Cuban intellectual Norberto Fuentes has written a "deliciously wicked construct" about – rather, by – Fidel Castro, a book that is in fact a "faux autobiography," a "brew of history and satire" that "purports to channel the wily Cuban strongman," says reviewer/journalist Ann Louise Bardach in The San Francisco Chronicle.
The Autobiography of Fidel Castro (W. W. Norton) is, in Bardach's opinion, "a masterful act of ventriloquism, offering a Castro who is prideful, intuitively Machiavellian and relentlessly cynical."
"Fuentes' Maximum Leader holds forth on all matters, great and small, just as Castro, now Cuba's convalescent-in-chief, does in his 'Reflections,'" Bardach writes. "What is most remarkable are the many similarities between Castro's version [of history] and that of Fuentes."
"In scant evidence are positive or human qualities," the reviewer writes. "Above all, this monumentally proud and narcissistic Castro trusts no one. And this is certainly true." For the entire review, click here.
Ann Louise Bardach, as The Chronicle reminds us, is the author of Without Fidel: A Death Foretold in Miami, Havana and Washington, and Cuba Confidential: Love and Vengeance in Miami and Havana. She will be in Florida soon, to talk about her own Fidel-related book, at • The Tangerine Theater, Jupiter Island, Jan. 23
at 5 p.m.
• Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables, Jan. 24 at 6 p.m.
• The Blake Library of Martin County, 2351 S.E. Monterey Road, Stuart, Jan. 22-23 at 8:30 a.m.
• University of Miami Law School, Feb. 19-20. (SHOWN HERE: Fuentes, between Raúl and Fidel, in an undated photo.)
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.
Books, magazines, Fidel and Obama
A reminder to bibliophiles and Castro-watchers in the Miami area 
that, on Sunday, Nov. 15, at 11 a.m., journalist Ann Louise Bardach will be at the Miami Book Fair to discuss her book "Without Fidel: A Death Foretold in Miami, Havana and Washington." (A review Saturday in The Miami Herald describes the book as "clear-eyed and well-researched." Click here to read it.)
The site is Miami Dade College, 300 NE Second Ave., Pavilion Tent A.
P.S. The latest from Fidel is that the French publication Paris-Match this week ran several photographs of him at home, made in January during a visit by filmmaker Oliver Stone, and titled the report "Fidel, l'inoxydable" – "Fidel, the rustless one."
Also, today Thursday (Nov. 12), El Comandante published a critical article about Barack Obama ("How much I regret having to criticize Obama," it begins) in which he describes the American president's upcoming trip to Asia and Russia as "a science fiction tale."
It's in Cubadebate; click here. [UPDATE: For Bardach's views on Castro's long goodbye, read her article in Friday's issue of the Los Angeles Times, titled just that: "Fidel Castro's long goodbye." Sample quote: "Until Castro is in the grave, we will be hearing from him." Click here.]
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.
The site is Miami Dade College, 300 NE Second Ave., Pavilion Tent A.
P.S. The latest from Fidel is that the French publication Paris-Match this week ran several photographs of him at home, made in January during a visit by filmmaker Oliver Stone, and titled the report "Fidel, l'inoxydable" – "Fidel, the rustless one."
Also, today Thursday (Nov. 12), El Comandante published a critical article about Barack Obama ("How much I regret having to criticize Obama," it begins) in which he describes the American president's upcoming trip to Asia and Russia as "a science fiction tale."
It's in Cubadebate; click here. [UPDATE: For Bardach's views on Castro's long goodbye, read her article in Friday's issue of the Los Angeles Times, titled just that: "Fidel Castro's long goodbye." Sample quote: "Until Castro is in the grave, we will be hearing from him." Click here.]
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.
Cuban magazine pans Juanita's book
The book is "a pamphlet created to roll out assertions that are frankly unimportant," the magazine says. (See our Oct. 24 blog item, "'Shocking revelations' about the Castros...")
"Through techniques of recycling and political marketing that include publicity, manipulation and sensationalism, the anti-Castro industry in Miami [...] has marketed a new product, the memoirs of Juanita Castro," the magazine says in an article titled "Memoirs to be forgotten."
The book's publication "is all the more shocking precisely because, in order to distance himself from the habitual frivolity like no other Western leader in more than 50 years, Fidel Castro has made an effort to preserve the privacy of his family from the avatars of his public activities," the article says.
"If it is true that in the early 1960s the author worked for the CIA, she would have been just one of thousands of Cubans who – in exchange for gifts, money or other motivations, among them hatred, the desire for revenge, and intolerance – worked for the CIA and lent themselves to serve as pawns of U.S. policy against Cuba.
"Were this the case, the difference is that she also conspired against close relatives. There is no merit or exceptionality in that behavior, only the opposite," the article says. "The enemies of the revolution for once were casting a spotlight on their misdeeds, [...] The truth is clear: Fidel Castro is the victim, the one offended, the individual who was conspired against and who has maintained a silence that honors and elevates him."
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.
