welcome to the program. thank you. i wonder if we could take a look at freedom tower. this was the cuban assistance center in the 60s and 70s where cuban exiles who were seeking assistance after fleeing the castro regime in the early days would be processed. this building has a high significance to south florida historically and to cuban americans and cuban americans culturally. what is your sense how things are going in south florida and whether the message of the protesters there is being heard? well, joshua, you couldn t be more right in describing that building. my parents and grandparents were processed through that very building, as were scores of others. i think the reason it is so important is because it is called the freedom tower. that is the very nature, make no mistake, about what these protests in cuba, these unprecedented protests, 62 years in the making, are all about. it is not about the coronavirus. it is not about the lack of
vaccines. it is not about the lack of internet access. it is about a generation of cubans that have had enough of the repressive, authoritative regime that has, as you have seen in the way they ve reacted to these protest, done everything possible to stifle their ability for a better life. that s why the protests in cuba are calling for freedom, and here in south florida and around the country where you see cuban exiles congregating, they re trying to show solidarity with that same sentiment in cuba, which is a cry for freedom and an end to the 62-year regime and dictatorship. what is your sense of what cuba is dealing with right now? i think a lot of us have a better sense of fee dell castro and ruhle castro to an extent, not so much of the current president, miguel diaz-canel. what is your sense of what cubans are now dealing with and whether it is different from what we knew of under the castro brothers? oh, it is a question that you have asked because fundamentally the castro r
brothers? oh, it is a question that you have asked because fundamentally the castro regime was a cultive personality, similar to how the republican party is a cultive personality under trump. it is not the same if you don t have the figure head or the leader. with fidel castro and his death in 2016, raoul castro retiring earlier in the year, you have miguel diaz-canel, someone who does not fill the void. he doesn t have the intimidation factor that the castro brothers had, who ruled with an iron fist, both of them. i think that s why you see now so many people who are also suffering the ravages of hunger. cuba is in probably the worst economic crisis at any point in the revolution. just a lack of everything. folks are rationalizing, saying, we have nothing else to lose, we no longer have fear of the
center in the 60s and 70s where cuban exiles who were seeking assistance after fleeing the castro regime in the early days would be processed. this building has a high significance to south florida historically and to cuban americans and cuban americans culturally. what is your sense how things are going in south florida and whether the message of the protesters there is being heard? well, joshua, you couldn t be more right in describing that building. my parents and grandparents were processed through that very building, as were scores of others. i think the reason it is so important is because it is called the freedom tower. that is the very nature, make no mistake, about what these protests in cuba, these unprecedented protests, 62 years in the making, are all about. it is not about the coronavirus. it is not about the lack of
well, there were more plots than you can shake a stick at in the kennedy administration to get rid of if i dell castro. it is absolutely amazing. we have found a document at the highest levels at the white house in this bunch released today showing that some of the senior people in the kennedy administration wanted to find a way to use biological agents, their term, to wipe out the crops in cuba to generate a popular rebellion against castro. you know, the exploding cigars we ve known about for a long time, and the various ways they tried to kill castro. but this was very inventive. they were hoping that the could you ban people would do it themselves. lyndon johnson always believed, claimed this was a cover story for him, but he always said that ken did i see were running a murder incorporated in the caribbean. they wanted to kill if i dell castro. he knew about it and he got to