July 23, 2024 Celebrating 65 Years of Cuban Independence

After the failure of the 26 of July Movement to free Cuba from USA domination, Fidel Castro made an impassioned plea to the judge and the people of Cuba at his trial for treason entitled "History will Absolve Me."  After serving time in a Cuban prison, Fidel sought asylum in Mexico, and returned to Cuba in 1959 with Che Guevara to liberate Cuba, Fidel was absolved.  

Friday marks the 65th anniversary of Cuban independence.  In 2019, Albert and I traveled to Cuba with the 50th Venceremos Brigade.  Passengers applauded as our plane landed, and we disembarked to breathe the freedom of Cuban.  Our travels took us to the museums that keep the revolution alive, a medical clinic where plant-based medicinals are produced, the art and beauty of Havana, and Veradero Beach where, until independence, native Cubans could only go as workers to the rich and powerful.   We experienced direct democracy in via a meeting of a Committee in Defense of the Revolution.  And we experienced the 60th anniversary of Cuban independence.  

Inspired by our celebration of Cuban independence, an impoverished country due to the 63-year USA embargo but rich in freedom, we will devote Voices of Reason to a discussion of what it is like to be poor in the USA, a country of enormous material wealth and a wealth gap that grows larger every year between rich and poor.