Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez, from Cuba, becomes U.S. citizen

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Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart: Obama’s Cuba Policy Is Enabling a Dictator | TIME

TIME

Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart

Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart represents Florida’s 25th Congressional District and is Chairman of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations.

All eight Cuban-American senators and congressmen from both sides of the aisle strongly disagree with Obama

President Barack Obama continues to appease brutal dictatorships while gaining precious little in return. He conflates the Cuban dictatorship with the Cuban people when in reality, their interests are diametrically opposed. With sweeping arrogance, President Obama acts as though he stands above history with wisdom that surpasses every American president since Dwight D. Eisenhower, the first to impose sanctions on the Fidel Castro regime. Obama’s foreign policy is radical even compared to his own party. President John F. Kennedy imposed many of the first stringent sanctions against the Castro regime, and President Bill Clinton signed into law the LIBERTAD Act, which codified sanctions that Obama now opposes.

All eight Cuban-American senators and congressmen from both sides of the aisle, strongly disagree with him. One would think that he might consult with us.

The Cuban people simply want to gather peacefully, speak their minds, practice their faiths, access the Internet, and enjoy the fruits of their labor. The ailing octogenarians that run Cuba would never allow those simple liberties. A key point often overlooked is that, under current law, the president can lift sanctions once free, fair elections are scheduled, political prisoners are released, and independent press, organized labor, and political parties are legalized in Cuba. The Cuban people deserve no less, yet Obama abandoned the U.S. commitment to those basic goals when he abandoned his most significant leverage to advance them.

Obama’s capitulation to dictators apparently has no bounds. In 2001, five Cuban spies were convicted for conspiracy to commit espionage. One of those five convicted spies, Gerardo Hernandez, was additionally serving two life sentences for the murders of innocent Americans and a legal permanent resident in the shoot-down of civilian aircraft over international waters. Obama’s State and Justice Departments arranged, while Hernandez was in federal prison, to help him have his wife in Cuba artificially inseminated. Shortly thereafter, in another striking concession, Obama commuted his sentence and ordered his release. When has any president been so embarrassingly eager to appease a brutal, anti-American, repressive dictatorship?

Obama’s policies also hurt the Cuban people by emboldening a regime already ready to oppress them. Since the president’s Dec. 17, 2014 announcement, there have been approximately 1,300 political arrests in Cuba. During the Obama administration, five pro-democracy activists have died – Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia, Laura Pollan, Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero. The Castro regime exports its brand of violence abroad to Venezuela, where it subverts democratic institutions and helps to repress the Venezuelan people. And just recently, with the president’s implicit blessing, the Castro dictatorship brazenly flexed its impunity at the summit in Panama by beating pro-democracy activists, including American citizens, and ejecting an American journalist from an international press conference. Three days later, the regime was rewarded for those human rights abuses with another monumental concession: removal from the state sponsors of terror list.

Removal from the terrorism list is especially disturbing when the Castro regime continues to provide safe harbor to one of the FBI’s most wanted terrorists, Joanne Chesimard, terrorist bomb-maker William Morales, and more than 70 other fugitives from U.S. justice. It also has ties to ETA and FARC terrorists, supports other rogue states including Syria, Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea, and provides support to Hamas and Hezbollah. In July 2013, Panamanian authorities discovered that the North Korean ship Chong Chon Gang was carrying military weapons that it had loaded from Cuba. A UN panel of experts determined that the shipment was the biggest violation of those international sanctions to date. Further, the Castro regime maintains an extensive espionage network against the United States. Ana Belen Montes (Defense Intelligence Agency analyst, serving a 25-year sentence for conspiracy to commit espionage), the five convicted “WASP” network spies, Walter and Gwendolyn Myers (State Department analyst and his wife serving sentences for conspiracy to commit espionage), Elsa and Carlos Alvarez (Florida International University professor and his wife, serving sentences), and Marta Rita Velazquez (USAID, indicted but fled to Sweden) are a few examples of those who have spied on the Castros’ behalf against the U.S. in the past 15 years.

Obama’s strategy has been an abysmal failure wherever it has been tried. During the horrific slaughter of Iranian protesters during the summer of 2009, President Obama was nowhere to be found throughout most of that turmoil. When he finally decided to speak, he declared, “the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is not interfering with Iran’s affairs.” Defending liberty is hardly “interference,” whether referring to the mullahs in Iran or the Castro brothers. Instead, it is the minimum required from those of us living in freedom. As President Obama negotiates with the murderers in Tehran and Havana, he has excised those regimes’ terrorism abroad and atrocities at home – points any U.S. president should find salient – from the negotiating table.

One thing is clear: The president will barrel along with his failed foreign policy agenda regardless of the harm to American security interests, damage to pro-democracy movements, and the diminishing trust of our allies. Obama’s foreign policy is an aberration in America’s long and proud history of supporting freedom across the globe. The U.S. Congress continues to stand with the oppressed people of the world struggling for freedom, and will do all it can to keep the president from bargaining away every ounce of leverage we have to the world’s worst actors.

Hunting Season Opens on Ted Cruz - Humberto Fontova

townhall

Humberto Fontova

As if Ted Cruz didn’t already have enough against him media-wise (i.e. he’s a principled, brilliant and credentialed conservative both fiscally-- and even more odiously--socially)–on top of these offenses, he’s also half Cuban.

