Some History: How Castro Took Cuba

[Bonnie]

An uncanny eyewitness.

By Myrna Blyth

Want to know exactly how Castro took Cuba? I know the story. It’s one I’ve known for years, because my husband, Jeffrey Blyth, was with him.

At the time he was the chief American correspondent for the London Daily Mail. He was in Havana on that New Year’s Eve in 1959, and when he returned to his hotel early New Year’s morning (it was years before we were married), the desk man said to him, “Have you heard? Isn’t it amazing? Batista’s fled.” The phone in his room was ringing as he opened the door. It was his news desk in London, and he was able to say, as soon as he answered, “Have you heard? Isn’t it amazing? Batista’s fled.”

He remembers that for days there was chaos in Havana. Mobs looted the casinos and smashed open the parking meters. No one was in control.

And where was Castro? That was the big question, of course. He was last heard of fighting in the mountains. However, a tipster told a colleague of my husband’s, a radio broadcaster named Buck Canel, that Castro was holed up in a small town not far from Havana called Matanzas. Canel also worked for Agence France-Presse, but he was famous throughout Latin America for his broadcasts in Spanish of American baseball games for Gillette.

They agreed they should try to find Castro. In a battered taxi, they drove the 70-odd miles to the town. In the old colonial square a large crowd had gathered. Canel asked, “Is Fidel here?” The crowd, recognizing his well-known radio voice, pointed to the local town hall and parted so they could make their way through. They climbed the stairs to the mayor’s office, with people around them whispering “It’s Buck Canel!”

There in the town hall was Castro in his military fatigues, his feet on the desk, talking into a telephone. When he heard the name “Buck Canel” he leaped to his feet and embraced my husband’s colleague.

Then in Spanish they talked. And talked. And talked. My husband kept tugging at Canel’s sleeve, asking, “What’s he saying?” Canel shushed him and said, “I’ll tell you in a minute” and kept on. When they finally stopped Canel explained that Castro, who had once dreamed of being a baseball player, was asking about an umpire’s call in the last game of the World Series.

Then he got down to business. “What’s happening in Havana?” Castro asked. Canel began to explain: Different groups had taken over different parts of the city. Castro wanted to know specifics. “Who’s in control of the police? The airport? The university?” he asked. And finally, “Who is running the radio and television station?”

Canel didn’t have all the answers, but knew definitely that Castro’s supporters were in charge at the radio and television station. He had been there earlier that day to make a broadcast.

“Are you sure?” asked Castro.

“Absolutely sure.” Canel replied.

“Let’s go then,” said Castro.

He and his bodyguards left the building and climbed into a battered old American jeep. My husband and Canel got back into their taxi and followed behind as they headed towards Havana. Nearing the city, the crowds got bigger and bigger as they realized Castro was on his way. Outside the broadcasting building, Castro leaped out of the jeep and went inside. He went straight to a studio, told the technicians to switch on the transmitter, and Castro started talking into the camera. He talked and talked and talked — for seven hours non-stop.

And that, my husband always says, is how Castro took Cuba.

A little footnote to history, I know; but it does illustrate in a bizarre way the power of media. Canel’s fame as a broadcaster made Castro admire and trust him, and Castro’s skill — and endurance — in front of a camera helped him take the country in just a few hours.

http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=YTE0ZTFlODU5ZWZmN2JiMTNhMTQ2NmRkN2FkNWZkN2Y=

 

[red states rule]

http://newsbusters.org/node/6710

Decades of Media Cheering "Great Success" of Castro's Revolution
Posted by Rich Noyes on August 2, 2006 - 12:24.
As news organizations update their obituaries of ailing Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, it’s worth recalling how many liberal journalists have fallen under Castro’s spell over the years, sounding like paid Cuban government propagandists as they touted the “great success stories” of Castro’s decades of communist rule. A new report from the Media Research Center offers some of the most egregious pro-Castro quotes of the last couple of decades.

For example, back in 1988, then-NBC reporter Maria Shriver let Castro himself lead her on a tour of Havana. “The level of public services was remarkable: free education, medicine and heavily-subsidized housing,” Shriver marveled on Today. The following year, ABC’s Peter Jennings trumpeted how “health and education are the revolution’s great success stories.”

In 2000, during the custody battle over Elian Gonzalez, Newsweek’s Eleanor Clift even claimed on The McLaughlin Group: “To be a poor child in Cuba may in many instances be better than being a poor child in Miami.”

For more quotes, plus a couple of audio and video clips, go to www.mrc.org.

