El gran 56

Fidel Castro and his thugs marched triumphantly into Havana on January 1, 1959. They were cheering in Washington D.C. for him, at the CIA and State Department, so President Eisenhower recognized the new gang as the legitimate government in Cuba on January 7th;

Secretary of State John Foster Dulles overrode [our Ambassador Earl] Smith's concerns. The secretary counseled President Dwight D. Eisenhower to recognize the Urrutia government, since it seemed to be "free from Communist taint" and interested in "friendly relations with the United States." Dulles and other U.S. officials may have viewed recognition of the new Cuban government as a way to forestall the ascension to power of more radical elements in the Cuban revolution.

That worked well! And still does, if blogger Yusnaby Perez is any judge;

La Plaza de la Revolución esperaba hoy a Tania Bruguera, artista plástica cubana, que realizaría un performance contra la censura. Un micrófono abierto iba a estar a disposición de cada cubano que se quisiera expresar libremente por un minuto.

One doesn't need to know much Spanish to get that a Cuban artist, Tania Bruguera, attempted to open a microphone in Revolution Square in Havana for ordinary Cuban citizens to speak freely for a minute. After all, relations with the U.S. are being normalized, so freedom of speech must be normal, correcto?

Detuvieron a activistas. La policía fue a sus casas y se los llevaron esposados a un paradero desconocido. Tania Bruguera está desaparecida hasta el momento. El performance no se pudo realizar, impidieron la llegada de su realizadora.

Roughly, the police moved against Tania, who is still missing. As are other activists, some of whom were arrested at their homes. The performance art didn't come off.

Cuba, meet the new bosses. Same story as with the old bosses.