This article should be noted by people who need to start recognizing actual lies told by people who know they're lying:

[Judi Lynn]

If it's not 100% obvious to you, it's time to get busy and realize it's all total crap. You need to look for the truth, which most of us learned is much harder to see, concerning Latin America and what is passing as "news" in the corporate media all these long, long years. No time like the present.



Squad members Ilhan Omar and Pramila Jayapal called 'communist sympathizers' and 'anti-American' for their secret trip to Cuba and bid for regime to be taken OFF state-sponsored terror list

By JON MICHAEL RAASCH, POLITICAL REPORTER IN WASHINGTON, D.C., FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 17:30 EST, 1 March 2024 | UPDATED: 17:30 EST, 1 March 2024'


Following a secretive visit to communist Cuba, two top progressive 'Squad' members are catching flak for being anti-American.

Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., the top two leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, made an unpublicized trip to the Caribbean island in February while the House was in recess.

The congresswomen, who are longstanding critics of the U.S. embargo on the island nation, said they were there to 'meet with people from across Cuban civil society.'

. . .'

The progressive lawmakers led a delegation of about a dozen people including a staffer from the office of California Rep Barbara Lee's office, the Miami Herald reported.

A spokeswoman for the 100-strong Congressional Progressive Caucus gave a brief explanation for the visit by its chair and deputy chair.

'Representatives Jayapal and Omar traveled to Cuba last week, where they met with people from across Cuban civil society and government officials to discuss human rights and the US-Cuba bilateral relationship,' she said.

There are strict restrictions on travel to the island which was placed back on the list of state sponsors of terror by President Trump in January 2021.

More:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13147163/squad-ilhan-omar-pramila-jayapal-secret-cuba-trip-critcism.html


~ ~ ~

The reactionary hard right has been bellowing this same package of pure BS since the beginning of the 1960's, without taking a breath, even though the rest of the world believes the US should drop the hostilities immediately, and has said so for decades.

As a former Head of the US Interests Section in Havana, Wayne S. Smith said,

“Cuba seems to have the same effect on American administrations that the full moon once had on werewolves.”

I have NEVER supported the right wing filthy war on this tiny island as anyone knows who's attended the same message boards I have, starting in 1999 with CNN's message board system at the time, the Miami Herald, etc., etc., etc.

~ ~ ~

Here's a more responsible article, written by the Jimmy Carter US Interests Section Head in Havana, Wayne Smith:

Bush and Cuba: Still the Full Moon

Wayne S. Smith
September 25, 2007

If I am remembered at all (which isn’t likely), it will probably be for having said in my first op-ed piece in the New York Times after leaving the U.S. Foreign Service back in 1982 that “Cuba seems to have the same effect on American administrations that the full moon once had on werewolves.” Twenty-two years later, that is unchanged. Indeed, as one analyzes the Bush administration’s policies toward Cuba, one imagines a distant (and distinctly irrational) howling!

The cold war is long since over. Our own Pentagon acknowledges that Cuba poses no threat whatsoever to U.S. security. There is no evidence that Cuba is or has been in any way involved with terrorist efforts against the United States. On the contrary, Castro has offered to cooperate fully in the fight against terrorism and even proposed signing agreements to that effect with the United States. But none of that has softened Bush’s approach one bit. Instead, his is the harshest policy yet against the island nation. Bush indeed seems to have entered the White House with the intention of getting rid of the Castro regime, not to negotiate with it or to reach some modus vivendi. As Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega put it to Congress on October 2 last year: “The President is determined to see the end of the Castro regime and the dismantling of the apparatus that has kept him in office for so long.”

This past January, Bush closed all channels for dialogue, even suspending the twice-yearly migration talks. He also appointed a Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba to recommend ways, first, of bringing about “an expeditious end of the dictatorship,” and then to develop a plan for assisting the Cuban people in “a post-dictatorship Cuba.”

For 45 years now, Washington has used pressure and threats against Castro. The embargo has been in place for 44 years, travel controls of one kind or another almost as long. So now Bush simply proposes more of the same, only in strengthened doses.

The first thing that must be said is that it won’t work. It takes us in exactly the wrong direction. There is a hard-and-fast rule that no U.S. administration has understood (or at least accepted): the more we threaten and pressure, the more we try to choke Cuba economically, the more defensive will be the reaction of the Cuban government, and the more it will call for greater internal discipline and for all to rally around the flag against the threat from the Colossus of the North. In other words, it leads not to liberalization but to tighter internal controls. We must remember that since at least 1902, when the Platt Amendment turned Cuba into a U.S. protectorate, Cubans have seen the United States as the principal threat to their sovereignty and independence. They react to our policies accordingly.

More:
https://nacla.org/article/bush-and-cuba-still-full-moon

[stopdiggin]

1. in actuality, I suspect this has a good deal more to do with

bashing the squad (and thereby 'the libruls' ) - than it does with foreign relations of any stripe.

( Although it must be noted that foreign policy has become a head spinning mind game here of late - within some political circles. So - guess you never really know .. ? )

[catrose]

2. Maybe the Republicans would like to explain their trip to Russia on the 4th of July.

[Marcus IM]

3. Note to the uninformed: Fidel is dead. Raul is gone.

Time to stop starving Cubans with US extraterritorial collective punishment

Time to stop ...

?ct=jpeg



Thanks for posting.

