"An Embargo Question
"Let's say the US lifts the infamous embargo on Cuba, would I be able to, say, fly down to Havana, rent a car, drive to the 'Cuba Si' prison in Holguin and take Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet a pan con bistek from Versailles?
"Inquiring minds want to know."
Val Prieto at Babalú, March 11, 2008
Well, I've heard it all. A joke about Oscar Biscet. I wonder what he would say if he knew that Val would scrap the embargo for the honor of bringing him a pan con bistec sandwich? Is that the sum total of Biscet's aspirations? A soggy day-old or week-old sandwich brought to him by Val Prieto on his triumphant stride through the ruins of Cuba? If Dr. Biscet found any enjoyment in the sandwich, surely meeting its purveyer would sour even this sorry repast for him. Let us hope that he would not assume that Val is representative of all Cuban exiles for that would surely break his heart.
Val seems to assume that discarding the embargo will return the status quo ante to Cuba. Only discarding the Castros will do that. Before the Revolution, Fidel Castro's friends fêted him with Serrano hams and boxes of H. Upmann cigars while he was imprisoned on the Isle of Pines. In one of his prison letters Fidel commented that he had actually gained weight in prison since he spent all day eating and reading in his suite of rooms and private courtyard. The photo of his release from prison after having served 21 months of a 15-year sentence fully corroborates his assertion.
Does Val think that Fidel and Raúl afford their political prisoners the accommodations which Batista did? Or for that matter, does he suppose that as a returning Cuban he would be granted free access to Castro's jails? Yes, he would enjoy special privileges in Cuba which our countrymen there don't, but that would not be one of them.
Bush's medal and Val's sandwich are not going to free Biscet. His freedom will come only when the Cuban people are free to exalt their heroes and punish their tormentors. Or to put it terms that Val can understand: when all Cubans are free to eat pan con bistec sandwiches.
POSTSCRIPT:
Henry has responded to Val's query with what appears to be a rebuke, warning him that were it known that he intended to visit Cuba for the stated purpose, it is likely that he would be put on the first plane to Miami or that "they would try to entrap him with some illicit behavior and blackmail [him]." Henry seems unaccountably certain about that. Val should listen to him.
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25 comments:
You're twisting the context, MAT.
Shame on you.
Nonee:
"Twisting the context?"
What "context?"
Kindly explain yourself.
He was asking the question to illustrate his position that lifting the embargo is not the magic bullet to Cuban social justice and democracy and freedom and low chlolesterol that everyone who seeks to lift it thinks it is.
I think they call it a rhetorical question. But you already know that. But I already know that you can't help yourself.
Still, well written. I can almost picture your wheels turn as I read. Then again, I still use my fingers to count, so what do I know.
Now, Henry's comment... pure self-important genius.
nonee:
How does his example illustrate that? If I said that I was going to go to Calcutta to bring Mother Theresa a box of condoms would that demonstrate that birth control is not the magic bullet for eradicating India's slums and extending equality to the untouchables?
P.S.: If you can "almost picture the wheels" of my brain turning, then you must be at my altitude. That's a very good place to be.
MAT, I don't know. Was Mother Theresa in need of a roll in the hay? Her libido imprisoned only by the lack of one of those little rubber things? Are you implying now that she died of hysteria?
The answer to your question, then, is no. But the answer to Val's question was also, quite plainly, no. Forgive me if I think Val's point, even as tritely served up, got across to me.
Maybe if he had misspelled something, like bistec, you could have swung at that and made better contact. The alacrity was there, as always. The aim? Not so much.
nonee:
One can't really misspell "bistec" since it is itself a phonetic misspelling of beef steak.
Personally, I think that Mother Theresa would have rejected the box of condoms and Dr. Biscet the pan con bistec.
I seem to recall that the spanish alphabet has no "k". I know I can't think of any true spanish words that begin with "k".
See MAT? Yet another thing you can school me on. Thank you, perfesser.
I agree tha Biscet would have rejected the cuban hoagie. It's just like Val to bring only one sandwich. The cheapskate.
Henry is in love with reading Henry. He's a legend in his own 5 year old political mind.
babalooozer bruizer
nonee:
We are now agreed: Why would one bring only one sandwich to a starving man? And why just a sandwich and not also a materva? Doesn't it bespeak a certain paucity of the soul, niggardliness even? It also presumes the same in Biscet since only someone like Val could eat a pan con bistec while others -- his friends and companions -- are starving around him.
