CAN WE HAVE A LITTLE CLARITY ABOUT WHO ACTUALLY ORGANIZED THE CUBAN REVOLUTION BEFORE WE GET BACK ONTO THE TRUMP MESS?
Now when we need group solidarity is no time to rain on history’s parade. That is, history written carelessly.
Talking obsessively about Fidel (r.i.p.) as the “maximum leader” and inspiration of the 1959 uprising against the corrupt USA-backed Batista regime is like citing only George Washington in our 1776 American revolution without Ben Franklin, Jefferson, Tom Paine etc.
It’s amazing how few of Castro’s obit-tributes mention his role in the horrific 1962 Cuba Missiles Crisis where, until he was pulled back by Khruschev, he seemed totally OK with shooting ICBMs on our eastern seaboard to protect “his” revolution.
Yes, I know about the literacy rates and the wonderful export of Cuban doctors to diseased countries. And those doctors really are wonderful.
But just before we pass on let’s doff the cap to two real heroes who did the grunt work.
The official story, as manufactured by Che Guevera and boosted by our celebrity-is-all culture, is that Castro's 200 guerillas single-handedly defeated tens of thousands of Batista's professional soldiers and liberated the people of Cuba.
The reality is that FRANK PAIS, a young school teacher, and JUAN ANTONIO ECHEVERRIA, an architecture student, did the ground-level work of organizing city-based insurgencies in Santiago and Havana which built popular support for resistance and undermining the authority of Batista and his secret police. At the time, though not in our media, both Pais and Echeverria rivaled Castro in popularity and power. Neither lived to see the movement succeed.
About Che Guevera the less said the better. “Seremos como el che!” Cuban children are drilled to chant. I sure hope not. And oh those iconic posters on every Sixties college dorm wall! With the help of Russia’s KGB he masterminded creation of the Cuban secret police that executed and imprisoned thousands of disagreeables, gays, former comrades and anyone else the “idealistic” (delusionary) Che disliked.
The Cuban revolution had to happen. The Cuban people are in trouble again with Madman Trump’s ascendancy. (If Donald wasn’t in the White House he and Fidel might get along famously; two “charismatic” personalities with loose mouths and a distaste for dissent.)
I’m sorry if this offends some of my friends. But in all the hoorah let’s not forget Frank Pais and Juan Antonio Echeverria.
Talking obsessively about Fidel (r.i.p.) as the “maximum leader” and inspiration of the 1959 uprising against the corrupt USA-backed Batista regime is like citing only George Washington in our 1776 American revolution without Ben Franklin, Jefferson, Tom Paine etc.
It’s amazing how few of Castro’s obit-tributes mention his role in the horrific 1962 Cuba Missiles Crisis where, until he was pulled back by Khruschev, he seemed totally OK with shooting ICBMs on our eastern seaboard to protect “his” revolution.
Yes, I know about the literacy rates and the wonderful export of Cuban doctors to diseased countries. And those doctors really are wonderful.
But just before we pass on let’s doff the cap to two real heroes who did the grunt work.
The official story, as manufactured by Che Guevera and boosted by our celebrity-is-all culture, is that Castro's 200 guerillas single-handedly defeated tens of thousands of Batista's professional soldiers and liberated the people of Cuba.
The reality is that FRANK PAIS, a young school teacher, and JUAN ANTONIO ECHEVERRIA, an architecture student, did the ground-level work of organizing city-based insurgencies in Santiago and Havana which built popular support for resistance and undermining the authority of Batista and his secret police. At the time, though not in our media, both Pais and Echeverria rivaled Castro in popularity and power. Neither lived to see the movement succeed.
About Che Guevera the less said the better. “Seremos como el che!” Cuban children are drilled to chant. I sure hope not. And oh those iconic posters on every Sixties college dorm wall! With the help of Russia’s KGB he masterminded creation of the Cuban secret police that executed and imprisoned thousands of disagreeables, gays, former comrades and anyone else the “idealistic” (delusionary) Che disliked.
The Cuban revolution had to happen. The Cuban people are in trouble again with Madman Trump’s ascendancy. (If Donald wasn’t in the White House he and Fidel might get along famously; two “charismatic” personalities with loose mouths and a distaste for dissent.)
I’m sorry if this offends some of my friends. But in all the hoorah let’s not forget Frank Pais and Juan Antonio Echeverria.
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