Short of any Democrat calling for (or assisting) an invasion of Cuba by Cuban democratic resistance fighters, I see absolutely no rationale for any Cuban-American to vote for ANY Democrat running for ANY office. The ultimate back-stabbin that occurred in April 1961 directly affected millions of people for generations, with death and oppression for generations.
Ditto on what LaConchita said. How Kennedy could have looked at those men in the face at the Orange Bowl and promised to give back the flag in a free Cuba, knowing quite well that he had betrayed them, I will never know. The more I think about it, the more sick to my stomach I get. He then proceeded to sell us to the Soviets and betray us again. No, I don’t think a democrat could get my vote.
CUBANA, I have been in this country for 45 years now, and will eternallly be greatful for the refuge given to me and my family.
But, had those B26B Invader light bomber aircraft been allowed to commence their 2nd wave of operations on that fateful morning of April 15, 1961 (while I was on my way to school in Cardenas that early morning), the chances are great that many of us would have granted a more different fate.
The FIRST thing the Democratic Party would have to do to have any chance of getting off my black list is admit that JFK was an inept and arrogant bungler who screwed Cuba, and apologize for it.
Of course, that’s about as likely as Castro admitting the truth about “Che” and apologizing for ANYTHING.
:”let bygones be bygones” Great posting Henry. When my friends ask me why I don`t vote “Democrat”, ….5 words come into my mind. TAITOROUS, TRACHEROUS, FAITHLESS FALSE AND DISLOYAL. Put them all together and you have Socialism or Communism.
For the life of me…I cannot understand how any Cuban-American could give thier vote to a political party that has been so malicious,deceiful and ill-intentioned, and just plan vile towards the cause of a FREE CUBA.
Henry Agueros
THE HISTORIC MEANING OF THE PHOTO:
President John Kennedy is receiving from Brigade 2506 leaders Erneido Oliva and Manuel Artime the flag of the brigade at the Orange Bowl in Miami on December 29, 1962, in front of a crowd of thousands of Cuban exiles. Kennedy responded: “I promise to return this flag in a free Havana.”
Kennedy was being a hypocrite and lied because three weeks earlier he had concluded the secret KENNEDY-KHRUSHCHEV UNDERSTANDINGS with the Soviet Union. http://www.state.gov/www/about_state/history/volume_vi/volumevi.html
As part of the understanding, the Kennedy Administration agreed not to ever invade Cuba again; not to allow Cuban exiles to attack Cuba from the U.S. or from any other Western Hemisphere nation; to allow a Soviet combat brigade to remain on the island indefinitely (they stayed until the collapse of the Soviet Union) although it was a violation of the Monroe Doctrine; and the U.S. removed 104 nuclear missiles from Turkey, Italy, and Great Britain that were part of NATO defenses under Operation Pot Pie in April 1964. In exchange, the Soviets withdrew 42 missiles with 20 nuclear warheads from Cuba and agreed never to reintroduce nuclear arms on the island. The Kennedy-Khrushchev Understandings were reaffirmed by presidents Johnson, Nixon, Carter, and Reagan. The Russian Federation assumed all of the treaties and agreements of the former Soviet Union. Therefore, according to the U.S. State Dept., the Kennedy-Khrushchev Understandings are still in effect because they have never been abrogated.
In April 1975, Senator Ted Kennedy publicly called for the unilateral lifting of the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. The Brigade 2506 Association called the senator’s statement “treasonous” and requested the return of their flag, but the Kennedy family turned them down. The brigade then took their demand to court. http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/bay-of-pigs/flag.htm
and http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/bay-of-pigs/flag2.htm
and http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/bay-of-pigs/flag-return.htm
Although the brigade lost the lawsuit, the flag was returned 14 months later without an explanation. http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/bay-of-pigs/2506banner.htm
An FBI informant had told the government that Cuban exile youths were plotting the armed seizure of the flag from the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. They had asked Brigade veteran Jorge Mas Canosa to arrange their passage from Miami to Boston to facilitate the expropriation of the flag. Shortly after, the government changed its mind, possibly to avoid violence, and returned the flag.
