The CubanAmerican Voice is a media platform and political forum committed to fostering a culture of liberty and building a democratic ethos that promotes civic consciousness consistent with values necessary for a free society. Our founding sister website, Patria de Martí, translates from Spanish into “fatherland” (or “motherland”) of Martí, christened after the great Cuban national patriot, José Martí (1853-1895). Founded in 2006, Patria de Martí has operated primarily in the Spanish language with a special focus on Cuba, as well as other Latin American countries besieged by communist tyranny.
Serious systemic challenges to American democracy in 2020 from Marxist organizations like Black Lives Matter, Antifa and others, along with a complicit and troubling pattern of supportive behavior from major corporations, tech giants, mass and social media outlets, educational centers and the political class, has prompted us to begin this English version platform. The CubanAmerican Voice however, is not a literal translation of the Spanish sister outlet. Reports, themes, and coverages may overlap on occasion, as our mission is the fight for freedom and this task has no boundaries. Our experience as an exile community can offer a special perspective into the today's current challenges. The CubanAmerican Voice will focus primarily on events in the United States. Given the seminal place the land of Abraham Lincoln has in world affairs, we firmly subscribe to the notion put forth formidably by Ronald Reagan, “If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth.”
Our banner
Our website’s banner is indicative of our values and core beliefs. Pictured above our logo are Father Félix Varela, José Martí, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan. Father Félix Varela was a Catholic prelate, philosopher, professor, inventor, politician, writer, and independence leader. In the United States, in addition to pressuring for and writing on behalf of Cuba's freedom, he spent much of his life helping the poor and working for racial, ethnic, and religious tolerance, as well as founding churches, orphanages, nurseries, and the country’s first Spanish-language newspaper.
Referred to as the Apostle of Cuban Independence, José Martí was a poet, essayist, lawyer, philosopher, journalist, translator, professor, diplomat, and the seminal organizer of Cuba's ultimate War of Independence. He died in battle in this war of liberation. Both, Varela and Martí lived most of their lives in exile, in the United States.
Abraham Lincoln, known as the Great Emancipator, was a lawyer, businessman, veteran, statesman and the 16th U. S. president. The enormity of Lincoln’s role in America’s history cannot be understated. The first presidential candidate of the Republican Party, a newly formed antislavery party encompassing dissidents from the Whigs, Democrats, Free Soil and Liberty parties, led and won the Civil War, conserved the Union, abolished slavery and by doing so aligned in praxis the core principles of the Declaration of Independence and its doctrine of natural rights inherent in America’s foundational creed. Lincoln laid the groundwork for a national reconciliation and the modernization of America, achieving nothing less than a second founding.
Ronald Reagan, the 40th U. S. president, was a radio announcer, actor, veteran, union president, television host, governor, and statesman. In the historical tradition of Lincoln, Reagan was elected president at a crucial time in American history. Remembered as the Great Communicator, he stewarded the United States far away from a period of advancing moral, economic and democratic degradation that launched its attack on America and the free world with the counterculture of the 1960’s and which was strengthened with the failed policies of détente and defeatism of the 1970’s.
Communism had made enormous inroads, as well as other subversive movements between those periods. Brilliantly utilizing a bold and patriotic approach in dealing with Soviet communism, Reagan changed foreign policy course and substituted containment (Truman Doctrine) for rollback (Reagan Doctrine). The collapse of the USSR and its Eastern European satellites, as well numerous Marxist regime/movement reversals in Latin America and Africa signified the development of a new moral paradigm. These were the fruits of Reagan’s leadership. Freedom and natural rights were rescued and elevated once again.
These four illustrious men had many things in common. They all embraced the notion of a superior transcendental order coexisting and guiding humanity, cherished liberty as a God-given natural right, believed in democracy, the principle of popular sovereignty, equality under the law and were all nationalist. Consequently, Varela, Martí, Lincoln and Reagan emphatically abhorred the principles of socialism and other collectivist schemes. In a time where the enemies of liberty seek to falsify history and attempt to destroy our glorious past, The CubanAmerican Voice is honored to display these heroes that honor our platform.
JULIO M. SHILING, Director
Julio M. Shiling is a political scientist, writer, speaker, commentator, and Director of the digital publications Patria de Martí ►, and The CubanAmerican Voice and columnist at El American. He holds a master’s degree in Political Science from Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida. He is a member of The American Political Science Association and The PEN Club (Cuban Writers in Exile Chapter).
His articles and essays have been reproduced in dozens of print and electronic publications in the US, Latin America, and Europe, including Cuba Net, Cuba Encuentro, Martí Noticias, PanAm Post, Latin America Advisor and The Washington Examiner. He has authored three books: Dictatorships and their paradigms (Spanish), (Eriginal Books, 2013) a detailed work consisting of two volumes, which has received excellent comments and reviews, as this is a meticulous work that examines, as its subtitle suggests, Why some dictatorships fall and others don't? and the most recent, Democratization in Cuba: A concise manual (English and Spanish) (Patria de Martí, 2016), structures a prerequisite guide map for a democratization process in Cuba to be successful, once communism falls.More about Julio M. Shiling ►
Frank Rodriguez, Podcast host of Xisle and columnist
Frank Rodriguez, M.A. Economics, University of Miami is a radio/tv commentator & producer, a book editor/translator for Alexandria Library Publishing House in Miami and former editor at Simon & Shuster & Reuters. He is an English & Spanish instructor and columnist for various publications. Contact:
Jose Tarano, Technical producer and researcher
José Tarano is technical producer, graphic designer, collaborator and researcher at Patria de Martí ► and The CubanAmerican Voice. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering in Telecommunications from José Antonio Echeverria Superior Polytechnic Institute (ISPJAE). In addition to having served in multiple technological and commercial businesses, he is founder and director of Electronics JR Computer Design and Service ►, a computer and information technology services company. Originally from Santiago de las Vegas, Havana, Cuba, he currently resides in the United States.
