Ozzie Guillén and
Fascism in Miami By Lázaro Fariñas* / Photo: Virgilio Ponce / April 11, 2012 A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann. Up until a few days ago, Venezuelan-born baseball manager Ozzie Guillén of the Miami Marlins believed he was a free man living in a democratic society and therefore entitled to say whatever he wanted without having to abide by the consequences. Poor man… How wrong he was to think such nonsense! Since he had said no less irreverent things in public about other topics in the past, Guillén thought he could freely voice his respect for the Cuban people’s undeniable leader, Commander Fidel Castro, without having to pay dearly for it. Headlined “I love Fidel Castro”, Time Magazine staff reporter Sean Gregory’s article transcribed Ozzie Guillén’s exact words. I don’t think more than two hours had passed after the issue hit the stands when the right-wing fascists of Miami launched a smear campaign against the baseball manager and decried his remarks through their radio stations. They used venom-oozing terms to describe the man who dared say that he loved a political leader who is equally loved and respected by millions of Cubans and hundreds of millions around the world. Their venom soon infected the local politicians who started to demand Marlins owners to oust their manager. Even if the team made a public statement claiming no responsibility for Guillén’s words and no walking papers have been issued so far, he was given a five-game suspension. Chances are, though, that Guillén’s constant expressions of sorrow and repentance for the benefit of the Miami-based scum will not be enough to be pardoned and keep his job. This is an insatiable pack to which Guillén’s kowtowing –or anybody else’s for that matter– will be pointless, because the hardcore rightists of this city are sick with rage and hatred. His is just another name, not the first and certainly not the last one, on a long list of people who have demeaned themselves to beg forgiveness after these individuals have pounced on them. Bear in mind that Nelson Mandela was declared persona non grata by the local authorities for his bonds of friendship with Cuba and its leaders; that Popes have been more than once accused of being communist; that even the presidents Kennedy, Carter, Clinton and now Obama have been labeled as favorable to the Cuban government. Among others who have also run the gauntlet at some point of the fascist carnival are the Venezuelan singer Oscar de León –who had to come to Miami and apologize on the radio, tears running down his face, when they took it out on him after he performed in a music festival in Varadero– and many more. Some examples include wit, the duet Los Españolísimos, Julio Iglesias, the Brazilian Denise de Kalafe, the Puerto Ricans Danny Rivera and Andy Montañez, the Cuban Ana Margarita Martínez Casado, and even Willie Chirino himself, who also went on the air crying after he gave a musical instrument as a gift to a Cuban musician in Panama. It’s true that these spineless weepers have stooped to say one thing one minute and another the next, but in the end so many insults, prospects of economic reprisals and even death threats have been more of a factor. The question here is, how is it possible in an American city governed by a Constitution that includes an amendment giving citizens the right to speak their mind that someone is humiliated and threatened to be fired or killed for saying precisely what they think? This can only happen because there’s a fascistoid enclave whose wealthy members are in control of the media, boast far too much political power, and spend all day shouting from the rooftops that there’s no democracy in Cuba while hurling abuse at and threatening everyone here who dares say anything different from what they want to hear. All this pressure will go on until the Marlins manager is sacked. Let’s hope they won’t get away with it, although I doubt it. Come what may, and although as a human being I feel sorry for Ozzie Guillén, I’m glad that this happened and was reported by the U.S.’s mainstream media, so that the rest of the people in this great country realize once again who’s the rabble in charge of the economic, political and social life of one of America’s most important cities. (*) Lázaro Fariñas is a Cuban journalist who lives in the United States. Original source: Martianos-Hermes-Cubainformación-Cubasolidaridad These texts can be freely reproduced as long as they are for nonprofit purposes and the source is mentioned. |
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