JFK is like the Wizard of Oz, a great fraud, but the Dems are not about to give him up. The legend is just too pretty, not to mention useful, and of course it’s always had serious support from the media (who would have crucified him by now, if he’d been a Republican, for any of the various unsavory revelations that have surfaced in spite of everything).
Delacova: I was a student at the University of Miami in 1975 and recall the incident where two angry Cuban students were calling for the forced seizure of the Brigade flag, even if it meant getting arrested and going to jail. I heard that at a public meeting in the Municipio de Santiago de Cuba, where Mas Canosa was in attendance, while everyone present discussed measures for getting the flag back.
La Conchita,
It wasnt just a second wave of B26 runs. The original plan called for 2 days of sorties with 16 planes total before that land/sea ops. The pilots were first told that only 8 planes would fly, then six. Then, after their first day, JFK ordered the planes to remain on the ground, the pilots were sequestered and not allowed to leave their barracks. All becuase JFK wanted to gauge public opinion on the “invasion.”
Sin vaselina.
Basically, as far as JFK was concerned, the Cuban people were just lowly, inconsequential beings who had become too much of an inconvenience and potential stumbling block for his personal (and I do mean personal) agenda. It was nothing for him to trade away their freedom and their future in order to get out of a tight spot (the missile crisis) he himself had brought about. He reeks, and the rest of his family is hardly any better.
Keep beating the drum, Henry; people who were there at the time need a reminder. And those who hadn’t been born and are clueless need an education.
Gigi,
Tune in next week, same bat time, same bat channel.
There are people that want to deny the existence of the Kennedy-Kruschev pact. The document that de la cova linked above should dispel that mythology:
The United States Government will make a similar statement within the framework of the Security Council regarding Cuba. It will declare that the United States will respect the inviolability of Cuba’s borders and its sovereignty, will pledge not to interfere in its internal affairs, not to invade Cuba itself or make its territory available as a bridgehead for such an invasion, and will also restrain those who might contemplate committing aggression against Cuba, either from the territory of the United States or from the territory of Cuba’s other neighboring states.
And so Cuba’s future was compromised away.
Henry:
The official diplomatic term is “The Kennedy-Khrushchev Understandings,” although it has been frequently erroneously referred to in the media as the Kennedy Khrushchev Pact or the Kennedy-Khrushchev Agreement.
Read the Nov. 20, 1962, letter from Khrushchev to Kennedy, in which he outlines one of the main points of the understanding: http://www.state.gov/www/about_state/history/volume_vi/exchanges.html
“What have we agreed upon? In brief our agreement has come to the following. The Soviet Union removes from Cuba rocket weapons which you called offensive and gives a possibility to ascertain this. The United States of America promptly removes the quarantine and gives assurances that there will be no invasion of Cuba, not only by the US but also by other countries of the Western Hemisphere. This is the essence of our agreement.”
On December 11, 1962, Khrushchev affirms that his intention for placing the nuclear missiles in Cuba was to guarantee Castro’s perpetuity in power.
“We agreed to a compromise because our main purpose was to extend a helping hand to the Cuban people in order to exclude the possibility of invasion of Cuba so that Cuba could exist and develop as a free sovereign state. This is our main purpose today, it remains to be our main purpose for tomorrow and we did not and do not pursue any other purposes.”
A few weeks later, Kennedy was hypocritically telling Brigade 2506 that he would return their flag to them in a free Havana, when he had already secretly agreed not to attack Castro again.
Ironically, most people think that Kennedy “won” during the missile crisis and that Khrushchev removed the missiles from Cuba because he got “scared” of Kennedy.
Great discussion folks. I’ve been studying the Bay of Pigs betrayal since my high school days in the early 70s. Read Grayston Lynch’s book “Decision for Disaster” to get the ground truth on how JFK and the Democrats stabbed the Brigade in the back. As Lynch states in the book, JFK made alot of promises during the presidential campaign, but had no intention of keeping them beyond stranding the Cubans on the beach. He couldn’t care less about them, and saw them as a pain in the ass that had to be alleviated. The Party is full of cowards who can never be trusted with the security of this nation, much less anything to do with Cuba. Their actions surrounding the Bay of Pigs is a perfect primer for how weak, vacilating, and worthless they truly are.
