The Cruelty of Being Voiceless on Freedom

the AZEL PERSPECTIVE Commentary on Cuba's Future, U.S. Foreign Policy & Individual Freedoms - Issue 454 B

José Azel's latest books "On Freedom" and "Sobre La Libertad" are now available on Amazon. The Cruelty of Being Voiceless on Freedom (Previously published) Share Tweet Forward

The “behavioral despair test” is a clinical protocol often used to measure the effectiveness of antidepressants under development. One variation of the despair test goes something like this: Rats are placed inside a glass tube filled with water where the rats struggle unsuccessfully to climb out of the tube. Typically, after fifteen minutes, the rats give up and become lethargic just floating in the water waiting for the inevitable drowning. The experiment is repeated with other rats but this time, after fourteen minutes, just before the rats go into their lethargic despair, they are pulled out of the water. These rats that are saved from despair are then dried, fed and allowed to rest before being put back in the water. This second time the rats struggle longer, typically twenty minutes, before giving up in despair. Scientist explain that for these rats, the memory of past success, when they were pulled out of the water, triggers some biochemical mechanisms that give the rats “hope” and thus they struggle longer before succumbing. Arguably, rats do not experience hope or despair, and any anthropomorphic implications are subjective, but I bring up the behavioral despair test to highlight the cruelty we induce when we introduce false hope in human expectations. Such false hopes were introduced in the U.S.-Cuba policy debate by President Obama and his supporters with the President’s visit to Cuba in 2016. The reestablishment of diplomatic relations with the Castro regime raised hopes in that tragic Island that a rapprochement with the United States would bring about economic prosperity and some degree of political freedom. Neither prosperity nor freedom has followed, and the Cuban population is again succumbing in despair. But, why blame the Obama Administration for trying a new approach? After all, the policy of isolating the Castro regime had not been successful in promoting freedom for the Cuban people. The problem was that the change in policy was accompanied by a reluctance to give voice to the demands for freedom in Cuba. It signified a tacit acceptance of the despotic Cuban regime. Supporters of the engagement policy restrained themselves from saying or doing anything that would upset the Castro government. It is not a question of how the United States should formulate its foreign policy, but of whether we give voice to the aspiration for freedom, or we elect to be voiceless. Peoples do not choose to tyrannize themselves. Being silent on the human desire for freedom is an act of cruelty. The legitimation of the Castro regime brought about by the Obama’s Administration did violence to Cuban aspirations for freedom. It failed to acknowledge that without political rights economic changes lack a lasting foundation. Similar to what the rat subjects experience in the “behavioral despair test,” such changes are not rights, but permits subject to manipulations by the experimenter, or in this case by the Cuban government. As a new leadership generation emerges in Cuba, it is necessary to reestablish the fundamental premise of the necessity of freedom for human happiness. For the Cuban people, the answer to their lethargic despair is not some form of Castro-light governance where they can struggle unsuccessfully a little longer in a new experimental glass tube. They can only climb out of their communitarian test tube once there is a citizenry free to exercise its political and economic rights. For Cuba, it will be a perilous transition. Democracy demands far more virtue from its citizens than a totalitarian regime. In top-down governance the citizenry’s desire to act according to its desires is restricted by fear or force. In a democracy, where authority originates with the people, the only restriction is the people’s willingness to submit to public authority. As the Founding Fathers argued during the establishment of the United States; without virtue and self-sacrifice, republics fall apart. Or, as Alexander Hamilton put it: “Give all power to the many, they will oppress the few. Give all power to the few they will oppress the many.” Thus national success hinges on our defense of self-determination. We should never be voiceless on freedom. 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. Most recently, they rafted for 17 days 220 miles in the Grand Canyon. 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

 

Center for a Free Cuba analysis and policy recommendations

Cuba at a Crossroads: Options for Supporting Democratic Transition Amid Economic Collapse and National Security Challenges

 

March 2026

Cuba has now endured sixty-seven years of a communist regime imposed through deceit and systematic terror on Cubans. Shortly after seizing power in 1959, the Castro brothers eliminated any checks on their authority. Within twenty-three months, they dismantled Cuba’s independent judiciary and the rule of law that had existed for decades. In 1976, they enshrined a Stalinist constitution that referenced the Soviet Union by name. That document required formal amendment in 1992 following the collapse of the USSR to remove the name. Non-violent dissidents who pursued reforms through the Varela Project in 2002 were sentenced to decades in prison in 2003, and extrajudicially executed in 2012. The nationwide mass uprisings of July 2021—the largest since the revolution itself—were crushed with lethal force, as regime security forces fired on unarmed civilians.