Forget the liberal love chants to “ethnic diversity.” The Cuban ethnic brand has long flapped like a matador’s cape in front of the Democrat-Media complex. Granted, some of those insufferable Cubans love to flap it.

Ted Cruz-Derangement-Syndrome went viral in the media this week. From Chris Matthews to David Muir and from Joe Scarborough to David Brooks-- they were all over Cruz like a cheap suit. The New Yorker’s John Cassidy called Cruz “uppity”—then weaseled out because the term has “disturbing historical connotations.”

A berserk Donny Deutsch over at MSNBC denounced Cruz as not only “unelectable,” but “scary, I think he’s dangerous, I think he’s slimy and I think he brings no fresh ideas.”

It’s an old story, actually. A few years ago during an interview with Joy Behar, MSNBC’s Donny Deutsch sneered at Cuban-American Marco Rubio as that “coconut down in Florida.”

In settings like MSNBC (but usually backstage) the term coconut (brown on the outside white on the inside) is generally used to castigate “Hispanics” who ignore marching orders barked by Democratic/Media drill sergeants–same as “Oreo” for similarly uppity blacks.

Never mind that the Cuban-American Marco Rubio (like Ted Cruz) is probably more purely Caucasian than Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, Oral Roberts, Johnny Depp among many other southerners who boast Choctaw/Cherokee heritage. Never mind this because the issue here is the liberal media’s hypocrisy—not their stupidity.

Here’s Norman Birnbaum, a current columnist for The Nation, The Daily Beast among other liberal publications, going off on Cuban Americans a few years ago: “Despite the truly repellent Miami Cubans of the older generation and their gallant allies, the Israel lobby, Castro hangs on.”

Birnbaum is also a Georgetown Professor Emeritus and former advisor to three Democratic Presidential candidates. Now imagine a Republican political adviser and—say--Hillsdale college professor/author spouting, on the record on for public consumption, any of the following phrases: "those truly repellent New York Jews" or "those truly repellent Ferguson Negroes" or "those truly repellent Los Angeles Mexicans," or “those truly repellent Detroit Arabs.”

Would he even bother seeking future media employment?

Years ago Joe Sobran –as usual—nailed it by writing that “refugees from communism embarrass liberals.” Bulls-eye!

These refugees are living, breathing, walking, talking refutations of the horrors of extra-strength leftism. This makes leftists of all stripes very uncomfortable. These living, breathing testimonials against their product must be silenced, booted home (Elian Gonzalez) scorned (MSNBC) or-- at the very least—ignored (try finding my books mentioned by the non-Fox Media.)

Whoops! Excuse me, I exaggerate. In fact, these books have been mentioned --shamelessly plugged in fact, but in places such as Warsaw by the Polska Times ( a division of the London Times,) Madrid by former Spanish First Lady Ana Botella, in Sao Paolo by Brazil’s hugely popular Veja. Nothing by the Beltway biggies in my home country however.

Deep down liberals feel that Cuban-Americans had it coming. Only a tiny and filthy-rich clique of mobsters, pimps, crooks, robber barons, slave-drivers, plantation-owners, and sweat-shop owners–all direct descendants of the Spanish conquistadores—prospered in pre-Castro Cuba. They prospered by slave driving, sweatshopping and pimping the island’s indigenous people. Thus goes thefable.

Consequently, people like Ted Cruz’ and Humberto Fontova’s fathers “had it ‘comin—and revenge is sweet!”

Is Ted Cruz Allowed To Run Since He Was Born In Canada?: It's All Politics

NPR/ Domenico Montanaro

Rafael & Ted Cruz/ thelapine.ca

There will be a question from some about Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's eligibility to run for president.

That's because even though Cruz grew up in Texas, he was born in Canada. (He renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2013.)

Democrats are sure to remind voters of Cruz's Canadian birth since some on the right have questioned where President Obama was born. The president is a native of Hawaii.

Sen. Ted Cruz says because his mother was born in the United States that makes him a "natural born citizen" and eligible to run for president.

The U.S. Constitution says presidential candidates have to be "natural-born citizens." But the Supreme Court has never weighed in with a definition, leaving it open to interpretation.

It's a question that has come up before. In 2008, senators passed a resolution, making it clear, for example, that John McCain was allowed to run given that he was born on a U.S. military base in the Panama Canal Zone. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, both senators then, voted for it.

Barry Goldwater, the 1964 GOP nominee, was born in Arizona when it was a territory – not a state. And some questioned George Romney's eligibility to run in 1968, because he was born in Mexico. Romney's parents were U.S. residents.

Cruz's parents worked in the oil industry in Calgary, Canada, when he was born. His mother was born in the United States. His father was born in Cuba, but later became a U.S. resident. Cruz argues that because his mother was born in Delaware, he is, in fact, a "natural-born citizen."

Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution states, "No Person except a natural born Citizen...shall be eligible to the Office of President."

U.S. Constitution

And most legal scholars agree. In fact, two of the best-known Supreme Court lawyers – who are not normally on the same side – make the case that Cruz – as well as McCain, George Romney and Goldwater – is eligible to run.

