Guevara's Grandson Condemns Fidel Castro

[The Feral Underclass]

I thought it was very interesting and rather sensational that someone like this condemns Castro's regime in such a way.

Guevara's grandson condemns Castro (http://www.revolutionaryleft.com/index.php?act=ST&f=2&t=32115&st=0#entry491524)

[redstar2000]

I can't dispute this fellow's observations, but I wonder.

Is he politically active in Mexico now? In what way? With what politics?

Is he really well-off in Mexico now? Is he (consciously or unconsciously) comparing how he lives now with how he would be living if he were still in Cuba?

Further, his views are being distributed by a site that sponsors "independent libraries" in Cuba. What's in those libraries? Are those libraries circulating radical/revolutionary works that are not available in regular Cuban libraries...or reactionary capitalist crap?

In other words, people can say true things...with bad motives.

:redstar2000:

The Redstar2000 Papers (http://www.redstar2000papers.fightcapitalism.net)
A site about communist ideas

[Questionauthority]

In other words, people can say true things...with bad motives.
Aha but do their "bad motives" deduct from the truth? Would it not be more anaylitical to look at this purely on what it says rather than trying to discredit it because of motives? A journalist may be an arsehole when you meet them in person but their writing can still be good.

[redstar2000]

Originally posted by Questionauthority
Aha, but do their "bad motives" deduct from the truth?

Well...they might.

After all, this fellow says that the present Cuban regime is going to "die with Castro" -- which might turn out to be a valid prediction.

But is it going to be replaced with a "more libertarian" regime? Is that likely?

It's odd in this fellow's statement that he doesn't say anything about the kind of regime that he wants to see "replace Fidel".

I'd have more confidence in this fellow if he had added a line or two to the effect that Fidel's regime was and remains preferable to the re-conquest of Cuba by U.S. imperialism.

:redstar2000:

The Redstar2000 Papers (http://www.redstar2000papers.fightcapitalism.net)
A site about communist ideas

[Anarchist Freedom]

I would think if I was the grandson and I wanted to live like royalty I would move to cuba.

[Reuben]

regardless of his motives this is one in the eye for those of us on board who seem to need a garden of eden and thus ovrloook the real extent to which the working class is not empowered in cuba.

Nonetheless it is absolute bullshit to describe cuba as state capitalist

[Rockfan]

Originally posted by Anarchist [email protected] 8 2005, 09:58 PM
I would think if I was the grandson and I wanted to live like royalty I would move to cuba.
If i were his grandson ied want to carry on my grandfaters legacy, dont you think that would be much better.

[Severian]

Originally posted by Anarchist [email protected] 8 2005, 03:58 PM
I would think if I was the grandson and I wanted to live like royalty I would move to cuba.
Well, no, see, that kind of nepotism for the children of revolutionary leaders doesn't exist in Cuba. Only one of Fidel Castro's children has had any kind of major government post; his name is Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, he's a nuclear physicist who headed Cuba's nuclear power program for a time and was fired for incompetence.

One of Castro's daughters lives in exile and denounces the revolutionary government regularly.

Lemme just suggest this kind of thing was not so common in societies that had a hereditary nomenklatura or bureaucracy, let alone a "socialist bourgeoisie". These various children of revolutionary leaders could just as easily be pissed at NOT receiving special privilege....

As for the ideas expressed, aside from the person expressing them, there's nothing new and they wouldn't get a second glance aside from the famous name attached.

For example: ""Let's be honest, a young rebel like Fidel Castro used to be would be
immediately executed in today's Cuba, not condemned to exile," he stated."

This is, in reality, anything but honest: Cuba's made quite sparing use of the death penalty over recent decades and observed a de facto moratorium on executions - to quote Amnesty International - for a number of years in the 90s.

Any number of people guilty of armed counterrevolutionary acts have in fact gone into exile.

[redstar2000]

How would anarchists react if they went to a site that proclaimed...

Al Bakunin, great-grandson of the famous anarchist theorist, spoke before the Greater Turdville Businessmen's Club this afternoon.

He said that if his famous ancestor were alive today, he'd be an entrepreneur because capitalism has less governmental presence than any other alternative since his time.

I mean, don't you have to be a little suspicious about this kind of occurrence?

:redstar2000:

The Redstar2000 Papers (http://www.redstar2000papers.fightcapitalism.net)
A site about communist ideas

[The Feral Underclass]

Originally posted by [email protected] 8 2005, 10:28 PM
Is he politically active in Mexico now? In what way? With what politics?
He's an admitted anarchist. Not sure if he belongs to an anarchsit organisation, but I would expect so. I'll do some more research.

[h&s]

He's an admitted anarchist. Not sure if he belongs to an anarchist organisation, but I would expect so.
And I was going to say that I completely agreed with him before I read that.... :P
Only joking, the guy speaks the truth - his grandfather may have been a fool, but this guy's got a brain. I really am fed up with people who blindly state their love for Che and Fidel.