[mahina]

4. Get it straight. The wingers don't like Cuba because they're close to Russia, or maybe Were, but now, the right goes to

Moscow to celebrate the Fourth of July, and as Jamie Raskin said today, the fourth branch of government, Donald Trump, takes orders from the fifth branch of government Vladimir Putin.

So that makes perfect sense, right? No, it’s pure bullshit. They have no care for Cuba one way or the other they just want to sling mud and hope ignorant people will swallow their story. No thank you.

[happybird]

5. "Daily Mail" is all I had to see to know the article is crap

It’s basically a step or two above the Nat’l Enquirer. It’s a clickbait, outrage inducing tabloid.

[Judi Lynn]

6. There are so many other articles on the same subject, like this one, f'r instance:

Progressive Democrats travel to Cuba
BY FILIP TIMOTIJA - 02/28/24 3:52 PM ET

Two prominent progressive lawmakers traveled to Cuba during the House’s recess last week.

Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Deputy Chair Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) both traveled to the island nation, a CPC spokesperson confirmed to The Hill.

During the trip, first reported by the Miami Herald, the lawmakers met with people from “across Cuban civil society” and “government officials to discuss human rights and the U.S.-Cuba bilateral relationship,” according to the CPC spokesperson.

Both Omar and Jayapal have been critical of the U.S.’s embargo against Cuba and support normalizing relations with the island. In 2019, Omar cited Cuba when she criticized how the U.S. used sanctions against other nations.

“But economic and sector sanctions are too often designed to inflict maximum pain on civilians, not empower them,” Omar said. “We had a full embargo on Cuba for decades, with little effect on the Cuban government but much pain inflicted on ordinary Cubans. It was only through diplomacy and direct conversation that President Barack Obama and the United States made progress in Cuba.”

More:
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4495172-progressive-democrats-travel-to-cuba/

[Judi Lynn]

7. Had you actually comprehended my post, you would have noticed I mentioned the crap was typical hard-right habitual ####.

It should have been easy to notice.

Here's another article:

Progressives defend Cuba trip as ‘productive’ amid GOP backlash
Cuban-American lawmakers said they were “offended” after Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Ilhan Omar visited Havana.

By MATT BERG and ERIC BAZAIL-EIMIL

03/01/2024 06:34 PM EST

Progressive lawmakers hit back on Friday against criticism of their recent trip to Cuba, arguing the pushback largely from Cuban-American Republicans was “hyperbolic and meritless.”

Last week, Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) visited Havana to meet with Cuban officials, including President Miguel Diaz-Canel, as part of an effort to mend ties with Washington. They also met with relatives of those imprisoned for protesting against the government.

News of the trip only broke publicly this week in a report from the Miami Herald. That prompted criticism from Republican lawmakers, including South Florida’s Cuban-American representatives, who slammed the pair for not disclosing the trip publicly before going — and questioned why they went at all.

Jayapal told POLITICO the visit was not disclosed beforehand for security reasons, while Omar said it was necessary for informing legislative decisions.

“Their reactions are hyperbolic and meritless,” Omar said. “For them to infer that we would need permission from them to do the work that we think is necessary as members of Congress, again, it’s ridiculous.”

More:
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/01/criticism-of-progressives-quiet-cuba-trip-meritless-lawmakers-say-00144535

Even Republican Congressmen have made trip s to Cuba, only their trips were never publicly excoriated, of course, and nothing was ever said about them. I had to find out about my own State's Senator, Pat Brown had made trips there when I called his office for questions on his Cuba position. I learned a long time ago various high-ranking Republicans had supported opening sane communications with Cuba when Fidel Castro was still healthy. They even had a "Working Group" in the Senate to discuss and study it. You only find these things out by paying attention, reading beyond headlines, and doing your homework, taking time out from your busy posting days and do some researching, instead.

[happybird]

8. Sorry, I thought you were commenting on

people being able to recognize lies told in the media, especially concerning news pertaining to Latin America.

My point was about sources. The first snippet is from a disreputable source.

The second is from a reliable source and as you noted, more responsible. Being that Mr. Smith is expert on the subject of US-Cuba relations of course his reporting is more responsible than click bait machine reporting from the UK.

Vetting sources is more important than ever in this insane era of “infotainment news” and blatant sensationalism in order to generate clicks and views (aka: money)

[Judi Lynn]

9. Here's an article from Axios I posted here on Thursday which was also misunderstood by someone:

Reps. Ilhan Omar, Pramila Jayapal make unannounced trip to Cuba: Axios
By
Al Mayadeen English
Source: Axios
28 Feb 2024 15:57

The visit has drawn fire from Republican lawmakers.

It has been confirmed to Axios by a spokesperson for the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) that two CPC leaders made an unannounced trip to Cuba while the House was on recess last week.

Initially reported by the Miami Herald, spokesperson Mia Jacobs stated that Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), the chair and deputy chair of the CMJacobs said.

Both Jayapal and Omar are public critics of the American economic embargo on Cuba.

Even though US lawmakers occasionally travel to Cuba, those trips are usually open and overt in American and Cuban governments and news.

. . .

Earlier in January, a group of 160 lawyers, mostly American, called on US President Joe Biden to remove Cuba from the so-called "State Sponsors of Terrorism" (SSOT) list.

"Given the tremendous economic, social, humanitarian, and commercial effect placement on the SSOT list has had for the Cuba people, maintaining it for such pretextual reasons continues to be a stain on U.S. foreign policy," the letter considered.

More:
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/reps--ilhan-omar--pramila-jayapal-make-unannounced-trip-to-c

https://www.democraticunderground.com/110888951