Food (Channel) for thought (Updated)
Amid beautiful images of Cuba, of the men and women of the island, the Food Channel managed to insert a shameless and shameful infomercial plug on behalf of fidel kagasstro.
Mariel Hemingway presented the land that was dear to her grandfather, and of course, missed the mark in the worst possible way. The (non existent) embargo was blamed a couple of times for the disgraces of the Cuban people and rationing was mentioned only once. The most offensive part is the total ignorance of the tourism apartheid under which Cubans live, disguising the absence of Cubans from tourist spots, as "they cannot afford it".She should have mentioned that they cannot afford it because they are not free to own property of businesses in their own country, for starters. The show even goes beyond the offensive by presenting very superficially the live of Cubans. The paladar is presented as a normal legal business, when in fact they are routinely raided by the misgovernment and when taxes higher in proportion to those paid in the US apply. She never mentioned that the condition for the business to exist is to employ solely family members and to be subject to scrutiny from the repressive forces and fiscal units.
Two things I can say on her favor, she is a gorgeous woman who did a big disservice to herself and to the heritage of her family. The other, she had to recognize that with kagasstro in power even a cultural monument as her grandfather's house is in danger of being lost forever. The contents are lost at least for the Hemingways, because kagasstro confiscated the estate many years ago. She mentioned the pollution, that's killing the once beautiful Harbor of Mariel and that has killed many other beautiful places in the Island. She also mentions the rationing cards in the passage at the farmers market of 19 & B, in el Vedado. The misery of Cuba was show, loosely in the background. That's a country that was the fourth economy of the Americas in 1958, which received more than one million immigrants from 1902 to 1958 and which from 1959 to 2005 has seen two million Cubans go live in exile.
Besides ignoring the fact that Cuba is under a communist rule, the whole infomercial seemed to be designed to rally the anti embargo crowd (it's not an embargo, it's a cash only policy for God sake) and to promote traveling to Cuba. The show ignored the plight of the Cuban people and didn't mention anything about why Cubans leave their country. I refuse to believe that the people in the Food Channel scheduled this show without malice, in this precise time when repression it's at its highest in Cuba and where the sandalistas are exerting more pressure in the US to "liberalize" the policies regarding Cuba. The Food Channel owes the American public and apology for lying downright about Cuba and for promoting personal propaganda of an enemy of this country, fidel kagasstro. This is the same criminal who wanted to destroy this country and whose rule Hemingway fled. Discreetly enough, the show didn't mention why Papa Hemingway left Cuba, while it is known that he could not stand the slimy nature of fidel kagasstro and that he deeply despised both raul Caligula kagasstro and che huevara. That was really the end of an era, when the Cuba and Havana that Hemingway loved so much was also assassinated and desacrated.
I am not holding my breath for an apology from the Food Channel. I would like to believe that Mariel Hemingway understands who the culprit for the destruction of a perfectly good country is, and I offer her the chance to come here and have a frank discussion about her visit to Cuba and the conditions on which real Cubans are living. Shame on you, Food Channel.
UPDATE
From "somebody" , who recreated the steps of the show, on site:
"The show apparently was shot some time ago, because Finca La Vigia is open in an irregular schedule to the public, and most of the time is open only for special interest group tours. Not visited today.
Apparently, the market at 19 & B was stocked and populated by the government, in a move that fooled the American crew and at the same time the possibility of any Cuban protesting in camera was avoided. It would be interesting to find out if the vendors are the same on a regular day. It's open only on certain weekends.
The paladares, they are always under surveillance, apparently the film crew was also under close surveillance, and probably the customers on those particular days were planted government agents. Octopus and fish come from local fishermen in Miramar. Important note: they can't serve shrimp or lobster, those are for the apartheid hotels.
Hotel Nacional basically out of limits for Cubans, Chinatown, La Bodeguita del Medio, El Floridita, mixed foreigner and Cuban access.
