Juanes in Cuba – Paz sin Fronteras
Why the U.S.A. is screwing itself

Columbian musician Juanes, under a death threat from Cuban exiles in Florida, played in La Habana (Havana) Sunday. All my life I have called the country Ku-ba. Not because of the country, but I was a frequent visitor of Cuba – New Mexico; where I learned the correct pronunciation.

When I watched the highlights of Paz sin Fronteras (on Telemundo and Univision) – Peace without Borders – it dawned on me how much the U.S.A. is screwing itself with a 50 year trade embargo against Cuba. It is so ridiculous, one U.S. actor was summoned before the State Department during the Bush administration for smoking a Cuban cigar in Canada.

While I was watching the highlights, I saw Mesa amps, made in Petaluma, Calif. I saw Zildjian cymbals, made in Massachusetts. Juanes walked on stage carrying a very expensive custom-made Fender Stratocaster, hand built in Corona, Calif.

Pretty sure the sound boards and drums were made in the U.S.A. Same with keyboards. U.S. sound technicians could not enter Cuba because of the embargo/ban.

While watching I thought of all the lovely Cuban people I was viewing and how they’d give a year’s worth of their pay to spend a day in nearby Disneyworld. That’s what it would cost them.

Cuba’s citizens rate #1 in literacy in the world at 99.8 while U.S.A. rates #17 at 99 percent. Cuba exports doctors – sure would help President Barack Obama’s health care plans.

Isn’t it time to give up our jingoism and embrace Cuba? Is Cuba’s money any less green than the illegal aliens’ flooding our nation?

What is the literacy rate of all these illegals? Mexico rates #82 and Ecuador #84 for literacy. Pakistan rates #160 and Afghanistan, where we have lost more than 200 of the U.S.’s finest this year, is so low it doesn’t even chart. It is below Burkina’s 23 percent literacy. Here’s how Unicef describes literacy in Afghanistan – “Literacy rates are low.” We can spend billions of taxpayers’ dollars in Afghanistan but can’t reach a hand out to Cuba or help Mexico fight its drug lords, which would be better protection for our nation than fighting half way across the world? Why?

Actor Danny Glover makes out with man in La Habana.

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