http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/1207/1207fontova.htm
By Bernard Chapin
web posted December 10, 2007
Few folks really do live through hell and live to tell the tale, but
Humberto Fontova is one of them. At age 7 Humberto fled Cuba with his
mother, brother, and sister, but his father was not so lucky. He was
sent to La Cabana, a place of executions, from which he eventually
was released (2,100 other souls were not so fortunate). Perhaps as a
result of his personal experiences, Humberto's reflections on Cuba
are powerful and astute. They instinctively appeal to political conservatives.
Over the course of his career he has authored four books: The
Helldivers' Rodeo, The Hellpig Hunt, Fidel: Hollywood's Favorite
Tyrant and Exposing the Real Che Guevara and the Useful Idiots who
Idolize Him. After walking past a classroom decorated with the face
of Che the other day, I decided to contact Humberto to ask him about
America's queer fascination with this blood-drenched totalitarian.
BC: Humberto, nice to meet you. As the author of Exposing the Real
Che Guevara: And the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him I have to ask, in
the course of your research, did you come away with any notion as to
why the deceased rebel remains an appealing and admired figure today?
Why do so many young persons adore him given the executions he
presided over? Do you think they're even aware of his record?
Humberto Fontova: I'm guessing 70 to 80 percent of Che-T-shirt
wearers have a very vague idea of who he is. "Hey..? Ain't that guy
on your shirt the drummer for the Smashing Pumpkins?...."
"No. Dude. It's Bob Marley." We live in a nation where the phrase
"that's history" is a pejorative. Most young people have no idea of
their own country's history. How should we expect them to know Cuba's?
BC: Dr. Dalyrmple has a new book out, In Praise of Prejudice. In it
he notes: "If it hadn't been for the photograph taken by the Cuban
photographer Albert Korda, Ernesto Guevara would have been recognized
by now as the arrogant, adolescent, power-hungry egotist that he
undoubtedly was." How much is Che's reputation a result of successful
[and lucky] marketing? Had his snapshot been taken while he ate lunch
would he be deemed just another communist apparatchik?
Humberto Fontova: In an article dated February 2004 I wrote: "Che
Guevara was monumentally vain and epically stupid. He was shallow,
boorish, cruel and cowardly. He was full of himself, a consummate
fraud and an intellectual vacuum. He was intoxicated with a few vapid
slogans, spoke in clichés and was a glutton for publicity. But ah! He
did come out nice in a publicity photo, high cheekbones and all. And
we wonder why he's a hit in Hollywood."
Sounds like maybe Dalrymple read it? That picture, by the way, was
taken in March 1960 and scheduled to appear in the Cuban media the
day after it was taken. But Castro spiked it. Only after Che was
safely "sleeping with the fishes" did he dust it off, call his
western media minions to heel with a sharp whistle and present it to them.
BC: You are also the author of Fidel: Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant.
For those unfamiliar with your thesis, why does this mass murderer so
enthrall the glitterati?
Humberto Fontova: The whole thing starts with the cachet, the
coolness surrounding the Cuban revolution. At the time, the United
States was the biggest fuddy-duddy, Leave-it-to-Beaver country in the
world. Then, all of a sudden, you had these long-haired
revolutionaries down in Cuba - they were the first hippies, the first
beatniks. Look at Che Guevara in those years. Take off the beard and
you've got Jim Morrison. Raul Castro used to carry his
shoulder-length blond hair in a ponytail. Camilo Cienfuegos looked
like another Jerry Garcia. There was that coolness cachet, plus all
the misconceptions about what Cuba was like prior to these guys.
BC: What do you believe the future holds for Cuba? Is a
counter-revolution likely once Fidel and Raul pass away?
Humberto Fontova: No counter-revolution. Nobody has guns. I see
post-Soviet Eastern Europe type changes--but speeded up and made more
dramatic and durable by Cuban exiles just 90 miles away willing to
lend a hand with their entrepreneurial zeal, expertise and capital.
BC: Looking back on the last 45 years, are you somewhat astounded
that the American government has done so little in regards to
overthrowing Castro? What would you say to your fellow citizens who
regard Cuban politics as something we should not be involved in?
Humberto Fontova: Easy to say "hands off" now. But it was U.S. policy
in the way of State Department and even CIA interference which put
Castro in power in the first place. In 2001 while visiting Havana for
a conference with Fidel Castro, the CIA's "Caribbean Desk's
"specialist on the Cuban Revolution" from 1957–1960, Robert Reynolds
boasted that: "Me and my staff were all Fidelistas."
"Everyone in the CIA and everyone at State were pro-Castro, except
ambassador Earl Smith." This statement is from former CIA operative
in Santiago Cuba, Robert Weicha.
"We put Castro in power," that's according to Earl Smith U.S.
Ambassador to Cuba 1957-59.
BC: Is it fair to say that Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is being
positioned to take the place of Mr. Castro in the hearts and
emotion-addled brains of the American celebrity?
Humberto Fontova: Hugo will never pull it off. He just doesn't have
the shrewdness or cachet (or looks) of Castro (much less of Che) All
Hugo's got is petro-dollars-- and that helps, but it won't carry the
"cool Revolutionary" cachet by itself.
BC: Why do you think anti-American dictators so reflexively enthrall
the political left?
Humberto Fontova: Battered-wife-syndrome comes to mind.
BC: Thanks for your time, Humberto.
---
Bernard Chapin is the author of Women: Theory and Practice and Escape
from Gangsta Island. He can be contacted at veritaseducation@gmail.com.
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