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Cuba honors American who made Castro a legend
They should send Pinchy a picture. I'm sure he'd love to have it framed and up in the lobby.HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba unveiled a marble plaque on Saturday commemorating the interview 50 years ago by New York Times reporter Herbert Matthews that helped build the legend of Fidel Castro, the state news agency Prensa Latina reported. I wonder if the Times will go black border when Fidel finally croaks? The plaque was placed on the spot where Matthews met with Castro at his hideout in the Sierra Maestra mountains of south eastern Cuba. Castro had taken to the hills two months earlier with a handful of men who survived a disastrous landing from Mexico to launch a guerrilla movement against U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. The government had claimed Castro was dead. Matthews' article, published by The New York Times on Feb 24, 1957, showed Castro was still alive and fighting. It immediately made the 30-year-old firebrand an international figure. I'm sure the Times was glad to help out... In that glowing article Matthews wrote: "The personality of the man (Castro) is overpowering. It was easy to see that his men adored him and also to see why he has caught the imagination of the youth of Cuba all over the island. Here was an educated, dedicated fanatic, a man of ideals, of courage and of remarkable qualities of leadership." Sounds like Walter Duranty taught him well. The interview may also have helped Castro by exaggerating the size of his rebel force. Castro later bragged he only had 18 men at the time, but made them pass in front of the American reporter several times. Being a Times reporter, he was probably easily duped. If he even wanted to be... Less than two years after the interview, Castro and his revolutionary companion Ernesto "Che" Guevara swept down from the hills and overthrew the Batista government in a leftist revolution that steered Cuba toward communism. Another Great Moment in NYT History... Matthews, a senior editorial writer at The New York Times when he interviewed Castro, died in 1977. Posted by: tu3031 2007-02-20 |
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