Monday, October 08, 2007

Spent the weekend in Miami so it's only fitting that I write a 305-centric post.

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Che Guevara. He whose image is the stencil for prepubescent rebellion, he who spearheaded Fidel Castro's coup d'etat in the 1950s to throw Cuba into a communist dictatorship, is being honored by leftist governments in Latin America -- more so, I suspect, for his standing up against the U.S. than for his communist ideals.

Interestingly enough, I heard nothing of the anniversary of Che's death down here. A local TV show dedicated to the ex-pat Cuban community instead featured a discussion on the life and times of Pedro Luis Boitel, a Cuban dissident who died during a hunger strike against Castro in the early 70s. This was followed by a trip to Versailles, the epicenter of the anti-Castro community here in Miami, where a plaque was recently unveiled in honor of the restaurant's status as an institution in the fight against Castro's regime.

It's funny how the story of the Cuban revolution has been hijacked by two figures, one of whom is dead, the other on his deathbed. Behind these two men are thousands of individuals who have fought, and continue to fight, for freedoms their country hasn't seen for the better part of a century.

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