70 Years of Communism, Repression, Murder, and Exporting Revolution and America Finally Preparing to End It. I can’t wait! — YNOT! Let’s sharpen this conversation with a little truth, because we’ve spent nearly 70 years pretending Cuba is something it isn’t. Cuba isn’t some innocent … Continue readingCUBA: THE LAST DAYS OF THE CASTRO DICTATORSHIP are here
The clock is ticking on the Castro revolution like a time bomb. After nearly seven decades of communism, economic collapse, and American frustration, is Cuba about to become Donald Trump’s next foreign-policy project — YNOT! There is an old saying that history repeats itself, … Continue readingCuba Is Next — When?
Fixing Venezuela is like performing a heart transplant on someone while they’re riding a bicycle. Yes, it can be done. But nobody should pretend it’s simple. — YNOT! There is a tendency to look at what is happening in Venezuela and reduce it to … Continue readingWhy Trump Is Working With Delcy Rodríguez — And Why Venezuela Is Much More Complicated Than It Looks
The Children have to dance — YNOT! Fidel Castro would have turned one hundred years old this week, and I see people here and there celebrating the occasion. Celebrate him if you wish. I prefer to remember what he cost everyone, especially the Children of … Continue readingFidel Castro at 100: Ask Whether the Children Still Play
For more than sixty years, outsiders have tried to answer one deceptively simple question about Cuba: Who really runs the country? For decades, the answer seemed obvious. First there was Fidel Castro. Then there was Raúl Castro. Today, officially, there is President Miguel Díaz-Canel. But … Continue readingCuba After Raúl? “El Cangrejo,” the Castro Family, and the Quiet Battle Over Who Controls the Island Next
Nike Hercules, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Nuclear Missiles Hidden in Our Backyard Most people who think about South Florida and the Cuban Missile Crisis picture Soviet missiles in Cuba pointed toward the United States. But there is another side of that story that … Continue readingThe Forgotten Nuclear History of South Florida
There are moments in the history of a country that cannot be measured by elections, armies, speeches, or revolutions. They are measured by something much smaller. A suitcase. A passport. A photograph folded into a shirt pocket. A mother standing behind a glass partition at an airport, … Continue readingLos Hijos del Cielo Operation Pedro Pan and the Children Who Flew Alone
The City Where Everybody Eventually Passed Through There was an old joke about Miami in the 1980s: one-third of the city was supported by drugs, another third by the CIA, Cuban intelligence or the clandestine war, and only the remaining third was involved in normal … Continue readingMiami, in the Center of It All – Drugs, Spies, Exiles, Covert Wars
How Castro Fought the CIA, the ounterrevolution, and the Secret War Against Cuba When Fidel Castro entered Havana in January 1959, the Cuban Revolution had won the war against Fulgencio Batista. It had not won peace. Within a remarkably short period, Cuba became the center … Continue readingDefending the Revolution
A Timeline From Castro’s Revolution to the CIA, the Exile Armies and the Underground War, 1959–1980 When Fidel Castro entered Havana in January 1959, almost nobody could have predicted that the Cuban Revolution would produce a secret war lasting decades. Within two years, Cuban exiles would … Continue readingTwenty Years of the Secret CIA War for Cuba 1959–1980
Lee Harvey Oswald spent his life trying to enter history. In the end, history swallowed him whole—leaving behind a dead president, a dead suspect, and questions that refused to die. — YNOT! History rarely chooses a neat, predictable character to stand at the center of … Continue readingThe Unlikely Man in the Middle of a Storm – Lee Harvey Oswald
For decades, Cuba exported revolution while the Soviet Union picked up the tab. Cuban blood, Soviet money, and foreign countries paid the price. Cuba’s Military Campaigns, Proxy Wars, and Intelligence Operations Abroad After 1959, Cuba was not merely a poor island claiming to defend itself … Continue readingCUBA Exports the Revolution
Batista spared Fidel Castro after Moncada. Cuban exiles financed his return. They believed they were funding Cuba’s liberation—only to discover they had financed the man who would imprison the nation. –YNOT! On July 26, 1953, Fidel Castro led roughly 160 armed followers in coordinated attacks … Continue readingThe Man Batista Spared and Miami sent Back to Cuba
“I am not a Communist, and neither is the evolutionary movement.” —Fidel Castro, July 17, 1959 That was perhaps the greatest lie ever told by the 26th of July Movement. Castro did not reveal the truth until Cuba was already under his control. The Cuban … Continue readingJuly 26: The Day Cuba’s Destruction Began
Cuba never needed to be the largest power in the world. It only needed the patience to place or extort the right person in the right room—and wait. — YNOT! Cuba is a small island with limited economic resources, but since Fidel Castro took power … Continue readingCuban Overseas Intelligence – the Who, How, and What
Ernesto “Che” Guevara is often presented as a romantic rebel: the bearded doctor who abandoned comfort to fight injustice, became a commander in the Cuban Revolution, and died attempting to spread revolution abroad. That image leaves out the central fact of his adult life. Che … Continue readingChe Guevara: Revolutionary Soldier, Executioner, Architect of Violence and Death
