which can effectively hold trials in secret.
“They found out this was an epidemic going all over the place and I was the fall guy,” says Yacoubian. “They want to give an example to the rest of the businessmen. They want to scare them to death.”  Continue reading
 

The problem of doing business with the Mafia

May 15 - The Cuban regime iis one of the most corrupt in the world. The only way to do business in Cuba is by entering into a a partnership with the criminal Castro brothers, and you know what happens when you do business with the Mafia.  But some 'businessmen' are lured by the slave labor force and other 'benefits' that are offered to them in order to invest in Castroland. But, they forget that in Cuba the law of the land is whatever the dictator rules, as these foreign businessmen are now finding out:

Canadian and British executives of three foreign businesses shut in 2011 by Cuban authorities, ostensibly for corrupt practices, have been charged after more than a year in custody and are expected to go on trial soon, sources close to the cases told Reuters.
The arrests, part of a broad government campaign to stamp out corruption, sent shockwaves through Cuba’s small foreign business community where the companies were among the most visible players.

Until then, expulsions rather than imprisonment had been the norm for those accused of corrupt practices.
The charges against the executives involve various economic crimes and operating beyond the limits of their business licenses on the communist-run island, according to the sources, who asked to remain anonymous and who include a close relative of one of the defendants.
Some of the foreigners are alleged to have paid bribes to officials in exchange for business opportunities.
Dozens of Cuban state purchasers and officials, including deputy ministers, already have been arrested and convicted in the investigation into the Cuban imports business that ensued.
Cuba has mounted a crackdown on corruption in recent years as part of a gradual reform process to open up the state-run economy to greater private sector activity.
Under Cuban law, trials must begin within a month of charges being filed, though small delays are common and postponement can be sought by the defendants’ lawyers.
“There is definitely movement and the trials could begin soon,” a Western diplomat said.
The crackdown began in July 2011 with the closure of Canadian trading firm Tri-Star Caribbean and the arrest of its chief executive, Sarkis Yacoubian.
In September 2011, one of the most important Western trading firms in Cuba, Canada-based Tokmakjian Group, was also shut and its head, Cy Tokmakjian, taken into custody.
In October 2011, police closed the Havana offices of the British investment and trading firm Coral Capital Group Ltd and arrested chief executive Amado Fakhre, a Lebanese-born British citizen. Continue reading The Globe and Mail
 

Guillermo Fariñas: "I have come to the capital of the Cuban exile. We will show that we are one nation”

May 13 - A frequent Cuban hunger striker and dissident arrived Sunday in Miami ahead of Cuban Independence Day, as part of a tour that will include several U.S. stops before going to Europe.
“I have come to the capital of the Cuban exile,” a smiling Guillermo Fariñas said in Spanish. “We will show that we are one nation.”
He is scheduled to meet with community leaders and dissidents in Miami.
Until this year, if Fariñas had been granted permission to leave Cuba, he would have forfeited his right to return. But in January he was told he could leave and return after a new law ended the island’s exit visa requirement.
On Monday, another Cuban opposition leader, Berta Soler, co-founder of the Ladies in White, will be joined in Miami by singer Gloria Estefan to celebrate Cuban Independence Day. The Miami Herald

Berta Soler: Castro knows that Venezuela is collapsing

May 12 - Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White, was interviewed by the Argentine daily La Nación, two days after her meeting with Pope Francis, who is also a native of Argentina.

Here is my translation of some of the questions she was asked and her answers:

.- Do you expect a change in Cuba?
-We will try to have a change, but it will not be produced by the Cuban government. They are clinging to power, buying time and increasing the repression. They are seeking new help because they know that Venezuela could collapse at any time and not be able to give them the oil barrels they need to strengthen their repressive machinery. We must have a change in Cuba, but without the Castros, they have only brought hunger and misery to the people ..

- Did the situation improve somewhat with Raul Castro?
-Not at all. With Raul is even worse. Fidel was very bad and Raul is worse. Raul allows beatings in the streets against men and women. Women are beaten, pushed,  they are taken to dungeons and ordered to undress and do squats 20-30 times to denigrate them. This violence is happening with Raul. In addition, each day the hunger and the need of the people of Cuba increases. There has been an increase in unemployment and physical aggression. The transportation system in Cuba has collapsed because the oil that Venezuela gives Raul Castro is to fill the tanks of the repressors.

- What did you tell the Pope?

- "I told him," Your Holiness, we are the Ladies in White of Cuba, relatives of hundreds of political prisoners and are asking for help, but also for a blessings for the people of Cuba, who need it. Then he gave me a blessing and said, "Keep going ahead." The blessing was not for me but for the people of Cuba."