'Shocking revelations' about the Castros reportedly appear in book by their sister
Juanita Castro Ruz will air the dirty linen of her brothers Fidel 
and Raúl in a book that will be released next Monday, Oct. 26, but will be previewed on South Florida's Univisión-Noticias 23 tomorrow Sunday, Oct. 25.
The program, at 11 p.m., will be the first of eight episodes about "Fidel and Raúl, my brothers; The secret history," a 432-page book published by Miami-based Santillana USA. The book will be released simultaneously in the U.S., Spain, Colombia, and Mexico. It was edited and printed in total secrecy because (the publishers say) it contains "shocking revelations."
Juanita, 76, who did not see eye to eye with the Revolution, came to the U.S. in 1964. In Miami, she owned and operated a pharmacy from 1973 to 2007. [UPDATE: Juanita admitted that she collaborated with the CIA during the 1960s. For the Miami Herald story, click here.]
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.
The program, at 11 p.m., will be the first of eight episodes about "Fidel and Raúl, my brothers; The secret history," a 432-page book published by Miami-based Santillana USA. The book will be released simultaneously in the U.S., Spain, Colombia, and Mexico. It was edited and printed in total secrecy because (the publishers say) it contains "shocking revelations."
Juanita, 76, who did not see eye to eye with the Revolution, came to the U.S. in 1964. In Miami, she owned and operated a pharmacy from 1973 to 2007. [UPDATE: Juanita admitted that she collaborated with the CIA during the 1960s. For the Miami Herald story, click here.]
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.
New book on Fidel is launched this week
"Among the most interesting sections are Bardach's description of the U.S. government's
The reviewer concludes by saying that "Bardach, like few other Cuba-watchers, is able to weave together the personal and the political, bringing to life the complex history of the tiny Caribbean island and its decades-old feud with the world's superpower." To read the entire review, click here. For background, read our blog items "Fidel has 10+ children..." (Sept. 26) and "Two Cuba watchers...") (Oct. 1.)
Two Cuba watchers in blogged debate
Here are the topics the two Cuba watchers discuss in about half an hour:
• Is the massive attack on Cuba's peace concert a sign of change?
• Cuba's relations with Russia, China and Venezuela.
• Will the embargo finally end?
• Will there be a Cuban Gorbachev?
• Annie's legal fight resulting from her interview in The New York Times with Luis Posada Carriles.
• The Havana-Miami connection and Cuba's future.
– Renato Pérez Pizarro.
New book explores Fidel-Che relationship
The Washington Post on Saturday published a review of Simon Reid-Henry's book "Fidel and Che: A Revolutionary Friendship."
And Reid-Henry "airbrushed his portraits" most carefully in the chapters on Guevara's "disastrous expedition to Bolivia," Speck says. "He rejects the idea of a rupture between the two revolutionaries, though it is hard to see how Castro could have tolerated his charismatic friend's increasingly intemperate criticism of their Soviet allies."
Guevara's attempt to start a revolution from scratch in Bolivia was a flop, but Reid-Henry does not go into the reasons, the reviewer says. Click here for the entire review.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.
And Reid-Henry "airbrushed his portraits" most carefully in the chapters on Guevara's "disastrous expedition to Bolivia," Speck says. "He rejects the idea of a rupture between the two revolutionaries, though it is hard to see how Castro could have tolerated his charismatic friend's increasingly intemperate criticism of their Soviet allies."
Guevara's attempt to start a revolution from scratch in Bolivia was a flop, but Reid-Henry does not go into the reasons, the reviewer says. Click here for the entire review.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.
Collection of Fidel's ideas hits bookstalls
Do you remember The Little Red Book of Mao Zedong-thought that was so popular in China in the 1960s? Well, a Dictionary of Fidel Castro's Thoughts will be launched next Saturday in Havana, according to the daily Granma.
The book, "in which the criteria and concepts expressed by the Commander in Chief appear in alphabetical order" will be "a tool of extreme value for ideological debate in the contemporary world and the construction of socialism in our country," the paper says.
As explained in the foreword, it is "a selection from Fidel's body of ideas, starting from those propositions that contain the most essential and educational political and philosophical dimensions."
Granma doesn't say if the book is large or little, but If you get a first-edition copy, save it. It may become a collectible.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.
A close look at a timely book
I have received an invitation from F.I.U. that I shall pass on to you more-or-less verbatim:
"I'm delighted to pass on an invitation to a discussion of The Cuba Wars: Fidel Castro, the United States, and the Next Revolution sponsored by the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University. The event will take place at Books and Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 24. Author Dan Erikson will discuss the current state of U.S.-Cuba relations and present findings from his book, which Foreign Affairs called a 'fresh, astute, and compassionate exploration of the past two decades of U.S.-Cuban relations' and Current History labeled 'the most important book on Cuba in a generation.' A reception and book-signing will follow. For more information, contact the Cuban Research Institute at 305-348-1991 or cri@fiu.edu."
---FRANCES ROBLES.