The Guerrilla War Failed. The Ideological War Did Not. Che lovers still get together to celebrate his “triumphs” –YNOT! Most Americans think Che Guevara is ancient history. And after 60 years it should be. He is the face on an old T-shirt, a college dormitory … Continue readingWhy Che and Cuba Still Matter to America 60 Years Later
To understand the Cuban Revolution, we must first stop lying about the Cuba that existed before it. On the eve of Fidel Castro’s victory in January 1959, Cuba was not the tropical paradise sometimes remembered by nostalgic exiles. But neither was it the miserable, backward … Continue reading1959 – Cuba Before Castro
The Reality Behind Your All-Inclusive Cuban Vacation Let me ask you an uncomfortable question—one that may upset tourists, travel agencies, hotel companies, and everyone who prefers the postcard version of Cuba. While you are lying on a lounge chair in Varadero, sipping a mojito beside … Continue readingHow Tourism Works in Cuba
The Prisoners Who Survived the War—Only to Be Killed After It History often remembers the men who die in battle. It is less comfortable remembering the men who survive the battle, surrender, spend years in prison, and are then taken into the darkness to be … Continue readingThe Manacas–Iznaga Massacre — July 13th, 1963
Forty-One Cubans Died Trying to Escape—Including Ten Children. More Than Three Decades Later, No One Has Been Held Accountable. On , approximately seven miles north of Havana, the Caribbean Sea became the grave of 41 Cuban men, women, and children. They were not soldiers. They … Continue readingThe Tugboat Massacre: 13 de Marzo — July 13, 1994
Throughout this series, I will try to approach Cuba’s history as honestly and fairly as possible. Some records are incomplete, and some events are still debated, so the goal is not to repeat propaganda from either side, but to look at the facts as clearly … Continue readingThe Platt Amendment: Cuba’s Independence Came With Fine Print
The Story of José Hernández My name is José Hernández, and I survived Cuban socialism. I do not use the word survived lightly. I was not rescued from a battlefield. I was not pulled from the ruins of a collapsed building. I survived something slower—a … Continue readingI Survived Cuban Socialism
The Revolution Before the Revolution Before Cuba became a republic, before Castro, before Batista, before the slogans and speeches of the twentieth century, there was another revolution. The original Cuban revolution was not one man standing at a podium. It was not one army marching … Continue readingCuba’s Long Road to Freedom – The First Time
They fought for a freedom they were promised, then came home to a country still deciding whether that freedom included them. I could say that for Afro-Cuban veterans of 1912 or Tuskegee Airmen, Cuba was ahead by 30 years. — YNOT! There are some wounds in a … Continue readingLa Guerra de 1912 – The Forgotten War
Cuba’s Revolving Door of Presidents – How a Nation Won Its Independence but Never Secured Its Democracy Cuba did not suffer from a shortage of presidents. It suffered from a shortage of institutions strong enough to restrain them. Between the founding of the Cuban Republic in … Continue readingCuba’s Revolving Door of Presidents
A regime can imprison the body, starve the home, and silence the street — but its final victory only comes when it captures the mind. Free the mind, and the chains have already begun to break. –YNOT! Cuba was not destroyed in one day. It … Continue readingHow to turn a Nation Into a Mortuary and how to escape.
It may happen in a single night, or it may take much longer. But the ending does not change. The curtain will rise, the drama will unfold, and history will make its decision. — YNOT! Wars are funny things. Everyone spends years talking about how … Continue readingThe Day After Díaz-Canel
There are nations that fall because they run out of money. There are nations that fall because they run out of food. There are nations that fall because the lights go out, the factories stop, the roads break, and the people finally understand that … Continue readingThe G2: The Hidden Machine That Keeps Cuba in Chains
“Cuba was not born for chains. It was born through blood, poetry, sacrifice, and rebellion — and every tyrant who tried to own her only proved why her people must be free.” — YNOT! Birthing a country is a painful thing. It does not always … Continue readingCuba Before Castro: The Long Road from Spain’s Chains to a Wounded Republic
Cuba does not need new masters. Cuba needs the old Mambí spirit — the courage to say that no dictator, no party, and no army owns the Cuban people. –YNOT! Before Castro. Before communism. Before the lies, the slogans, the ration books, the political prisons, … Continue readingThe Mambises: Cuba’s Original Freedom Fighters
The revolution promised equality, but it created a royal family in olive-green uniforms while the Cuban people waited in line for bread. –YNOT! One of the most controversial questions surrounding Cuba’s ruling elite is the alleged “treasure” of the Castro family. For decades, rumors, journalistic … Continue readingThe Castro Family Fortune: Myth, Estimate, or Reality
The money enters Cuba. The food enters Cuba. The hotels are built. The problem is not the absence of resources — it is who controls them.–YNOT! To understand Cuba’s deep crisis, we have to move beyond ideological slogans and look at the facts: the economic … Continue readingCuba’s Economic Reality: Beyond the Myth of the “Blockade”
Cuba does not need more hotels built on top of prisoners. It needs the regime that destroyed its faith, family, culture, and future to finally end. –YNOT! No negotiation. No cosmetic reform. No pretending that opening Cuba as a travel destination is the priority when … Continue readingThe Cuban Regime Cannot Be Reformed – The present Cuban regime has to end.