The dictatorship’s constitution prohibits every political party except the Cuban Communist Party. Its penal code criminalizes dissent and imposes “pre-criminal” penalties on citizens based solely on associations or social status. Additionally, the regime functions as an unaccountable kleptocracy. While a narrow elite controls an estimated $18 billion in cash reserves in foreign banks, 89 percent of Cubans live in extreme poverty. This internal humanitarian catastrophe is inseparable from Cuba’s external behavior, which poses direct threats to U.S. and hemispheric security. In this statement, the Center for a Free Cuba outlines both crises and provides recommendations for those seeking sustainable change.

The International Context The regime portrays itself as anti-imperialist, yet it has supplied military, diplomatic, and moral backing to Moscow’s imperial campaigns in Czechoslovakia (1968), Ethiopia (1977), Afghanistan (1988), and Ukraine since 2022. More than 20,000 Cuban mercenaries have fought alongside Russian forces in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion of February 24, 2022. Havana has also formalized military cooperation agreements with Belarus under Alexander Lukashenko, Putin’s key partner in aggression against Ukraine.

Cuban officials continue to deny involvement in Ukraine. They have done so to preserve plausible deniability for European financial support. That strategy was exposed when President Miguel Díaz-Canel publicly endorsed Russia’s illegal war during his May 9, 2024 meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow: “We wish you success and the Russian Federation in carrying out the special military operation,” as reported by Sputnik Africa. This statement fractured long-standing European Union consensus on the appropriate policy toward Cuba.

Consequently, Europe’s 2025 vote at the United Nations on Havana’s annual resolution titled “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba” ended in division for the first time since 1993. (The annual vote began in 1992). This is an important diplomatic setback.

More recently Costa Rica and Ecuador severed diplomatic relations with Havana. Belgium closed its embassy in Havana earlier.

The United States’ January 3, 2026 Operation Absolute Resolve exposed Cuba’s neo-imperial footprint in Venezuela: thirty-two Cuban military and intelligence officers were killed while serving as Nicolás Maduro’s personal praetorian guard.

Dictatorships in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela maintain extensive ties to Beijing, Moscow, Tehran, transnational terrorist networks, and drug trafficking cartels, forming a network that endangers regional stability.

Trump Administration National Security Strategy and Threat Assessment of Cuba The 2025 National Security Strategy, released by the Trump Administration in December 2025, sets a clear strategic objective for the Western Hemisphere: “We want to ensure that the Western Hemisphere remains reasonably stable and well-governed enough to prevent and discourage mass migration to the United States; we want a Hemisphere whose governments cooperate with us against narco-terrorists, cartels, and other transnational criminal organizations; we want a Hemisphere that remains free of hostile foreign incursion or ownership of key assets, and that supports critical supply chains; and we want to ensure our continued access to key strategic locations. In other words, we will assert and enforce a ‘Trump Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine.”

On January 29, 2026, President Trump signed Executive Order “Addressing Threats to the United States by the Government of Cuba.” The order finds that Cuban policies “constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat… to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.” It catalogues specific dangers: Havana’s alignment with Russia, the People’s Republic of China, Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah; the presence of Russia’s largest overseas signals intelligence facility in Cuba; deepening intelligence and defense ties with Beijing; and the granting of safe haven to transnational terrorist groups that seek to destabilize the region and the United States. Cuba’s repeated efforts to undermine U.S. and international sanctions are also cited as direct threats.

Current U.S.-Cuba Dialogue and Available Leverage The Trump Administration is engaged in dialogue with the Cuban dictatorship. In the aftermath of Nicolás Maduro’s capture during Operation Absolute Resolve, President Trump imposed tariffs on any country that directly or indirectly supplies oil to Cuba.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced on March 4, 2026 the reopening of a criminal investigation into Raúl Castro for the February 24, 1996 shoot-down of two unarmed civilian rescue planes in international airspace, which killed three American citizens and one permanent resident. On March 6, 2026, The Washington Post reported that the Justice Department had formed a working group to examine possible federal charges against Cuban officials for crimes related to immigration, economics, and more. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz confirmed on March 17, 2026 that intensified probes into Florida-based Medicare and Medicaid fraud schemes—long suspected of regime orchestration—remain active. These investigations build on the 2011 Department of Health and Human Services list of top Medicare fraud fugitives, seven of whom had direct ties to Cuba.

The Department of Defense’s 2026 National Defense Strategy, released January 26, 2026, leaves no ambiguity about consequences if dialogue fails: “Where [neighbors] do not respect and do their part to defend our shared interests… we will stand ready to take focused, decisive action… This is the Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, and America’s military stands ready to enforce it with speed, power, and precision, as the world saw in Operation ABSOLUTE RESOLVE.”

U.S. law itself provides explicit conditions for any suspension or lifting of sanctions. Codified on March 12, 1996 in direct response to the Brothers to the Rescue murders, these requirements include: release of all political prisoners and access for international human rights organizations; legalization of all political activity and dissolution of the Department of State Security (G-2); commitment to free and fair elections within eighteen months; exclusion of the Castro family from government; respect for basic civil liberties including freedom of speech and press; and recognition of independent labor unions and internationally recognized human rights. These statutory benchmarks constitute powerful leverage in ongoing negotiations.