Manny how about una jabita completa con casquitos de guayaba, matervas, pudin, congri, palatanitos maduros, fufu de platano, en fin otras cositas in addition to the sandwich
pero ojo, la esposa tendria que chequear todo eso primero no vaya a ser que alguien de la Seuridad del Estado introduzca un veneno o algo asi para despues culpar a la mafia de miami de envenenamiento o a la CIA
Why doesn't he perform the miracle of el pan con biste y el vaso de malta, now that he's at that???
I don't think Biscet would accept a glass of water from anybody if the other prisoners can't have the same.
If memory serves, there are only 35 Spanish words that start with "K". All of them with the greek root "kilo" (Kilogramo, Kilómetro) or foreign words (kimono, kayak, karate).
I always spelled "bistec". Or the more cubiche "bisté"
BTW Manuel I know you know that Marie Antoinette never uttered those words, poor unfortunate woman.
nonee
if memory serves me correctly, there is a K in the Spanish alphabet.
"No, the definition of the word 'idiot' beside Fantomas is Val Prieto and The Village Idiot Apprentice is Henry Bistec Gomez.They are just not equipped to handle living in this society.I not saying give them, the death penalty, just send them all to some deserted island permanently and let them kill each other off. We'll drop food once a week, and we'll all feel a little safer. Actually, that might be the next great reality-based show, "STUPID ISLAND - How Long Will They Survive." Maybe the last one to still be alive wins an invitation back to society. Knowing Val,and Henry though, I'm sure that they will all die at the same time in a tree cutting down incident.And probably cut up fantomas for a Bistec sandwich.
I have found that stupidity runs rampant in Babalu Land.
No, the definition of the word 'idiot' beside Fantomas is Val Prieto and The Village Idiot Apprentice is Henry Bistec Gomez.They are just not equipped to handle living in this society.I not saying give them, the death penalty, just send them all to some deserted island permanently and let them kill each other off. We'll drop food once a week, and we'll all feel a little safer. Actually, that might be the next great reality-based show, "STUPID ISLAND - How Long Will They Survive." Maybe the last one to still be alive wins an invitation back to society. Knowing Val,and Henry though, I'm sure that they will all die at the same time in a tree cutting down incident.And probably cut up fantomas for a Bistec sandwich.
3/12/2008 12:32 AM
Yo no se quien cojone escribio esto pero esta fantastico.asi me gusta . UHM..yo tengo una leve idea quien pueda ser....Anja, ya mismo, ya mismo les digo , tranquilitos todos
And probably cut up fantomas for a Bistec sandwich.
Anja o sea que ahora voy a parar en la barriga de Biscet , que bien
lol
Fantomas,
if you think of pinning that donkey tail me, you are mistaken. I always write with my own name and don't hide behind anonymous monikers. I would not cut you up into a bistec, but would be more creative, may be trying to make "picadillo" out of you and then feeding it to the pigs. But I am afraid I cannot inflict such punishment on my animals. It would not be humane to submit them to such putrid bad food for their meal, because after all I have to eat them later. It would be a sin called "Fantofagocitis".
how old are you Fariñas, your age please?
como se llamaba el high school musical de tu escuela el año pasado cuando te graduastes
lol
Fantomas:
Que burlon y que pesado eres.
Fantomas,
Now, how did you know about our musical from the High School? You are a telepathic genious or are you perhaps Mandrake the Magician from the old Havana newspaper "Informacion" comic strip? Did you consult with Lotario to be able to guess?
Well, you probably already know but the Musical is called:
"The saga of a phantasmagoric oriental rectal orifice with a rubber head"
The producers of the musical wanted a new promising star from the Puerto Rican scene of the theater of the absurd, to play the leading role in the musical, but he could not attend the performance and excused himself.
He claimed he had a much more pressing engagement to attend in Miami.
You see the performance of our musical takes place during the same week as Cuban Nostalgia, and there is a conflict of dates.
However we have been told by our sources, that he will be playing a secondary role there (after all he is a character actor) in the Babalu American Cuban Review starring Val, George and Henry. My sources in Miami have also told me that the performance is already sold out in advance.
I can't wait for the raving artistic reviews in the RCAB.
Lmao Agustin, good musical!
Agustin no te olvides en traer a tu mama, que le voy a dar un tremendo besote en la mejilla
Tu y yo vamos hablaremos en Nostalgia muy seriamente, te aseguro que cuando me conozcas caeras hipnotizado al instante, See, Fantomas has an aura of majestic powers out of this world
Estare como siempre presente junto con los compañeros de Babalu los cuales siempre dicen que si en tal magno evento
Este año habra sorpresas , estare firmando autografos el sabado de 11am a 11.30pm asi que alli estare haciendo acto de presencia
Vana deja la guataqueria ya por favor, luces mal
tomate una malta con leche condensada para que te endulces la vida , niña
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