Communism does not work. It has never worked. And it will never work. Because Humans are the wrong species! –YNOT! Why? Because human beings do not work that way. Communism begins with a fantasy: that everyone will work the same, sacrifice the same, share the same, … Continue readingWhy Communism Never Works
Before Spain called it Cuba, the island’s Indigenous people knew it by names remembered as Cubao or Cubanacán, meaning “the central place” . And history has certainly made it one. In this new series, I explore Cuba’s forgotten real history — concise, direct, and to the … Continue readingCubanacán – Cuba Before 1800: The Island Before the Revolution, Before Castro, Before the Republic
Cuba’s greatest shortage may not be food, fuel, medicine, dollars, or electricity. After sixty years of dictatorship, Cuba’s greatest shortage may be trusted leadership. The prison door will open. The real question is: who knows how to rebuild the house? — YNOT! The big problem … Continue readingThe Really Big Problem with Cuba
Communism does not eliminate the rich. It simply replaces private wealth with political privilege. Cuba did not build an economy. It built a toll booth feeding one class and called it a country. –YNOT! In Cuba, the shelves are empty for the people, but full for … Continue readingCuban Economics 101: The Store Is Empty Because the System Is Full
I cleaned only the duplicated and out-of-order sections from your pasted draft, keeping the same story, tone, and argument. Somewhere beyond time, in a quiet room with no guards, no microphones, and no revolutionary slogans painted on the walls, three men sat across from one … Continue readingA Conversation somewhere between Ronald Reagan, José Martí, and Fidel Castro
America can win Cuba in a week. The question is whether it can win the morning after. That is up to the people — YNOT! Has the time come to take military action in Cuba, or are we standing at the edge of another fine … Continue readingHas the Time Come to Take Military Action in Cuba — and What Would That Really Mean?
Socialism in Cuba did not eliminate the rich — it simply replaced businessmen with generals, and called the new monopoly ‘the people.’ Meanwhile, the people stood in line for bread while the revolution built luxury hotels. — YNOT! People imagine socialism as a system where … Continue readingHow Socialism Really Works in Cuba — And How Did Raul Castro End Up Owning the Country? GAESA
Revolutions make their finest speeches at night, but morning is when the people count the candles, the bread, and the dead. — YNOT! Every revolution sells itself like a wedding night. There is music in the street, fire in the speeches, and a promise that … Continue readingCuba — The Morning After — Where We Are Now, Where We Are Going
“Communism can survive a speech, a sanction, and a slogan. But when the lights go out, the oil runs dry, and the people get hungry, even the revolution starts looking like an like a hostage situation.” –YNOT! Is this finally the moment Cuba’s communist machine … Continue readingIs Cuba on Its Final Heart Attack Again?
“An ally who disappears when the shooting starts was never an ally — just a customer.” — YNOT Trump has taken Venezuela, then Iran, and next on the board may be Cuba. Meanwhile, China and Russia stay quiet. They issue statements, murmur about “stability,” and … Continue readingCan Russia’s or China’s Allies Depend on Them?
“Communism begins with speeches about dignity and ends with people standing in the dark surrounded by garbage wondering where the food went.” –YNOT! There are moments in history when a lie grows old all at once. For years, Cuba has been one of those grand … Continue readingCuba Is Falling, and the Left Can Feel the Floor Moving
“Cuba didn’t run out of beaches. It ran out of fuel, trust, and patrons — and without those, the planes stop coming.”– YNOT! Let’s take a break from Iran and talk about the other kind of geopolitical dysfunction: the slow-motion collapse of a state that … Continue readingCuba’s Golden Goose Is Dead — And the Goose Isn’t Coming Back
Che Guevara was a rich kid turned executioner, rebranded as a hero by distance and time. Che was the original socialist influencer and 60 years later his T-shirts outsell the Nike Swoosh.” — YNOT! The face on the T-shirt is clean, defiant, and timeless. The … Continue readingWas Che Guevara a Hero of the Poor— or the Most Successful Revolutionary Brand Ever Sold?
“Cuba is a parasite. It latches onto a host, drains every drop of blood, and when the host finally collapses—empty, pale, useless—it simply moves on to the next warm vein.” –YNOT! Cuba has always had a talent for surviving things that should have killed it. … Continue readingCUBA – Where Does it Go From Here—Collapse, Compromise, or Another Long Night?
On Cuba, “The most beautiful land that eyes have ever seen.” — Christopher Columbus When Christopher Columbus first laid eyes on Cuba, he called it “the most beautiful land that eyes have ever seen.” History would prove him right—just not in the way he imagined. … Continue readingCUBA – How did the most beautiful island on Earth become a case study in economic self-destruction?