Passions aside, the reality is that JFK was weak and inept and inexperienced and inherited the operation from the IKE administration. He allowed himself to be persuaded by Adlai Stevenson who led the most liberal wing of the party. Many dem leaders then were anti communist as JFK and RFK were. Stevenson who like some modern day dems who worry more about what others will think rather than what is in the best interests of the US convinced JFK not to get involved which resulted in the Brigade being left out to dry.
Pure and simple inexperience and ineptness. the buck stopped with him; but the real blame is Stevenson. It’s easy to view history with years of hindsight. The lesson learned is that you put an inept person in the white house during a critical time a disaster will result.
Cigar Mike, it wasn’t just Stevenson, it was senior leaders like Dean Rusk, the Sec of State, and Arthur Schlesinger, a key adviser. Both had more influence than Stevenson and both undermined the original plans, especially the landing site and the air strikes. In fact, Lynch states that Stevenson, who was the UN Ambassador, was not liked by JFK, and was on the outs with the administration. It wasn’t just one guy, several of them, including JFK, cowered in the face of the USSR and world opinion.
Time magazine, Aug. 20, 1956:
The most astringent member of the opposition to Adlai Stevenson, his exwife, Republican Ellen Borden Stevenson, fiftyish,* gaily allowed that she still likes Ike and will vote the G.O.P. ticket this year “particularly if Adlai is the Democratic candidate.” To show why she stands four-square against Adlai, Arts Patroness Stevenson plans to bring out a splenetic polemic on Oct. 1. It will not exactly be a book but “really more of a pamphlet.” Title: The Egghead and I. Anticipating the royalties that will go to her arts salon on Chicago’s Gold Coast, Ellen Stevenson loudly purred: “I think it’s going to be terrific. We should make quite a bit of money on it, don’t you think?”
Dittos
JFK, who was always (and remains) much more image than substance, predictably focused on appearances, or how things might look, rather than the reality of the situation and what it called for. Kruschev must have found him really pitiful, not to say laughable.
Short of any Democrat calling for (or assisting) an invasion of Cuba by Cuban democratic resistance fighters, I see absolutely no rationale for any Cuban-American to vote for ANY Democrat running for ANY office. The ultimate back-stabbin that occurred in April 1961 directly affected millions of people for generations, with death and oppression for generations.
Ditto on what LaConchita said. How Kennedy could have looked at those men in the face at the Orange Bowl and promised to give back the flag in a free Cuba, knowing quite well that he had betrayed them, I will never know. The more I think about it, the more sick to my stomach I get. He then proceeded to sell us to the Soviets and betray us again. No, I don’t think a democrat could get my vote.
CUBANA, I have been in this country for 45 years now, and will eternallly be greatful for the refuge given to me and my family.
But, had those B26B Invader light bomber aircraft been allowed to commence their 2nd wave of operations on that fateful morning of April 15, 1961 (while I was on my way to school in Cardenas that early morning), the chances are great that many of us would have granted a more different fate.
The FIRST thing the Democratic Party would have to do to have any chance of getting off my black list is admit that JFK was an inept and arrogant bungler who screwed Cuba, and apologize for it.
Of course, that’s about as likely as Castro admitting the truth about “Che” and apologizing for ANYTHING.
:”let bygones be bygones” Great posting Henry. When my friends ask me why I don`t vote “Democrat”, ….5 words come into my mind. TAITOROUS, TRACHEROUS, FAITHLESS FALSE AND DISLOYAL. Put them all together and you have Socialism or Communism.
For the life of me…I cannot understand how any Cuban-American could give thier vote to a political party that has been so malicious,deceiful and ill-intentioned, and just plan vile towards the cause of a FREE CUBA.
Henry Agueros
THE HISTORIC MEANING OF THE PHOTO:
President John Kennedy is receiving from Brigade 2506 leaders Erneido Oliva and Manuel Artime the flag of the brigade at the Orange Bowl in Miami on December 29, 1962, in front of a crowd of thousands of Cuban exiles. Kennedy responded: “I promise to return this flag in a free Havana.”
