Gerard Dion's Blog, page 22
March 24, 2016
Obama’s Cuba policy gains new fans
More Cuban Americans, Republicans are getting behind the push toward normalized relations.
Obama says the U.S.-Cuba policy is about engaging people directly. He says he hopes “that by listening and hearing” from Cuban people that U.S. policy will help them “live freely and with prosperity.”
March 21, 2016
On first full day in Cuba, Obama to meet with Castro and address the public
U.S. President Barack Obama landed in Cuba on March 20, 2016, with first lady Michelle Obama and their two daughters on his historic visit to the country. Obama has become the first US president to visit the country since Calvin Coolidge in 1928. The trip is another step between the two nations to normalize relations – a process that began in December 2014. On this three-day trip, Obama will meet Cuban President Raul Castro on March 21 before addressing the Cuban people. (Pictured) Obama (R) and Michelle Obama arrive at Jose Marti International Airport on Airforce One in Havana, Cuba. http://www.cubaunchained.com/
March 13, 2016
Obama tells Cuban dissidents he will discuss rights with Castro
U.S. President Barack Obama promised one of Cuba’s most prominent dissident groups he would raise the issues of freedom of speech and assembly with Cuban President Raul Castro during his March 20-22 visit to the Caribbean island.
In a letter dated March 10, Obama praised the work of the Ladies in White, which marches weekly to protest Cuba’s Communist government, and defended his policy of seeking to normalize relations with Cuba as good for its people.
U.S. support for the dissidents is a source of tension ahead of Obama’s visit, the first by a U.S. president since Fidel Castro’s rebels overthrew a pro-American government in 1959.
After more than half a century of Cold War-inspired animosity, the two sides promised 15 months ago to normalize relations.
The Ladies in White criticized Obama’s policy change, saying the Cuban government continues to suppress dissent by breaking up anti-government demonstrations while maintaining a monopoly on the media. They say Cuba has cracked down more ferociously since rapprochement.
“We take seriously the concerns you have raised,” said Obama’s letter, which group leader Berta Soler read to about two dozen Ladies in White and other supporters gathered in a Havana park.
“I will raise these issues directly with President Castro,” said Obama, who called the Ladies “an inspiration to human rights movements around the world.”
A senior U.S. official in Washington confirmed that an Obama aide delivered the letter to the Ladies in White in Miami.
As in marches for the most of the last year, a demonstration on Sunday ended with police detaining the protesters after they were met by a larger group of pro-government counterdemonstrators.
Police detained about two dozen people, at which point the streets filled with conga dancers and drummers who led hundreds of government supporters in their own rally. The weekly demonstrations and detentions are normal, but the conga line was an additional flourish a week before Obama’s visit.
Soler welcomed Obama’s letter but still disagreed with him for enacting unilateral changes without any reciprocal moves by Cuba.
“The response of this letter is positive for us, and we greatly appreciated it,” Soler said minutes before she was detained.
The Cuban government dismisses the dissidents as mercenaries seeking to destabilize the country. Cuba also defends its universal healthcare and education as human rights and criticizes the U.S. record on race relations and the Guantanamo Bay military prison.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
March 4, 2016
What is a signature event?
A signature event is the last final major achievement in your life, for what you wish to be remembered, and potentially the last challenge of your public life.
Perhaps it is a challenge, if you’ve been financially successful in life, with a social component like the betterment of man, or the elimination of hunger in the world.
Perhaps it’s some goal that necessitates using all of your current experience and personal skills to achieve, but it’s a chance to give back to mankind in appreciation for all that a successful career, a great life, and good health have provided you and yours. Perhaps it’s the achievement of your 15 minutes of fame, or your last hurrah, the final fight before you retire from the battlefield forever! Have you considered such an idea?
I have, and I want to share my thoughts with you. Maybe in sharing my aspiration, I will arouse your imagination and interest. I believe in the value of a positive point of view regarding the future, so at this time in my life I believe I can do about anything that I set out to do, and I believe in the power of one man to change the world.
Other men have done so; some for good, some for bad. I have a dream. I believe dreams lead to visions and big visions to big plans and potentially to big achievements. I believe dreams and visions are the cornerstones of inspiration and, when coupled with planning, organization and focus, result in a powerful force.
It was perhaps these beliefs that brought you from where you were early in life to where you are now in the present: a successful, mature, knowledgeable leader and experienced observer of the human condition. You believed. You made others believe. In the end, you made your dreams become reality!
You had the ability to initiate a vision, gather all the necessary intelligence and resources, and focus upon converting the vision into an organized plan. Then, you were able to enlist the manpower and other support requirements, achieve consensus on strategic directions, as priorities and budgets, as controls and timing in a comprehensive, detailed and organized fashion. Then you initiated action, measured results, and initiated changes to strategy and tactics as needed to achieve desired results.