Humanitarian Realities and the Kleptocracy Problem Since 2000, the United States has served as one of Cuba’s primary suppliers of food and agricultural products. In 2025 alone, Cuba purchased over $800 million in U.S. imports, primarily poultry and staples from Alabama and Mississippi. Cuba imports approximately 80 percent of its basic food needs because of the inherent failures of communist central planning. U.S. policy permits commercial sales that reach the Cuban people.

The dictatorship systematically diverts humanitarian assistance. Over 1,200 political prisoners remain incarcerated, including farmers jailed for selling produce in informal markets. European, Canadian, and Mexican aid channeled through the United Nations routinely flows via government-controlled non-governmental organizations (GONGOs) such as the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution and the state-aligned Cuban Red Cross. Documented cases include Russian cooking oil resold in hard-currency stores in 2021 and Mexican aid diverted to MLC shops inaccessible to ordinary citizens. In stark contrast, U.S. assistance routed through the Catholic Church’s Caritas network has been independently verified to reach those in genuine need.

The World Food Programme’s partnerships with Cuban government ministries since 2018 have produced documented oversight failures. Its own August 2025 internal audit highlighted deficiencies in monitoring and risk management. Former Defense Intelligence Agency officer Christopher Simmons testified before Congress in 2012 that Cuba operates “as a violent criminal organization masquerading as a government,” with its intelligence services existing solely to ensure regime survival. A Miami Herald investigation by Nora Gamez Torres on August 6, 2025 confirmed that the Cuban military’s bank accounts hold up to $18 billion—larger than the international reserves of Costa Rica, Uruguay, or Panama.

Policy Recommendations

I. Humanitarian assistance must reach Cubans in need, not the dictatorship. The Center for a Free Cuba calls on the United Nations to dispatch an independent delegation immediately to examine conditions on the ground. Policymakers should establish a formal international humanitarian corridor for direct emergency aid that bypasses regime institutions entirely. Until such a corridor exists, donor nations should channel assistance exclusively through proven independent mechanisms such as Caritas or insist that Havana legalize genuine non-governmental organizations. Diplomats from donor countries should conduct unannounced spot checks on distribution points. The Center is circulating a petition demanding this humanitarian corridor and urges all people of good will to sign and amplify it.

II. Maintain and expand targeted sanctions against the dictatorship and its repressive agents. Legislation introduced by Rep. James P. McGovern (H.R. 7521, February 12, 2026) and Sen. Ron Wyden (S. 136, January 16, 2025) would prematurely gut the sanctions regime at the precise moment when Havana has been exposed supporting Putin’s war in Ukraine and maintaining hidden military assets in Venezuela. These bills should be rejected.

Instead, the United States should strengthen sanctions, apply Magnitsky-style measures against individual repressors, and condition any future relief on concrete actions: immediate withdrawal of all Cuban military and intelligence personnel from Venezuela, Ukraine, and Nicaragua; closure of Chinese signals intelligence facilities targeting the United States; return of terrorists and fugitives to face justice; release of all political prisoners; legalization of political parties; and commitment to internationally supervised free elections.

III. Democratic political change will drive a genuine economic opening. Decades of European economic engagement, intensified under the 2016 Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement, produced no democratic reforms while allowing the regime to capture foreign capital through mandatory joint ventures with the military conglomerate GAESA. Foreign businesses face asset seizures, executive arrests, wage confiscation, and arbitrary contract changes without judicial recourse. The “China model” of economic liberalization without political reform has similarly failed, producing a modernized totalitarian state rather than democracy.

Cuba’s foundational ideology remains profoundly hostile to the United States; any temporary concessions would likely be tactical maneuvers to survive until the current pressure subsides. True and lasting economic prosperity requires the rule of law and an independent judiciary—elements that exist only after political transition. As Karl Marx’s theory is inverted in practice, political structure and legal institutions define the economic system, not the reverse.

IV. Establish greater unity between pro-democracy Cubans. Forming informal but effective working groups (via secure channels) that link internal opposition networks with exile organizations. These groups should coordinate non-violent civic actions inside Cuba with international advocacy, humanitarian aid delivery, and legal pressure abroad. Non-violent civic actions and the overall internal strategy must be decided by internal actors. Invite all Cubans who have not committed grave human rights violations to ensure inclusivity without compromising principles.

Focus on Immediate Shared Objectives

• Demand the unconditional release of all political prisoners (currently over 1,200) and full amnesty.

• Demand the International Committee of the Red Cross be granted access to Cuban prisons. (Last visit granted was in 1989).

• Secure verified humanitarian assistance through independent channels (bypassing regime-controlled entities), consistent with a spirit of reconciliation.