Kennedy was being a hypocrite and lied because three weeks earlier he had concluded the secret KENNEDY-KHRUSHCHEV UNDERSTANDINGS with the Soviet Union.
http://www.state.gov/www/about_state/history/volume_vi/volumevi.html
As part of the understanding, the Kennedy Administration agreed not to ever invade Cuba again; not to allow Cuban exiles to attack Cuba from the U.S. or from any other Western Hemisphere nation; to allow a Soviet combat brigade to remain on the island indefinitely (they stayed until the collapse of the Soviet Union) although it was a violation of the Monroe Doctrine; and the U.S. removed 104 nuclear missiles from Turkey, Italy, and Great Britain that were part of NATO defenses under Operation Pot Pie in April 1964. In exchange, the Soviets withdrew 42 missiles with 20 nuclear warheads from Cuba and agreed never to reintroduce nuclear arms on the island. The Kennedy-Khrushchev Understandings were reaffirmed by presidents Johnson, Nixon, Carter, and Reagan. The Russian Federation assumed all of the treaties and agreements of the former Soviet Union. Therefore, according to the U.S. State Dept., the Kennedy-Khrushchev Understandings are still in effect because they have never been abrogated.
In April 1975, Senator Ted Kennedy publicly called for the unilateral lifting of the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. The Brigade 2506 Association called the senator’s statement “treasonous” and requested the return of their flag, but the Kennedy family turned them down. The brigade then took their demand to court.
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/bay-of-pigs/flag.htm
and
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/bay-of-pigs/flag2.htm
and
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/bay-of-pigs/flag-return.htm
Although the brigade lost the lawsuit, the flag was returned 14 months later without an explanation.
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/bay-of-pigs/2506banner.htm
An FBI informant had told the government that Cuban exile youths were plotting the armed seizure of the flag from the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. They had asked Brigade veteran Jorge Mas Canosa to arrange their passage from Miami to Boston to facilitate the expropriation of the flag. Shortly after, the government changed its mind, possibly to avoid violence, and returned the flag.
JFK is like the Wizard of Oz, a great fraud, but the Dems are not about to give him up. The legend is just too pretty, not to mention useful, and of course it’s always had serious support from the media (who would have crucified him by now, if he’d been a Republican, for any of the various unsavory revelations that have surfaced in spite of everything).
Delacova: I was a student at the University of Miami in 1975 and recall the incident where two angry Cuban students were calling for the forced seizure of the Brigade flag, even if it meant getting arrested and going to jail. I heard that at a public meeting in the Municipio de Santiago de Cuba, where Mas Canosa was in attendance, while everyone present discussed measures for getting the flag back.
La Conchita,
It wasnt just a second wave of B26 runs. The original plan called for 2 days of sorties with 16 planes total before that land/sea ops. The pilots were first told that only 8 planes would fly, then six. Then, after their first day, JFK ordered the planes to remain on the ground, the pilots were sequestered and not allowed to leave their barracks. All becuase JFK wanted to gauge public opinion on the “invasion.”
Sin vaselina.
Basically, as far as JFK was concerned, the Cuban people were just lowly, inconsequential beings who had become too much of an inconvenience and potential stumbling block for his personal (and I do mean personal) agenda. It was nothing for him to trade away their freedom and their future in order to get out of a tight spot (the missile crisis) he himself had brought about. He reeks, and the rest of his family is hardly any better.
Keep beating the drum, Henry; people who were there at the time need a reminder. And those who hadn’t been born and are clueless need an education.
Gigi,
Tune in next week, same bat time, same bat channel.
There are people that want to deny the existence of the Kennedy-Kruschev pact. The document that de la cova linked above should dispel that mythology:
The United States Government will make a similar statement within the framework of the Security Council regarding Cuba. It will declare that the United States will respect the inviolability of Cuba’s borders and its sovereignty, will pledge not to interfere in its internal affairs, not to invade Cuba itself or make its territory available as a bridgehead for such an invasion, and will also restrain those who might contemplate committing aggression against Cuba, either from the territory of the United States or from the territory of Cuba’s other neighboring states.
And so Cuba’s future was compromised away.
