Redford's love affair
with Castro
Agustin Blazquez with the
collaboration of Jaums Sutton. NewsMax.com,
Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2004.
Some time ago, Hollywood luminary Robert
Redford was asked about the Cuban regime
and he said something to the effect that
he didn't care about Castro's politics.
To the victims, that's like saying that
you don't care about the crimes of Hitler
or Stalin.
After his 1988 visit to Cuba, Redford was
interrogated by U.S. Treasury Department
agents. At that time it was said that he
had gone to Cuba to scuba dive with his
friend Fidel Castro.
In letters from a former Cuban admirer
of Redford dated 1987, 1990 and 1991, I
see the rage progression against Redford
for his friendliness toward Castro and insensitivity
to the suffering of the Cuban people.
Many are baffled and disappointed that
despite his longtime connections with Cuba,
Redford has failed to acknowledge the obvious.
He seems content to take from Cuba and his
relations with Castro only what is beneficial
to his career and personal enjoyment - which
Castro obviously finds beneficial to his
personal goals as well.
Mr. Redford has yet to publicly recognize
his error, apologize for offending Cubans,
denounce or even express dissatisfaction
with any aspect of Castro's criminal regime.
If he ever does, I hope he won't try to
use that tired old "art is separate
from politics," which Castro himself
obliterated long ago with one of his mantras:
"Within the Revolution, everything;
against the Revolution, nothing!"
Redford has traveled to Cuba as Castro's
guest for many years. As a foreigner he
has privileges that have been denied to
ordinary Cuban citizens for decades. He
has stayed in "elite only" Fifth
Avenue in Miramar, in a luxury house next
to the mansion Castro gave to Colombian
writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, an infamous-to-Cubans
collaborator.
For Garcia Marquez's services, Castro lavishes
him with maids and a black Mercedes-Benz
280 similar to the one Castro uses. Garcia
Marquez founded a film school near Havana
where Redford has taught.
As in the regimes of Hitler and Stalin,
all independent artists in Cuba who refuse
to comply with Castro's cultural policies
are imprisoned or confined to psychiatric
wards. Redford, billed as a "key supporter
of independent filmmaking," fails to
see that there is no independent filmmaking
in Cuba except that which protects Castro's
image and policies.
Take the film "Strawberry and Chocolate,"
which Redford distributed and promoted in
the U.S. some years ago. Curiously, its
promotion ads failed to mention that it
was a Cuban film in Spanish. Not so curiously,
the film gives the false impression that
persecution of homosexuals in Cuba has been
reduced.
For years, Redford's films have been shown
in Cuban theaters and on TV (most of the
time raping the artistic creation by cutting
off parts deemed dangerous to Castro's regime).
Though Castro doesn't pay copyright fees,
greedy left-wing Hollywood doesn't complain
about it. Why is it acceptable to Redford
for Castro to cut his films?
Redford and his Sundance Institute have
been an item in the annual Havana film festival
for years. In December 1997, he was the
announced head of the Hollywood delegation,
though he didn't show up. Instead, he sent
Hollywood director John Sayles to represent
his institute and bring his warm regards
to the regime along with the film "Lone
Star."
In the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, Redford,
who is the executive producer, exhibited
Walter Salles' film "The Motorcycle
Diaries." It is based on the personal
diary of another notorious criminal in the
history of Castro's revolution, Ernesto
"Che" Guevara, when he was 23
years old and traveling through South America
by motorcycle.
Lets not overlook the fact that it was
Che in the Sierra Maestra Mountains of Cuba,
years before Castro took over the country
in 1959, who revealed his fascination with
cruelty by asking to be the executioner
who kept the troops in line.
At the onset of the revolution, on Jan.
1, 1959, Castro appointed Che to be in charge
of La Cabana fortress in Havana. There,
execution squads flourished under Che's
command, assassinating en masse those perceived
as enemies of the revolution.
