|
Dan Rather, CNN and Castro
By Sherrie Gossett. Posted
by Senior Editor. The
Conservative Voice, April 19, 2005.
When it comes to being politically incorrect,
Humberto Fontova is downright proud of his
incorrigibility. A supremely confident Cuban-Cajun,
known for diving off oil rigs in the Gulf
to spearfish in murky waters past 200 feet
(the subject of his previous book "The
Helldivers' Rodeo"), Fontova has just
launched another literary salvo into the
orderly PC tent, one that is sure to send
some media bigwigs scrambling to cover their
reputation.
In his new book "Fidel: Hollywood's
Favorite Tyrant," Fontova describes
what he calls a staged interview Dan Rather
held with Juan Miguel, father of Elian Gonzalez,
the youthful lone survivor of a capsized
Cuban boat which sank on its way to the
U.S. The custody battle over Elian captured
the world's attention during the spring
of 2000, and culminated in a dramatic, pre-dawn
raid by machine-gun-toting federal agents
to snatch the 6-year-old from his Miami
relatives during Easter weekend and send
him back to Castro's tyranny.
Fontova says Dan Rather's 60 Minutes interview
with the father was directed by former Clinton
lawyer and friend, Gregory Craig. As reported
by Human Events, citing a Cuban-American
translator from the U.S. Treasury Department
who said: "The questions for Juan Miguel
were actually fed to Dan Rather by Gregory
Craig. After a taping session, Craig would
call Dan over, give him some more instructions
and exchange papers with him. Then Dan would
come back on the set and ask those."
We have asked Gregory Craig to respond
to these allegations. But he has not yet
responded to a telephone call or email.
This latest revelation just adds to the
scandal surrounding the Elian case, much
of which remains unresolved-especially the
enigmatic statements in the "smoking
gun" memo from the time. That INS memo,
authored by attorney Rebeca Sanchez-Roig,
indicated that the U.S. government had reason
to suspect Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez,
was being coerced, monitored and coached
by Cuban government operatives in his statements.
Fontova also tells a heart-wrenching story
of Cuba's execution of American businessman
Howard Anderson. Anderson owned a chain
of service stations and a Jeep dealership
and was loved by his Cuban neighbors. He
was arrested and tortured by Cuban authorities'
intent on getting him to reveal the names
of Cuban freedom fighters. Anderson faced
trial on April 17, 1961. A Swiss diplomat
who witnessed the trial said "The prosecutor
was a madman, leaping on tables, shrieking,
pointing. He called them rotten fruit and
declared that the only thing they were good
for was to fertilize the land with their
carcasses." Anderson, like other political
prisoners, had the blood drained from his
body before he was shot by a firing squad.
His body was dumped in a mass grave.
Anderson's daughter Bonnie went on to become
a CNN reporter. In 1978 she was sent to
Havana, and at a reception had a ghoulish
exchange with Fidel Castro himself. A smiling
Castro asked her if she remembered him,
and asked how her mother was. Bonnie Anderson
was disgusted not only with Castro, but
with Ted Turner, who "cozied up to
the dictator," Fontova notes. The author
recalls that in 1997 CNN "pledged itself
to respectful reporting of the Castro regime"
and a week later got the first Havana bureau
ever granted to a U.S. network.
Bonnie Anderson no longer works for CNN.
By the time Fontova finishes doing the
media rounds to talk about his new book's
fascinating exploration of the murky depths
of Castro-fawning, he'll have his share
of famous figures skewered, twisting and
begging for release.
Editor's Note: Mr. Gregory Craig responded
to our emailed question with the following
statement: "Fontova's description is
inaccurate. The translator in question was
totally incompetent. He was mistranslating
the Q&A between the two parties to the
interview."
Sherrie Gossett is Associate Editor
of the AIM Report and can be reached at
sherrie.gossett@aim.org
| 
