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Saturday, October 12 Prince Charming
Did you watch the Fidel Castro interview last night? My Cubano love..has told me many times that Castro could be quite a charmer, but when she does, I think about the ugly bearded dictator and answer Last night I experienced what she meant. “Why aren’t you wearing your uniform?” Barbara Walters asked. “I’m wearing this suit to seduce you..so you will go easy on me?” Fidel answered, smiling and trying to look as doe eyed as a man who has murdered thousands can look. He dodged questions like.. “Why don’t you allow demonstrations?” With answers like “No one demonstrates. There is nothing to not allow.” When called on the fact that he has not allowed a political opponent in 43 years, a free election, freedom of press or any facet of democracy. He answered with statistics about the spectacularly high literacy rate of Cubans, the amazing amount of doctors and teachers. Teachers and doctors who make less money than a bell boy, a taxi driver or a decent looking prostitute. I’d have to say although I thought Barbara was perhaps a tad to sweet to the man, she did manage to get in a nice chunk of those tough questions he wore the suit to avoid. I felt like I was watching a master magician as he wove under and around those questions and answered without answering. Then came the perfect propaganda footage, Castro surrounded by adoring schoolgirls, teary eyed and ecstatic to see him. It reminded me of the way, slaves could come to love their master. After 43 years, most Cubans know no other life, than life under Castro. The lack of freedom, the zero choice in leadership, the knowledge that something truly bad will happen to them if they speak out against him is as ingrained into their existence as the multitude of 1940’s cars put together with bubble gum and luck that still manage to stay on the road. I admit, I may be a tad prejudiced against Castro, having shared my life with a Cuban who knows his darkest side. I also admit that he is a complicated character. His people have a love-hate relationship with him and I imagine history will as well. Pre Castro Cuba wasn’t a picnic either, unless you were rich and, or, white which probably meant the same thing. I think I would have liked Castro in his early days when he was dashing and brave, the noble under-dog leading his impossible revolution and liberating the people. But to liberate a country and then to take away their liberty simply because he did not want to step down from his newfound power and then to make sure to jail, execute or terrorize any who might oppose him, just to stay in power, has got to be the best example of becoming your enemy I’ve ever seen. Let’s not even get into his treatment of gays. I do believe that Castro is well loved by many, possibly most, of his people. But I know that love is the love you would have for a parent who shut you off from the outside world, took away the vast majority of your basic freedoms, starved you and then fed you and then convinced you that he was doing it all for your own good. For the Cubans living in Cuba who desperately want more democracy, the 11,000 thousand people (Barbara asked about and Fidel avoided talking about) who bravely signed a petition asking for more democracy (god help them by the way), there is no light at the end of the tunnel except a raft that might or might not make it to Miami. Let's not even talk about Elian ok. As to the embargo: it’s hard to see how it’s really helping the cause of Democracy at this point. It certainly hasn’t shut down Castro. It hasn’t helped the Cuban people either. Part of me thinks that what our embargo couldn’t do, a flood of American tourism could do. Who made that famous quote, “It was Levi’s that brought the Soviet Union down.” On the other hand, ending the embargo would be a great way to say, “Hey Castro! You are the bigger one!” Also who wants to empower a monster with money? We do enough of that in Saudia Arabia. There’s also that other voice in my head that says Castro would find a way to keep all that cash for his own purposes and the Cuban people would not be much better off, except now,they’d be right back where they were before the revolution, eating scraps that fell from the table while the rich were dining on steak and mohitos. Perhaps the best thing I can say about grandpa Fidel is that lately he hasn’t seemed that bad just by comparison. Compare him to Saddam or Osama and he seems almost kind and peaceful. Compare him to Arafat (another charmer who’s essentially full of shit) and he come across as honest and sincere. Even while I was watching the Walters interview, trying to understand just who is this person Fidel Castro, I was aware that the interview itself and the footage of Castro in Cuba was all an attempt on Castro’s part to create more propaganda. "80% of America was for us," he chimed in when talking about Elian. Ummm Fidel if those statistics were true, that meant 80% of Americans thought the kid should be with his dad. It did not mean 80% of Americans are pro Castro. Sheesh what an ego. “He’s a master con-man.” I told my Cubana when the show was over. “Yes..He’s a charmer,” she said again as she had many times in the past. This time I got it. “Yep..he suuuuuuure is.” Hey what's a little loss of freedom when compared with the Taliban?
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