P.S. on Che Guevara

Vea abajo la versión en español.   Regarding our take on the Che Guevara cult By Maria C. Werlau September 9, 2019 The mailing we sent yesterday has stirred up quite a reaction. Many, a vast majority wrote in support, two friends wrote in disagreement, six requested with no comment to be unsubscribed from our mailing list (of many thousands) and the list also gained a few new subscribers.  Several people have called. In a few hours on a weekend, the online petition had hundreds of signatures (currently over 500). Some have copied us their messages to Barnes and Noble. A letter by Cuban Exiles United to Barnes and Noble has over 80 signatures. We are aware that Canada Free Press, 14ymedio, Diaro Las Américas, Diario de Cuba, CiberCuba and babalublog.com have covered the story and other journalists have called. The interest on all things Che never ceases to surprise. So, clarifying a few things seems in order. This organization, and I personally, do not favor or promote censorship. Mr. Enriquez, the author of Che, a revolutionary icon, has the right, which we strongly uphold, to produce his book, offer it however and to whoever he wishes, and share his fascination with Che Guevara freely and unrestricted. We also uphold the right of all entities, including businesses, to select his book for any type of distribution they prefer. That is the blessing of living in freedom, exercising rights that Che Guevara worked to deny and destroy.   We have not called for censorship but, rather, for Barnes and Noble to fairly apply the same standards for selection of the books they will sell on the subject of world tyrants/mass murderers or extreme/controversial views. (We infer these standards from an examination of their online and bookstore selections.) The book on Che Guevara in question lacks historical accuracy, deliberately distorts and omits essential facts, and promotes an ideology that has killed an estimated one hundred million persons. For this reason, we believe, its promotion offends Guevara’s direct and indirect victims and glorifies his tyrannical views and violent methods.   There are many other books on Che Guevara for sale at B&N that gloss over his crimes, most do! I have never called, personally or in the name of our organization, for these books to be removed. The one in question by Mr. Enriquez crosses the line, especially because it has been put in the face of the Cuban American community, in its “home base” of Miami, as  a “reference book." To rub salt in the wound, the tyrannical Cuban regime that Che helped put in place is at this time carrying out yet another wave of arrests of peaceful opponents (Che strongly favored the suppression of dissent by all means necessary).   We have not asked and will not ask B&N to carry other works on Che Guevara because, as a business (for-profit entity), it is they who decide what could be profitable (and appropriate), plus, authors and publishers are the ones who enter into that process. Why push back on Che Guevara? Our educational nonprofit organization advances human rights through information and our project on deaths and disappearances specifically fosters a culture of respect for life and the rule of law. The “activist” part of our mission is, however, selective because our resources are very limited for an enormous calling. Why, then, pick on Che Guevara? Because the pervasive Che cult is mired in historical distortion and used to advance methods that continue to cause great human suffering such as, in our own hemisphere, over 60 years of dictatorship in Cuba and an effective transfer of the Cuban system to Venezuela and Nicaragua. We also get many requests for information on Che Guevara by journalists, researchers, academics, etc.   We pick our battles. The resources expended on promoting the Che cult are enormous and Che has also become profitable merchandise. Practically speaking, we have no way to address that, however, we can select opportunities, especially when it involves reputable businesses or institutions helping build on a Che mythology that white-washes his crimes. A personal issue This is personal because I feel a moral duty to the victims of Che Guevara and their loved ones, to my family, and to my native country, Cuba, which I left as an infant. As Executive Director of this organization, I believe my actions are in line with the mission of our project, however, they don’t always or necessarily reflect those of all our Board members, supporters, or followers. That is why I wrote yesterday and today in first person, which is not the case with our usual mailings and reports.   Learn about MIguel Ares Polo, killed by Guevara. Example of the implications of the Che cult  Here is an “extreme” —some would say, “abhorrent”— view from a Che admirer who wrote to 14ymedio.com on our piece. He makes our point. nino09/09/2019 a las 06:26 gatito, el che fusilò solo a aquellos que debìan ser fusilados. Fusilar a los batistianos y a los progringos no es delito. Es una obra buena.jajajajajajajaja (“Kitty, Che executed only those who had to be executed. Executing Batista supporters and gringo supporters is not a crime. It’s a good deed. jajajajajajajaja”)   Moral dilemmas and questions How many people would have asked B&N to remove a glossy book titled “Osama Bin Laden, hero of the oppressed,” offered as a reference book in a prominent location at B&N bookstore near Ground Zero in Manhattan? Would B&N sell titles such as these: Hitler, great lover of the arts; Mussolini, a brilliant leader; Pot Pot, lessons in meritocracy; Charles Manson, a Hollywood icon; Terrorists’ profiles in courage?  This issue poses an ethical dilemma that deserves a thoughtful conversation. We welcome and encourage debate, especially when it is respectful. We beg for your open mind and compassionate heart. To those who object with these views, we ask for your understanding and tolerance. To those who support our work or any of our positions, we urge respectful, sober, and educated actions to uphold all human rights.   Take action …or not! The petition to B&N is optional. If you support the petition and have not signed yet, please do and send it to your friends and ask them to consider it. If you don’t, do nothing, there is no pressure whatsoever (isn’t freedom wonderful?...)   See our publication Che Guevara’s Forgotten Victims.  An updated edition is coming soon. Free Society Project, Inc., 2019. ©All rights reserved. www.CubaArchive.org    Reproduction and redistribution of this material are authorized as long as the source is cited. We need your support to continue this work Please visit our How to Help page to make a donation and learn how to help disseminate this work. Also, share it with your contacts. Cuba Archive’s Truth and Memory Project, an initiative of the Free Society Project, documents loss of life and trafficking in persons attributed to the Cuban revolution and promotes the understanding of transitional justice issues —truth, memory, and justice.