Neal Katyal, who served as acting solicitor general in the Obama administration, and Paul Clement, who was solicitor general under George W. Bush, wrote earlier this month in the Harvard Law Review that "there is no question" Cruz is eligible.

They cite that because Cruz's mother was a U.S. citizen and his father was a U.S. resident, "Cruz has been a citizen from birth and is thus a 'natural born Citizen' within the meaning of the Constitution" and the "Naturalization Act of 1790."

They also point to British common law and enactments by the First Congress, both of which have been cited by the Supreme Court.

Both confirm that the original meaning of the phrase "natural born Citizen" includes persons born abroad who are citizens from birth based on the citizenship of a parent. As to the British practice, laws in force in the 1700s recognized that children born outside of the British Empire to subjects of the Crown were subjects themselves and explicitly used "natural born" to encompass such children. These statutes provided that children born abroad to subjects of the British Empire were "natural-born Subjects . . . to all Intents, Constructions, and Purposes whatsoever."
The Framers, of course, would have been intimately familiar with these statutes and the way they used terms like "natural born," since the statutes were binding law in the colonies before the Revolutionary War. They were also well documented in Blackstone's Commentaries, a text widely circulated and read by the Framers and routinely invoked in interpreting the Constitution.
No doubt informed by this longstanding tradition, just three years after the drafting of the Constitution, the First Congress established that children born abroad to U.S. citizens were U.S. citizens at birth, and explicitly recognized that such children were "natural born Citizens." The Naturalization Act of 1790 provided that "the children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens: Provided, That the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States ... ."
The actions and understandings of the First Congress are particularly persuasive because so many of the Framers of the Constitution were also members of the First Congress. That is particularly true in this instance, as eight of the eleven members of the committee that proposed the natural born eligibility requirement to the Convention served in the First Congress and none objected to a definition of "natural born Citizen" that included persons born abroad to citizen parents.

Katyal and Clement conclude, "There are plenty of serious issues to debate in the upcoming presidential election cycle. The less time spent dealing with specious objections to candidate eligibility, the better. Fortunately, the Constitution is refreshingly clear on these eligibility issues."

Dem Sen Menendez to Face Criminal Corruption Charges — After Opposing Obama

Breitbart

by Rich Tucker

CNN reports that the Justice Department plans to bring criminal corruption charges against Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ).

“The government’s case centers on Menendez’s relationship with Salomon Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist who the senator has called a friend and political supporter,” CNN reports. “Melgen and his family have been generous donors to the senator and various committees the senator is associated with.”

Breitbart News investigative journalist Matthew Boyle first broke the Menendez scandal while working for The Daily Caller before the 2012 election, right before he came to work for Breitbart News, and Breitbart News has been reporting on this story for more than two years. In Jan. of 2013, for example, Breitbart News wrote that “Menendez’s staff admitted the senator flew to the Dominican on Melgen’s private plane on three occasions and told NBC News’ Michael Isikoff that Menendez stays at Melgen’s villa while there about twice a year.”

The pair’s involvement in a “Dominican port security deal reads like the plot of a Hollywood movie,” as Breitbart News detailed in March of 2013. When Menendez was up for reelection, Breitbart News reported that Melgen donated more than $700,000, and also gave generously to New Jersey county Democratic committees.

Melgen has had legal problems of his own. “Earlier this year, the FBI raided the medical offices of Dr. Salomon Melgen, seizing documents to investigate suspicions that he was overbilling Medicare,” Breitbart News reported in Feb. 2013.

The potential indictment comes after Democrat Menendez publicly disagreed with the Obama administration on two high profile issues: its Cuba policy and its Iran policy.

UFC: Cuban-American Frank Mir Mauls "Big Foot" Silva

ESPN

As it turns out, you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir snapped a four-fight losing streak on Sunday, knocking out Antonio Silva less than two minutes into the UFC Fight Night main event in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The official time of the stoppage was the 1:40 mark.

Fighting for the first time in one year, Mir (17-9), traditionally a southpaw, came out in an orthodox stance. The unexpected switch might have thrown Silva for a loop, as he threw just three total strikes in the fight.

Mir, 35, credited the switch to his new Las Vegas-based boxing coach, Angelo Reyes. He said he took nearly one year off to heal from injuries -- and re-learn how to box from a new stance.

"I came out looking for the jab," Mir said. "I knew he hits hard. There was no doubt about that. He has a long right hand. I wrestle left side forward and my head coach said, 'Switch back to orthodox.' So, I did. That's why I took extra time off. I learned how to box the correct way. The jab sets up everything. I've never had a dominant jab."

The victory marks the 13th finish of Mir's career, but only his fourth knockout. It is his 15th win inside the Octagon -- the most ever in the UFC's heavyweight division.

The jab was undoubtedly effective for Mir, as he set up both of his early combinations with it. A short flurry caught Silva against the fence in the opening moments of the fight.

After a feeling-out process between the two after that, Mir landed the left hook that dropped the big Brazilian.

Referee Mario Yamasaki gave Silva (18-7-1) every opportunity to recover. Mir stepped over his opponent and rained down punches with both hands. He then switched to a series of elbows, which knocked Silva out cold. It is the sixth knockout loss of Silva's career and third in his last four fights.

Mir earns his first victory a comeback submission victory against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in December 2011.

