What we've been seeing for decades has been concocted by a place like the basement of the State Department, like Otto Reich's Office of Public Diplomacy which got them all in trouble for illegal propaganda propagation during Reagan's Presidency, or earlier than that, by professionals like Edward Bernays, the "father of spin" who blazed the way for government perception molding during the Eisenhower administration, starting with Guatemala in 1954, and Iran. Very few people seem to grasp they haven't seen much actual information regarding Cuba since the 1960's, not even understanding that Cuban authors' publications have been blocked from distribution here, just like Cuban cigars!
It always amazes me to see US Americans' wild assertions made regarding Cuba in public forums and in political speeches, realizing it almost always is anchored in pure fantasy which has been in circulation for decades. They just repeat what they have heard, or imagined they heard, or even pulled out of their backsides, and pass it on as fact!
The stuff concocted in Miamii during periods of mass hysteria or excitement often sets new records in spin. I'm still wonder-struck by stories which circulated over incidents they created concerning Elián González and his excellent miraculous adven ture coming to the US, as in when the very dolphins in the Gulf surrounded him and fought off the terrifying sharks which tried to eat tasty young Elián González! That event was so eloquently portrayed in paintings the Little Havana artists created, like this!
Thanks for this post, Marcus IM!