-Caveat Lector- http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/12/24/133954.shtml
WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Review of "Beyond Elian Gonzalez: Cubriendo y Descubriendo, Covering and Discovering" The Idler (www.the-idler.com) Monday, Dec. 24, 2001 Review of "Beyond Elian Gonzalez: Cubriendo y Descubriendo, Covering and Discovering" by Carlos Wotzkow and Agustin Blazquez In the spirit of Jose Marti, the Cuban patriot, Carlos Wotzkow, an exiled Cuban environmentalist now living in Switzerland, and Agustin Blazquez, a Cuban-American writer and filmmaker, have collaborated on a truly revolutionary manifesto entitled "Cubriendo y Descubriendo, Covering and Discovering." It shows there is much more to Cuba than Elian Gonzalez. Their collaboration was the suggestion of a third writer, Guillermo Cabrera Infante. He noticed that the two authors were pursuing parallel intellectual interests, documenting the vast differences between Cuban reality and its depiction in the journalism and literature of American and Europe. He put Wotzkow and Blazquez in touch with one another, encouraging them to collaborate against an international journalistic and academic trend that apologizes for Cuban dictatorship. The result is a powerful and moving document illustrating a shared concern for their homeland, "composed of articles of the living testimony of Cubans dissatisfied with the wrongful image that some press agencies disseminate of reality." That is, Wotzkow and Blazquez give voice to the voiceless of Cuba, the marginalized, the disenfranchised – the homosexuals, artists, workers, environmentalists and human rights activists abandoned by mainstream American and European media that place loyalty to Fidelismo above their supposed liberal ideals. They are willing to stereotype and discriminate against Cuban-Americans in a way that is contrary to every principle of enlightened discourse. Those who thought Elian Gonzalez would have a better life in Cuba than in Miami are advised to read each chapter closely. As the book alternates between Spanish and English, replicating the dualism of the Cuban-American experience, the ying-yang double existence in an Anglo or European present with a Cuban heritage, "Cubriendo y Descubriendo" casts a spell. It is a truly bilingual as well as bicultural experience, one that defies all preconceptions. Contrary to popular belief, as well as media coverage of the Elian Gonzalez affair – an event that may have cost Al Gore the election when the Democratic Party abandoned the Cuban-American vote in Florida – opposition to Fidel Castro is not a conservative point of view. As Wotzkow, an environmentalist, and Blazquez, an artist and filmmaker, reveal, opposition to Fidel Castro's undemocratic dictatorship is a principled liberal position. Wotzkow and Blazquez share the sentiments expressed in their "Forewarning": We will never accept censorship nor any form of despotism. It is long overdue to end those ideas enthroned by force and to stop the popularity of so much reproachable foreign policy. As Jose Marti said: "The motherland is not the toy of a few obstinate ones, but a divine thing." Like the "Black Book of Communism," the French compendium that made it impossible for European intellectuals to ignore the mass murders committed in the name of the failed dictatorship of the proletariat in countries around the globe – including Cuba – "Cubriendo y Descubriendo" documents in detail the complete failure of communism in Cuba. After reading "Cubriendo y Descubriendo," it would be impossible for any honest person to defend Fidel Castro. That is why it is a must-read book. In a way, "Cubriendo y Descubriendo" makes the perfect Christmas gift for liberal friends and acquaintances. It is bilingual, bicultural, and profoundly dedicated to traditional liberal principles. The book is a collection of essays that have appeared in newspapers, magazines, journals and websites around the world (including this publication). But it is not until one sees them collected in a single volume that the intensity of the indictment becomes apparent. Half the essays are in Spanish, and half are in English. The back-and-forth experience parallels the two worlds that exiled Cubans inhabit. It makes the book all the more powerful. Among more shocking chapters, to those who might otherwise be sympathetic to Fidel Castro's professed aspirations, are Carlos Wotzkow's Spanish-language essays on Castro's persecution of homosexuals, support of bioterrorism, trafficking in narcotics, exploitation of the peasantry by Cuban Big Tobacco, and destruction of the environment. Imagine, for example, if George Bush spent his time being photographed smoking Marlboros in order to promote the sale of cigarettes. Now imagine Big Tobacco forcing backwoods Appalachians to work for pennies a day, sometimes against their will, harvesting, curing and preparing the tobacco for cigarettes. Imagine if the government were burning down virgin forests, and confiscating tens of thousands of acres, to plant tobacco for export around the world, using government power to enrich the tobacco industry. According to Wotzkow, that is precisely what Fidel Castro does – sacrificing the Cuban environment to the interests of Tabacalera, S.A., the Spanish tobacco monopoly. Castro, in other words, is in bed with Big Tobacco, to the detriment of the Cuban people. Yet nary a peep of protest is heard against Fidel Castro – worldwide pusher of tar and nicotine, photographed countless times puffing fat carcinogenic stogies packing 10 times the punch of a puny filtered Marlboro – from either European or American anti-smoking "activists." Do you oppose Big Tobacco? Then you must oppose Castro. That is one clear lesson from this book. But as "Cubriendo y Descubriendo" makes clear, for any true liberal, for any actual human rights supporter, almost all of Castro's actual policies – as opposed to his revolutionary rhetoric – are anathema. Agustin Blazquez's English-language chapters make this crystal clear. Do you oppose censorship? Then you must oppose Castro. Do you oppose the persecution of homosexuals? Then you must oppose Castro. Do you oppose the exploitation of workers by big business? Then you must oppose Castro. Do you value artistic freedom? Then you must oppose Castro. Do you oppose an economic system where there is a class of "haves" and another of "have-nots"? Then you must oppose Castro. Do you oppose the destruction of the environment? Then you must oppose Castro. Do you oppose multinational corporations exploiting the population of Third World countries for their own benefit? Then you must oppose Castro. Are you against secret police? Then you must oppose Castro. Do you oppose racial discrimination? Then you must oppose Castro. Do you oppose militarism? Then you must oppose Castro. That so many American and European intellectuals are apparently willing to sacrifice all their principles when it comes to Cuba is an outrage that Wotzkow and Blazquez confront directly – with cold facts instead of heated rhetoric. They write: When we expose a lie, we set aside our passion, instead expressing our opinion based on a moral evaluation, intending to demonstrate how, by contradicting the almighty press, we can change the comprehension of our destiny. "Cubriendo y Descubriendo" has appeared in time for Christmas, and will no doubt be a gift given widely among Cuban-American families this holiday season, especially for parents eager to explain to their children the predicament facing a community best known for the Elian Gonzalez controversy. But it would be a shame if only Cuban-Americans were to benefit from this book. For those who most need to read it are the publishers, editors, producers and reporters in the European and American media, as well as professors and students at colleges and universities around the world. After reading "Cubriendo y Descubriendo" it seems obvious that the only "crazy Cubans" are those who enthusiastically support Fidel Castro's megalomaniacal police state, and the only "Cuban Mafia" consists of the narcotics-trafficking jefe and his entourage. "Cubriendo y Descubriendo" should be required reading for any correspondent covering Cuba, for any classroom discussion dealing with Cuba – and, of course, for any American or European who is thinking about a vacation on the white sandy beaches of the "pearl of the Antilles." *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. 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