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Column 081610 Brewer-2

Monday, August 16, 2010

Fidel Castro Returns to his Cuban Theater of Subterfuge

By Jerry Brewer

Former President Fidel Castro of Cuba has once again

returned to his glittering stage laced with smoke and mirrors.
Although a mere specter of his once physically strong and
boisterous command presence, his costume of revolution of
olive-green fatigues were tailored as well as possible — albeit
from another era of violent revolutionary history and minus his
military adornments.

As Castro took to his mark at center stage in his once familiar

arena, his familiar and ambidextrous dialogue did not fail him
— although his memory clearly did. His run and act of 49
years was in fact revolution and intense venomous hatred of
the United States. He began his lines once again from where
he left off.

“My job is to draw attention to topics and events and let others
decide,” Castro explained. “You should understand that our
(leaders) are not people I should order around or tell what to
do. I want them to think for themselves,” Castro said last week
in Havana.

Diverting from the obvious attention in Venezuela of

documentation provided of FARC revolutionary presence and
their conflict with Colombia; as well as Spain‟s Foreign
Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos announcement that the writ
against revolutionary ETA and FARC members allegedly
plotting to kill Colombians in Spain has been sent to Cuba and
Venezuela for their support in hunting down ETA militants,
Castro warned of potential U.S. nuclear war.

Posing and gesturing, the 84 year old and white-bearded

Castro focused his performance under the lights on repeatedly
warning that “the U.S. „empire' could start a nuclear war.”
Castro has written on the topic of nuclear war for months, and
maintains that the United States and Israel will attack Iran, and
that Washington could also target North Korea.

Much of his recent credits and acts include addressing and

mentoring “communist youth meetings and other Cuban
intellectuals.”

Castro‟s context and timing with Latin America‟s critical armed

revolutionary dilemmas in the forefront appear to be deliberate
transference of attention to potential nuclear war in Iran and
the Korean Peninsula by the “empire.”

He did lend an ear and an opinion on Mexico.

Also last week, in a published commentary, Fidel Castro

suggested to leftist Mexican presidential candidate Andres
Manuel Lopez Obrador that he join the “struggle” to prevent
the United States from unleashing nuclear war. With Lopez
Obrador recently announcing that he plans to make another
run for Mexico‟s presidency in 2012, Castro stated, “The
empire did not allow him to assume the office in Mexico,”
referring to the 2006 election; and Lopez Obrador “will be the
person with the most moral and political authority in Mexico
when the system collapses and, with it, the empire.”

In Castro‟s recent article he stated that he shares the opinion

of Lopez Obrador about Mexican magnate Carlos Slim, whom
Castro calls “an intelligent man who knows all the secrets of
the markets and mechanisms of the capitalist system.” Too,
he reiterated, “… the fact [is] that in the United States a
colossal drug market has been created and its military industry
supplies the most sophisticated weapons that have turned
Mexico into the first victim of a bloody war in which already
every year more than 5,000 Mexican youths are dying.”

As the designated lead in Cuba‟s continued revolutionary

picture, President Raul Castro (who took over from his brother
Fidel in 2008) is still largely an understudy, as an example
copiously taking notes from his chair during Fidel‟s recent
media appearance. However, Fidel still commands center
stage and, as he is first secretary of the governing Communist
Party, it indicates an inherent power.

It appears that Fidel Castro must continue to deflect attention

from his cast of leftist protégés due to ever-increasing
evidence mounting against them. The U.S. State Department
named Cuba as harboring Colombian guerrillas in a recent
"Country Report on Terrorism 2009.” The report found that
there was "no evidence of direct financial support for terrorist
organizations by Cuba in 2009," although the communist
regime "continued to provide safe haven" to members of the
Colombian guerrilla groups FARC and ELN, as well as the
Basque separatist group ETA, and it provided them 'with living,
logistical, and medical support."

Fidel Castro‟s appearances continue to conceal Cuba‟s

repressive laws, sinister state security apparatus, the silencing
of government opponents, and a stated obligation of the
Cuban government to respect the human rights and dignity of
all Cubans. Where is Cuba‟s good faith effort to dismantle the
repressive ideology?

Whether Fidel Castro will soon face his final curtain call or not,
when he does exit it will still be stage-left.

——————————
Jerry Brewer is C.E.O. of Criminal Justice International
Associates, a global risk mitigation firm headquartered in
Northern Virginia. His website is located at www.cjiausa.org.
jbrewer@cjiausa.org