The Idler (www.the-idler.com).
Monday, Dec. 24, 2001.
Review of "Beyond Elian Gonzalez: Cubriendo y Descubriendo,
Covering and Discovering" by Carlos Wotzkow and Agustin Blazquez
In the spirit of Jose Marti, the Cuban patriot, Carlos Wotzkow, an exiled
Cuban environmentalist now living in Switzerland, and Agustin Blazquez, a
Cuban-American writer and filmmaker, have collaborated on a truly revolutionary
manifesto entitled "Cubriendo y Descubriendo, Covering and Discovering."
It shows there is much more to Cuba than Elian Gonzalez.
Their collaboration was the suggestion of a third writer, Guillermo Cabrera
Infante. He noticed that the two authors were pursuing parallel intellectual
interests, documenting the vast differences between Cuban reality and its
depiction in the journalism and literature of American and Europe.
He put Wotzkow and Blazquez in touch with one another, encouraging them to
collaborate against an international journalistic and academic trend that
apologizes for Cuban dictatorship.
The result is a powerful and moving document illustrating a shared concern
for their homeland, "composed of articles of the living testimony of Cubans
dissatisfied with the wrongful image that some press agencies disseminate of
reality."
That is, Wotzkow and Blazquez give voice to the voiceless of Cuba, the
marginalized, the disenfranchised the homosexuals, artists, workers,
environmentalists and human rights activists abandoned by mainstream American
and European media that place loyalty to Fidelismo above their supposed liberal
ideals. They are willing to stereotype and discriminate against Cuban-Americans
in a way that is contrary to every principle of enlightened discourse.
Those who thought Elian Gonzalez would have a better life in Cuba than in
Miami are advised to read each chapter closely. As the book alternates between
Spanish and English, replicating the dualism of the Cuban-American experience,
the ying-yang double existence in an Anglo or European present with a Cuban
heritage, "Cubriendo y Descubriendo" casts a spell. It is a truly
bilingual as well as bicultural experience, one that defies all preconceptions.
Contrary to popular belief, as well as media coverage of the Elian Gonzalez
affair an event that may have cost Al Gore the election when the
Democratic Party abandoned the Cuban-American vote in Florida opposition
to Fidel Castro is not a conservative point of view.
As Wotzkow, an environmentalist, and Blazquez, an artist and filmmaker,
reveal, opposition to Fidel Castro's undemocratic dictatorship is a principled
liberal position.
Wotzkow and Blazquez share the sentiments expressed in their "Forewarning":
We will never accept censorship nor any form of despotism. It is long
overdue to end those ideas enthroned by force and to stop the popularity of so
much reproachable foreign policy. As Jose Marti said: "The motherland is
not the toy of a few obstinate ones, but a divine thing."
Like the "Black Book of Communism," the French compendium that
made it impossible for European intellectuals to ignore the mass murders
committed in the name of the failed dictatorship of the proletariat in countries
around the globe including Cuba "Cubriendo y Descubriendo"
documents in detail the complete failure of communism in Cuba.
After reading "Cubriendo y Descubriendo," it would be impossible
for any honest person to defend Fidel Castro. That is why it is a must-read
book.
In a way, "Cubriendo y Descubriendo" makes the perfect Christmas
gift for liberal friends and acquaintances. It is bilingual, bicultural, and
profoundly dedicated to traditional liberal principles.
The book is a collection of essays that have appeared in newspapers,
magazines, journals and websites around the world (including this publication).
But it is not until one sees them collected in a single volume that the
intensity of the indictment becomes apparent. Half the essays are in Spanish,
and half are in English. The back-and-forth experience parallels the two worlds
that exiled Cubans inhabit. It makes the book all the more powerful.
Among more shocking chapters, to those who might otherwise be sympathetic to
Fidel Castro's professed aspirations, are Carlos Wotzkow's Spanish-language
essays on Castro's persecution of homosexuals, support of bioterrorism,
trafficking in narcotics, exploitation of the peasantry by Cuban Big Tobacco,
and destruction of the environment.
Imagine, for example, if George Bush spent his time being photographed
smoking Marlboros in order to promote the sale of cigarettes. Now imagine Big
Tobacco forcing backwoods Appalachians to work for pennies a day, sometimes
against their will, harvesting, curing and preparing the tobacco for cigarettes.
Imagine if the government were burning down virgin forests, and confiscating
tens of thousands of acres, to plant tobacco for export around the world, using
government power to enrich the tobacco industry.
According to Wotzkow, that is precisely what Fidel Castro does
sacrificing the Cuban environment to the interests of Tabacalera, S.A., the
Spanish tobacco monopoly. Castro, in other words, is in bed with Big Tobacco, to
the detriment of the Cuban people.
Yet nary a peep of protest is heard against Fidel Castro worldwide
pusher of tar and nicotine, photographed countless times puffing fat
carcinogenic stogies packing 10 times the punch of a puny filtered Marlboro
from either European or American anti-smoking "activists."
Do you oppose Big Tobacco? Then you must oppose Castro. That is one clear
lesson from this book.
But as "Cubriendo y Descubriendo" makes clear, for any true
liberal, for any actual human rights supporter, almost all of Castro's actual
policies as opposed to his revolutionary rhetoric are anathema.
Agustin Blazquez's English-language chapters make this crystal clear.
Do you oppose censorship? Then you must oppose Castro.
Do you oppose the persecution of homosexuals? Then you must oppose Castro.
Do you oppose the exploitation of workers by big business? Then you must
oppose Castro.
Do you value artistic freedom? Then you must oppose Castro.
Do you oppose an economic system where there is a class of "haves"
and another of "have-nots"? Then you must oppose Castro.
Do you oppose the destruction of the environment? Then you must oppose
Castro.
Do you oppose multinational corporations exploiting the population of Third
World countries for their own benefit? Then you must oppose Castro.
Are you against secret police? Then you must oppose Castro.
Do you oppose racial discrimination? Then you must oppose Castro.
Do you oppose militarism? Then you must oppose Castro.
That so many American and European intellectuals are apparently willing to
sacrifice all their principles when it comes to Cuba is an outrage that Wotzkow
and Blazquez confront directly with cold facts instead of heated
rhetoric. They write:
When we expose a lie, we set aside our passion, instead expressing our
opinion based on a moral evaluation, intending to demonstrate how, by
contradicting the almighty press, we can change the comprehension of our
destiny.
"Cubriendo y Descubriendo" has appeared in time for Christmas, and
will no doubt be a gift given widely among Cuban-American families this holiday
season, especially for parents eager to explain to their children the
predicament facing a community best known for the Elian Gonzalez controversy.
But it would be a shame if only Cuban-Americans were to benefit from this
book. For those who most need to read it are the publishers, editors, producers
and reporters in the European and American media, as well as professors and
students at colleges and universities around the world.
After reading "Cubriendo y Descubriendo" it seems obvious that the
only "crazy Cubans" are those who enthusiastically support Fidel
Castro's megalomaniacal police state, and the only "Cuban Mafia"
consists of the narcotics-trafficking jefe and his entourage.
"Cubriendo y Descubriendo" should be required reading for any
correspondent covering Cuba, for any classroom discussion dealing with Cuba
and, of course, for any American or European who is thinking about a vacation on
the white sandy beaches of the "pearl of the Antilles."
For an autographed copy signed by the author, send check or money order
for US$12.50 plus US$3.95 for shipping & handling in the U.S. (or US$5.95
for international mailing) to: Agustin Blazquez, 4020 Rickover Road, Silver
Spring, MD 20902. Make checks payable to: AGUSTIN BLAZQUEZ.
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