"Today, I requested that the Department of Transportation suspend private charter flights to all Cuban airports, including Havana,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released in a statement Thursday. “This Administration will continue to target and cut the revenue the Cuban government earns from landing fees, stays in regime-owned hotels, and other travel-related income…The Cuban military and intelligence services own and operate the great majority of hotels and tourism infrastructure in Cuba.”
For the record, the late Stalinist dictator’s birthday was August 13th. But fear not! The Castro regime and its mainstream media propaganda auxiliaries instantly got to the bottom of the tacky political pandering involved in the Trump team’s timely announcement:
“Given the upcoming November elections in the U.S., the new move would be part of the Trump Administration's efforts to mobilize anti-Cuban sectors in Florida,” proclaimed the Castro regime’s news organ Telesur.
“The move comes as President Donald Trump faces a tough re-election battle in which Florida -- home to a large, conservative Cuban-American community that loathes the Havana government -- is a must-win state,” instantly echoed The International Business Times.
Where’s Spock when you really need him? Where’s Spock when logic vanishes! Captain Kirk, can you please summon Spock! To wit:
For decades now--and especially with Obama’s “opening” to Cuba-- the Castro-regime/Democrat/Mainstream-Media teleprompter has flashed that a majority of Florida’s Cuban-Americans OPPOSE the “embargo” and SUPPORT the Obama approach (which Biden/Harris, have pledged to resurrect, by the way.)
The Castro-regime/Democrat/Mainstream Media propaganda complex cites no end of “polls’ and quotes no end of Cuban-American “leaders” for their anti-embargo case.
Well, if so, and given that the Trump Team is supposedly and cravenly seeking Cuban-American votes in this crucial swing state, shouldn’t Trump imitate the Obama “opening” to Cuba? If all the “polls” and “leaders” are correct, then why should “political pandering” in Florida involve block-headedly tightening the “failed,” and “discredited” and “archaic,” and “unpopular” embargo?.....just asking.
Here’s another take from a more neutral observer: “The impact of this new sanction will be limited, because since Obama restored commercial flights to Cuba, private charter travel to the island has fallen off, said John Kavulich, president of the US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council. "What will be impacted are the visits to the Republic of Cuba by celebrities and business executives who used general aviation private charter aircraft."
In other words: one of the Stalinist regime’s most relentless propaganda auxiliaries will be greatly inconvenienced. To wit:
"Fidel Castro is a genius!" gushed Jack Nicholson after a visit with the Cuban Führer in 1998. "We spoke about everything. Castro is a humanist like President Clinton. Cuba is simply a paradise!" the actor rhapsodized further.
"Socialism works. I think Cuba might prove that" (Chevy Chase).
"Castro is very selfless and moral, one of the world's wisest men" (Oliver Stone).
"If you believe in freedom, if you believe in justice, if you believe in democracy, you have no choice but to support Fidel Castro!" (Harry Belafonte).
"It was an experience of a lifetime to sit only a few feet away from him (Castro)" (Kevin Costner.)
“My heart beat faster!–This is one of the most important moments in my life!”(a hyperventilating Danny Glover while visiting The Che Guevara memorial in Santa Clara Cuba during one of his frequent trips to Stalinist, terror-sponsoring Cuba.
“I’m very happy to be here. My presence here is also a result of human relations. With regards to politics I’m very naive. But I’ve never understood how we can ignore each other living so close to each other. The most important thing is for us to maintain our identity and respect each other.” (Robert De Niro at Havana Film Festival, 1985.)
"The eight most important hours of my life," (Steven Spielberg describing his dinner with Fidel Castro.)
Upon my publicizing of Spielberg’s quote (in Fidel; Hollywood’s Favorite Tyrant) the Hollywood agent (now deceased) who arranged Spielberg’s trip to Castro’s fiefdom promptly notified me that Spielberg had uttered nothing of the sort. And that therefore I should retract that statement from my writings.
Castro’s own media, explained the late Mr. Stephen Rivers (formerly with Creative Artists Agency), had concocted the Spielberg quote from thin air. So there was absolutely no truth to it.
“Well, what you’re telling me actually makes my point better than the quote genuinely issuing from Spielberg,” I replied to the high-rolling Stephen Rivers, who also represented Michael Ovitz. My writings document that Fidel Castro is a master propagandist and that his KGB/STASI- trained secret services specialize in obtaining many such statements from many such luminaries, voluntarily or often as a result of various form of persuasion (i.e. Blackmail.)
So the proper — and especially, the logical — course of action (if Mr. Spielberg had indeed been thusly swindled) was for Mr. Spielberg or his agent, to make Fidel Castro’s treachery known publicly. After all, Mr. Spielberg (supposedly) was the aggrieved party here and the damage (from what Mr. Rivers was telling me) had been inflicted maliciously by the secret services of a Stalinist regime.
But there is no record that Mr. Rivers, Mr. Spielberg or any of their spokespersons ever clarified this issue publicly in the mainstream media, which didn’t surprise me then, and became even clearer upon Mr Stephen Rivers’ passing in 2010.
You see, amigos: The late Mr. Stephen Rivers, who once worked as Tom Hayden’s press secretary and Jane Fonda’s agent, had also arranged Cuban trips for Oliver Stone, Michael Moore, Benicio Del Toro, Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute, and Stephen Soderbergh, among many others who sought the invaluable collaboration of Castro’s propaganda ministry for their films. Essentially Rivers was Hollywood’s “go-to guy” when planning a visit to Fidel Castro’s fiefdom, a meeting with his communist functionaries, or even a coveted audience with the mass-murderer himself, as generously bequeathed to Spielberg.
Well before Obama’s “opening” to Cuba, Stephen Rivers had managed to visit Castro’s island fiefdom over two dozen times over the course of a few years. When Mr. Stephen Rivers passed away in June of 2010 his friends and clients poured forth the eulogies:
“Stephen Rivers was a man committed to the truth,” wrote Oliver Stone, “wanting the best for the United States, and digging away at the hypocrisy of so much of our political and media leadership.…I will miss him deeply.”