Perhaps you are retired or semi-retired and discovered, as many of us have, that retirement isn’t everything you thought it would be; in fact, too much of it may not be good for your health. Maybe you missed the excitement of your past career, the satisfaction of leadership, the esteem, recognition of peers, family constituents, the thrills of competing and winning!
If you do miss these emotional highs, you may wish to search for your signature event.
Gerard Dion
Author of “Cuba Unchained”
February 26, 2016
The Gears Begin To Move Ahead Of Obama’s Trip To Cuba
Friends,
President Obama’s announcement last week that he would travel to Cuba has sparked some interesting developments in just a few days. We said last week that we would hold the president to his promise to speak on human rights, and that appears to be a major item on his agenda in the weeks leading up to his visit. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to travel to Cuba for a human rights dialogue ahead of the visit, and the president himself spoke in Saturday’s weekly address about what he plans to say about our countries’ shared values. And on the Island itself, the Cuban government has given paroled political prisoners a “temporary authorization” to travel abroad. The response from dissidents has been reasonably skeptical, given the timing and the very nature of the idea.
And in Washington, the response to the President’s trip has failed to fall into line with the media’s expectations. Remember last week’s headline that Obama’s visit would “rile” the GOP? They were so riled that Republican Sen. Bob Corker, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, calmly floated the idea this week of an end to the embargo by the time the next administration comes around. It was such a partisan and divisive issue that Republican Congressman Tom Emmer traveled to Miami to press for his legislation ending the embargo. And for the 10th GOP presidential debate in a row, the issue of normalization of US-Cuba ties has failed to come up as a topic of discussion. If this is riled, we would love to see outraged.
Many of us will be looking forward to President Obama’s historic trip to Cuba, but what is even more promising is the growing support from Americans across the political spectrum to do more. We have reached the point where the president is traveling to Cuba, Republicans are traveling to Miami to build support for ending the embargo, and anti-engagement political candidates are threatening to undermine their own campaigns by doubling down on failed policies. That is a remarkably different shift from just a few years ago, and one that should give the Cuban people hope for the future.
#Cuba unchained
February 24, 2016
Obama and Raúl Castro to Launch New Era with Historic Visit
Businessman Gerard Dion, a former U.S. Marine and the author of “Cuba Unchained”, a political thriller that delves into the history of the relations between the U.S. and Cuba, is convinced that Obama knows what political, economic and legal changes must take place to convince Congress that it is time to lift the embargo.
“I’m sure he’ll discuss these things with Raúl Castro and will work hard to reach a mutually beneficial arrangement,” he told IPS by email.
Edited by Estrella Gutiérrez/Translated by Stephanie Wildes
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx (left) and his Cuban counterpart Adel Izquierdo signed an agreement Feb. 16 in Havana to restore commercial flights between the two countries. In the last year, four U.S. cabinet secretaries have visited Cuba. Credit: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS
February 19, 2016
February 13, 2016
Cuba witnesses story of understanding and peace
Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis meet in Havana • President Raúl Castro greets Catholic Pontiff at José Martí International Airport
Photo: ACN
HAVANA is once again the scene of dialogue and understanding. This afternoon, February 12, after an affectionate greeting, the leaders of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches held a private meeting and signed a joint statement, in a ceremony witnessed by President Raúl Castro.
Cuba Unchained Cuba witnesses story of understanding and peace
Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis meet in Havana • President Raúl Castro greets Catholic Pontiff at José Martí International Airport
Photo: ACN
HAVANA is once again the scene of dialogue and understanding. This afternoon, February 12, after an affectionate greeting, the leaders of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches held a private meeting and signed a joint statement, in a ceremony witnessed by President Raúl Castro.
Cuba Unchained Historic meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill
Havana is once again the scene of dialogue and understanding. Yesterday afternoon, February 12, the leaders of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches held a private meeting and issued a joint statement
Photo: Estudio Revolución
Havana is once again the scene of dialogue and understanding. Yesterday afternoon, February 12, the leaders of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches, Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill, held a historic meeting, the first since the 1054 rupture within Christianity.
President Raúl Castro Ruz received Pope Francis around 2:00pm at Havana’s José Martí International Airport, accompanied by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, and Archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Ortega.
After an affectionate greeting the two religious leaders held a private meeting and issued a joint statement including plans for joint work.
After the historic encounter, Raúl commented, “Cuba will continue to support peace. Now comes Colombia.”
Pope Francis departed shortly thereafter, en route to Mexico for a pastoral visit, while Patriarch Kirill will continue his activities in Havana through Sunday.