 

[Bonnie]

http://newsbusters.org/node/6710

Decades of Media Cheering "Great Success" of Castro's Revolution
Posted by Rich Noyes on August 2, 2006 - 12:24.
As news organizations update their obituaries of ailing Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, it’s worth recalling how many liberal journalists have fallen under Castro’s spell over the years, sounding like paid Cuban government propagandists as they touted the “great success stories” of Castro’s decades of communist rule. A new report from the Media Research Center offers some of the most egregious pro-Castro quotes of the last couple of decades.

For example, back in 1988, then-NBC reporter Maria Shriver let Castro himself lead her on a tour of Havana. “The level of public services was remarkable: free education, medicine and heavily-subsidized housing,” Shriver marveled on Today. The following year, ABC’s Peter Jennings trumpeted how “health and education are the revolution’s great success stories.”

In 2000, during the custody battle over Elian Gonzalez, Newsweek’s Eleanor Clift even claimed on The McLaughlin Group: “To be a poor child in Cuba may in many instances be better than being a poor child in Miami.”

For more quotes, plus a couple of audio and video clips, go to www.mrc.org.

I'd love to see Mrs Shriver and Mrs Elanor Rodham Clift live under communism..It's just so much harder to get good facials and Limo service.

 

[BaronVonBigmeat]

Ahh, I found it. I couldn't find this link when I did my "Hollywood's Favorite Tyrants" thread, but this is the interview I had in mind.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/woods/woods47.html

Just bookmark this baby, and insert into any thread with commie-lib Castro apologists. It's like bringing a gun to a knife fight.

 

[ErikViking]

http://newsbusters.org/node/6710

Decades of Media Cheering "Great Success" of Castro's Revolution
Posted by Rich Noyes on August 2, 2006 - 12:24.
As news organizations update their obituaries of ailing Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, it’s worth recalling how many liberal journalists have fallen under Castro’s spell over the years, sounding like paid Cuban government propagandists as they touted the “great success stories” of Castro’s decades of communist rule. A new report from the Media Research Center offers some of the most egregious pro-Castro quotes of the last couple of decades.

For example, back in 1988, then-NBC reporter Maria Shriver let Castro himself lead her on a tour of Havana. “The level of public services was remarkable: free education, medicine and heavily-subsidized housing,” Shriver marveled on Today. The following year, ABC’s Peter Jennings trumpeted how “health and education are the revolution’s great success stories.”

In 2000, during the custody battle over Elian Gonzalez, Newsweek’s Eleanor Clift even claimed on The McLaughlin Group: “To be a poor child in Cuba may in many instances be better than being a poor child in Miami.”

For more quotes, plus a couple of audio and video clips, go to www.mrc.org.

That is repulsive. I have freinds that actually believe that Cuba has become sort of a paradise island. That somehow it all turned out good. The fact is that people suffer on Cuba. There is no "free this" or "cheap that". Old people die from mistreatment there and the whole healthcare system is as ruined as the energy supply. I'm not going to produce a link to that if it isn't requested.

I don't blame media however. Media is enterprise and enterprises are sustained by people buying.

 

[red states rule]

That is repulsive. I have freinds that actually believe that Cuba has become sort of a paradise island. That somehow it all turned out good. The fact is that people suffer on Cuba. There is no "free this" or "cheap that". Old people die from mistreatment there and the whole healthcare system is as ruined as the energy supply. I'm not going to produce a link to that if it isn't requested.

I don't blame media however. Media is enterprise and enterprises are sustained by people buying.

This one is a gem.........

http://newsbusters.org/node/6769
Associated Press: 'Some Cubans Enjoy Comforts of Communism'
Posted by Clay Waters on August 5, 2006 - 10:06.
Thanks to the media blog at National Review Online for pointing out an Associated Press story from Friday on how Cubans love Fidel Castro and how they find “genuine comfort in the communist system.”


It comes complete with a “no, it’s-not-a-parody” headline, “Some Cubans Enjoy Comforts of Communism.”


Google News confirms that the AP reporter is Vanessa Arrington, a veteran of the Havana bureau. Her story simply must be read to be believed, but here are some choice excerpts:


“Park cleaner Froilan Mezquia sleeps in the shed where he stores his supplies and hasn't had a real meal in three days. The 62-year-old also received years of free medical treatment for throat cancer.

“In Cuba's communist society, where every day is a struggle but survival is practically guaranteed, Mezquia's story helps explain why people didn't flood the streets clamoring for change when Fidel Castro stepped down for surgery this week.

“The reasons Cubans took the events in such stride are complex. Castro supporters say it's because of Cubans' deep belief in socialist ideals; detractors say it's all about fear. Conviction and dread aside, many Cubans find genuine comfort in the communist system, and reject U.S.-style democracy and values."

[…]

“Mezquia's former wife and four children live in Mexico, and from what he hears, capitalist countries are filled with cruelty, hardship -- and certainly no free health care.