Che ordered that women and children visiting
his prisoners be paraded in front of the
execution wall, which was gruesomely stained
with blood and brain parts. This was well
publicized in Cuba in order to spread fear
throughout the population.
The surviving ex-prisoners of the infamous
La Cabana fortress remember Che as a "mass
murderer." Inexplicably, he is now
a hero and an icon in the eyes of the American
left.
Paradoxically, Castro, a darling of Hollywood
and the American left, wanted to get rid
of Che all along and in 1965 he sent him
to "liberate" Africa, but Che
failed to do so and secretly returned to
Cuba, where he was kept out of the limelight.
To prevent Che from diverting attention
from his own popularity, Castro needed to
get rid of him, though with great care,
but all of his attempts to involve Che in
international wars of "liberation"
and get him killed and converted into a
martyr had failed.
Finally he sent him to Bolivia, where,
denounced by the peasants and Indians in
the region (who never supported his intrusion),
Che and his guerrillas were finally apprehended
by the Bolivian army on Oct. 7, 1967.
As we know, Che was executed and Castro
at last had converted his potential diversion
to the martyr of the revolution that he
was longing for. His amputated hand is proudly
displayed in the Museum of the Revolution
in Havana.
Out of Castro's way, the cruel and inept
Che could now be heralded as a big hero.
Finally, Castro was free to create an international
legend. Che's image flooded Cuba, and posters
began to appear in the domain of the academic
left - colleges and universities in the
U.S. and the free world - in order to attract
the romantics and the uninformed.
As with much communist misinformation,
it worked! We still have fools displaying
posters and wearing Che junk. All highly
offensive to Cubans, but who cares about
Cubans' feelings?
And now Robert Redford, always loyal to
Castro and the false icons of his revolution,
is running to Havana with a copy of his
newly released film about Che, the wonderful
role model, to show it to Che's widow, Aleida
March, so she can "enjoy" his
posthumous tribute to a criminal.
Redford, called a "champion of environmental
causes," closes his eyes when dealing
with Castro, who created the Che Guevara
Brigade, which used military tanks, heavy
chains and explosives to raze entire forests
across Cuba.
Millions of trees and species of animals
dependent upon their shelter have become
extinct due to Castro's whims. Caves have
been transformed into army depots, filled
with arms, explosives and chemical products,
thereby altering their natural ecosystems
to the detriment of their flora and fauna.
Dead livestock, agricultural and industrial
wastes and other dangerous pollutants are
routinely dumped into caves, sinkholes,
rivers and the sea. Havana Harbor is heavily
polluted by oil, as are other beaches nearby
and parts of the "foreigners only"
Varadero beach resort. The constant, pungent
stench of oil and sulfur permeates the entire
area.
Ordinary citizens suffer from all kinds
of respiratory and cancerous diseases as
a result of Castro's environmental disregard.
Castro, his elite, and foreigners like Redford
are kept in exclusive areas far removed
from danger.
Cubans are not denying Redford's artistic
talent. The issue is his moral judgment
in relation to a regime they know profoundly
well.
And when the Castro nightmare is finally
over, Cubans, just as the Jews, will build
their Holocaust Museum for others to see
and to assure that no other Castros will
rise again. In the museum's Hall of Collaborators,
there will be a special place for Robert
Redford.
© ABIP 2004
Agustin Blazquez is
producer/director of the documentaries
COVERING CUBA,
CUBA: The Pearl of the Antilles
COVERING CUBA 2: The Next Generation
COVERING CUBA 3: Elian (presented at the
2003 Miami Latin Film Festival)and the upcoming
COVERING CUBA 4: The Rats Below.
He is also the author
with Carlos Wotzkow of the book COVERING
AND DISCOVERING and translator with Jaums
Sutton of the book by Luis Grave de Peralta
Morell THE MAFIA OF HAVANA: The Cuban Cosa
Nostra.
For a preview and information
on the documentary and books, go to http://mysite.verizon.net/vze3k5sx/abip/
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