- Are you afraid to return to Cuba?

-Absolutely not.  I have no fear. The love of life, family, love of country is stronger. And besides, now I come blessed by Pope Francis.

Read the entire interview in Spanish La Nación

Six-day event in Pittsburgh targets discrimination in Castro's Cuba

May 11- Think Cuba, and images of music, dance, cuisine and the 1959 revolution come to mind. But one of the most pervasive pictures has been hush-hush since Fidel Castro declared racism and all talk of it nonexistent by fiat.
Amid such denial and a lack of legal recourse, pervasive racism has been a silent scourge on 60 percent of the population considered black or mulatto.
A group of Cubans attending AfricAmericas, a six-day event being held here through today, told stories that most U.S. blacks would find familiar, "but it is not like here," said Manuel Cuesta Morua, who has been a tour guide, history teacher and a museum director whose political activism cost him his job. "In Cuba, we are all equal, but [blacks] can't be in the media. We have the same education, but we can't have that job.
"Here there are civic tools" and a justice system that can work, he said. "We have no political or symbolic representation, no access to the emerging economy" and no avenues to leadership positions.
Mr. Cuesta and four other members of Cuba's Citizens Committee for Racial Integration spoke Wednesday to a crowd of 60 at City of Asylum/Pittsburgh on the North Side.
AfricAmericas has featured conversation, film, poetry, photography and cultural exchange highlighting Cuba. A photo exhibition, "Crossing Havana," by Juan Antonio Madrazo Luna is on display from noon to 3 p.m. today at the Young Men and Women's African Heritage Association, 1205 Boyle St., Central North Side.
"It took heaven and earth to get these men here, and not just financially," said Kenya Dworkin, director of Coro Latinoamericano and a professor of Hispanic studies at Carnegie Mellon University. She organized the events in collaboration with the heritage association.
he fact that the Cuban government let black activists travel was historic, she said. The men described their humiliation at the Havana Airport, where they were the only blacks on their flight. Besides being stared at, they were relieved of cameras, CDs, thumb drives and information they were going to share at AfricAmericas.
Asked Wednesday by a woman in the audience if they are at risk, Leonardo Calvo Cardenas, a writer and historian, said, "The risk was there before we came and it will be there when we go back."
They have been arrested, followed and threatened. So far, there has been no physical violence, they said, adding that the government has sewn the fear of self-subjugation into most people.
Mr. Madrazo, coordinator of the Citizens Committee, said the committee is "a pressure group, like a lobby. Racism in Cuba is a political conflict" because of government rhetoric that it doesn't exist. "Now the government admits it but does not show evidence of a will to change the agenda.
"We are grateful for the ability to come here and share a difficult subject that puts Cuba's future in danger."  Read more
 

In Venezuela, they now mark your arm with your number in line when you try to buy corn meal

May 10 - Venezuelan citizens are now experiencing a lack of food and medicines, like Cubans have been experiencing for 54 years.

The only difference is that in Venezuela they cannot use the stupid excuse of the US embargo for the lack of these products, as they do in Cuba.

As I have always said, the only real embargo is the one of the Castro brothers against the Cuban people and now also against the Venezuelan people.

The Castro brothers know that if you have to spend half of your day waiting in line to find the food for your family, you don't have time to organize or to get involved in politics.

One of the most typical food item in Venezuela is the "arepa". Venezuelans eat arepa at any time of the day, and with a variety of different fillings.

Arepas are made with corn meal, which is now almost impossible to find in Venezuela.

Since very early in the morning, lines with as many as 1,000 people have been seen outside supermarkets trying to buy corn meal.

To prevent fights among consumers several supermarkets are now marking the arms of the people with their number in line, to make sure that no one tries to get in front of those who are waiting.

Incredible but true, that is what has been happening now in Cuba's colony, which is known as CubaZuela.

From Prof. Carlos Eire -  Babalu Blog: Photo of the Day: Berta Soler and Pope Francis

May 8 - It would be great to have an audio recording of the words exchanged. But...well.... at least we know that they speak the same language, and that Berta knows how to deliver a message. As Cubans would say: "ella no tiene pelos en la lengua." (She has no hairs on her tongue - she can be brutally frank.)
This was not a private audience. Every wednesday morning the pope celebrates mass, delivers a brief talk to a large invited audience, blesses them, and then mingles with the crowd. Getting a spot in the front row is difficult and takes some clout.
Berta was well placed, and had a chance to catch the pope's eye. And he may have been alerted to her presence.
It may seem like an insignificant encounter to some, but this is a big deal, and the rulers of the Castro Kingdom will gnash their teeth when they see this photo. The Cuban flag draped between the two figures in white will be a great irritant to the tyrants, because they refuse to accept the fact that Cuba belongs to all Cubans, not just to their slave-drivers and those slaves who agree to submit to the lash. .
So, even though this was a brief encounter, it delivers a potent message.
Pope Francis linked up with Berta in the midst of a large crowd. Sad to say, but Benedict XVI would have probably avoided the Lady in White.  Babalu Blog