“‘They pay you more, but you must spend so much more just to live,' he said.

“Cubans who have left the island come back to visit relatives laden with gifts and goods, symbols of the material wealth to be found beyond Cuba's borders. But they also speak of people working multiple jobs just to get by and of people who don't know their neighbors -- foreign concepts in Cuba."

This after just talking to someone who sleeps in his workshed and hasn't had a real meal in three days.

“When outsiders think of Cuba, it's often the lack of political freedoms and economic power that comes to mind. Cubans who have chosen to stay on the island, however, are quick to point out the positives: safe streets, a rich and accessible cultural life, a leisurely lifestyle to enjoy with family and friends.”

“There are, of course, hundreds of dissidents and political prisoners on the island of 11 million who abhor the system and feel a desperate need for rapid change. But most Cubans would not list political repression among their most immediate concerns.

“For all its flaws, life in Castro's Cuba has its comforts, and unknown alternatives are not automatically more attractive. The idea of Cuba without ‘El Comandante,’ who has been in power for nearly five decades, provokes alarm and uncertainty -- and a tremendous fear they could lose their way of life.”

Arrington throws in a line you may remember your Marxist professor spouting in Political Theory 201: “Many foreigners consider it propaganda when Castro's government enumerates its accomplishments, but many Cubans take pride in their free education system, high literacy rates and top-notch doctors. Ardent Castro supporters say life in the United States, in contrast, seems selfish, superficial, and -- despite its riches -- ultimately unsatisfying.

“‘Socialism is superior to capitalism. It's much more humane,'’ said retiree Luis Poey, 66, whose last job was delivering food to workers in Old Havana.

“These Cubans even defend their system as a democracy in which the National Assembly and provincial and city leaders are directly elected. Assembly members then elect one of their own to be president of the country -- Castro, a representative from the eastern city of Santiago, has repeatedly won out.

“Castro's critics say the notion that Cuba is democratic is a farce -- that tight state control, a heavy police presence and neighborhood-watch groups reporting on ''anti-revolutionary'' conduct prevent any real political freedom.

“Some Cubans retort that a system allowing President Bush to ‘steal' elections and wage wars without the people's support is certainly more flawed than their own.”

Well, give Arrington some credit -- she does put “steal” in quotation marks. Too bad she apparently didn’t even try to get in some dissident viewpoints -- it’s not as if your average man in Havana is going to tell you what they really think of El Jefe, dead or alive.

Nathan Goulding at NRO pointed to a State Department memo on Cuba. Some of the gruesome findings:

denial of citizens' rights to change their government

beatings and abuse of detainees and prisoners, including human rights activists, carried out with impunity

transfers of mentally healthy prisoners to psychiatric facilities for political reasons

frequent harassment of political opponents by government-recruited mobs

extremely harsh and life-threatening prison conditions, including denial of medical care

arbitrary arrest and detention of human rights advocates and members of independent professional organizations

denial of fair trial, particularly to political prisoners

interference with privacy, including pervasive monitoring of private communications

severe limitations on freedom of speech and press

denial of peaceful assembly and association

The State Department has 20 pages of detail on these allegations, any random paragraph of which would make a sad mockery of Arrington’s story.



That’s not all. Arrington’s story from yesterday, “A life of close calls for Cuban leader,” makes “the leader of Cuba’s revolution” out to be some dauntless, death-dodging hero of the people (though whether death has caught up to him at last has become more and more an open question).

“When Fidel Castro was 10, he nearly died of appendicitis. Since then, he has survived military assaults and even poisoned cigars and milkshakes. Now, two weeks shy of his 80th birthday, surgery has sidelined the leader of Cuba's revolution.


“After a life filled with near-death experiences, the intestinal bleeding that forced Castro to hand over power and undergo surgery may be one of the closest calls yet for the true survivor.


“The current crisis follows a lifetime of close shaves.”

Clay Waters monitors the liberal bias of the New York Times at TimesWatch.

 

[Annie]

I was in 3rd grade in 1964 in a Catholic school, several of my classmates were children of Cuban refugees. The Catholic Church was housing and sponsoring them.

The nuns that were teaching, at least the one I had, thought Castro was a savior. I had to do a research report on Castro and Cuba. I remember hitting on the imperialism of the United States and how Cuba had managed to become independent, unlike Puerto Rico. How Castro wanted his people to have education and hospital access. I remember how he wanted to become a priest.

Never did the nun tell us about the Bay of Pigs or why our classmates' families had fled Cuba.

Weird. Speaks a bit about the natural affinity of communism and Catholicism. BTW, when a Catholic bashes the Church, no foul. For others to do so, without couching it with the 'nicities' is not so good.