Monday, October 31, 2022

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THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

By Pedro V. Roig, JD

The defeat of the heroic Cuban Brigade at The Bay of Pigs was a monumental failure for the John Kennedy Administration, especially in the context of the Cold War confrontation. In Moscow, Nikita Khrushchev saw in the Bay of Pigs disaster a confused superpower, led by a weak and indecisive president who could cave in under pressure.

Anatoly Dobrynin, the Soviet Ambassador to the United States, believed Khrushchev’s perception of Kennedy was shaped by the lack of resolve shown by the President during those crucial days in Cuba.

The Soviet Ambassador, regarding Khrushchev’s view of Kennedy, wrote: «That after the failure of the American backed invasion of Cuba by exile forces, the American president would yield to his pressure.” *(Anatoly Dobrynin,” In Confidence”. New York: Random House,1995, p. 44.)

On July 3-4, 1961, the leaders of the two superpowers met in Vienna. At the summit, according to Ambassador Dobrynin, Khrushchev displayed "an aggressive almost threatening tone...” (Dobrynin, op.cit,pag 45).

Kennedy said afterwards to the journalist James Reston: “I think [ Khrushchev in Vienna] did it because of the Bay of Pigs. I think he thought anyone who was so young and inexperienced as to get in that mess could be taken, and anyone that got into it and didn’t see it through had no guts. So, he just beat the hell out of me”.

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CSI

CUBANS IN AMERICA

CSI is pleased to announce a new interactive Webpage, “Cubans in America” available on the Internet at www.cubansinamerica.us

Cubans have had a significant social, economic, political, and cultural impact on the State of Florida and in other parts of the U.S. For the past 60 years, more than 2 million Cubans settled in the U.S. Education, politics, business, society has been affected by the Cuban migration.

The “Cubans in America” Webpage includes:

History of Cuba Video. A 26-minute summary of the history of Cuba narrated by Andy Garcia in English with Spanish Subtitles and a two-lesson course video by Carlos Alberto Montaner in Spanish.
The Journey to Exile. Short descriptions and videos of the various migrations toward U.S. including the Freedom Flights, Mariel, Balseros, Pedro Pan.
Critical Moments. Short videos of the Bay of Pigs; the Missile Crisis; the downing of two Brothers to the Rescue planes on the Florida Straits, the Elian affair, and 2021 Uprising.
Prominent Cuban-Americans/Organizations. Short biographies with photos of several hundred Cuban-Americans in the arts, sports, business, academic, journalism, medicine/science, law/politics; religion as well as key organizations active in the U.S.
Cuban-American Food (recipes)
Cuban Music. Short descriptions of Cuban music genres plus video/interviews by Eloy Cepero with Cuba’s most prominent singers/composers, including Enrique Chia, La Coral Cubana, José Ruiz Elcoro, Añorada Cuba, Susy Leman, Hansel y Raul.
Facts & Figures

Cubans in America serves as an information and research hub for community leaders, grade schools, universities, researchers, institutions, and the community in general interested in the significance of Cuban-Americans in the U.S. It covers historical and developing events resulting from the arrival of Cubans and their continued impact.

This database is a worldwide resource and point of information, sponsored by the State of Florida and the National Endowment for the Humanities, as an active, ever-expanding webpage of relevant material on the growth and development of generations of Cubans and Cuban-Americans in the U.S.

This is a publication of the Cuban Studies Institute.

Our mailing address is:
1500 South Dixie Highway, Bank of America Bldg., 2nd Floor
Coral Gables, FL 33146
Tel: 786-803-8007
Fax: 786-803-8068
Email: cubanstudies@cubanstudiesinstitute.com

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What Are Rights?

the AZEL

PERSPECTIVE

Commentary on Cuba's Future, U.S. Foreign Policy & Individual Freedoms - Issue 277B

José Azel's latest books "On Freedom" and "Sobre La Libertad" are now available on Amazon.