This is the Venezuelan National Assembly under Raúl Castro

April 30 - Several members of the opposition in the Venezuelan National Assembly were brutally beaten by chavista thugs.

Among those injured are Julio Borges (see photo below) and Maria Corina Machado, who was kicked by several chavistas while she was on the floor, according to reports.

At the same time that the rejection of the Venezuelan people to the puppet regime installed by the Castro brothers in Cuba grows, so does the brutality of the Venezuelan thugs who have betrayed their country and made Venezuela a colony of Castroland.

Opposition deputy Julio Borges after the attack by several chavistas inside the National Assembly.

This is how the National Assembly looked after the chavista attack on opposition legislators.

Brutal repression by Venezuela's National Guard against a 19 year old student

April 21 - His crime? Joining a protest to ask for a recount of the votes after last Sunday's fraud.

Cuban lady protesting in Havana the arrest of her son

April 21 - A Cuban lady protesting on April 15 in La Rampa, Havana, right in front of the old Havana Hilton Hotel.

She was protesting against the "military terrorism" in Castro's Cuba.

Her son was arrested and she had been trying to find out for more than a week where he was being held to no avail.

After a few minutes, Castro's Gestapo comes in and arrest her for conducting a peaceful protest.

That's Castro's Cuba!

Bodegas (grocery stores) in Cuba before and after Castro

You can tell that Venezuela's National Guard is now under Raúl Castro's control

April 18 - Since Sunday's electoral fraud, the abuses being committed by Venezuela's National Guard have grown exponentially.

Most Venezuelans are saying that they have never seen soldiers showing so much cruelty against innocent civilians, who are only asking for a recount of the votes in last Sunday presidential election.

There are reports that more than 50 soldiers and several officer, including 2 generals, have been arrested for opposing the fraud and refusing to follow orders from Cuban officer who have been sent by Raúl Castro to make sure that the illegitimate president, Nicolás Maduro, remains in power.

The only way that Raúl Castro's puppet can remain as president and providing billions of dollars to keep Cuba's economy from a complete collapse, is by turning Venezuela into a police state, like Cuba has been for 54 years.

The Venezuelan people need the support of all those who believe in freedom, to help them throw the Cuban invaders out!

Video of Venezuela National Guard soldiers shooting and beating unarmed civilians

This took place in Barquisimeto, on Tuesday April 16.

Orlando Luis Pardo on how to help people in Cuba

April 12 - Orlando Luis Pardo, blogger, writer and photographer on how to help those Cubans in the island.

OLP lives in Cuba but he is currently visiting Miami where this interview took place.

One of the things he mentions is downloading and sending DVDs with Internet offline to Cuba, like we are doing through our Webs Paq to Cuba Project.

Tweet from Yoani Sánchez about the Web Paqs for Cuba project

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Learn more about Paquetes Web Para Cuba

Visit our page about Paquetes Web Para Cuba

You can also visit us on Facebook to find all information about the Internet Web Paqs for Cuba, a project to help the Cuban people have access to the websites that are blocked by the Cuban regime.

Make sure to click on 'Like" as a sign of support Paquetes Web Para Cuba

Spanish daily ABC has an article about the false myth of Cuba's healthcare

Foto de la versión impresa del reportaje en ABC

March 17 - On Thursday of last week, Carmen Muñoz a columnist for Spanish daily ABC, called me to ask for permission to use the photos at therealcuba.com for an article about the false myth of Cuba's healthcare.

I was able to send her many of the photos on high resolution to use on the print edition of the newspaper.

The article was published on Sunday on ABC and is also on their web page at ABC.es  (Spanish)

We received another video from Cuba of a person using the offline Web Paqs

March 12 - We received this video today of another person in Cuba using the offline Web Paqs to navigate through several websites blocked by the Cuban regime.

He is using an iPod from Apple and is able to navigate through websites such as Cubanet and Generation Y of Yoani Sánchez, without being connected to the Internet.

More than 1,500 Web Paqs have already reached Cuba and once there, they have been reproduced into thousands more.

