10.25.07 kulturnatib

638 ways

Over the weekend, I stopped by one of the newest places in town where knock-offs abound. It is conveniently located between where I had come from and where I was eventually going to end up at and it is right along the road I was taking.

I had bought some music DVDs there before and I thought to check if the stall I bought those from would have new offerings. I wasn't looking for anything particularly new though, in fact, my taste in music definitely leans towards the old or the classics, to use a term that cannot be accused of ageism.

I'm not sure if the stall had disappeared or just the stack of DVDs -- I remember that stack but not the name of the stall -- but those DVD's were nowhere to be found.

Still, since it was located at the corner of this place where most of the computer stuff were to be found, I thought, I might as well have a look if the other stalls had anything interesting.

True enough, one stall had a gem of a find. The way it was displayed made sure that the image on the packaging was seen first.

As a visual and graphic artist images have a special pull for me. And, then this wasn't just any image but one done in the style of one of my favorite artists, Andy Warhol.

So the pull was irresistible, though, at first, I had a case of mistaken identity. It must be because the the single most popular image of this person whom I mistook for is also done in this similar style.

Yet, it was the title, that had me reaching for my wallet when I finally spied it: 638 Ways To Kill Castro. So, it was Castro and not Che, as I had mistakenly thought at first. Of course, the iconic cigar should have been the dead giveaway.

And, of course, too, I had known that there had been numerous plots to assassinate Castro. But numerous doesn't really say much. 638 does, which is, to say the least, astounding.

Both because it's really just too many attempts to beg skepticism and because none of them succeeded. This, especially since all those attempts were known and the majority of them were initiated, planned and funded by the worlds biggest military power that is just a spit away from Havana.

While this documentary presents the two sides of this 'murder' story, it is, as expected, from the side of those thwarting the assassination attempts that this particular number comes from, in the person of Fabian Escalante, now retired head of Cuban intelligence.

By his count, this is how the different US Presidents weigh in in terms of plots during their watch: Eisenhower – 38, Kennedy – 42, Johnson – 72, Nixon – 184, Carter – 64, Raegan – 197, Bush, Sr. - 16 and Clinton – 21.

The plots range from the simply bizarre to the spectacularly bumbling. Of the latter, none was more publicly humiliating than the Bay of Pigs fiasco where a supposed invasion of Cuban exiles was made short shrift by the Cuban self-defense militias and the US consequently taking all duplicitous routes to escape responsibility.

While this documentary is particularly enlightening as regards this very peculiar if utterly irrational, not to say anything about completely illegal and criminal way with which the US is dealing with Cuba, it should lead one with the slightest interest in Cuba, and not just Castro, to a bigger picture.

In the run up towards what could still be catastrophic consequences of global warming and the climate crisis and the very possible oil shortage as well, many – including Americans – are now looking at the experience of Cuba in what has been called transition, post-oil politics and economics.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union Cuba has had to deal with the loss of its main trading partner and source of oil. Cuba's dependence on the Soviet Union was almost complete and they had had to completely work around this loss which led to novel ways at managing their society from production to distribution to transportation, etc., including the recognition and encouragement of small entrepreneurial initiatives.

With the recent illness of Castro, it might just as be that no assassination will succeed better than the one hatched by the Grim Reaper himself. No matter one's view of Castro, there is much to learn from Cuba's on-going experiment that has kept them despite its admitted problems, from experiencing massive hunger, widening inequality, deepening oppression, social dislocation and explosion.

Despite its being in the middle of hurricane belt the shocking images of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, that also passed through Cuba, did not from Cuba. Instead, what came from Cuba were offers to send doctors, nurses, medical and emergency response personnel.