And now the gem: It's rumored that Hotel Ambos Mundos, a true Old Havana Hemingway hangout, would have been an interesting part of the show, since the crew worked there according to witnesses. Why was it left out of the aired show is not clear.
Mariel and crew behavior: they go with a "good" mark, different from the perception of the behavior of other celebrities who visit(ed) Havana. They were probably under surveillance by their "translators, assistants, and drivers".
Mariel Hemingway presented the land that was dear to her grandfather, and of course, missed the mark in the worst possible way. The (non existent) embargo was blamed a couple of times for the disgraces of the Cuban people and rationing was mentioned only once. The most offensive part is the total ignorance of the tourism apartheid under which Cubans live, disguising the absence of Cubans from tourist spots, as "they cannot afford it".She should have mentioned that they cannot afford it because they are not free to own property of businesses in their own country, for starters. The show even goes beyond the offensive by presenting very superficially the live of Cubans. The paladar is presented as a normal legal business, when in fact they are routinely raided by the misgovernment and when taxes higher in proportion to those paid in the US apply. She never mentioned that the condition for the business to exist is to employ solely family members and to be subject to scrutiny from the repressive forces and fiscal units.
Two things I can say on her favor, she is a gorgeous woman who did a big disservice to herself and to the heritage of her family. The other, she had to recognize that with kagasstro in power even a cultural monument as her grandfather's house is in danger of being lost forever. The contents are lost at least for the Hemingways, because kagasstro confiscated the estate many years ago. She mentioned the pollution, that's killing the once beautiful Harbor of Mariel and that has killed many other beautiful places in the Island. She also mentions the rationing cards in the passage at the farmers market of 19 & B, in el Vedado. The misery of Cuba was show, loosely in the background. That's a country that was the fourth economy of the Americas in 1958, which received more than one million immigrants from 1902 to 1958 and which from 1959 to 2005 has seen two million Cubans go live in exile.
Besides ignoring the fact that Cuba is under a communist rule, the whole infomercial seemed to be designed to rally the anti embargo crowd (it's not an embargo, it's a cash only policy for God sake) and to promote traveling to Cuba. The show ignored the plight of the Cuban people and didn't mention anything about why Cubans leave their country. I refuse to believe that the people in the Food Channel scheduled this show without malice, in this precise time when repression it's at its highest in Cuba and where the sandalistas are exerting more pressure in the US to "liberalize" the policies regarding Cuba. The Food Channel owes the American public and apology for lying downright about Cuba and for promoting personal propaganda of an enemy of this country, fidel kagasstro. This is the same criminal who wanted to destroy this country and whose rule Hemingway fled. Discreetly enough, the show didn't mention why Papa Hemingway left Cuba, while it is known that he could not stand the slimy nature of fidel kagasstro and that he deeply despised both raul Caligula kagasstro and che huevara. That was really the end of an era, when the Cuba and Havana that Hemingway loved so much was also assassinated and desacrated.
I am not holding my breath for an apology from the Food Channel. I would like to believe that Mariel Hemingway understands who the culprit for the destruction of a perfectly good country is, and I offer her the chance to come here and have a frank discussion about her visit to Cuba and the conditions on which real Cubans are living. Shame on you, Food Channel.
UPDATE
From "somebody" , who recreated the steps of the show, on site:
"The show apparently was shot some time ago, because Finca La Vigia is open in an irregular schedule to the public, and most of the time is open only for special interest group tours. Not visited today.
Apparently, the market at 19 & B was stocked and populated by the government, in a move that fooled the American crew and at the same time the possibility of any Cuban protesting in camera was avoided. It would be interesting to find out if the vendors are the same on a regular day. It's open only on certain weekends.
The paladares, they are always under surveillance, apparently the film crew was also under close surveillance, and probably the customers on those particular days were planted government agents. Octopus and fish come from local fishermen in Miramar. Important note: they can't serve shrimp or lobster, those are for the apartheid hotels.
Hotel Nacional basically out of limits for Cubans, Chinatown, La Bodeguita del Medio, El Floridita, mixed foreigner and Cuban access.