Visit our page about Paquetes Web Para Cuba

You can also visit us on Facebook to find all information about the Internet Web Paqs for Cuba, a project to help the Cuban people have access to the websites that are blocked by the Cuban regime.

Make sure to click on 'Like" as a sign of support Paquetes Web Para Cuba

Twit by Cuban blogger Orlando Luis Pardo about Paquetes Web Para Cuba

This article proves that Web Paqs for Cuba is on the right track

March 10 - Our new project to help Cubans inside Cuba to access the websites blockaded by the Castro regime continues to grow.

Over 1,500 offline Web Paqs have already reached Cuba and once there, they have been reproduced into thousands more.

In a presentation in Mexico yesterday, Yoani Sánchez mentioned how Cubans are using flash memory and other types of offline media to circumvent the blockade of the Internet imposed by the Castro regime:

Yoani: Expression thrives thanks to flash drives

Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez, speaking at a media forum in Mexico, said Cubans use computer memory sticks to evade Internet censorship.

Dissident Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez on Saturday told newspaper publishers from around the Western Hemisphere that “nothing is changing” in Cuba’s ossified political system and that “the situation of press freedom in my country is calamitous.”
But Sánchez said underground blogs, digital portals and illicit e-magazines proliferate, passed around on removable computer drives known as memory sticks. The small computer memories, also known as flash drives or thumb drives, are dropped into friendly hands on buses and along street corners, offering a surprising number of Cubans access to information.
“Information circulates hand-to-hand through this wonderful gadget known as the memory stick,” Sánchez said, “and it is difficult for the government to intercept them. I can’t imagine that they can put a police officer on every corner to see who has a flash drive and who doesn’t.”
Sánchez said “these little gizmos” have “helped us a lot to pass information.” Continue reading The Miami Herald

The destruction of Havana continues

Feb. 28 - A friend sent me a picture of the old RCA Building in Havana taken a few days ago.

After years of neglect, the roof finally caved in and the building is just another ruin, of the thousands found around Cuba after 54 years of Hurricane Castro.

This is the way it looked a few years ago, when there were still people living on the top 2 floors.

This is how it looked on October of 2011, when that same friend took this new photo.

The people living on the top 2 floors were forced to move out because the condition of the building was getting worse and the government was not doing anything to fix it.

And this is how it looks now, less than 2 years after he took he previous picture.

The Castro brothers continue their destruction of Cuba. They are only interested in maintaining the hotels and other buildings related to tourism, that brings millions of dollars to their Swiss bank accounts.

But they couldn't care less about the rest of the island.

Our new page: Fidel Castro, the World's oldest terrorist

My interview with Baseball PhD

March 29 - I was interviewed by Ed Kasputis, of Baseball PhD, about baseball in Cuba before Castro and about the two Cubas, the one for foreigners and the one for regular Cubans.
Ed did a previous program with Mr. Sports Travel of San Diego, CA, about the five top international baseball destinations and was surprised to find out that the #1 destination was Cuba.
He received some nice pictures of Cuba and was ready to book a trip when he saw therealcuba.com and changed his mind.
He interviewed me as part of a program about the new Marlins Stadium and I was able to talk about baseball in Cuba before Castro and then we had a long chat about what is the reality of life in Cuba under Castro.
The program lasts 53 minutes, if you are not a baseball fan and just want to hear my interview about Cuba use your mouse to move the dial to minute 25:35  Click here to listen

Listen to Fidel Castro

For those who think that the Cuban people chose the system imposed by the Castro brothers, here are some of the things that Fidel Castro said and promised when he gained power Click Here

Satellite photos of Cuba's prisons, missile installations, military bases and more

A look at Havana before the Castro brothers destroyed it Cuba B.C

Visit our updated page: The Useful Idiots

We have new photos of Havana taken in October of last year

Oct. 9 - A friend sent me around two dozen photos of Havana that he took at the beginning of this month.

Some of them are very sad, because they show how Havana has been completely destroyed by this gang of human termites.

Some others are hard to believe, including this one of goats having "lunch" off the dumpsters on a Havana street.

Click here  to see them

Socio-Economic Conditions in Pre-Castro Cuba

Dec. 17 - Cuba Facts is an ongoing series of succinct fact sheets on various topics, including, but not limited to, political structure, health, economy, education, nutrition, labor, business, foreign investment, and demographics, published and updated on a regular basis by the Cuba Transition Project staff at the University of Miami.

Click here to learn the truth about Cuba's Health, Education, Personal Consumption and much more in pre-Castro Cuba.

More photos showing how the Castro brothers have destroyed one of the world's most beautiful cities

Click here

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