Is Val Prieto Yoani Sánchez's "Blog Grandfather?"

I shall soon have reached my limit for enduring it, but is there no limit to Val Prieto's monomania? And his underlings, are they so bereft of any sense of shame that they will allow him to make a fool of himself as a way of life without trying at least to restrain him? Has it reached the point that contradiction is treason at Babalú? Have the "magnificent cadres" grown so accustomed to the fact that the emperor has no clothes that they would feel embarrassed to see him except au naturel? And does this not bespeak some decline in their own moral physiognomy that places them in the same relation to Val as Fidel's fawning henchmen in respect to him except without greater compulsion or fear than Val's displeasure and the threat of disassociation from Babalú?

Val has asserted yet again that Yoani Sánchez is the creation of his own feeble imagination. He willed her into being 5 years ago when he made the decision to bestow on the world the gift of his own genius. On ground as fertile as the desert did wonders grow; and the most wonderful of these the unique and universal genius of Yoani Sánchez. I do not know what witch's spell Val used to conjure her; but suspect that the proceedings took place in his "Human Pressure Cooker" where he has conducted his experiments on Cubans in the past. Now there is nothing unusual in stupid parents (or grandparents) producing brilliant offspring, though the inverse is still more common. So we shall not dismiss on account of the intellectual disparity between them Val's claims of being Yoani's organic ancestor.

If Val is indeed Yoani's spiritual or political grandfather, then he bears the same relationship in respect to her that slaveholders did towards their sons' biracial babies. These children were only "wanted" because they increased the family's patrimony, and the best way to turn them to good account was to sell them down the river. This is in effect what Val did the moment he laid eyes on her. He viewed her suspiciously from the first, as he inevitably regards any Cuban who is not in jail or actively being persecuted by Castro's henchmen. The "enemy" in Cuba is the 90 percent of the population that have not yet decided to be martyrs, which, incidentally, is not incumbent on any man or woman (as Val himself should know). Martyrdom is by definition voluntary or else it is not martyrdom.

Had he merely been indifferent to her or even ignored her, Val would have greater claims to consider himself her patron. But he did not ignore her. He made his unfounded "suspicions" about her abundantly clear from the first and for a long time afterwards. Some Babalunians asserted when this was pointed out to them by Rick not long ago that Val was merely being prudent in sizing up Yoani because we Cubans (some of us, anyway) have been misled by false prophets before. Well, there is nothing wrong with prudence; but prudence would have required of Val that he maintain a respectful silence until he had verified for himself Yoani's real intentions. But he did not.

Val attacked her from the very first with an intensity that was bewildering. One would have thought that he had been granted a peak into her DGI dossier. When interviewed for The Wall Street Journal last year, he voiced his suspicions about her authenticity and declared that it was too early to know whether she was the real thing or not. Val's input was solicited for a WSJ story on Yoani. Imagine. By that time Yoani was already Cuba's most famous blogger, with both a national and international following that Val himself might envy (and probably did), famous enough to merit a front-page story in the WSJ but still suspect in Val's eyes, though he had no problem leeching on her reputation for a passing mention in The Journal.

As her fame grew and it became obvious even to him that nothing was to be gained and much loss by vilifying her, Val joined at last the chorus of her admirers. In fact, in his awkward and bumptious way, he became the choirmaster, praising in post after post her "balls" while wondering why other Cubans' are not as pendulous as hers. His fawning has become almost as insupportable as his erstwhile hostility and is no doubt intended to overshadow it. But really, when even Rick can recall his duplicity, is there even one Cuban blogger who is not aware of it? Perhaps only one -- Yoani herself. But, then again, she also endorsed Barack Obama. Like all Cubans on the island, her sources of information about what happens outside of it are very limited. Or perhaps she is as diplomatic as Val is reckless and self-defeating.

Val has claimed to be Yoani's "blog grandfather" before. But before this connection can be verified, Val must provide us with the name of the father. Who is this putative father who stands between putative grandfather and putative granddaughter? The question is not without significance and at present no plausible answer suggests itself.

The only Cuban blogger that Val Prieto ever "inspired" to start a blog is me. He "inspired" me with his arrogance, ignorance and presumption. I do not discount the possibility that he may also have inspired Yoani in the same way. But only in that way.

Other posts relating to Val and Yoani:

Val Prieto Visits RCAB for the Last Time
Yoani Endorses Obama and Val Endorses McCain
The Many Colors of Val Prieto