What Are Rights? (Previously Published)

Forward

Some years ago I published an article outlining the principal epistemological traditions on the origin of human rights: (1) Rights are political laws and they are created by governments. (2) Rights are moral laws and they come from God. (3) Rights are moral laws inherent in man’s nature.

I noted then that if human rights are a creation of the human intellect, it is difficult to argue that they are universal and that governments are obligated to honor rights they disagree with. On the other hand, if rights emanate from God, and exist distinctively from man-made law, they cannot be granted or repealed by government fiat. But, no divine origin can be judiciously offered since there is no evidence of rights that demonstrably emanate from God. Aware of these issues, Enlightenment thinkers and the Founding Fathers sought to anchor human rights in nature as a matter of natural law.

Here I want to step back and ask a more basic question: What are rights? The many conflicting answers to this question are the source of much controversy as many diverse things are claimed as rights: The right to vote, to work, to strike, to life, to choose a sexual identity, to own weapons, to be left alone, and infinitely more. A practical starting definition is that rights are rules about what is owed or allowed to people. Rights are principles of freedom or entitlement. Let’s explore.

To political scientists the right to do something, or an entitlement of some sort, is a positive right. The right to do nothing is a negative right. In the United States, we have the positive right to vote and the negative right not to vote. In countries, such as Australia, where voting is compulsory, citizens have the right to vote but do not have the right not to vote.

Another rights controversy pivots on the right to equality. Believers in free markets identify equality with the right to equal opportunities, understanding that equality of rules will lead to unequal outcomes. Socialists identify equality with equality of outcome arguing that people have a right to an egalitarian distribution of incomes.

Yet another rights dispute is whether rights are individually or collectively held. Is there such a thing as group rights, where groups are distinct beings with a separate will and power of action that can trump individual rights? When a labor union negotiates a wage rate that an individual member deems unacceptable, whose right shall prevail?

Rights can also be perceived as liberty, or as claims. A liberty right is simply the freedom to do something without imposing any obligation on anyone else, e.g., the right to free speech. In contrast, a claims-right imposes an obligation on someone else to do something for the benefit of the claims-right holder. If I have the right to receive welfare benefits of some sort, that requires someone else to contribute a portion of their income to pay for my benefits.

Libertarians believe that rights are simply claims to liberty of action without interference. For example, I may need a car to go to work and I have every right to acquire a car by legitimate means. But I have no right to a car even if it is clear that I need one. Socialists may claim that I have the right to a car because I need one to earn a living. This view necessarily violates the rights of those that will have to be coerced, say by taxation, to pay for my car.

Libertarians also believe that rights are held only by individuals. This is because so-called group rights are necessarily a negation of individual rights. Group rights create conditions where some individuals (the group) can force other individuals to obey their edicts. It is oxymoronic to speak of collective rights.

In this understanding, rights are only an individual’s freedom to act on his own judgment as long as he does not violate anyone else’s rights. Rights are claims to freedom of action, and not to desired outcomes.

Please let us know if you

this article.

We welcome your feedback.
Abrazos,
Lily & José
(click on the name to email Lily or Jose)

José Azel, Ph.D.

José Azel left Cuba in 1961 as a 13 year-old political exile in what has been dubbed Operation Pedro Pan - the largest unaccompanied child refugee movement in the history of the Western Hemisphere.

He is currently dedicated to the in-depth analyses of Cuba's economic, social and political state, with a keen interest in post-Castro-Cuba strategies. Dr. Azel was a Senior Scholar at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (ICCAS) at the University of Miami, Jose Azel has published extensively on Cuba related topics.

In 2012 and 2015, Dr. Azel testified in the U.S. Congress on U.S.-Cuba Policy, and U.S. National Security. He is a frequent speaker and commentator on these and related topics on local, national and international media. He holds undergraduate and masters degrees in business administration and a Ph.D. in International Affairs from the University of Miami.

José along with his wife Lily are avid skiers and adventure travelers. In recent years they have climbed Grand Teton in Wyoming, trekked Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Machu Pichu in Peru. They have also hiked in Tibet and in the Himalayas to Mt. Everest Base Camp.