Henry:
The official diplomatic term is “The Kennedy-Khrushchev Understandings,” although it has been frequently erroneously referred to in the media as the Kennedy Khrushchev Pact or the Kennedy-Khrushchev Agreement.
Read the Nov. 20, 1962, letter from Khrushchev to Kennedy, in which he outlines one of the main points of the understanding:
http://www.state.gov/www/about_state/history/volume_vi/exchanges.html
“What have we agreed upon? In brief our agreement has come to the following. The Soviet Union removes from Cuba rocket weapons which you called offensive and gives a possibility to ascertain this. The United States of America promptly removes the quarantine and gives assurances that there will be no invasion of Cuba, not only by the US but also by other countries of the Western Hemisphere. This is the essence of our agreement.”
On December 11, 1962, Khrushchev affirms that his intention for placing the nuclear missiles in Cuba was to guarantee Castro’s perpetuity in power.
“We agreed to a compromise because our main purpose was to extend a helping hand to the Cuban people in order to exclude the possibility of invasion of Cuba so that Cuba could exist and develop as a free sovereign state. This is our main purpose today, it remains to be our main purpose for tomorrow and we did not and do not pursue any other purposes.”
A few weeks later, Kennedy was hypocritically telling Brigade 2506 that he would return their flag to them in a free Havana, when he had already secretly agreed not to attack Castro again.
Ironically, most people think that Kennedy “won” during the missile crisis and that Khrushchev removed the missiles from Cuba because he got “scared” of Kennedy.
Great discussion folks. I’ve been studying the Bay of Pigs betrayal since my high school days in the early 70s. Read Grayston Lynch’s book “Decision for Disaster” to get the ground truth on how JFK and the Democrats stabbed the Brigade in the back. As Lynch states in the book, JFK made alot of promises during the presidential campaign, but had no intention of keeping them beyond stranding the Cubans on the beach. He couldn’t care less about them, and saw them as a pain in the ass that had to be alleviated. The Party is full of cowards who can never be trusted with the security of this nation, much less anything to do with Cuba. Their actions surrounding the Bay of Pigs is a perfect primer for how weak, vacilating, and worthless they truly are.
Passions aside, the reality is that JFK was weak and inept and inexperienced and inherited the operation from the IKE administration. He allowed himself to be persuaded by Adlai Stevenson who led the most liberal wing of the party. Many dem leaders then were anti communist as JFK and RFK were. Stevenson who like some modern day dems who worry more about what others will think rather than what is in the best interests of the US convinced JFK not to get involved which resulted in the Brigade being left out to dry.
Pure and simple inexperience and ineptness. the buck stopped with him; but the real blame is Stevenson. It’s easy to view history with years of hindsight. The lesson learned is that you put an inept person in the white house during a critical time a disaster will result.
Cigar Mike, it wasn’t just Stevenson, it was senior leaders like Dean Rusk, the Sec of State, and Arthur Schlesinger, a key adviser. Both had more influence than Stevenson and both undermined the original plans, especially the landing site and the air strikes. In fact, Lynch states that Stevenson, who was the UN Ambassador, was not liked by JFK, and was on the outs with the administration. It wasn’t just one guy, several of them, including JFK, cowered in the face of the USSR and world opinion.
Time magazine, Aug. 20, 1956:
The most astringent member of the opposition to Adlai Stevenson, his exwife, Republican Ellen Borden Stevenson, fiftyish,* gaily allowed that she still likes Ike and will vote the G.O.P. ticket this year “particularly if Adlai is the Democratic candidate.” To show why she stands four-square against Adlai, Arts Patroness Stevenson plans to bring out a splenetic polemic on Oct. 1. It will not exactly be a book but “really more of a pamphlet.” Title: The Egghead and I. Anticipating the royalties that will go to her arts salon on Chicago’s Gold Coast, Ellen Stevenson loudly purred: “I think it’s going to be terrific. We should make quite a bit of money on it, don’t you think?”
Dittos
JFK, who was always (and remains) much more image than substance, predictably focused on appearances, or how things might look, rather than the reality of the situation and what it called for. Kruschev must have found him really pitiful, not to say laughable.