Cuba Culture News and Information
Cuba News and Information
Seems like this Fall might have a distinctive Cuban American flavor to it.
Gloria Estefan’s latest release will debut on September 28. “90 Millas” is Spanish for 90 miles which is the distance from Key West to Havana. On September 25th, CANE the CBS “Dallas meets the Sopranos” type TV show featuring Jimmy Smits as part of a powerful Cuban American family will begin its premier season.
Ms. Estefan is a well known Cuban American and has recently performed in Key West for a taping of a segment for Univision which will air on September 17 on the morning news program “Despierta America”.
After her performance, Estefan noted the roots of her passion for Cuban music. “My grandmother would ask pilots at the Havana airport to bring me cartons of mango baby food - the only kind I’d eat. I learned to eat peach later. And in every carton, she’d slip a Cuban record,” Estefan said.
Her first release “No Llores” features Sheila E, Jose Feliciano and Carlos Santana.
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Interesting that this album has generated some controversy through the featuring of Carlos Santana, who likes to wear Che t-shirts. Odd, since Gloria’s father was a member of the Brigada 2506.
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Gloria Estafan is a dirty b---h who stated that she would refuse to perform during the 2003 Latin Grammys in Miami if musicians visiting from Cuba were allowed to perform.
Interesting. I do remember something about that now.
Preventing Cuban musicians from performing hurts Fidel though, right?
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Believe Carlos Santana is of Mexican, not Cuban, heritage.
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"Believe Carlos Santana is of Mexican, not Cuban, heritage. “ - cubanpete
that doesn’t take away from the fact that he likes to wear Che shirts which have become a naive symbol for rich rebellious youth. When really all it symbolizes is mass murder, execution, murder without trial, lack of human rights, communism.
Agree. Which is why Gloria Estefan, whose father served in the Brigada 2506, made a most unfortunate choice in adding Santana to the roster of artists featured in the album.
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Is she a politician or a musician?
She’s a musician but she is political. I’m sure she gave it some thought and decided that his talent was more important than her political beliefs?
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That’s what’s wrong with the extremist Cubans in Miami. Everything has to be “either - or”. I don’t agree with Gloria Estefan’s political views at all ---- her comment about not performing at the Latin Grammys is Cuban artists performed shows paints her in my eyes as a mediocre human being who has allowed herself to be brainwashed. However....I still like some of her music and have no problems listening to it. As for Santana, I have no problems with him wearing a Che t-shirt. To some Che represents murder, and to others he represents heroism. That’s just the way things are and will always be. But you can’t deny Santana’s talent as an extraordinary artist. Hopefuly Gloria has finally come to her senses and will let art be art, regardless of anyone’s views.
In England, Prince Harry once wore a swastika armband to a Hallowe’en party and, not suprisingly, was roasted accordingly. Fair enough. However, when someone wears a Che t-shirt, the Main Stream Media (MSM) has no problem. Che may not have had six million victims to his name, but he probably had six thousand. Evil is evil in any quantity.
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I do wonder....just for the sake of argument.....why Che has several thousand times more followers than he does opponents. There are also literally dozens of songs written about him. This scenario is quite a contrast from Hitler’s, don’t you think? Like I said....it just makes one wonder what the truths and the lies really are.
But remember one thing....when you can’t destroy a man’s ideas by killing him...the adversaries resort to the next best thing, which is negative propaganda to destroy his image. Of course it only works on that segment of the population which tends to believe everything they hear. But it has no effect on individuals who reason and question things and who are able to place events within their proper context. That’s why we have the dual image of Che.
His face is just a symbol for fighting against “the man”. He was a freedom fighter and not a politician or manager. That’s probably why he left Cuba to fight in Bolivia.
Did he kill people who didn’t agree with him? I guess so. Were they Batista agents? Probably. Were they innocent civilians too? Maybe?
Did he run Cuba into the ground for forty years? No.
Is he a saint? No.
I think it’s a very vocal minority of the US population that protest the wearing of his shirts… same ones who run the Embargo and restrict my freedoms as an American.