• Prepare jointly for the Liberation phase: document repression, train citizens in nonviolent resistance and transitional governance, and safeguard evidence for future justice and truth commissions.

• Demand that the regime commit to free and fair elections within a specified timeline.

Conclusion

Cubans have struggled over sixty-seven years to restore freedom in Cuba. The convergence of global pressure, U.S. strategic resolve, and the regime’s exposed vulnerabilities creates a rare historic opening.

By combining sustained targeted sanctions, creative humanitarian channels, and unwavering insistence on democratic benchmarks, policymakers can advance both U.S. national security and the cause of liberty in Cuba. The Center for a Free Cuba stands ready to provide expertise, and documentation to governments and organizations committed to this outcome.

Non-violent civic actions and the overall internal strategy must be decided by internal actors. All Cubans who have not committed grave human rights violations should be invited to participate in achieving these objectives.  The goal should be to ensure inclusivity without compromising principles.

 

 

 

 

Read Full Report

What is meant by the Pursuit of Happiness?

the AZEL PERSPECTIVE Commentary on Cuba's Future, U.S. Foreign Policy & Individual Freedoms - Issue 452 B

José Azel's latest books "On Freedom" and "Sobre La Libertad" are now available on Amazon. What is meant by the Pursuit of Happiness? (Previously published) Share Tweet Forward

What did the Founding Fathers mean to convey in the Declaration of Independence by spotlighting the Pursuit of Happiness as an inalienable right together with Life and Liberty. Apparently we are a very unhappy world. According to the data offered by Yuval Noah Harari in his provocative new book “Homo Deus - A brief History of Tomorrow,” more people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers, terrorists, and criminals combined. In 2012 about 56 million people died throughout the world; 120,000 were killed by war, 500,000 by crime, and 800,000 committed suicide. It is not as if we are terribly deprived and hungry. Today, for the first time in history, more people die from eating too much than from eating too little. In 2014, more than 2.1 billion people were overweight, compared to 850 million who suffered from malnutrition. In 2010, whereas famine and malnutrition combined killed about 1 million, obesity killed 3 million. Interestingly, in developed countries such as Switzerland, or France, with higher prosperity, comfort and security, about 25 persons per 100,000 commit suicide. In developing countries, suffering from poverty and instability, the suicide rate is about one person per 100,000. It appears that the timeless advice is true: money cannot make us happy. So, what about the pursuit of happiness? A novel approach to our collective unhappiness comes from the tiny Kingdom of Bhutan. In the 1970s, the Fourth Dragon King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, made an extraordinary statement for a head of state: “We do not believe in Gross National Product. Gross National Happiness is more important.” Bhutan then pioneered the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) which was enacted in the Kingdom’s 2008 Constitution. In contrast with Gross National Product (GDP) which measures economic output, the Gross National Happiness index purports to also measure net environmental impacts, the spiritual and cultural growth of citizens, mental and physical health, and the strength of the corporate and political systems of the nation. GNH emphasizes collective happiness and harmony with nature as the goal of governance, which philosophically fits nicely with Bhutan’s Buddhist culture and identity. Of course, any measure of GNH is intricate, complex, and rife with estimates and subjectivity. How exactly does one measure the spiritual and cultural growth of individuals? What makes one person happy may be totally indifferent to another. National happiness is difficult to measure. I do give Bhutan credit for trying; the country has developed a sophisticated index of nine domains that contribute to happiness: Psychological well-being, health, education, time use, cultural diversity, good governance, community vitality, ecological diversity, and living standards. My problem with Bhutan’s approach is that the goal is not just to measure happiness, but to integrate the GNH philosophy into public policy requiring government intervention. Supporters of the GNH index argue that GDP is an obsolete economic metric and that governments must replace it with GNH. Thus, making national happiness the responsibility of the government; this is antithetical to freedom. Consider the absurdity of Nicolas Maduro creating in Venezuela a Ministry of Happiness. Which brings me to my opening question: What did the United States Founding Fathers mean by the pursuit of happiness? The Declaration is explicitly clear that government should guarantee the right to the pursuit of happiness, not the right to happiness. In fact, as Noah Harari notes in his book, “Thomas Jefferson did not make the state responsible for its citizens’ happiness. Rather he sought only to limit the power of the state.” It is our right to pursue happiness our way, and the state should not get involved in our choices. The irony is that, while the right to the pursuit of happiness in the Declaration of Independence was intended as a restraint on the power of the state, it has been perverted into the right to happiness expanding state intervention. Government managed happiness is the philosophy behind the Gross National Happiness index, so, if anything makes us unhappy, the state should do something about it. This is precisely the opposite of what Jefferson meant by the right to the pursuit of happiness. 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. Most recently, they rafted for 17 days 220 miles in the Grand Canyon. 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