Henry Gomez Is No Machiavelli

"Let's not give them [the Estefans] credit for being so smart, if that's the case. They should be represented by some real folks that know about reputation management, not some kid that sounds like he just got out of Miami-Dade Community College. " Henry Gomez, comment on Cuban American Pundits, March 29, 2007


Henry Gómez, who splits his time on 5 or 6 blogs, and has performed a great public service on one [Herald Watch], is principally in residence at Val Prieto's blog, where he exerts more influence over the volatile Val than any other non-Val valalusian. From the time Gómez wrote the original post on the Estefans and Carlos Santana precipitating this controversy, Henry and Val have admitted publicly on the Babalú Radio Hour to having engaged in shouting matches over the phone. Henry, who once met Santana and was scarred for life, cannot overlook or forgive Emilio and Gloria's "faux pas" and takes Val to task often and forcefully for his chronic and incurable estefanphilia. Still, it is Gómez who always seeks common ground, finding it perhaps uncomfortable to challenge the uber-colleague on his own blog. Indeed, when anyone challenges Val on Babalú, the hordes of the faithful immediately commence an auto-da-fé, where staffers and fans pledge their unconditional loyalty to him. This is the closest that anyone has ever come to a personality cult on any Cuban-American blog.

It was, therefore, up to Henry to seek consensus on this issue and pull Val Prieto's ass out of the fire where Val had comfortably sat because it had been lit by his friends the Estefans (Emilio phoned him personally, or haven't you heard?) It ocurred to Henry that perhaps all this dissension could have been avoided if only the Estefans had offered a more deceptive explanation of their acts than was originally profferred. Now that's quite a challenge that Henry undertook, for which his background in advertising and public relations should have served him in good stead. So here is Henry's version of what he thinks the Estefans should have said and would have said if Henry Gómez were their head PR guy:

"Carlos Santana has been a friend of ours since long before the 2005 Oscars. While we were saddened, at the time, by his decision to wear Che Guevara t-shirt to that awards show we forgave him because we don't think Carlos necessarily understands what Guevara actually did, as opposed to what he is believed to have done. When Mr. Santana learned of our project, 90 millas, he asked if he could participate. Of course we jumped at the chance to have a musician of Carlos' stature participate on our project. And our friendship had always remained in-tact despite the incident at the Oscars. We simply didn't realize that Santana's appearance on 90 Millas would inspire such a visceral reaction among our friends in the Cuban-American community and, for that, we are truly sorry. But the fact is that Santana is going to be on this album because to remove his work now would be a betrayal of an old friend. We understand that this will alienate some of our fans, and again we are truly sorry. The only thing we ask is that we be judged by the whole of our actions in public life and not by this decision that was based on personal friendship and not intended to be a slight to anyone in the Cuban American community."

My reaction after reading Henry's "explanation" of the Estefans' actions is that they definitely should not hire him as their PR guy. He would be an even worse representative than me (though better than Val). I think that in order genuinely to represent somebody else's position one must have at least a modicum of sympathy for that position and Henry clearly (and rightly) does not. Henry is without guile and I am sure believes that he did the best that he could by the Estefans. But it is impossible for anyone to write convincingly against his own convictions unless one has apprenticed at Granma.

Henry's hypothetical "apology," which should keep uppermost the Estefans' concern about losing their fan base, begins instead with an affirmation of their friendship with Carlos Santana, which would be calculated to enrage rather than placate their Cuban-American fans. It states that the Estefans were "saddened" to see their friend wearing a "Che" t-shirt at the Oscars. "Saddened?" Not hurt, incensed or offended, just "saddened." "Saddened," no doubt, because they love their friend so much that it grieves them to see him make an ass of himself (his natural condition). Their concern, then, is not for those whom Santana offended or misled by his shameless public adoration of "Che" Guevara and implicit support for what Guevara did, but, rather, their hearts bleed for what may befall their friend Santana because of his unredeemable stupidity, which the Estefans accept as innate and incurable.

Henry next proceeds to explain how their collaboration on the album 90 Millas (90 Miles) originated. Supposedly, Santana approached them, and, of course, who could turn a friend away? Their community they could dismiss out of hand; but a friend, never! In fact, it was not just friendship that they were upholding but their personal interests (which happily coincided with Santana's): "Of course we jumped at the chance to have a musician of Carlos' stature participate on our record." More talent, more sales, more money. Now that would hardly seem the kind of confession that the Estefans would make however true. By now, Henry feels that the Estefans should re-affirm their friendship with Santana once again and so they do: "And our friendship has always remained intact despite the incident at the Oscars."

Next Henry has the Estefans express their total bewilderment at the Cuban community's "visceral reaction" to their collaboration with Santana. If you are trying to placate somebody, you definitely don't call their reactions "visceral" (not intellectual, unreasoning). But that's not the worst of it: Henry has the Estefans address their fellow Cuban exiles as "our friends in the Cuban-American community." So the Estefans no longer consider themselves part of our community; they now only have "friends" in that community (he must be thinking of Val). And the Estefans are "very sorry" because their disconnection from those people led them to misjudge how they would react to this open provocation. Still, they don't give a damn about what their "friends in the community" think, as they make clear in a third and unconditional affirmation of their friendship with Santana: "But the fact is that [he] is going to be on this album because to remove his work now would be a betrayal of an old friend." So Santana is "an old friend" and their fellow Cuban exiles are just "friends" and betraying Santana is inconceivable, but betraying their Cuban friends is not. They do this fully conscious that it will "alienate" some of their Cuban-American fans (who are already aliens to them), but they don't give a damn (although they are "sorry" for the record sales it might cost them, presumably).

Finally, the Estefans reaffirm yet again their "personal friendship" with Santana (as opposed to their impersonal friendship with their fellow Cuban exiles) and conclude with the affirmation that they did not intend to "slight" those whom they have just slighted.

Again, I do not think that Henry is a Machiavellian and I do believe he offered this prepackaged apology to the Estefans in all sincerity and in the belief that it would "do the trick" and restore the status quo ante. But, sadly, Henry fails abominably, because his personal repulsion for Santana makes it impossible for him to be a voluntary mouthpiece for the Estefans like his friend Val.