Gerardo E. Martínez-Solanas
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SPRINGTIME FOR CHE... - 2006/04/07 13:08
Future historians will have to study the fascination exerted by some political promoters of totalitarianism on selected cultural sectors of society, to the point that these "intellectuals" and "personalities" do not hesitate to elevate them to mythological status. Totalitarianism is a product of extreme socialist ideas. Socialism advocates centralization of power that gives the State control to solve most or all problems. At the point where the State reaches total control of society, dictatorship is unavoidable. However, these same cultural sectors who relish on their support and promotion of people like Castro or elevate Che Guevara to the stature of saviour, would abhor the idea of doing the same with Franco, Hitler or Mussolini, in spite of the fact that they also promoted socialist ideas and created centralized forms of government.
Among the most influential of these sectors of society is the movie industry. They use fiction to promote a rosy picture of totalitarian ideas (if & when they are blessed by the "Communist" ideology) and retouch their factual application in so many past and present political systems that paint a sorrowful reality quite far from the glossy picture shown in theaters and television.
The following view by Emilio Bernal Labrada is a revealing warning about this skewed tendency.
Best regards to all,
:::Gerardo E. Martínez-Solanas, Director
ParticipatoryDemocracy.net
SPRINGTIME FOR CHE,OR GUEVARA IN HIS OWN WORDS
Emilio Bernal Labrada
You thought you had seen everything? Just wait for Hollywood’s release of the biographical movie on Che Guevara, produced by Steven Soderbergh with Benicio del Toro in the title role. If you thought “Motorcycle Diaries” was a romantic, nostalgic story about Guevara's idealistic youth and idyllic travels through South America –that ignored ALL of Che's darker side– you'd better brace yourselves.
The myth of Guevara as a gentle humanitarian can only be compared to something like the “Springtime for Hitler” number included in Mel Brooks' “The Producers.” Why, Hitler had his good points too: he loved animals and was against unemployment. And Guevara was a reformer who went out of his way to save the poor and oppressed from exploitation by the capitalist rich, didn’t he?
Hollywood loves Castro, and he has corresponded by inviting movieland's biggest names –Robert Redford, for example– to be his honored guests at Havana's Film Festivals. In a nutshell, if you expected Hollywood to produce a reality-based, fact-filled movie, you must be dreaming. Regardless of how many people he liquidated, trampled or impoverished, Guevara is today a hero of the poor, struggling masses. Didn't Carlos Santana –like so many other trendy types– show up in one of those ubiquitous Award Ceremonies wearing the classic Che T-shirt?
But let us not judge Guevara too harshly. Rather, let's have him tell us in his own words what kind of a wonderful guy he was. Here's what he said about observing due process in the case of those suspected of committing abuses during the preceding regime in Cuba.
When the revolutionaries took over in 1959, Castro put Guevara in charge of “revolutionary justice.” Knowing Che and well aware of his chilling lust for blood and ruthless disregard for human rights, Fidel was reassured that no one could do a better job at wiping out potential opposition with the sheer force of bullets, instilling terror into the hearts of those who dared stand up to him. “Cold-blooded“ doesn't do him justice, unfortunately. But let's let Che himself tell us what he was about in his own benevolent words.
“The accused should be given a chance to defend himself before being executed, but –let me make myself clear– the accused should always be shot […] ” He added, just to avoid any misunderstanding of what he was about: “Our mission is not to provide due process; our mission is to bring about the revolution.”
Guevara talked openly about a TERRORIST OFFENSIVE –a harbinger of 9-11, no less– against the U.S. in these terms: “We must take the war to the heart of their homeland, so they won't have a minute's peace or freedom from worry.”
If that were not enough, he also said these chilling words: “Uncompromising hate against the enemy drives a human being beyond his natural limitations and turns him into an effective, violent, selective and cold killing machine.” A precise and prescient description, incidentally, of those who committed the September 11 atrocities.
Well, no wonder Castro turned to him! Here, by the way, are comrade Fidel's words on this precise subject, delivered in a public speech just after taking over power. “Those who have assassinated people will be punished without exception and without mercy.” Castro went on to say that the task would be accomplished, “with pleasure,” by Che Guevara, and that, at his own whim, many “who have not assassinated anyone” would also be executed. Due process, indeed!, revolutionary style.
However, when Che began to grandstand, make headlines on a worldwide trip and otherwise overshadow Castro, Che's usefulness came to an end. He woke up one day, on his return, to find that he was no longer in the inner circle. Quite the contrary. Che was practically an outcast and soon got the message that he had best leave Cuba before he, like revolutionary hero Camilo Cienfuegos –who was also close to overshadowing Fidel and mysteriously disappeared on a short domestic flight, never again to be found– happened to meet with a similar “accident.”
Here, in a rare moment of candor, are Che's own words on the subject, as told to a close associate during his round-the-world trip: “Castro wanted me out of Cuba because I was too much of a nuisance.”
In short, Guevara was much more useful dead than alive. Alive, he had definitely become more than a nuisance: he was a hindrance or perhaps even a threat to Fidel's thirst for absolute power. Safely dead, he would become a revolutionary symbol who could be exploited for propaganda purposes.
So, Che is going for another round of media blitzing 38 years after Castro, in effect, liquidated him. Like I said, brace yourselves, because here comes Hollywood's shameless tribute: Springtime for Che Guevara!
Emilio Bernal Labrada is a bilingual columnist, essayist and writer based in Washington, D.C. He is the author of several books and writes columns on the Spanish and English languages.
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