Humberto Fontova and Anatasio Blanco Take Opposite Sides on Remittances

Like Marc Másferrer but without being subjected to an auto-da-fé, Anatasio Blanco has broken ranks with "Founding Editor" Val Prieto and Babalú's other revanchists and declared his support for remittances, the Cuban people's only lifeline at this apex of national crises. As I asked recently: "Is it possible for 17 Cubans (and philo-Cubans) to approach the subject of Cuba with perfect conformity of minds?" Apparently not:

I do not believe this means we should shy away from providing our families with financial assistance at a time of great distress. It is for those receiving the funds to be discreet if necessary. The way this money is handled once it reaches the hands of our brothers is entirely up to them, not us.

While this type of story is all-too-common, I don't believe it should impede us from helping our padres, tios y primos in a bid to alleviate at least a bit of their perpetual suffering.

No doubt many will disagree with me, and that's alright, but, those are my "two cents."

Regards,

-AB

Posted by: CubaWatch at September 25, 2008 01:47 PM

Let's see if another of Babalú's 15 contributing writers cares to prove that he has no homicidal intent vis-à-vis the Cuban people. Humberto Fontova, whom I admire as a popularizer of Cuba's pre-revolutionary history and debunker of the myth of social progress under Castro, has offset Anatasio's defection from the cult of the Human Pressure Cooker by declaring himself one of those who would choke the Cuban people in order to strangle Castro:

From "Paredon!-Paredon!"--to "Please send me remittances!"

"Paredon! Paredon! Paredon!"......"Si Fidel es comunista, me ponen en la lista!" "Gusano!...Gusanos!...Mercenarios!!"

This was bad enough when so many of us were leaving. This was also screamed at the captured men and boys who put their lives on the line to liberate Cuba during the Bay of Pigs, as they were marched in hand-cuffs and Cuban crowds spat at them and screamed insults....Wonder how many of those screamers are now screaming for remittances from those same gusanos?

Just wondering.

Posted by Humberto at September 25, 2008 04:59 PM

Fontova's contention that Cubans should turn their backs on their relatives on the island because their grandfathers or great-grandfathers once shouted "¡Paredón!" amounts to nothing less than a bar sinister on all Cubans. Worse even than guilt by association, he advocates guilt by blood. He does not say for how many generations Cubans should be thus cursed; but we suspect that it is at least the Biblical seven generations. Fontova makes no pretense that he wants to starve the Cuban people in order to facilitate their freedom. He is quite clear that he only wishes to punish them. His honesty is actually refreshing after so much dissimulation.

The Cubans responsible for installing Fidel Castro in power 50 years ago, who cheered his every usurpation and fed his insatiable blood lust, are now Castro's age, give or take 10 years. No Cuban born after 1959 ever shouted "¡Paredón!" and they constitute the overwhelming majority (85%) of the Cuban population. Nor would it be fair to say that all surviving septugenerians or octogenerians did, either.

What is undoubtedly true, however, is that as many paredonistas live in Miami as in Cuba. There is no such thing as an ex-fidelista just as there is no such thing as an ex-Nazi. Although they may have succeeded in putting miles and years between themselves and the scene of their crimes, and even if they feign regret or deny their complicity, they are no less guilty than those who never regretted their crimes or denied their complicity. If these fidelistas sin Fidel had remained in Cuba, they would not have escaped the consequences of their acts. Their decampment to Miami was the historical and moral equivalent of the Nazis' flight to South America. Many of these characters transmogrified into anti-Communists and became the most rabid enemies of the very people whose lives and country they destroyed before fleeing from the general conflagration.

So when is Fontova going to call for the denaturalization of the children and grandchildren of Miami's historical fidelistas sin Fidel? When will he label them hypocrites and worse for wishing to punish the children of Cuba for the crimes which their fathers and grandfathers committed while they themselves were children in Cuba? When is Fontova going to demand the seizure of their assets and the distribution of this money as reparations to Castro's victims on the island? When is he going to suggest that they should go hungry in expiation of the crimes of their fathers?

An exile who seeks revenge on innocent Cubans is no different from the bloodthirsty rabblerouser that led the masses in crying "¡Paredón!" at the dawn of the Revolution.