The myth of Castro: This splendid, yet flawed, book portrays the journalist who ignored Fidel's dark past and made him a hero

Posted on Sun, Apr. 30, 2006

NONFICTION | LAST DANCE
The myth of Castro: This splendid, yet flawed, book portrays the
journalist who ignored Fidel's dark past and made him a hero

BY IKE SEAMANS

The Man Who Invented Fidel: Castro, Cuba And Herbert L. Matthews Of The
New York Times. Anthony DePalma. Public Affairs. 326 pages. $26.95.

On Feb. 24, 1957, one of the 20th century's greatest scoops appeared on
The New York Times' front page: ``Fidel Castro, the rebel leader of
Cuba's youth, is alive and fighting hard and successfully in the rugged,
almost impenetrable vastnesses of the Sierra Maestra, at the southern
tip of the island. No one connected with the outside world, let alone
the press, has seen Senor Castro except this writer.''

Rumored to be dead, Castro was resurrected pronto by legendary
correspondent Herbert Matthews, infamous for his lack of objectivity and
easily compromised by those he covered. He glamorized Castro as a
valiant insurgent fighting a brutal dictator, a foe of communism and
lover of democracy; a devoted friend of the United States while claiming
there was a large guerrilla army aiding him when only a handful of
poorly armed partisans were with Fidel. In three articles based on just
one three-hour interview, Castro's dark past was replaced with instant
legitimacy.

The skewed, effusively sympathetic portrayal in the nation's preeminent
newspaper was so persuasive, he quickly garnered international
popularity, support and power. Americans catapulted him to rock star
status. The State Department parroted Matthews' thesis that Castro
wasn't a doctrinaire Marxist-Leninist. And Matthews genuinely believed
he invented Fidel.

In this impressively insightful and sensitive biography, the first ever
written about the controversial journalist, Times correspondent Anthony
DePalma debunks that fatuous cockiness since Castro was already well
known in Cuba. ''What Matthews did was invent Fidel as an idea, a
conception that could remain elusive, unknowable, unfathomable,'' he
writes. 'Matthews' most egregious error was not misidentifying Castro.
It was [his perception] of him as an idealist long after he'd
transformed himself into a demagogue.''

The Man Who Invented Fidel is a splendid, yet flawed, book. Perhaps it's
a New York Times brotherhood bond, but DePalma just can't bring himself
to totally debunk Matthews' incredibly one-sided reporting, repeatedly
proffering apologies for his prejudiced journalism.

DePalma contends unconvincingly that Matthews didn't mean to present a
distorted picture, that he simply reported the truth as he saw it.
Baloney. As DePalma's own copious research unequivocally reveals,
Matthews was an inveterate mythmaker whose ''own biases, prejudices and
personal history laid the groundwork'' for that unprecedented interview,
which altered U.S.-Cuba relations forever. Even after Castro became El
Jefe Maximo, Matthews continued to pen fawning, empathetic articles and
editorials rationalizing his draconian policies.

When the exclusive of a lifetime fell into the lap of the 57-year-old
reporter, Matthews was ensconced on The Times' editorial board. He'd
been an indefatigable, globetrotting gatherer of eyewitness news; an
articulate, left-leaning ''champion of causes,'' enamored with abrasive
regimes such as the communist-backed government during the Spanish Civil
War. He was constantly in hot water with editors for injecting personal
opinion into stories, an unbreakable habit that culminated in permanent
disbarment from the newspaper's Cuba coverage, provoking his 1967
retirement.

After Castro unfurled his true colors, Matthews was universally branded
a traitor and a communist sympathizer. Even the chameleonic Fidel
distanced himself. ''I am sick and tired of that old man who thinks he's
my father,'' he ranted. ''He's always giving me advice.'' But in truth,
the dictator needed the journalist as much as the journalist needed the
dictator.

Elderly Cuban exiles have never forgiven Matthews, fervently charging he
was duped into writing positively about the tyrant-to-be, which may be
true. Like his hero, Jose Marti, who gained fame and influence after
granting an interview to an American reporter in 1895, Fidel also sought
a compliant foreign correspondent to craft a tale, albeit fabricated,
for worldwide consumption. ''Castro was prepared to fight a war based
mostly on propaganda and images,'' the author writes. ``An interview
would be the first volley.''

Matthews died in 1977, still insisting he invented Fidel. He remains an
indelible ingredient of the myth he created, revered to this day as a
hero on the communist island for his pivotal role in the cataclysmic
upheaval that has caused so much misery to so many people. And The Man
Who Invented Fidel is an important addition to the growing library of
stories about a struggle that seems to be endless.

Ike Seamans is senior correspondent for WTVJ/ NBC6.

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