And now the gem: It's rumored that Hotel Ambos Mundos, a true Old Havana Hemingway hangout, would have been an interesting part of the show, since the crew worked there according to witnesses. Why was it left out of the aired show is not clear.
Mariel and crew behavior: they go with a "good" mark, different from the perception of the behavior of other celebrities who visit(ed) Havana. They were probably under surveillance by their "translators, assistants, and drivers".
7 Comments:
Just the right tone and balance. I too am angry at Food Channel, but would rather talk to Mariel, who surely can be reasoned with, than wholesaledly condemn her. We know she knows the deal. It would help to sensitize her and have her on our side.
So this caught you guys by surprise? 'Mon, it is media, it is fluff it is RUMBA, RUM & CASH!
Mariel Hemingway is as utterly clueless about Kuba as she is about everything else that is actual part of the real world.
Remember guys, the Diana Sawyer interview with Elian Gonzalez was EDITED to death until the Networks got what they wanted. A young kid who missed daddy!
IT IS THE MEDIA! well barely "The Food Fucking Network?"
They went to Kuba, stayed at the Melia, rented all the film gear from the ICAIC, went in air conditioned buses to Hemingway's place did the filming and back to MOJITOS , MULATAS and MAMBO!
Our pain is OURS – and that is where it ends. The world and specially anyone who has a buck to make gives a flying fuck about our plight.
We are QUAINT, remember?
I think I told you my conversation with Amnesty International were the lady who picked up the phone admitted that “it was difficult to pin down KaSStro, ’cause it was difficult getting info from Kuba” NEAT –O. Freedom be fucked unless it is handed to you in a silver platter by the despots themselves, otherwise .”Oops so sorry, tough guy there.. We will pick on.. er GUANTANAMO! Yeah that is IT.. easy , accessible, the government cooperates ! Motherfucker we will come down on GITMO like there’s no tomorrow ! Watch the contributions flow in.
So the same happened here.
“llu wan film in Kuba ,llu llanki bastad ? CACH op front an UI haf control of de film.”
Mariel Hemingway saw a 5 star hotel , a luxury bus and a quaint little house and MAYBE some Cuban MORRONGA just to complete the experience.
From her 1997 visit to Cuba.
Actress Mariel Hemingway, the granddaughter of the renowned American author Ernest Hemingway, was awed when she first arrived in Cuba. It seemed wherever she went, she saw statues or photographs of her grandfather.
"Everywhere you looked there's Che (Guevara) and Fidel (Castro) and my grandfather," she said. "I mean it seems to be the three real major icons of this country."
Thanks - you guys rock for saying what you say. The paladares seemed fake to me - like dictatorship fronts.
Same shit as it has been said many time. The us media is in with Castro - all a bunch of aging baby boomer hippys and also a bunch of young fucks who think they know all because we is brown folk to them who should dance, sing, fornicate and not worry about subjects like freedom or democracy.
I saw about 20 minutes of it before getting bored, it was pure fluff.
Remember people, it's the Food Channel we're talking about here. As someone who watches them fairly regularly, I can tell you that their shows aren't very deep in context. Politics isn't their forte, to say the least! ;)
"She saw pictures of Che, KaSStro and her Grand dad every where she went" Now, isn’t that just fucking PEACHY!?
By all accounts there is no cult of personality in Kuba , yet every god damn billboard in the country has a picture of the Fuher !
And what the fuck are pictures of Hemingway doing ANYWHERE in Kuba?
Is this the example KaSStro wants to give to the Cuban children, that of a drunken, womanizing, psychotic, homophobic and finally suicidal man. Yeah cool. I wonder where the pictures of Jose Marti, Maceo or even Camilo Cienfuegos are.
God it makes ME sick!
I didn't watch the show, because in my gut I knew that it would be for the goat licking hito de puta. Did anyone imagine that he would allow presenting anything critical of his regime? My husband watched and said it was a travel ad for Cuba. No Voy, No Ver.
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