Posted on Wed, Aug. 16, 2006
IN MY OPINION
To the end, Fidel gives us low theater
BY ANA MENENDEZ
amenendez@MiamiHerald.com
The devil wore adidas.
We must really be entering the end-of-times, because in my wildest
dreams I never thought I'd see a wax dummy of Fidel wearing a red and
white warm-up suit.
It was among the more stunning of the revelations offered by the new
photographs out of Cuba: El Lider's alter-ego has a fashion sensibility
stuck somewhere in the mid-'80s. Pretty sorry, until you consider that
it's several decades ahead of the real Fidel's political vision.
The photographs (see www.miamiherald.com) offer important insights into
the alternative-reality cooked up by the folks at Estudios Revolucion,
the Cuban Dreamworks. Among them: Hugo Chávez is left-handed, Raúl
Castro is alive and ''Fidel'' casts no shadow.
But most of the story is old-hat. Sadly, as in so many other fantasies,
Hollywood has been here before, most notably with the 1989 hit Weekend
at Bernie's, which featured a pair of losers trying to make as if their
dead boss were still alive.
PHOTOS RELEASED
Sunday, on Fidel's 80th birthday, the folks who wrote the original
Titanic released a series of photographs meant to reassure the Cuban
people and the world that Castro was still alive and kicking.
One showed a remarkably young-looking Fidel with a Granma supplement
that was preprinted in 1988. Another batch featured Venezuelan President
Chávez yukking it up with a decidedly more tired-looking Fidel -- a few
extra sores on his face. It was hard to explain the difference in the
images. Makeup? Embalming fluid? Healthcare worthy of Star Trek?
Impossible to tell. But I ran The Herald's slide show several times, and
each pass was creepier than the last.
There's Raúl Castro, the flabby, chicken-necked sad-sack. The older
brother was a joy to hate. Raúl -- he isn't even worthy of our enmity.
Then there's Chávez, who looks just about ready to eat him. That's the
tragedy of Cuba, if it's not one imperial godfather, it's another.
And there is, of course, the diminished comandante himself. Death is a
grim business, and only the coldest hearts rejoice in it. No matter how
much one hates Fidel, it's arresting to see him stretched out on a bed
looking pretty helpless.
Photo No. 1 is especially disconcerting. There in the background sit two
bobble heads (Fidel and Raúl? Fidel and Hitler?) and the image itself
suggests a revolutionary lapse. At the least, someone should have taken
precautions to ensure that the world never knows that Fidel, in his
dotage, has taken to playing with dolls.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
When truth is elusive, conspiracy theories rush to fill the vacuum.
Hence the industry in parsing the few crumbs offered by the Cuban
government. What is the meaning of ''adverse news,'' were the
photographs really taken during an earlier Chávez visit, and what's with
the giant phallic symbol in photo No. 6?
But this Addams Family album doesn't fool anyone. Only a hopelessly
closed society, blissfully ignorant of the Age of Irony, would have
attempted such a stunt.
We've been here before. In his new book, The Man Who Invented Fidel,
Anthony DePalma describes the early myth-making powers of Castro Inc.
Fidel's government survived and even thrived in hostile times by
manipulating image and information, first by insisting he was no
communist and later by persuading the world he was really a humanitarian.
It's no surprise that the man who directed a rag-tag band in the
greatest production in Caribbean history should now throw his talents
into stage-managing his own death.
The photographs are not evidence of a new openness. They're offered in
lieu of it. We know the all-powerful favors Adidas, but his health
remains ''a state secret,'' and satellite dishes are banned.
After years of stoic endurance, the Cuban people deserve more respect
from their leaders.
But instead of facts, the nation gets low theater. Instead of change,
they get a change in uniform.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/15283138.htm
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