Re: [Marxism] Operation Fangio

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

PLEASURE ISLAND: Tourism and Temptation in Cuba
by Rosalie Schwartz
University of Nebraska Press 1997

Fangio had only praise for his captors; in fact, given the
tragedy in the race, he told reporters, they may have saved
his life. Major media outlets in Europe and the Americas
repeated his appreciative wont, Joe Brown's televised
first-round knockout became a footnote to Ili, amazing and
tragic Gran Premio story.

The audacious kidnapping had even more power than
explosives Manuel Garcia could not have done better. Castro
and his supporters already had denounced the government for
wasting money on big sports events instead of aiding the
unemployed. They had openly threatened to cripple Cuba's
most important sports contest in order to embarrass Batista
and force him to call off the race. They had circulated
bulletins for three days, warning Cubans to stay off the
streets and away from public spectacles. To reinforce their
point, they had hurled phosphorus bombs into seats and
aisles of Radio Centro Theater in the heart of Havana.

Twenty-five years later, on 24 February 1983, Fangio
received a cable in his office at Mercedes Benz
headquarters in Buenos Aires: "On the occasion of the
twenty-fifth anniversary of your historic encounter with
the Twenty-sixth of July Movement, we remember you fondly
and wish you health and well-being. That episode, more than
a kidnapping and patriotic detention, together with your
noble attitude and fair understanding, served the cause of
our people, who feel great kindness for you and in whose
name we salute you at the end of a quarter of a century. In
hopes of seeing you again in Cuba, your friendly
kidnappers."

Faustino Perez Hernandez, the Cuban official who signed the
cable, had headed the successful 1958 kidnapping operation.
He had accompanied Castro on the Granma, the boat that had
carried the rebels from Mexico to Cuba in December 1956.
They had hidden together for days, almost afraid to breathe
for fear of discovery by the soldiers who hunted them. They
had made their way to the Sierra Maestra, and when Castro
stayed to build the guerrilla movement in mountains, Perez
had returned to Havana as a member of the twenty-sixth of
July Movement's national directorate.

(The story is a good deal longer than this.)

FULL: 
http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs1121.html

Also:
Juventud Rebelde
February 23, 2006
The Fangio kidnapping
by Armando Hart 
http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs413.html




=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un ParaÃso bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================

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