General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBig Trouble in Little Havana: The Perilous Politics of Ozzie Guillen
Big Trouble in Little Havana: The Perilous Politics of Ozzie Guillen
by Dave Zirin
April 9, 2012
Short of a hurricane or an armed taxpayer revolt, this had to have been Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Lorias worst nightmare. Loria was opening a new state-of-the-art, tax-funded stadium in Little Havana that will cost the city $2 billion over the next forty years. He also paid out several hundred million dollars in salary for free agents, making his new ballplayers the nations wealthiest public employees. This was the last, best, chance to sell baseball in South Florida. Loria desperately needed a hot start for his team and some sugary-sweet media coverage for his new ballpark. Then his new manager, Ozzie Guillen, decided to share his views about Cuba and Fidel Castro. Guillen tends to talk without a filter, and in an interview with Time magazine, he revealed that he happens to not believe that Castro is Satan incarnate. Saying that he loved Castro, Guillen explained, I respect Fidel Castro. You know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but that son of a b is still here.
The Miami Marlins immediately released a condemnation of Guillen, but that couldnt stop a volcanic political explosion. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez called on the organization to take decisive steps against Guillen in the name of freedom-loving people. Miami-Dade County Commission Chairman Joe Martinez demanded Guillens resignation. Cuban-American State Senator and Hispanic caucus chair Rene Garciain record time!sent an open letter published in the Miami Herald calling Guillens comments appalling and said he was looking forward to further actions taken against him for his deplorable comments. Garcia also stuck Loria in the ribs by including, What I also consider disturbing is the fact that the Miami Marlins received tax dollars from this community, including Cuban-American exiles, to fund the construction of the new stadium. Suffice it to say, many a sports commentator also want Guillen fired or suspended. In their frothy anger, they have a common demand with the Cuban hardline exile group Vigilia Mambisa. An organization that has never shied from street violence and intimidation, Vigilia Mambisa has called for protests in front of the stadium until the Miami Marlins manager is fired.
Lets leave aside the rather glaring irony that the politicians, sports commentators and Cuban exiles want to show their love of freedom by taking Guillens job for the crime of exercising free speech. The fact is that when looking for political consistency and clarity, Ozzie Guillen is not the best place to start. The Venezuela-born Guillens comments on Castro are not very different from what he has always said about Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. He has made comments very favorable about Chávez and very negative. He said, Viva Chávez after his Chicago White Sox won the 2005 World Series. He has also been one of Chávezs most high-profile critics.
Trying to make sense of Guillen based on public utterances is a fools errand. As someone who knows people that talk to Guillen when the cameras are off, I will try to explain his actual politics on Venezuela and Cuba. Guillen is big on a collective Latin American pride and will not abide anti-immigrant and anti-Latino words or deeds. He has a great deal of respect for the way Castro and Chávez stand up to the United States. He opposes efforts by the United States to impose its will on these countries and wishes the rest of Latin America would show similar mettle. Its not a question of the relative good or bad of Cubas internal politics. Its a question of independence. Hes also as gung-ho for the United States as any manager in baseball, going as far as to fine players for not showing proper respect for the National Anthem, a practice I criticized in 2005. I know that people love portraying Ozzie Guillen as an out-there, crazy kind of guy, and thats in part because he is an out-there crazy kind of guy. But whats crazier? Guillens views on Cuba or the fact that an aging coterie of people who mourn for the strong hand of Fulgencio Batista control the political debate in South Florida?
Read the full article at:
http://www.thenation.com/blog/167303/big-trouble-little-havana-perilous-politics-ozzie-guillen
cindyperry2010
(846 posts)Better Believe It
(18,630 posts)I don't think he's stupid at all. He just isn't into politics that much.
cindyperry2010
(846 posts)i think he is stooooooooooooopid
Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)flamingdem
(39,321 posts)Many Cubans in Miami benefit from the embargo and we know the politicians are right wing crooks.
They moved their mafiaesque behavior to Miami and hold the city hostage to their hipocrisy.
I'm glad Guillen can show how narrow minded they are ... many suffer from this and it needs to end.
He's allowed to admire anyone he wants, even in Little Havana
socialist_n_TN
(11,481 posts)are pretty RW. Anti communist to a fault and you're correct, they long for the days of Batista. Probably because he protected them from the people of Cuba.
Gidney N Cloyd
(19,847 posts)Not challenging your point at all, I'm genuinely curious.
PM me if you'd rather not start a sub-thread.
flamingdem
(39,321 posts)by being a victim -- Arturo Sandoval with his 2 million dollar club in Miami Beach uses the anti-Cuban line to get support even though he was a communist and hung out with Fidel --- tons of businesses have grown up around the need of Cubans on the island and they exploit relatives with huge costs to carry things to Cuba ... and for example the flights between Florida and Havana are 600-1000 rt for a 90 mile ride.
So the old guard anti-Cubans who run things squeeze the newcomers, often people of color by the way, and don't allow any breathing room, and don't share any power.
But the worst abuse comes from supposed anti-communist outfits like Radio Marti, they beam in radio to Cuba that no one listens to and rake US taxpayers, and are often caught with hand in til, and the 50 million in USAID funds that go to pay the likes of Alan Gross, not Cuban but benefitting, and other crooks in Washington DC at "Freedom House" and the like to "foster democracy", everyone including Obama and especially Hillary are GUILTY of pandering to the thugs in Miami.
Here is a blog that deals with the subject of US taxpayer dollars and Cuba:
http://cubamoneyproject.org/
Daniel537
(1,560 posts)Even Chris Matthews got into the act today. Talk about the biggest non-issue since, probably something that happened last week, lol.
Better Believe It
(18,630 posts)sort of thing.
XanaDUer
(12,939 posts)Were dying off.
RZM
(8,556 posts)Yes, I said it.
He honestly can't help himself. If there's a cause where there's a conceivable position that appears to stick it to whitey/the man, he's on it.
His Tebow coverage has been biased the point of absurdity, going back before the guy was even in the NFL.
Better Believe It
(18,630 posts)I really don't know what the hell your writing about because I've read and liked his columns challenging racism and big business.
RZM
(8,556 posts)Zirin has shit on Tebow since day one.
Once he started winning games, he acknowledged that his fourth quarters were great, but still managed to shit on him anyway.
Guess what? A player's personal beliefs shouldn't influence a sport's reporter's opinion of his performance. Zirin has shown many times that he isn't capable of that. It's patently obvious that Zirin desperately desires Tebow to fail and has only given him the most grudging of respect when he won games.
Like I said, he can't help himself.
OJ is a murdering asshole. But he still ran for 2,000 yards in a season. I have no problem separating his off the field conduct from his legendary performance on the field. Zirin simply isn't capable of that. That makes him a shitty sports reporter. Fuck him.