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"I think it’s a very vocal minority of the US population that protest the wearing of his shirts… same ones who run the Embargo and restrict my freedoms as an American.”
Publisher, that’s exactly right.
Believe the embargo is run from Washington, D.C., not Miami, and that there is a repeal process available.
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The old exiles have told ten US Presidents how to run the Embargo and only an act of Congress can repeal it.
All Presidents and Presidential candidates (except Obama) go to the old Cuban exiles for votes and they tell them how it’s going to be.
The Embargo is run from Miami and don’t think otherwise.
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The embargo may be run from Washington....but it’s through the relentless politicking of the three congress people from Miami. If it weren’t for Lehtinen and the Balarts brothers, the embargo would have probably been long gone.
Other than Florida, there are 49 other states represented in both the House and the Senate. It’s hard to believe that Florida, or rather South Florida, has more influence.
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Then why....if the American public in general is opposed to the embargo.....and when American companies WANT to trade with Cuba.....do you suppose the embargo still stands? Something doesn’t make sense here.
I think some of us react sensitively when we hear “Cuban Americans”, “Miami Cubans”, etc. being blamed for the agendas run by a vocal minority. Clearly, the entire city of Miami is not running US foreign policy.
What we now know through recent studies is that while the Cuban American community as a whole has become less fanatically anti-Castro in recent years, the Cuban-American political bloc has solidified its power. In other words, the people have moved left but the politicians have moved right. I think all of the readers of the Havana Journal would agree that in this case this is a negative trend that effectively blockades our loved ones on the island.
For this reason, I must take issue with cubanpete’s comment that “Other than Florida, there are 49 other states represented in both the House and Senate. It’s hard to believe that Florida, or rather South Florida, has more influence.” It might be hard to believe, but clearly the small number of right-wing Cuban American senators have an immense treasure trove from which to intensely lobby their colleagues whenever embargo votes come up. That, in addition to the importance of Florida’s electoral votes and right-wing Cuban American politicians’ close ties with the Bush family, shows how a relatively small group of people is able to continually influence U.S. foreign policy.
Honestly, the vast majority of people you talk to don’t understand why we have an embargo. It’s mostly older conservatives who were cold warriors who support it. It does not have much grassroots support across the country.
abh: I agree with your assessment above. That being the case, one has to consider that something has gone very wrong with our “democratic process.” It is hardly what the forefathers intended when they said that government ought to be BY, OF and FOR the people. In the end, those with the $$$ run the show.
The complaint is made that a relatively small group of people (i.e., Cuban-Americans) is able to continually influence U.S. foreign policy re Cuba. Heard this well-worn argument before, only in regard to Jews and U.S. foreign policy in the Mid-East.
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It may be hard to believe but it’s true. Just as it’s also a relatively small group of people who are behind the whole Iraq war fiasco. Again, they have the money and the power, so the war goes on despite the fact that over 75% of America is against the war. Same principle.
Interestingly, both groups (Jewish and Cuban American) have a lot of influence within U.S. power circles. I think it might as well be admitted as well that both groups are able to appeal to the emotions of U.S. politicians, especially hawkish/Cold War conservatives and also those who profess to support human rights. There is no easier sell, it would seem, than trying to drum up support for those who our country has supported in the past, as our politicians don’t want to be seen as abandoning a friend who has done our dirty work in the past. While I can sympathize with this to a certain point, we clearly need to look into other ways to conduct foreign policy. This proxy stuff will get us in trouble.
Unfortunately, the naive rebellious, like Santana, apparently do not know that Santana’s music was forbidden in Cuba. And even he, had he been a Cuban, would have been either imprisoned for “diversionismo ideológico” or “peligrosidad” (ideological diversionism o dangerousness), or at least would had a very unpleasent barber experience with a haircut courtesy of the Security of the State inquisitors.
Can anyone tell me the political beliefs of the Stefans?, meaning republican or democrat. I do know Miami is 95% republican. However; in their case the question is, are they republican by association or by belief?