"This is me," Mir said. "I took time off. I rested. I was banged up. I've been facing top-five guys, four fights in a row, hindered, injured and not 100 percent. I have that 'never say die' attitude. I never turn down fights. I'd sit there and strap up, tape up and everybody would be looking at me saying, 'that's the worst training camp ever.' I said, 'I'll make it work.'

According to immediate cageside stats by Fightmetric, Mir landed a total of 10 strikes in the fight.

Silva, who missed time late last year to undergo surgery to remove a tumor near the base of his brain, landed one.
--------------------------

Frank Mir Highlights

rawrr1g

Senators Press Justice Department on Fugitives Harbored in Cuba

capitolhillcubans

In light of President Obama’s decision to transfer three convicted foreign intelligence agents in federal custody to Cuba, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), David Vitter (R-LA) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) today pressed Attorney General Eric Holder for answers on the status of U.S. cop killers and other fugitives that the Castro regime is harboring, as well as the threats posed to the U.S. legal system by the administration’s unilateral concessions to Cuba, including its possible removal from the State Sponsors of Terrorism List:

January 23, 2015
The Honorable Eric Holder
Attorney General
Department of Justice
Robert F. Kennedy Building
Tenth Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530

Dear Attorney General Holder:

We are writing to express our strong concern about the Department of Justice’s role in President Obama’s recent announcement of a change in U.S. policy toward Cuba and to pose several questions related to your Department’s actions on this issue.

As Attorney General, you serve as our country’s chief law enforcement officer. You are expected to ensure the credibility of the American legal system and as well as help to protect and defend the American people.

We were thus troubled to learn that you played a role in the President’s decision to transfer three convicted foreign intelligence agents from federal custody to Cuba. As you know, in addition to their infiltration of the Cuban-American community for espionage, one of the individuals in question was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder related to the downing of civilian planes operated by the U.S. humanitarian group Brothers to the Rescue in international airspace.

We have several questions regarding their cases:

• Was there a formal assessment conducted of the consequences for the credibility of the U.S. justice system of releasing individuals that were not just convicted foreign intelligence agents, but also a convicted accessory to murder?
• Why was there no effort made by the U.S. government to provide an explanation to the families of the murdered victims about this prisoner release before it took place or in the immediate aftermath of President Obama’s announcement?

Related to the same 1996 incident, in a recent press report, a member of Congress recounted being told by Cuban President Raul Castro that, “I gave the order. I’m the one responsible,” for the shoot down. This information sheds new light on the 1996 events and bolsters previous evidence of Castro’s culpability in this heinous crime.

• Has the Justice Department discussed this conversation with the member of Congress in question and does the Justice Department rule out the indictment of President Castro for murder given his apparent admission of guilt for the murder of three American citizens?

Another issue that falls under your Department’s jurisdiction is the effort to seek the return of fugitives from justice who have fled to other countries. As you know, there are reportedly more than seventy such individuals who have sought refuge in Cuba and are currently being harbored by the Castro regime. These include such violent criminals as Joanne Chesimard, who the FBI regards as a “domestic terrorist” and was named to the FBI’s Most Wanted List in 2013, as well as Victor Manuel Gerena, Charles Hill and others. Chesimard and Hill were both involved in the murders of American police officers. There are numerous others guilty of lesser but still important crimes, including money laundering and health care fraud. While the United States government has publicly described the situation related to these fugitives in reports in the past, there is little definitive information about their cases available publicly. We agree with the President of the Fraternal Order of Police, who recently wrote to President Obama that, “The blood of American law enforcement officers doing their job on American soil is too high a price to pay for closer ties with the Cuban regime.”

We would like the following information and questions answered about these American fugitives from justice:

• Please provide a list of all fugitives from justice that the FBI considers likely to be harbored in Cuba.
• Please provide copies of the indictments of each of the individuals on this list.
• As the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, do you support the normalization of relations with Cuba without the return of fugitives from justice for prosecution who have the blood of Americans, including law enforcement officers on their hands?
• As the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, do you support the removal of Cuba from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism if the Castro government continues to harbor “domestic terrorists” such as Joanne Chesimard?

As the facts of these cases show, the actions of the individuals in question have deprived some Americans of their lives and affected the lives and well-being of countless others.  Attempting to gloss over the facts of their crimes against the United States is an insult to the values and ethics of our judicial system and those same ideals that you, as our nation’s chief law enforcement officer, are supposed to uphold.

We thus look forward to your answers to all of these questions, which we also intend to consider as part of the confirmation process of your successor.

Sincerely,

Senator Marco Rubio

Senator David Vitter

Senator Ted Cruz

Rosa Maria Paya to Join Senator Rubio at State of the Union

capitolhillcubans

Rubio Announces Rosa Maria Paya as His Guest for State of the Union

Ms. Payá is daughter of slain Cuban democracy leader Oswaldo Payá

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) today announced that Cuban activist Rosa María Payá will be his official guest for Tuesday evening’s State of the Union address by President Obama. Payá is the daughter of the late Oswaldo Payá who, along with Cuban youth activist Harold Cepero, was killed in an automobile accident on July 22, 2012, in Bayamo, Cuba.

