Coral Gables travel agency Airline Brokers that was fire bombed in April, presumably for facilitating travel to Cuba, is not alone in being targeted by right-wing extremists. Women’s health clinics around the nation are also currently on high alert.
The Spanish petroleum company Repsol continues to be the punching bag of David Rivera, Marco Rubio, Ros-Lehtinen and Rick Scott. The company is the first and current firm exploring the deep waters of Cuba’s Exclusive Economic Zone in the Gulf of Mexico.
It’s not only the basketball team and the sun that is causing temperatures to rise in Miami lately. Rather it is fire bombs, campaign investigations, new state laws and new candidates that are keeping Miami, and consequently Cuba, on everybody’s radar.
Finally, a book about Raul Castro! Well, sort of. Although the most entertaining parts of “Raul Castro and the New Cuba: A close-up view of Change* are the glimpses into the personality of President Raul Castro found in co-author Arturo Lopez-Levy’s reminiscences of his own and his family’s personal interactions with the younger Castro, this is no biography.
Florida Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart claims his fellow Cuban-Americans are enjoying their freedom to visit family on the island way too much and are sending too much money to their relatives.
Opening night plenary featured Robert Pastor, U.S. national security advisor on Latin America and the Caribbean during the Carter administration, who led the first secret negotiations with the Cuban government after diplomatic ties were severed in the early 60’s.
“You’ll never see a more diverse group of Representatives in the same room… but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand this,” joked Conservative Democrat Rep. Marion Berry during the press conference held April 2nd to formally announce HR 874, the “Freedom to Travel to Cuba” bill, introduced by Rep. Delahunt (D) and Rep. Flake (R)
On Thursday April 2nd, the US House of Representatives will present to the press their version of the bill HR 874, which now has 122 cosponsors. The tremendous support for the legislation in both chambers is expected to cause the bill to be eventually brought to a vote.