Happy holidays and a peaceful and prosperous new year to my readers and all Al Día News followers.

There is, of course, nothing surprising about these wishes which are the same hopes traditionally expressed year after year.  Yet, at the risk of sounding like a party pooper, I must confess that this time around I feel they are nothing more than empty words, the mechanic repetition of a yearly ritual that, after Donald Trump’s election, have little significance.

With impeccable timing, that is, just in time for the holidays, the incoming President posted this twit that seems to signal the return of the arms race and with it, the cold war:

 “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.”

A worrisome display of cheap “machismo,” that involves the future of humanity, no less. Certainly, nothing to celebrate.

For the people of Cuba, the season is not a happy one either. After all, Trump has threatened to do away with diplomatic relations and return to the irrationality and senseless hostility that, until two years ago, passed for a Cuba policy.

“If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban-American people and the U.S. I will terminate deal,” Trump tweeted.

What does the billionaire businessman mean by “a better deal” is anybody’s guess.

A few months ago, Trump had also told a group of Cubans in Miami that “All the concessions that Barack Obama has granted to the Castro regime were done through executive order, which means the next president can reverse them.

“And that, I will do, unless the Castro regime meets our demands. Not my demands. Our demands. Those demands are religious and political freedom for the Cuban people. And the freeing of political prisoners,” Trump added, showing his ignorance. After almost 60 years of relentless enmity, one would expect the incoming President to have learned that Havana does not respond well to threats.

Even more revealing of his plans for Cuba and his appalling lack of knowledge about the Island is the group of Cuban-American political dinosaurs he has named to his transition team.

Shamefully, Mauricio Claver Carone, Yleem Poblete, John Barsa, Mercedes Shlaap and Carlos E. Díaz Rosillo are all in favor of keeping the embargo and doing away with Obama’s new Cuba policy.

Even more shameful, although completely predictable, is the support of the fossilized Cuban-American Congress members for rolling back Obama’s measures. Yleana Ros-Lehtinen, Mario Díaz-Balart, the ineffable Marco Rubio and Bob Menéndez are all enthusiastically encouraging Trump to make life harder for the Cuban people they hypocritically say they want to help.

Yes, the reasons to celebrate are scarce since everything points to an immediate future far from peaceful and prosperous under demi-fascist Donald Trump and his scary band of generals, plutocrats and political troglodytes.

That’s why I wish you all a 2017 of resistance and victory.