So Jay Z and his wife Beyonce went to Cuba recently to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Good for them. They obviously have plenty of money which means they can go pretty much wherever they want I'd imagine. So why is U.S. Senator Marco Rubio criticizing the celebrity pair for their trip? Rubio says Jay Z - who has apparently been known to rock shirts bearing the likeness of slain revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara - needs to get informed about what's happening within the Cuban revolution. Rubio questions why Jay Z would wear anytihng commemorating Guevara because Guevara "was a racist who hated Black people!" To support his ridiculous claim, Rubio shamelessly points to comments Guevara wrote when he was a self-centered, uninformed, young men in his early twenties disparaging African people. Those comments, which Guevara admitted and denounced repeatedly, were made long before his consciousness was sparked by what he saw in Guatemala during the U.S. sponsored overthrow of the democratically elected government of Jacobo Arbenz in 1954 while Guevara was partying in the country. Of course, Rubio neglects to clarify this very essential fact. He omits this because his intention is to push our buttons around the question of racism in a weak-minded attempt to destroy the love African people worldwide have for our brother Che Guevara.
First, let's breakdown how completely stupid Rubio's logic is. According to him, we should ignore all of the outstanding work Guevara did, often risking his life, fighting to liberate Africa in general, and African people in particular. We'll get to some examples of that work quickly, but first, permit us to provide a simple example that illustrates the absurdity of Rubio on this issue. For anyone reading this, imagine yourself being in a relationship with someone. Would you base your commitment for that relationship on what that person told you 20 years ago if their behavior towards you had clearly changed in contradiction to their statements two decades ago? Of course not! You would call them a hypocrite and kick them to the curb. If you did dump this person, any grade school student would be able to understand why. So how is this so out of the realm of Rubio - an educated U.S. politician? The answer is found in understanding the history of the reactionary anti-Cuban population that lives in this country, mostly in Florida where Rubio resides and represents. These people, approximately 98% of them White according to the 2010 Census, benefitted from the exploitation of Cuba as a U.S. backyard paradise - much like the Virgin Islands, Barbados, and much of the Caribbean. Of course, the socialist revolution in Cuba in 1959 ceased that nonsense. The Mafiaso run casinos and crime syndicates that dominated the country before 1959 were shut down. Since that time, illiterary in Cuba has become nonexistent. Healthcare is among the best on the planet according to the World Health Organization and every other credible source. Problems like racism, sexism, and homophobia still exist, but these ills were all legacies in Cuba long before the revolution and are works in progress to eliminate. Still progress is being made. Education in Cuba is also among the best in the world and anyone who had traveled there as I have knows the people are among the most knowledgable in the world, but the sore losers like Rubio will never just accept that people got sick of their exploitation and ran them out. Now, Rubio, and all his whiny White former Cuban constituency in Cuba, live in Florida where they can continue to benefit from the politics of slavery and oppression that flourish in the U.S. since they are no longer permitted to enjoy those same priviliges in socialist Cuba.
As for Che Guevara? That's the easy part. Despite the fact Rubio challenges Jay Z to become informed about Guevara, it's clearly his weak mind that needs information and clarification. Readers should know that it was Guevara who led 100 African Cubans into the Congo in 1964 to support the guerrilla war against the CIA trained traitors who murdered the democratically elected Patrice Lumumba in an effort to maintain control of the minerally rich Congo region. Che stayed and fought in the Congo for months and when it became clear that the Congolese resistance was not going to continue, Che went to Tanszania and laid the groundwork for Victor Dreke Cruz - an African from Cuba - to stay in Africa. Dreke Cruz continued to function under Guevara's command. He helped trained the fighters in Guinea-Bissau and is credited wtih playing a very significant role in assisting those Africans with driving the Portugese out of that country in the 1970s. Then, he worked with the Angolans in the 80s, and as a direct result of Guevara's initial Cuban mission in Africa, over 40,000 Cuban troops participated in Angola's just war to drive out the Portugese. Were it not for the Cuban presence, Angola would never have been able to drive back the racist South African forces who were trying to take over all of Southern Africa. Had the Cubans not been there - and were it not for Guevara they wouldn't have been - all of Southern Africa would probably be under apartheid, or racial segregation - today. This is the reason that the moment Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990, he sought to make contact with Fidel Castro and thank him personnally for the support and sacrifices the Cuban people made in that struggle. Of course, the fact Mandela dared think for himself at the time led to those very same racist White Cubans calling for a boycott of Mandela's scheduled appearance in Miami which led to him cancelling his trip there. All of this and White Rubio has the audacity to call Guevara a racist? It's Rubio who is the racist. He's the one who's pushing for racist anti-Indigenous policy - calling it immigration reform. This hemisphere is the home to all Indigenous people so it's Rubio who is the racist, holding up policies that protect the interests of White supremacy, something Che Guevara never did. In fact, Guevara gave his life fighting for the principles of justice and forward human progress. Something Rubio wouldn't understand if those principles slapped him across his face. We could go on forever about Guevara's contributions to liberate African people. We could talk about his support and encouragement for Robert Williams to come to Cuba when the former NAACP president from North Carolina was escaping racist prosecution there. We could talk about Guevara's groundwork with Williams that led to prosecuted Africans lilke Eldridge Cleaver, Huey P. Newton, and currently, Assata Shakur, finding political asylum and peace in Cuba, but we're sure you get the point by now. Guevara long ago demonstrated his love for justice and his hatred for racism and discrimination against African people.
