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Gregory Favre: Ironies, contrasts revealed in
glimpses of Castro's Cuba
Gregory Favre: Cuba pins its hopes on tourism
(Published Oct. 27, 1998)
HAVANA -- It was way, way off Broadway, but it was incredible theater,
starring an aging actor who has been playing the same role for 40 years
in a show that most believed would certainly be closed by now.
But like "The Fantasticks" in New York, the play goes on. And
on and on.
The star is Fidel Castro, who is president of the Council of State,
president of the Council of Ministers, head of the Communist Party and
commander in chief of the armed forces in Cuba.
In other words, at 72, Castro is not only the star, but also the
producer, director and casting agent.
And, oh yes, he is also the dialogue coach. Or, more accurately,
the monologue coach.
For almost six hours one day last week, 35 American journalists
participated in a "conversation" with the Cuban leader, and we might still
be there if hunger didn't intervene. Our hunger, not his.
"You can have my rations," he said. It was almost 6 and lunch
was waiting.
Maybe that's why he looks thinner than expected in his starched
and crisply pressed fatigues. The only hint of his age is a little stiffness
in his back when he rises from the chair and what looks like a not-so-good
Grecian Formula job on his hair.
But there is nothing wrong with his vocal cords. He took all those
hours to answer just 15 questions. And each answer -- one ran 55 minutes
-- was accompanied by hand gestures, facial expressions, whispers and verbal
crescendos, pauses to look at notes and challenges to questions that probed
the obvious failures of the system he has presided over for four decades.
And when he didn't want to answer a question, he simply didn't and filibustered
on other matters. We saw it all, his entire repertoire, and it was impressive.
But then, that was the first time for us. The men around him,
National Assembly leader Ricardo Alarcn, Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina,
Vice President Carlos Lage and others, have heard it many, many times before.
And, quite frankly, most of them looked bored.
There was nothing he could say about the U.S. embargo, the Cuban
exile community in Miami, the balancing act of a dollar and peso economy,
the pope's visit, his own future, his angry rebuttal of an article in Forbes
that said he was worth $1.5 billion, his country after he is gone, that
they haven't heard before. And before. And before.
Or, for that matter, that we haven't read about.
But it is easy to understand after watching Castro in action how
his personality has dominated this island for so many years.
There doesn't seem to be anyone with that kind of charisma and
power to follow in his footsteps. The next generation of leaders is smooth,
less bombastic, clothed in modern dress, looking less like revolutionaries
than guys on their way to the office or, in the case of Foreign Minister
Robaina, on the way to the disco.
And, besides, Castro plans on sticking around a lot longer.
"I do not have the right to retire in the midst of such a struggle,"
he says. "As long as I have energy, I will be here." Anyway, when he does
die, he predicts things won't change and maybe they will be even better.
It won't take a lot to be much better for most Cubans. Doctors
make 300 to 400 pesos a month, 20 pesos to a dollar. Bellmen, cabdrivers,
waiters, those in the tourist industry make much, much more in dollars.
And that's the dilemma of this country. Tourist are needed. As
are new hotels to attract them, hotels, by the way, that won't allow Cubans
in unless they work there.
The country needs the dollars sent here by American relatives.
It needs foreign investments. Right now, it is on a life-support system
and the oxygen is running low.
But the play goes on and the lead actor would never admit that
the script is frayed and that the audience is getting restless.
He still gives himself good reviews. And the critics are silenced
because there is no press freedom.
But the play goes on. And on.
-
GREGORY FAVRE, vice president of news for The McClatchy Co., was
one of 35 U.S. journalists from the American Society of Newspaper Editors
who visited Cuba last week.