Nonetheless it is absolute bullshit to describe cuba as state capitalist
True, Cuba may be bad, but state capitalism is a system completely different to a 'socialist' bureucracy.

[Fidelbrand]

Homosexuals are excepted in Cuba, both from Fidel's motuh and from his actions.

In fact, it was filmed in Oilver Stones' docmentary film, where gays and lesbians held hands openly on the streets.

word to word from fidel in "Commandante",

"Before the revolution, our country has a male chauvanist spirit....machismo.....and prejudice against homsexuals. That has been fading with the passing years...until practically...there are no more such problems. It has been hard-work because of our male-dominated ancestry."

[h&s]

Methinks you mean 'accepted.' Excepted means the opposite. ;)

[bolshevik butcher]

Does it really matter what he thinks, he's not Che. He's never done anything more significant than any of us by the sounds of it.

[Tycoon4aLL]

Do you really need to know the mans motives to agree or disagree with what he says??

the cuban government in place right now is not the "communist" government it claims to be. period. =D

[Severian]

Originally posted by [email protected] 10 2005, 04:39 PM
Do you really need to know the mans motives to agree or disagree with what he says??

Well, as I said before:



As for the ideas expressed, aside from the person expressing them, there's nothing new and they wouldn't get a second glance aside from the famous name attached.

For example: ""Let's be honest, a young rebel like Fidel Castro used to be would be
immediately executed in today's Cuba, not condemned to exile," he stated."

This is, in reality, anything but honest: Cuba's made quite sparing use of the death penalty over recent decades and observed a de facto moratorium on executions - to quote Amnesty International - for a number of years in the 90s.

Any number of people guilty of armed counterrevolutionary acts have in fact gone into exile.

And Fidelbrand commented on the stuff about homosexuality.

That's the only concrete commentary on the ideas there's been in the thread; others have simply expressed agreement without reference to the actual facts in Cuba.

I might comment as well that, with the exception of "state capitalism" every word could have come out of the mouth of a State Department spokesman. That one difference primarily reflects that the U.S. ruling class has a firmer grip on reality.

[Hiero]

Originally posted by [email protected] 11 2005, 09:39 AM


the cuban government in place right now is not the "communist" government it claims to be. period. =D
No socialist country has ever claimed to be communisnt. period.

Che's daughter who is a doctor and his son who works in the fishing industry all aggre on Fidels leadership and the direction of Cuba, you can find them on EG forums.

I was wondering who is this grandson the son of? The daughter or the son of Che.

[Red Heretic]

what are these EG forums I keep hearing about?

[pandora]

This is Hilda's son, that is Hilda junior, and she was also a bit of an outcast in Cuba. Fidel spoke kind words towards her when she died, he said of the children she was the most like Che, I believe he meant that in that she was very outspoken, but unlike Che not always correctly so. Her grandson has much of the same anger. This is an old rift, and some may go back to Hilda herself feeling very much entitled as the first wife when living in Cuba, and not realizing that Che no longer trusted her for her liasons with young bucks some of whom had been found to be infiltrators.

I do not think the state department is speaking for the grandson, I think he may be misguided though, there are some exaggerations and untruths in those statements, but I do feel him trying to take his honor as Che's grandson in those statements, and I do believe Hilda's child and grandchild have a right to critize Castro, it's almost a family arguement in a way, but the way the west buys into it and uses it for gain is the sad bit. Should he remain silent, like his mother, and her mother he is not going t

o do that. From what I understand this is the more radical branch of the family. I'm glad he lives in Oaxaca, I bought my first book of Che there years ago, that's very interesting, I feel linked to him in a way. I think we must remember he felt very hurt by the treatment he felt his mother received from Fidel in terms of disentitlement, but he had a hard time working with her because she was a misanthrope in some ways, but simply asked too many questions in others.

When Hilda the daughter died Fidel was very hurt by that, I saw pictures where he seemed very sad, because it was such a waste, she really did have a revolutionary spirit, but her anger and resentment held her back.

[Hate Is Art]

Originally posted by Clenched [email protected] 10 2005, 04:06 PM
Does it really matter what he thinks, he's not Che. He's never done anything more significant than any of us by the sounds of it.
Agreed. The guy is nothing special exept for having a flashly surname.

[h&s]

Originally posted by [email protected] 13 2005, 03:00 AM
what are these EG forums I keep hearing about?
Ernesto-Guevara.com
A forum full of Stalinists, and as someone put it 'Nazis in soviet uniforms.'

[Hate Is Art]

aye, avoid!

[Karl Marx's Camel]

I would think if I was the grandson and I wanted to live like royalty I would move to cuba.

Why do you believe you would be living "like royalty" in cuba?