BY NOEL HOLSTON STAFF WRITER January 31, 2005
-clip- Bosch's film portrays Castro as a persistent, premeditated liar. We're shown, for instance, a letter he wrote to his mistress in 1958 while he and his tiny band of revolutionaries were playing hide-and-seek with corrupt dictator Fulgencio Batista's army. He told her his true fight would come later - against the United States. Contrast this with film footage of his outwardly friendly visit to New York in 1959, after his rebel force (along with a cut-off of U.S. aid) had caused Batista to flee. Or listen to Castro on a 1959 "Meet the Press," denying he was a Communist even as he was privately reaching out to the Soviet Union. ^^^^^ CB: This "lying" stuff cameup recently on LBO-Talk regarding the Sandanistas "lying" to the U.S. about weapons to El Salvadorean freedom fighters. Maybe Holston doesn't know what every kid knows: It's ok to lie to bad guys ( The U.S. is the bad guys). I happened to see this show. If you discount for the fact that it was anti-Cuban propaganda... Well no, now that I think of it , it was kind of insidious. If one has an anti-imperialist attitude, then for example, Castro comes off as heroic in sending troops to Angola , and putting internationalist honor before the opportunity to perhaps get the U.S. monkey off of Cuba's back. Also, indirectly, it makes the USSR look good, because it says that the SU subsidized Cuba ( the word "subsidized" is used). So, it supports the position that Cuba was not a exploited colony of the SU, rather a recipient of true "aid". It is also clear that the SU thwarted U.S. invasion of Cuba by its "chess moves" in the missile crisis.