They cycled St. James Way (El Camino de Santiago de Compostela) and cycled alongside the Danube from Germany to Hungary and throughout southern France. They have scuba dived in the Bay Islands off the Honduran coast and in the Galapagos Islands.

Their adventurers are normally dedicated to raise funds for causes that are dear to them.

Watch Joe & Lily summit Kilimanjaro.

Books by Dr. José Azel

José Azel’s writings are touched with the wisdom of a master, and the charm of an excellent communicator. Anyone who wishes to understand why countries do, or do not, progress will find in this book the best explanations. And, from these readings emerge numerous inferences: How and why do the good intentions of leftist collectivism lead countries to hell? Why is liberty not a sub product of prosperity, but rather one of its causes?

If it was in my power, this work would be required reading for all college and university students, and I would also recommend its reading to all politicians, journalists, and policymakers. With his writings Azel accomplishes what was achieved in France by Frédéric Bastiat, and in the United States by Henry Hazlitt: Azel brings together common sense with intelligent observation, and academic substance. Stupendous,

Carlos Alberto Montaner
BUY NOW

Los escritos de José Azel están tocados por la sabiduría de un maestro y la amenidad de un excelente comunicador. Cualquiera que desee entender por qué los países progresan, o no, encontrará en este libro las mejores explicaciones. De estas lecturas surgen numerosas inferencias: ¿Cómo y por qué las buenas intenciones del colectivismo de izquierda llevan a los países al infierno? ¿Por qué la libertad no es un subproducto de la prosperidad, sino una de sus causas?

Si estuviera en mis manos, esta obra sería de obligada lectura de todos los estudiantes universitarios, pero además, le recomendaría su lectura a todos los políticos, periodistas y policy makers. Con sus escritos Azel logra lo que Frédéric Bastiat consiguiera en Francia y Henry Hazlitt en Estados Unidos: aunar el sentido común, la observación inteligente y la enjundia académica. Estupendo.

Carlos Alberto Montaner
Compre Aqui

"Liberty for beginners is much more than what the title promises. It is eighty themes touched with the wisdom of a master, and the charm of an excellent communicator. Anyone that wishes to understand why countries do, or do not progress, will find in this book the best explanations. Stupendous"

Carlos Alberto Montaner

Buy Now

"Libertad para novatos es mucho más de lo que promete el título. Son ochenta temas tocados con la sabiduría de un maestro y la amenidad de un excelente comunicador. Cualquier adulto que desee saber por qué progresan o se estancan los pueblos aquí encontrará las mejores explicaciones. Estupendo."

Carlos Alberto Montaner

Compre Aqui

In Reflections on Freedom, José Azel brings together a collection of his columns published in prestigious newspapers. Each article reveals his heartfelt and personal awareness of the importance of freedom in our lives. They are his reflections after nearly sixty years of living and learning as a Cuban outside Cuba. In what has become his stylistic trademark, Professor Azel brilliantly introduces complex topics in brief journalistic articles.

Buy Now

En Reflexiones sobre la libertad José Azel reúne una colección de sus columnas publicadas en prestigiosos periódicos. Cada artículo revela su percepción sincera y personal de la importancia de la libertad en nuestras vidas. Son sus reflexiones después de casi sesenta años viviendo y aprendiendo como cubano fuera de Cuba. En lo que ha resultado ser característica distintiva de sus artículos, el Profesor Azel introduce con brillantez complejos temas en breves artículos de carácter periodístico.

Compre Aqui

Mañana in Cuba is a comprehensive analysis of contemporary Cuba with an incisive perspective of the Cuban frame of mind and its relevancy for Cuba's future.

Buy now

Pedazos y Vacíos is a collection of poems written in by Dr. Azel in his youth. Poems are in Spanish.

Buy now

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LET'S FIGHT BACK

Monday, October 31, 2022

PERSPECTIVE

What Are Rights? (Previously Published)

Sunday, October 30, 2022