By Paquito D'rivera. Published Sunday, April 1, 2001.
Miami Herald
WEEHAWKEN, N.J. -- Throughout my long artistic career I have received, and
witnessed the presentation of, a vast number of diverse trophies, medals and
diplomas -- a practice as common in my medium as in almost all other fields of
human endeavor.
The manifestations of public recognition for mere performance of one's
duties or for personal satisfaction tend to multiply nowadays. Although I'm
sincerely grateful every time I'm the object of such a distinction, the frequent
bypassing of many who are worthy of praise and the exaggerated tribute to others
of questionable merit lead me to view the growing award-giving industry with
mistrust and skepticism.
It's plain to see that the prestigious Nobel Prize is no exception.
"They should have given it to [Jorge Luis] Borges,'' said Gabriel García
Márquez when he received his -- and I agree. But to go from that ideal to
Norwegian parliamentarian Hallgeir Langeland nominating Fidel Castro for a Nobel
seems to me as absurd as entering King Kong in the Miss Universe contest.
I wonder if Langeland doesn't think that the image of an anachronistic
military goon surrounded by 100 scowling bodyguards, wrapped in a suspicious and
inexplicable olive-green coat in the midst of a Caribbean August, a pistol at
his side, accepting no less than the Nobel Peace Prize is the closest thing to a
tasteless joke that anyone could imagine.
It saddens me that such a lamentable decision came out of Norway, a country
I love and admire, and Scandinavia, whose effective system of social welfare and
ancient tradition of respect for human rights is so contrary to the arbitrary,
dictatorial methods applied by Langeland's candidate during more than four
decades of tyranny -- one of the longest in world history.
Cuba is a small country, in fact, impoverished by the same system that
smashed the economies of so many Eastern European countries. Cuba has managed to
export not only physicians and engineers, but also military advisors, drug
traffickers, subversive elements, occupation troops, prostitutes, spies, war
weapons, smugglers, saboteurs, experts in mass repression, gunmen, professional
torturers and other specialists in the manipulation of the personal freedoms
that Langeland and other Scandinavians find so valuable. Add to that the almost
two million Cuban exiles strewn in all directions, not to mention those who
daily drown or are shot dead while trying to flee their own homeland.
For all these reasons and many more, I doubt that Langeland or any of those
who second him in this irrational nomination would be capable of living three
months in that Castro paradise that Langeland defends so warmly from a prudent
distance. Yet I can't say that I'm surprised by his strange and -- by his own
admission -- controversial proposal. This irresponsible lack of compassion is
nothing new, and Langeland's political myopia is not even an exotic disease; he
has illustrious company.
Let's remember that Time magazine in 1938 selected none other than Adolf
Hitler as its "Man of the Year.'' Moreover, with the passing of time, which
wipes slates clean, Her Majesty the Queen of England decorated Mme. Elena
Ceaucescu for her contributions to the well-being of the world's children. That
happened only a few months before the first lady and her blood-thirsty husband
Nicolae were summarily executed by the Romanian people on Bucharest's pauperized
streets.
"The alleged crimes of comrade Stalin are only lies created by
imperialist propaganda,'' Paul Robeson once said from his plush mansion in
Enfield, Conn. Imagine how those words, as spoken by the famous and misinformed
singer, must have fallen on the ears of the relatives of the millions of victims
of the irascible Georgian dictator.
It is curious and frustrating to see how men of stature make themselves
fools when they ignore the pain of other human groups, at times allying
themselves to the torturers. Such was the case of Nelson Mandela, who visited
China in 1990 to receive an honorary doctoral degree from Beijing University.
"I wish to express my admiration for this great country, whose society
has been a real inspiration to democracy, freedom of the press and the free
expression of mankind,'' said the former South African prisoner in his
acceptance speech at the Chinese institution, leaving his stunned listeners in
an embarrassed silence.
Many of them had witnessed the horrible massacre of 1989 on Tiananmen
Square, by personal order of Deng Xiaoping, when thousands of university
students were shot dead in a single day during a peaceful demonstration that
called for freedom and democracy.
Incredibly, shortly thereafter, then-President George Bush declared China a "most-favored
nation.'' Perhaps Li Hongzhi, founder of the persecuted Falun Gong movement, can
describe to Langeland in detail that tragic incident, which Castro, of course,
took pains not to condemn.
I would also very much like to ask former President Jimmy Carter, another
worthy candidate to this year's Nobel Peace Prize, how he feels about sharing
his nomination with a sly and deceitful old man who, in response to his
good-will gestures in 1980, flooded the coast of Florida with a number of raving
lunatics, spies and common criminals.
Believe me, the only link between Alfred Nobel and Fidel Castro is the
former's explosive invention and the latter's use and abuse of dynamite;
training in our native land as many international terrorists as he can, sowing
hatred, death, pain and mourning throughout the planet.
If that deserves a prize, you might just as well nominate Cheta the Chimp
for the Nobel Prize for Literature next year, don't you think?
Paquito D'Rivera is a jazz musician and recipient of many honors,
including Best Latin Jazz Performance Grammy for his album Portraits of Cuba in
1997.
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