Five years ago, the Associated Press was so excited about the imminent 85th birthday of Fidel Castro, Communist Cuba's dictator emeritus, that its Images Group promoted a package of "iconic images and videos" subscribing outlets could purchase and use. It described Castro as a "source of inspiration for many people throughout the world."
Thus, it should surprise no one that the wire service, which has been credibly accused of active cooperation with Adolf Hitler's Nazi propaganda machine during the eight years before the U.S. entered World War II, appears to be quite pumped up about El Jefe's 90th birthday. Reporter Andrea Rodriguez's July 29 story, published over two weeks ahead of the blessed event, portrays how Castro "has taken on a powerful new role ... as the inspiration for Cubans who want to maintain strict Communist orthodoxy." Oh boy.
Rodriguez's language betrays admiration for a man whose regime, as I noted five years ago, "has slain thousands, impoverished millions, and attempted to replicate its misery around the globe" (bolds are mine):
AT 90, FIDEL CASTRO IS SYMBOL OF CUBAN RESISTANCE TO CHANGE
White-haired, thin and bent at nearly 90, Fidel Castro in person is a faint echo of the man who remade his country, defied the United States and fueled socialist uprisings around the world.
But 10 years after he handed control to his brother Raul, Cuba's former leader has taken on a powerful new role in a country suffering an economic crisis and debating its direction in a new era of normalization with Washington.
After a decade out of the public eye, Fidel Castro has surged back in the run-up to his Aug. 13 birthday as the inspiration for Cubans who want to maintain strict Communist orthodoxy in Cuba in the face of mounting pressures to loosen political control and allow more private enterprise.
... The peak of Castro's return to public prominence came April 19 at the closing session of the Cuban Communist Party's 7th Congress. The three-day gathering featured a string of speeches denouncing President Barack Obama's visit to Cuba the month before, in which the U.S. leader called on Cubans to look toward a future of reconciliation and greater freedom.
Castro opened with a defense of his communist ideology, declaring the Russian Revolution of 1917 to be "a grand social revolution that represented a great step forward in the fight against colonialism and its inseparable companion, imperialism."
During 47 years in power, Fidel was a constant presence for Cubans but prohibited the statues, portraits and other tributes beloved by other total leaders. Today, his image is everywhere as the country fills with tributes to him on his 90th birthday. Fidel is now mentioned by hardliners in the same breath as Jose Marti, the 19th century poet and revolutionary fighter whose status is similar to that of the founding fathers in the U.S.
This poor woman really did allow "hardliners" to compare Jose Marti to the U.S. Founding Fathers in "status" without challenge.
Marti was a poet, writer and activist who only truly became a genuine "fighter" in his final year of life.
Marti did share common philosophical and political ground with America's Founders. He had an admiration for the "inviolable right of freedom of speech which all U.S. citizens possessed." He also at one point "found American society to be so great, he thought Latin America should consider imitating America." As he attempted to fund his ultimately failed revolution, Marti "feared a military dictatorship would be established in Cuba upon independence."
It is overwhelmingly likely that Marti, if alive today, would be appalled at what Cuba has become, given that Castro's Communist dictatorship suppresses speech, exercises ironclad control over the island's bitterly poor economy, and regularly denounces capitalism (while attempting to skim its cream through heavily managed foreign tourism and commerce).
That Fidel Castro still believes that the Communist revolution and its aftermath in Russia, with its estimated death toll of 20 million, represented "a great step forward" tells us all we need to know about the Cuban people's prospects as long as he or his brother Raul remain alive.
Rodriguez also played the labeling game with one of the people she quoted, casting hardline Communists as "conservatives":
"There isn't the slightest doubt that conservatives who don't want to advance look for backup in Fidel," Cuban political scientist and former diplomat Carlos Alzugaray said. "There's been a backlash from all of those who fear change."
I see what you did there, AP. You want people to believe that political "conservatives" are people who want communism to continue as is in Cuba. The background of Mr. Alzugaray, whose full name is Carlos Alzugaray Treto, would seem to indicate that he is very "clever" at such dissembling. Rodriguez allowed him to do that, once again without challenge. What a farce.
It's safe to predict that we can expect the establishment press to continue its love affair with Fidel and his dictatorship in the coming weeks. Perhaps we'll even see a revival of AP's promotion of those "iconic images and videos."
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
