The Chivato and the Procurer

Phil Peters said on his blog today that he is not a CIA agent, contrary to what Henry had implied on Babalú. Of course, if Peters were a CIA agent one would hardly expect him to put his his livelihood in jeopardy by admitting it. Still, this was one of the luckiest days in Henry's life. He was busy backtracking on his privileged information when Peters left him off the hook. Still, the intent to harm Peters was there as unconcealed as Val Prieto's attempt on Killcastro's life. Of course, the latter was immeasurably worse because Peters does not have family in Cuba that could become hostages as Killcastro's did. The worse that could happen to Peters is that a lot of contacts at the highest levels of the Cuban government [sic] would fail to return his calls, or, in the worst case scenario, that he would be barred from travelling to Communist Cuba. That would have a catastrophic effect on both his public and his private life, granted, but he wouldn't have had his skull cracked as Killcastro's wife's brother-in-law did nor would he be imprisoned as Killcastro's cousin was. Still, the consequences of these acts, though important in determining their severity, do not speak to motive, and in both cases the motive was the same -- to disrupt their lives for the worse by making potentially-dangerous information about them public that neither does desired should be made public. That takes a long breath to say. In Spanish, it is so much easier: both Val & Henry are guilty of chivatería.

Phil Peters, if anyone ever doubted it, is a capitalist. We now have it on his own authority. He is, in fact, a capitalist of the old school. He has the same serene perspective on the exploitation of man by man that the robber barons of old did, except he is not one of them. He is merely their publicist, also in the 19th-century connotation, which combined both lobbyist and procurer. To put it in a simple but forceful way, Peters is a capitalist pimp. U.S. companies pay him money to introduce them to future business opportunities in Cuba and to do whatever lies in his power, through the Lexington Institute and his blog, to hasten the day when Cuba's captive workforce will be enlisted in the service of American corporations. Cubans, who have no labor laws to protect them and are hostages of a regime that actively encourages their exploitation, are ideal subjects for predatory capitalism, which, of course, is on the same continuum as Communism (which is always predatory).

With the monies it receives as "donations" from U.S. corporations interested in doing dusiness with Cuba's Communist overlords, the Lexington Institute underwrites and Peters himself conducts junkets for U.S. congressmen who want to "do Cuba," bringing them to places of interest there such as churches and soybean factories, according to him. The congressmen, after returning from the island, take their places as proud fighters against the embargo and for re-establishing relations with the Communist regime so that all Americans, not just themselves, may enjoy the privilege of visiting Baptist churches and soybean processing factories in Cuba.

Peters is also involved, in a strictly private capacity, in negotiating the return of stolen properties to their American owners through proxies. Since the thieves, Castro and his henchmen, are unwilling to turn these over to the corporate heirs of the original owners, Peters arranges marriages of convenience between the Cuban regime and their foreign subsidiaries. One hand washes the other hand and both hands are squeezing the collective neck of the Cuban people.

That is what Mr. Peters does, or, rather, what he facilitates. To be sure he does so with as much charm and commiseration as anyone could bring to such a task.