Economics With A Face

I was told by a Cuban, in a not so joking manner, that Havana has 2 million inhabitants, one million of whom are policemen. From my experience it didn’t seem too far from the truth. Uniform policemen are visible every few blocks and amongst the crowds lurk many more undercover agents. Walking through the city it is a common sight to see young Cubans randomly stopped and asked for their identification. One night, outside the restaurant I was dining in, I watched three young Cubans detained and thrown into a police van for the apparent crime of speaking to a tourist.

One gets the impression that just about everything Cubans do could be considered illegal. Dissident economist Martha Beatriz Roque, recently released from prison for health reasons, has stated that these conditions make every Cuban have a “built-in policeman.” It’s hard to sum up this kind of atmosphere in a single word, but suffocating might be as close as one can get.

How ironic, that in contrast to the quote above, this is the country that Che helped to create. His many admirers will undoubtedly say that he had nothing to do with such an environment. Che, they’ll say, was a man who fought against American imperialism. He was a voice for the exploited masses and is idolized because he lived and ultimately died on their behalf.

But is it really true that this young man, so concerned by the repression of individual freedoms in Bogotá, held to this same standard throughout his life? A few key facts make any observer not only question this assumption, but also the wisdom of those who display his portrait with such admiration. A good place to start is his actions following the Cuban revolution. One incident in particular is extremely telling.

Less than a year after the Cuban revolution, one of its original leaders was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Although Comandante Huber Matos had supplied weapons for the revolutionary forces and had triumphantly rode alongside Fidel Castro as the rebels victoriously entered Havana, 10 months later he would be labeled as a traitor. His crime? Refusing to be part of a government that had turned its back on democracy.

For this, Ernesto “Che” Guevara wanted him killed, or better put: sent to el Paredón, “the wall” for execution by firing squad. Castro eventually spared Matos’ life, fearing a death sentence would make him a martyr.

Ask yourself, should a man that openly favored the murder of someone who spoke out for democracy really be the poster child for justice in the world?

And Matos is not alone in this experience. Eusebio Penalver and Chanes De Armas are but two more that fought against Batista, only to be turned upon by Che and Castro when they publicly voiced concern over the new government’s consolidation of power. Hardly the leadership one would expect from such an idol.

In addition to this, Guevara personally shot a young man under his command for the crime of stealing food in order to set an example for the rest of his subordinates, he founded the Cuban labor camps thus setting up a system that would be a means to terrorize “enemies of the revolution” (i.e. political dissidents, homosexuals, AIDS victims), and by his own account ordered over two thousand executions while in charge of La Cabaña prison and other posts. Again and again he proved that human life posed no obstacle in reaching his goal of creating a “new man”.

Once more, can anyone tell me why this man’s portrait is on so many shirts?

In Havana, I passed many young tourists that proudly displayed Che’s famous image on a just purchased beret or t-shirt. Leaving Havana, in the airport, again Che was staring at me, this time his image tattooed on the back of an American’s calf in front of me in line. Making our way through Mexico it’s hard to find a T-shirt shop where I don’t see his glaring eyes. This man, no doubt, has a strong grip on many across the world. But surprisingly, walking around Havana, I saw more Cubans wearing American flag bandanas than glorifying this founder of their revolution.

I’ll end with another quote from Che, which is delivered in a distinctly different tone than the one I selected to begin this essay:

"Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any enemy that falls in my hands! My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood. With the deaths of my enemies I prepare my being for the sacred fight and join the triumphant proletariat with a bestial howl!"

In truth, I’m no expert on Che’s life, but the person who authored the above quote scares me, as he should you. Clearly, the young man who spoke to his mother of the wrongs in Bogotá was soon afterwards corrupted by a Marxist ideology and desire for power that turned him into nothing more than a murderer. Young “revolutionaries” should remember this fact the next time they go out shopping for a new wardrobe. We can’t ignore the crimes against humanity that Che committed simply because as an adventurous young man traveling through South America he kept a passionate diary.

Sources:
The Motorcycle Diaries – Ernesto Che Guevara
PBS - “American Experience, Fidel Castro”
The Black Book of Communism - Stephane Courtois
“Deflating the Che Cult” - Tom Palmer
“The Cult of Che” - Paul Berman
“Every Cuban Has a Built-In Policeman”- Martha Beatriz Roque
“Mass Murder by Diplomacy” – John Tiller
“Torture and Tyranny: The Real Che” – Randall McElroy