March 15, 2007
Castro and Garcia Marquez
I found this story a bit heartwarming. Now, I certainly admit that Castro is a bastard. But when it comes down to it, I still like the guy, mostly for two reasons: One is that anyone who is an enemy of the Kennedy's is a friend of mine. Two is that I admired his earlier AIDS and homosexual policies. It all makes me nostalgic for a day when the left was red and not pink. I also admire the fact that Castro has outlasted the Soviet Union, in the face of the absurd embargo. Finally, Castro's bastardly side has resulted in the enrichment of American culture tremendously. In Sacramento there are two families of Cuban American cigar rollers who make superb cigars.
Will Cuba be better off without him? Probably, although when I am in a pessimistic mood I doubt that the difference would really be all that much. Would Cuba have been better off without Castro? Again, probably, but here I am less certain.
But what really makes me smile in this story is not the fact that Castro is doing better, although I certainly wish him the best, but the loyalty of Gabriel Garcia Marquez to his friend. I have friends on the Left, and they know that in the Keilholtz Dictatorship they might end up in a reeducation center, but they know that Beloved Leader will still visit on their birthdays.
Of course watching the end of the Castro era is also sad, because it shows how Saddam should have ended his days. Here is a case where no one can deny that Iraq was better off with Saddam than without, even though Saddam was a first class turd. Saddam should have grown old in office, eventually going into the hospital and leaving the propoganda ministry to earn their keep.
Posted by erik at March 15, 2007 8:57 AMMark,
First, Samoza is better than Bautista, because he has a tasty pastry named after him. Or he was named after a tasty pastry. I forgot.
Second, What little faith I have in Democracy was stretched when the people of Nicaragua voted for Danny Ortega. They have learned nothing and might as well have Samoza back.
Posted by: Erik Keilholtz at March 25, 2007 8:22 AMCubans are healthier, better educated, better fed. They get to complain all they want, but not loudly.
Of course, if they want to leave, they have to take their chances on a raft through shark-infested waters. East Berliners used to benefit from a similarly enlightened system.
And the "neo-con democracies" of Central America, one gathers, are inferior to their own "realist" junta predecessors. But if Somoza was so great, what was wrong with Batista?
Posted by: MCNS at March 24, 2007 1:31 PMAnd will you concede the same for Franco?
Anyway, I mostly agree with you on Castro, after all I have been to Central America (not that Danny Ortega was so great for Nicaragua, though), and saw first hand what a paradise El Salvador was (gack!). However, he fails on his treatment of the Church, which is too bad. He warmed up when John Paul II of happy memory visited, but it was only one very late little step.
Of course you can always have fun with neocons when you point out that China is far worse than Castro's Cuba, and they get most favored nation status, while Cuba gets a continued and very silly embargo.
As to reading Garcia Marquez in Spanish, forget it. I made it through Don Quijote finally, and that was great, but Cien Anos de Solidad is just too hard. Someday, perhaps.
However, my next daunting foreign language challenge will not be quite that daunting (nor will it be Berlinalexanderplatzt, even though that is on the list, eventually, too). I have yet to read Calvino's If on a Winter's Day in the original Italian, and I really should. Marcel Proust in French is also on the list...someday.
Of course the sad thing is that only modern languages are on the list right now. I have no Greek (for shame), and my Latin is too rusty (two years many years ago does not get you through Virgil very well).
Posted by: Erik Keilholtz at March 17, 2007 12:43 AMCastro, whether evaluated from the left or the right, passes muster because he has watched out for the welfare of the Cuban people.
All one has to do is tour the Central American "democracies" which have been run by neo-con, liberal elites to see how superior the Cuban model is. Cubans are healthier, better educated, better fed. They get to complain all they want, but not loudly.
And what's not to like about Garcia Marquez, except that he's really hard to read in Spanish. Your University of Chicago Spanish English Dictionary will do you no good when confronted with all of those quaint, archaic, Columbian colloquialisms.