Since then, the vehicle’s driver has alleged that the car was deliberately targeted by Cuban government officials. However, the Cuban regime has denied all requests to conduct an independent investigation.

In announcing Ms. Payá as his guest, Rubio issued the following statement:

“For years, Oswaldo Payá courageously traveled throughout Cuba collecting tens of thousands of signatures from ordinary Cubans on a petition that came to be known as the Varela Project, which sought a peaceful democratic transition. All Oswaldo Payá wanted was a better future for Cuba and the Cuban people, and the Castro regime assassinated him for it.

I’m honored that Rosa María Payá will join us in the Capitol on Tuesday evening as the president addresses our nation. Since her father’s murder, Rosa María has honored his legacy by continuing to advocate for a free and democratic Cuba and also fighting to bring his murderers to justice. In 2013, Rosa María visited the Senate and met with several senators who pledged their assistance in her search for justice.

In his remarks, I expect the president will bring up his new Cuba policy, especially since his administration is heading to Havana this week to discuss giving the regime legitimacy and greater access to American dollars it will use to fund its machine of repression – the very machine that harassed Oswaldo Payá for years, eventually murdered him and pays hush money to potential key witnesses.

While I disagree with the president’s new Cuba policy, I hope Rosa María Payá’s presence on Tuesday night will at least remind him that her father’s murderers have not been brought to justice, and that the U.S. is now, in fact, sitting at the table with them. I hope the administration takes the opportunity to demand reforms and changes in Cuban behavior before relations are normalized. At the very least, President Obama and his administration should push the Cuban regime to allow an impartial, third party investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Oswaldo and Harold.”

Congresistas cubano-americanos sobre las relaciones Cuba-EEUU

Maria Elvira Salazar

Chairman Menendez’s Statement on U.S.–Cuba Relationship

capitolhillcubans

Chairman Menendez’s Statement on U.S.–Cuba Relationship

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), issued this statement regarding the U.S.–Cuba relationship:

“Today’s policy announcement is misguided and fails to understand the nature of the regime in Cuba that has exerted its authoritarian control over the Cuban people for 55 years. No one wishes that the reality in Cuba was more different than the Cuban people and Cuban-Americans that have fled the island in search of freedom. In November, the Cuban Commission for Human Rights & National Reconciliation (CCHR) documented 398 political arrests by the Castro regime. This brings the total number of political arrests during the first eleven months of this year to 8,410. This is a regime that imprisoned an American citizen for five years for distributing communications equipment on the island.  Releasing political prisoners today in Cuba is meaningless if tomorrow these individuals can be arrested again and denied the right to peacefully pursue change in their own country.

It is a fallacy that Cuba will reform just because the American President believes that if he extends his hand in peace that the Castro brothers suddenly will unclench their fists. A majority of democratic activists on the island, including many that I have met with, have been explicit that they want the U.S. to become open to Cuba only when there is reciprocal movement by the Castro government.  They understand that the Castros will not accede to change in any other way.

The United States has just thrown the Cuban regime an economic lifeline.  With the collapse of the Venezuelan economy, Cuba is losing its main benefactor, but will now receive the support of the United States, the greatest democracy in the world. This is a reward that a totalitarian regime does not deserve and this announcement only perpetuates the Castro regime’s decades of repression.

Today’s regulatory changes, which are clearly intended to circumvent the intent and spirit of U.S. law and the U.S. Congress, present a false narrative about Cuba that suggests that the U.S., and not the regime, is responsible for their economic failure. Cuba’s economic struggles are 100 percent attributable to a half century of failed political and economic experiments that have suffocated Cuban entrepreneurs.  In Cuba, private business is controlled by the Cuban government, with the benefits flowing to the regime’s political and military leadership.  Cuba has had political and economic relations with most of the world, but companies choose not to engage because of political, economic and even criminal risks associated with investment on the island, as exhibited by the arbitrary arrests of foreign investors from Canada, England and Panama in recent years.

To suggest that Cuba should be taken off the list of state sponsors of terrorism is alarming while Cuba harbors American fugitives, such as Joanne Chesimard, who is on the FBI’s list of Most Wanted Terrorists for murdering New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster and despite Cuba’s colluding with North Korea to smuggle jets, missile batteries, and arms through the Panama Canal.

With respect to the President’s decision to attend the Summit of the Americas, I’m extraordinarily disappointed that we intend to violate our own principles, laid down in the Inter-American Democratic Charter in 2001, on the Summit being a forum for the hemisphere’s democratically-elected leaders.  This action disavows the Charter and sends a global message about the low priority we place on democracy and respect for human and civil rights.

When the new Congress convenes in January, I urge incoming Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker to hold hearings on this dramatic and mistaken change of policy."

Senate Dem.: Obama Has 'Vindicated The Brutal Behavior of the Cuban Government'

Breitbart

By Caroline May

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-NJ) slammed the Obama administration for exchanging imprisoned aid worker Alan Gross with Cuba for three Cuban spies. Menendez calls it a dangerous precedent and one that absolves the Castro regime’s behavior.  

