Viva Fidel, I mean down with Fidel… Oh, whatever!
Al’s Loupe
Viva Fidel, I mean down with Fidel… Oh, whatever!
By Alvaro F. Fernandez
alvaro@progresoweekly.com
Fidel Castro is still the most influential person in Miami. And in 2012, aside from the fact that he still wields a certain amount of power in Cuba, a retired, aged and frail Fidel may have more juice here in the exile capital, than even in Havana. His name in Miami begets the most primal reactions from regular people on the street, which then translates to a fear that is not so subtly attached to anything Castro. This social terror the Cuba issue provokes is part of the fabric of my hometown causing many to refuse to opine. They know a “wrong” answer can lead to an Ozzie Guillen situation.
By now the whole country knows that the “crazy Cubans” in Miami are up in arms, again, this time about a comment reported online in Time Magazine. It appears that Miami Marlins baseball manager Ozzie Guillen said he loved and admired Fidel Castro. Media around the country spread word of the statement and a wildfire of reactions ensued. In South Florida, the vocal idiots in homes, street corners, radio and TV called for Guillen’s firing.
I anticipated this. It just came sooner than expected. I know many others were waiting too. Guillen has been known to suffer from foot in mouth disease. He says what he feels unabashedly. Sometimes his comments are reactive and not well thought out. Often, after he’s had a few alcoholic beverages. But Ozzie’s a baseball player turned manager with a big mouth. Not a politician or statesmen. Still, there were many in this community behind microphones and politicians’ doors waiting for Guillen to play the part of buffoon – this time in Miami where they would not let him get away with it. And especially since many here knew of Ozzie’s past laudatory comments about Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. Men considered the devil and his brother by many in South Florida.
Now before we proceed let us set the record straight. Guillen is getting hammered by media and the community because of a statement made. Words said to a magazine writer. Period. He has not killed anyone or caused physical harm anywhere. But for that, he must be dumped. At least that’s what many in Miami think. In a press conference on Tuesday at the stadium he reversed his Time comment and said he hated Fidel and what he represented.
I say, who cares!
Lost in the ruckus is something Ozzie added during the interview, which I saw as most troubling. He told the reporter that when at away games he gets drunk after every ballgame. I have not seen too many complain about that fact. In other words, the possibility of alcoholism is OK.
The interesting fact is that Guillen’s statement was made in a country that touts its First Amendment – which purports your right to free speech – as its flag of freedom and democracy.
Ahhh! Miami. A true bastion of free speech…
Here you have a right to say and do as you please as long as it doesn’t displease a powerful and vocal segment of this community. If you step over the accepted threshold created by these persons (mostly of Cuban descent), then the rules don’t apply to you.
I’ve thought long and hard of what just happened with Guillen. And surely I have a right to be bothered (or not) by his love of Fidel. But to insist on firing him for words said?
The people calling for Guillen’s head are some of the same folks who attend ballgames in a stadium built by taxpayer dollars taken from us in the most heinous manner. We were duped by a Marlins’ ownership, and local politicians enticed by whatever it may have been the team offered them. Still, even The Miami Herald, who has documented the Marlins scam, celebrates the new stadium as if the deal had been done completely above board.
In the meantime, the neighborhood around that stadium and the people who live there – some since arriving here from Cuba – are slowly being moved out by the cost of new developments. This gentrification: a process that moves the unworthy (because they can’t afford it) out in order to make way for those who can deal with more expensive real estate and retail outlets. In other words, since you can’t afford (what you helped finance), you’re not welcomed. That’s referred to as progress.
Many of these same people are now up in arms about the Guillen controversy. I’d advised them to not allow the team (as well as politicians and community ‘leaders’ who see this as an opportunity) to divert their attention from what’s most important – what the stadium is doing to the surrounding community.
But in Miami, we’re still worried about Fidel – and the idiot who had the gall to admit that he loves the Cuban leader, probably after a few too many drinks.
