Impromptus

A brave Castro, &c.

By
Juanita Castro, sister of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, during an interview with Reuters in Miami, Fla., October 27, 2009 (Carlos Barria / Reuters)
On a sister of Fidel; a menorah-douser in Poland; Trump’s latest grift; a venerable French pianist; and more.

Not all Castros were created equal. What I mean is, Fidel’s sister Juanita broke with him in a big way. She has now died at 90. To read her obit in the New York Times, go here. I wrote about her in a book called “Children of Monsters.” The book is about sons and daughters of dictators, true — but sometimes siblings make guest appearances.

I will quote my few words about Juanita:

She fully supported the revolution — but she revolted at what her brother made with power. Namely, a totalitarian dictatorship. She actually went to work for the CIA, as she revealed in memoirs published years later (2009). She helped dissidents, hounded by state security, escape capture, imprisonment, and execution.

That was very brave, in addition to righteous.

Some more:

She later wrote that she felt no remorse about turning against her brother, and working against him. “I didn’t betray him. He betrayed me. He betrayed the thousands of us who suffered and fought for the revolution that he had offered, one that was generous and just and would bring peace and democracy to Cuba, and which, as he himself had promised, would be ‘as Cuban as palm trees.’”

A few more words:

In the sixth year of the dictatorship, 1964, Juanita fled to the United States. She was about 30. She said she could not “remain indifferent to what is happening in my country. My brothers Fidel and Raúl have made it an enormous prison surrounded by water.” In Miami, she would open a pharmacy (Mini Price).

“An enormous prison surrounded by water” — that is an apt description. An island prison.

It can take guts to break with family, even if that family is monstrous. Svetlana Stalin did it. Juanita Castro did it. They are rare.

• I encountered a phrase recently: “riding for the brand.” It was in an article about Liz Cheney. I’ll quote the relevant section:

“You’ve just got such a defiant attitude,” Representative Ralph Norman of South Carolina told her. Representative John Rutherford of Florida said she was too recalcitrant and not “riding for the brand.”

“John,” she recalled replying, “our ‘brand’ is the U.S. Constitution.”

• Back to the obit in the New York Times — its obit of Juanita Castro. I don’t mean to pick on it. It is a very good obit. But I want to make a music note.

The obit reads,

Ms. Castro wrote that the C.I.A., which she was instructed to call “the company” to deflect suspicions, communicated with her in Havana by shortwave radio, playing the “Fascination Waltz” each day at 7 p.m. followed by a coded message. If there was no message that day, her espionage contacts would broadcast the overture from “Madama Butterfly.”

There is no overture to Madama Butterfly — no proper overture. (There is opening orchestral music, which is mood-establishing. Better put: The opera begins in medias res.) Puccini did not really do overtures. He got right into it.

• I wish to recommend a piece by John Suarez, the executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba. He is an activist for human rights in Cuba, yes — but he is a human-rights activist generally. He is for them for everyone, in every country. This is not very common.


More in Cuba

Anyway, John’s article is headed “Can Cuba’s Democratic Legacy Be Recovered?” Find it here.

• Very pleased to see Mr. Cameron doing this:

Earlier this year, I recorded a podcast with Sebastien Lai: here. That was followed by an article about his heroic father: here.

It was a pleasure to meet Sebastien. It would be a joy — a joy, a relief, an honor — to meet his father.

• Did you see this charmer in Poland?

He is not just a Polish legislator but also a Putin man. He has warned of a plot to turn Poland into a “Jewish state.” Typical, entirely typical. (To read an article about him, and his confederates, go here.)

• Radek Sikorski is a very different type of Pole. (He once worked as a correspondent for National Review.) He was foreign minister before; he is foreign minister again.

I love this selfie with him and Lech Walesa:

• Are you springing for a piece of Donald Trump’s suit? I will quote from a news article:

Former President Donald Trump has found a new way to monetize his infamous mugshot, while also selling the chance to see his face in person.

Trump announced Tuesday that snippets of the suit he wore for that photo would be available for purchase, as part of a new sale of NFT “digital trading cards,” a product he debuted in late 2022.

Customers who buy 47 of the $99 apiece digital cards, Trump says, will receive a physical card containing a piece of the suit Trump is seen wearing in the photo.

“It was a great suit, believe me, a really good suit. It’s all cut up, and you’re gonna get a piece of it,” Trump said in a video on Truth Social.

The $4,653 package also includes a dinner with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club and residence in Palm Beach, Florida.

Trust me: If a Democrat did something like this, Republicans would be dunking on him from here to kingdom come. And they would be right. But Trump, they want to make president. Again.

• As this article explains, Elon Musk convened a panel that included Alex Jones, Vivek Ramaswamy, Michael Flynn, and Andrew Tate. You can Google those characters if you are unsure who they are. Suffice it to say: This was not Bill Buckley sitting down with James Burnham, Milton Friedman, and other friends.

There was at least one moment of levity during the Musk-led discussion. One participant took a leak. He had forgotten to mute himself. (Turned out to be Ramaswamy.)

Gives new meaning to the term “live stream.”

• Expressing regret for her testimony before Congress, the president of Harvard said, “I failed to convey what is my truth.” This phrase “my truth” is a curious one. I believe it is gaining currency: my truth, or your truth, instead of . . . the truth.

Though it may be gaining currency, the phrase, the concept, is far from new. I think of two book titles — two titles of memoirs: by Jean-Bédel Bokassa, the butcher of Central Africa, and Edda Mussolini, daughter of you-know-who. Each book is titled “My Truth.”

• I tip my hat to Blake Corum, a running back for the University of Michigan Wolverines. He is a most charitable sort. At Christmastime, he does a toy drive. Have a look.

• I also tip my hat to Colette Maze. She was a French pianist, who has just died at 109. She played and worked right up till the end. To read about this remarkable, as well as long, life, go here. I would like to quote a single line, a single fact: Madame Maze died “in the same Paris apartment where she had lived since she was 18, with views of the Eiffel Tower and the Seine River.”

I love the continuity. A good continuity. (Bad continuity deserves disruption.)

• Speaking of music: Care for a review? Here is one, of a performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in Carnegie Hall.

• Not long ago, I was at Boston College, speaking with some nice students about Bill Buckley. I did some wandering around, too.

If you’re my age, you can’t help thinking of Doug Flutie — the quarterback for BC who threw “The Pass.” If you are unacquainted with The Pass, or need to be reminded, consult Wikipedia, here.

Where were you on November 23, 1984, when he threw it? I will never forget: at my uncle’s, in Crofton, Md. Pandemonium (in one house).

• A shot from inside a café, not far from the college. May all of us have a history of perfection . . .

• Here is the new Moynihan Train Hall, at Penn Station in New York. I love our national motto. It deserves pride of place.

Thank you for joining me, my friends. Catch you soon.

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