“Let’s be clear, this was not a ‘humanitarian’ act by the Castro regime. It was a swap of convicted spies for an innocent American,” the New Jersey Democrat said in a statement. “President Obama’s actions have vindicated the brutal behavior of the Cuban government.”
Menendez — whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Cuba — stressed that there is no “equivalence” between Gross and the spies who were released in exchange for his return. 
“One spy was also convicted of conspiracy to murder for his role in the 1996 tragedy in which the Cuban military shot down two U.S. civilian planes, killing several American citizens,” he said. 
Wednesday the Obama administration announced the release of Gross and an unnamed intelligence source in exchange for three Cuban spies and the reestablishment of an official relationship with Cuba. 
While Menendez noted that Gross’ release is a relief for his family, the senator said it also will serve as an enticement for other dictators to use Americans as “bargaining chips.”
“Trading Mr. Gross for three convicted criminals sets an extremely dangerous precedent,” he said. “It invites dictatorial and rogue regimes to use Americans serving overseas as bargaining chips.  I fear that today’s actions will put at risk the thousands of Americans that work overseas to support civil society, advocate for access to information, provide humanitarian services, and promote democratic reforms.”
He concluded saying that the uptick in trade will also serve to “invite further belligerence toward Cuba’s opposition movement” and tighten the Castro regime’s hold on the Cuban people.
“Let us all remind ourselves that an untold number of ordinary people yearning for democracy remain imprisoned by the exact same tormentors that have punished Alan Gross and they, along with all Cubans, deserve a free and liberated Cuba,” Menendez said.

Congresistas cubano-americanos en contra de la decision de Obama sobre Cuba

AmericaTeVeCanal41

Alex Mooney, Primer Congresista Cubano-Americano Electo por West Virginia

inquisitr

Alex Mooney, center, with family, left, and supporters announces he won'/
marylandreporter.com

West Virginia’s new U.S. Congressman is Alex Mooney, a politician who is of Hispanic heritage.

Mooney, a Republican, defeated Nick Casey, the former chairman of the state’s Democratic party, by about three points in Tuesday’s midterm election for West Virginia’s Charleston-area 2nd Congressional District, which borders Maryland and Virginia.

“The state with the smallest share of Latinos in the nation has elected its first Latino congressional representative,” Fox News Latino pointed out.

According to Mooney’s website, “Alex’s mother, Lala, was born and raised in Fidel Castro’s Cuba, where she and other members of her family were thrown into jail for seven weeks for opposing Castro’s communist regime. When she was 21, Lala escaped Cuba and fled to America with barely a penny to her name.”

In winning the election, Mooney, 43, had to overcome charges of being a carpetbagger or an opportunist because he only moved to the state last year. He was a former Maryland state senator and chair of the Republican Party there.

Parenthetically, in a huge upset in Maryland on Tuesday, GOP standard-bearer Larry Hogan came out of nowhere to defeat Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown in the race for governor.

Notwithstanding his change of address, Alex Mooney apparently was successful in linking his rival to President Obama’s unpopular policies in a state that is now strongly trending red.

“Alex and his wife moved to West Virginia because they wanted to raise their two children in a state that shares their values. In Congress, Alex will fight to protect West Virginia’s conservative values and coal jobs and make sure West Virginia continues to be the kind of place to which other families want to move,” Mooney’s campaign manager claimed.

The seat won by Mooney was formerly held for seven terms by Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican who was elected to the U.S. Senate on November 4 to replace retiring Senator Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat. In defeating Natalie Tennant, Senator-elect Capito is the first woman in West Virginia to advance to that chamber and also the first Republican to do so in 56 years.

The two political parties burned through in the range of about $2 million each in the 2nd District election contest. Mooney “has vowed to fight against the Affordable Care Act, the so-called ‘war on coal’ and protect what he calls ‘traditional values,” the WV Gazette reported.

West Virgina also has the distinction of electing America’s youngest state-level lawmaker on Tuesday. At age 18, Republican Saira Blair in a landslide won a seat in the West Virginia House of Delegates. The West Virginia University freshman thus becomes a freshman legislator.

Nacido en Cuba el nuevo Director de Inteligencia del FBI

Cubanet

La Oficina Federal de Investigaciones de EE.UU. FBI, reportó el martes el nombramiento del cubanoamericano Rafael Jorge García, Jr. como Director Adjunto para el Directorio de Inteligencia (DI).

“Jorge es el tipo de líder que busco, alguien que comparte la visión de aspirar a la excelencia de nuestra organización y su gente”, dijo el director del FBI, James B. Comey, citado en una nota de prensa del organismo.

​​García, natural de Cuba, se crió en Baltimore, Maryland, cerca de Washington D.C. y recibió una licenciatura en Ciencias de la Academia Militar de Estados Unidos. En el Ejército de este país, sirvió en unidades de infantería, las tropas especiales Rangers, y la aviación. Durante la primera Guerra del Golfo Pérsico en 1991 comandó una compañía de helicópteros de ataque Apache de la 101 División Aerotransportada.

En 1995 abandonó el Ejército para unirse al FBI. Comenzó trabajando como agente de terreno en la investigación de casos de drogas, crimen organizado, y terrorismo en la Oficina de Phoenix, Arizona.

Luego fue trasladado a la sede central en la capital del país donde ocupó diferentes responsabilidades relacionadas con inteligencia y antierrorismo, incluyendo la jefatura de la Unidad de Medidas Contra Armas de Destrucción Masiva.

En 2004, García se desempeñó como segundo al mando del FBI en Irak. Posteriormente dirigió la oficina de terreno de Filadelfia, y en 2011 fue ascendido a director Centro Analítico de Artefactos Explosivos Terroristas (TEDAC) en la academia del FBI en Quantico, Virginia, donde se especializó en la prevención y mitigación de los IED, los Artefactos Explosivos Improvisados que causaron tantos estragos en Irak.

En 2012, el cubanoamericano fue nombrado agente especial a cargo de la División de Inteligencia de la Oficina de Campo de Los Angeles.

Hasta su nombramiento como Director Adjunto para Inteligencia fungía como como subdirector adjunto de la Subdirección de Operaciones de Inteligencia dentro del DI, una posición que implica la supervisión de muchos aspectos del trabajo de inteligencia del FBI, incluyendo la recolección de información, inteligencia humana, y programas de validación de códigos.

Rafael Jorge García tiene Maestría en Consejería Legal de la Universidad de Phoenix y una Maestría en Ciencias especializada en Inteligencia Estratégica del Colegio Militar Conjunto de Inteligencia, adscrito a la Agencia de Inteligencia para la Defensa de EE.UU.
El portal Café Fuerte señala que con su nueva designación García se ha convertido en el hispano de más alto rango en la Oficina Federal de Investigaciones.

CUBA: "Cafe con leche" a kids in exile documentary

Cuba Documental

NASCAR: Cubano-americano Almirola triunfa en Daytona

martinoticias

El cubanoamericano Aric Almirola, de 30 años, obtuvo el domingo el primer triunfo de su carrera en la Sprint Cup Series al volante del auto No. 43, que llevaba el emblema de la Fuerza Aérea de Estados Unidos, y que se corrió bajo la lluvia en el Daytona International Speedway, en Daytona Beach, Florida.

La competencia Coke Zero 4000 Powered by Coca-Cola debió finalizar el sábado por la noche pero fue pospuesta por lluvia para el domingo, día que también llovió tras las primeras 10 vueltas y concluyó tras 112 vueltas con el triunfo de Almirola, conocido como "el cohete cubano" debido a su ascendencia cubana.

Antes de esta competencia, que lideró 14 vueltas, Almirola había logrado cuatro finales en el Top 5, tras siete temporadas en la Sprint Cup. Su victoria lo catapulta para la competencia conocida como Chase.

Esta fue la primera victoria del auto 43 en Daytona desde 1999 y la primera en la Sprint Cup en cualquier tipo de pista desde 1999.

"Esto es increíble, crecí a solo dos horas de aquí en Tampa, viendo la Daytona 500 y la Firecracker 400s, y crecí soñando con ganar aquí", indicó Almirola, quien nació el 14 de marzo de 1984 en la Base Aérea de Eglin, en Fort Walton Beach, Florida, Estados Unidos.

FLORIDA Democrat Congressman, Joe Garcia, takes money from radical Muslim group

 

Bare Naked Islam's Weblog 

Emerge USA is a Florida-based organization whose unstated goal is to give radical Muslims a political voice in America. One way they do this is by getting their leaders placed in key positions of power. Another way is by making friends with thosealready in power. United States Representative from Florida, Joe Garcia, is one of those friends. He has accepted thousands of dollars from Emerge for his 2014 reelection bid, and he has returned the favor by helping the group raise more money.

Frontpage  (h/t Mike F) Earlier this month, Emerge held its annual fundraising dinner in Miami, at the DoubleTree Hotel and Airport Convention Center. Featured at the event was Sayed Ammar Nakshawani, an Islamic lecturer from England who is a devotee of Iran’s deceased terrorist leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and who has called for the destruction of Israel.

In a speech found on YouTube and the lecture section of his website, titled ‘Sayed Khomeini’s Quds Day,’ Nakshawani states, “The shame in this world is that, if we put ourselves down to a two-state solution, we would allow a country which has broken 60 UN resolutions to have their own freedom of peace. It is barbaric that this Zionist state is allowed to continue.”

Emerge advertised Nakshawani in an event flyer as well as an Emerge-produced video of Nakshawani telling people to attend.

Given Emerge’s past, having this man speak was no surprise. What was a surprise, though, was that a sitting U.S. Congressman, Joe Garcia, would also be speaking at the event, even after the leader of his political party, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, cancelled her keynote address in front of the same group just two years prior. One of the two co-chairmen of Emerge is South Florida attorney Khurrum Basir Wahid. According to his bio, Wahid specializes in defending “individuals charged with allegedly committing or conspiring to commit acts of terrorism.”

Prior to helping found Emerge, Wahid was a legal advisor for the national office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and a director of CAIR’s Florida chapter. In 2007 and 2008, CAIR was named by the U.S. Justice Department as a co-conspirator to the financing of millions of dollars to Hamas. In 2011, Wahid himself was placed on a U.S. government terrorist watch list.

The other co-chairman of Emerge is Afaq J. Durrani. Durrani is the General Secretary of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston (ISGH), a sizable community organization consisting of 19 area mosques. ISGH is a subsidiary of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which like CAIR, was named by the U.S. government a co-conspirator in the financing of Hamas.

Ten photos featuring Congressman Garcia at the fundraising banquet are found on the Emerge Facebook page, some showing him speaking at the podium, many with a huge smile on his face. One of the photos is of him playfully grabbing the arm of co-founder and former Emerge President Farooq Mith

Joe Garcia’s willingness to accept money from an organization such as Emerge is troubling to say the least, and his enthusiasm and eagerness to speak in front of the group is evidence that his acceptance of the money was no mistake.

Study: US travel to Cuba continues to rise

MiamiHerald.com

By CHRISTINE ARMARIO

Associated Press

The number of U.S. visitors to Cuba continues to rise, even as the embargo, instituted more than five decades ago, remains firmly in place, according to study released Monday.
Within the first three months of 2014 alone, there were more U.S. tourists to the island than in all of 2013 from England, Germany or France, according to a report by the U.S.-based Havana Consulting Group provided to The Associated Press. Canada remains the No. 1 country of origin for travelers to Cuba, but the number of U.S. travelers to the island has been steadily increasing over the last seven years.
Some 173,550 U.S. travelers visited Cuba in January through March. That compares to 149,515 from England, 115,984 from Germany and 96,640 from France in 2013.
“The data confirms, although the Cuban government does not recognize it publicly, that the United States, even with the effect of the embargo, is the second greatest source of tourists to Cuba after Canada,” Emilio Morales, the consulting group’s president wrote in the report.
“The push in the first trimester has been huge,” he added.
Most of the U.S. travelers are Cuban-Americans visiting family but others have no ties to the island and travel to participate in academic and cultural programs.
The continuing increase in U.S. travel to the Communist-run island comes five years after President Barack Obama loosened restrictions on travel to Cuba. In 2009, Obama lifted a limit put in place by former President George W. Bush allowing Cuban-Americans to travel to island country no more than once every three years to visit relatives. And in 2011, he reinstated the so-called “people-to-people” trips, allowing U.S. citizens to apply for a travel license to participate in educational activities that promote contact with ordinary Cubans.
Havana is the top destination for most U.S. travelers, followed by Santa Clara and Camaguey. The vast majority fly out of Miami International Airport. More than 1,000 flights have departed from Miami to Cuba so far this year, with another 109 leaving from Tampa, the report said.
Travel in the first three months of 2014 was higher than in the last trimester of 2013, when many Cuban-Americans travel to spend the holidays with their family. The number of U.S. travelers has increased steadily each year, from about 245,000 in 2007 to nearly 600,000 last year.
“We expect that 2014 will be a record year,” Morales wrote.
On average, Cuban-American travelers spend about $3,238 per person during their stay, accounting for a major source of revenue for the economically-strapped island.
The study was based off data from U.S. airports and Cuba’s National Statistics Office.
While the data points toward another big year for U.S. travel to the long-forbidden island, there is one ongoing hurdle: Cuba suspended consular services in February after being unable to find a new bank in the U.S. for its diplomatic accounts. While many U.S. travelers had already submitted their visa requests for spring visits to Cuba, the situation remains unresolved and charter operators say it is having an impact.
“At this point, it’s just getting worse,” said Armando Garcia, the owner of Marazul, one of the largest Cuba charter operators. “For Cuban-Americans born in the United States we already have serious problems because we don’t have visas for them. It’s affecting travel, no doubt.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/04/07/4045444/study-us-travel-to-cuba-continues.html#storylink=cpy

Diaz-Balart challenges Secretary of State John Kerry on Cuba, Venezuela

MarioDiazBalart

 

El secretario de Estado de Estados Unidos, John Kerry, afirmó que una de sus prioridades es lograr la liberación del estadounidense Alan Gross, encarcelado en Cuba desde 2009, y que no ve razones para endurecer la política hacia el régimen comunista pese a los graves problemas que enfrentan los disidentes.

Kerry se refirió a estos temas durante una audiencia este miércoles en el Comité de Gastos de la Cámara de Representantes, en respuesta a preguntas del congresista republicano de origen cubano, Mario Díaz-Balart.

Kerry explicó que ha tenido repetidas reuniones, particularmente en los últimos meses, sobre el caso Gross. Luego comentó que no va a entrar en detalles, pero que está centrado en un par de posibilidades con el fin de facilitar su libertad.

También recalcó que Alan Gross está mal de salud y encarcelado injustamente.

Acerca de la política de Estados Unidos hacia Cuba, Kerry subrayó que se hacen cosas útiles, como las remesas, las visitas familiares y los otros tipos de intercambios familiares.

No obstante, admitió que hay graves problemas sobre cómo el Gobierno comunista de Cuba trata a su propio pueblo.

Cuban born Sugar tycoon Alfonso Fanjul now open to investing in Cuba under ‘right circumstances’

By Peter Wallsten, Manuel Roig-Franzia and Tom Hamburger, Sunday, February 2, 4:05 PM 

www.laromanabayahibenews.com

Alfonso Fanjul fled Cuba as a young man, leaving behind his family’s mansions and vast sugarcane fields as they were being wrested away by the communist Castro regime.
In exile in the United States, he built an even larger sugar empire, amassing one of North America’s great fortunes and befriending members of Congress and presidents who benefited from his largesse. The sting of his family’s forced departure from Cuba led him to become one of the principal funders of the U.S. anti-Castro movement.

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