There are plenty of accounts of Che Guevara the man to study. Read Victor Dreke Cruz's accounts which were made into a diary chronicalling his time in Africa working under Guevara's command in the Congo and beyond. Read the Bolivian diary of Harry "Pombo" Villagas who I met while traveling to Cuba. Pombo was Che's personal bodyguard and unquestionably an African. He was also with Che during the ill fated mission in Bolivia where Che was killed. Pombo was one of only three suvivors of that mission and he talks in his diary about how those three tried to determine how they could free Guevara from his captors and how much Pombo has been haunted in the years since about not being able to save Commandante Guevara. So, who's word makes more sense? Courageous and selfless freedom fighters like Dreke Cruz and Pombo or a lying self-serving coward like Marco Rubio? At least there's one good thing. Rubio gave me a reason to give my first ever thumbs up to Jay Z and Beyonce.
First, let's breakdown how completely stupid Rubio's logic is. According to him, we should ignore all of the outstanding work Guevara did, often risking his life, fighting to liberate Africa in general, and African people in particular. We'll get to some examples of that work quickly, but first, permit us to provide a simple example that illustrates the absurdity of Rubio on this issue. For anyone reading this, imagine yourself being in a relationship with someone. Would you base your commitment for that relationship on what that person told you 20 years ago if their behavior towards you had clearly changed in contradiction to their statements two decades ago? Of course not! You would call them a hypocrite and kick them to the curb. If you did dump this person, any grade school student would be able to understand why. So how is this so out of the realm of Rubio - an educated U.S. politician? The answer is found in understanding the history of the reactionary anti-Cuban population that lives in this country, mostly in Florida where Rubio resides and represents. These people, approximately 98% of them White according to the 2010 Census, benefitted from the exploitation of Cuba as a U.S. backyard paradise - much like the Virgin Islands, Barbados, and much of the Caribbean. Of course, the socialist revolution in Cuba in 1959 ceased that nonsense. The Mafiaso run casinos and crime syndicates that dominated the country before 1959 were shut down. Since that time, illiterary in Cuba has become nonexistent. Healthcare is among the best on the planet according to the World Health Organization and every other credible source. Problems like racism, sexism, and homophobia still exist, but these ills were all legacies in Cuba long before the revolution and are works in progress to eliminate. Still progress is being made. Education in Cuba is also among the best in the world and anyone who had traveled there as I have knows the people are among the most knowledgable in the world, but the sore losers like Rubio will never just accept that people got sick of their exploitation and ran them out. Now, Rubio, and all his whiny White former Cuban constituency in Cuba, live in Florida where they can continue to benefit from the politics of slavery and oppression that flourish in the U.S. since they are no longer permitted to enjoy those same priviliges in socialist Cuba.
As for Che Guevara? That's the easy part. Despite the fact Rubio challenges Jay Z to become informed about Guevara, it's clearly his weak mind that needs information and clarification. Readers should know that it was Guevara who led 100 African Cubans into the Congo in 1964 to support the guerrilla war against the CIA trained traitors who murdered the democratically elected Patrice Lumumba in an effort to maintain control of the minerally rich Congo region. Che stayed and fought in the Congo for months and when it became clear that the Congolese resistance was not going to continue, Che went to Tanszania and laid the groundwork for Victor Dreke Cruz - an African from Cuba - to stay in Africa. Dreke Cruz continued to function under Guevara's command. He helped trained the fighters in Guinea-Bissau and is credited wtih playing a very significant role in assisting those Africans with driving the Portugese out of that country in the 1970s. Then, he worked with the Angolans in the 80s, and as a direct result of Guevara's initial Cuban mission in Africa, over 40,000 Cuban troops participated in Angola's just war to drive out the Portugese. Were it not for the Cuban presence, Angola would never have been able to drive back the racist South African forces who were trying to take over all of Southern Africa. Had the Cubans not been there - and were it not for Guevara they wouldn't have been - all of Southern Africa would probably be under apartheid, or racial segregation - today. This is the reason that the moment Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990, he sought to make contact with Fidel Castro and thank him personnally for the support and sacrifices the Cuban people made in that struggle. Of course, the fact Mandela dared think for himself at the time led to those very same racist White Cubans calling for a boycott of Mandela's scheduled appearance in Miami which led to him cancelling his trip there. All of this and White Rubio has the audacity to call Guevara a racist? It's Rubio who is the racist. He's the one who's pushing for racist anti-Indigenous policy - calling it immigration reform. This hemisphere is the home to all Indigenous people so it's Rubio who is the racist, holding up policies that protect the interests of White supremacy, something Che Guevara never did. In fact, Guevara gave his life fighting for the principles of justice and forward human progress. Something Rubio wouldn't understand if those principles slapped him across his face. We could go on forever about Guevara's contributions to liberate African people. We could talk about his support and encouragement for Robert Williams to come to Cuba when the former NAACP president from North Carolina was escaping racist prosecution there. We could talk about Guevara's groundwork with Williams that led to prosecuted Africans lilke Eldridge Cleaver, Huey P. Newton, and currently, Assata Shakur, finding political asylum and peace in Cuba, but we're sure you get the point by now. Guevara long ago demonstrated his love for justice and his hatred for racism and discrimination against African people.
There are plenty of accounts of Che Guevara the man to study. Read Victor Dreke Cruz's accounts which were made into a diary chronicalling his time in Africa working under Guevara's command in the Congo and beyond. Read the Bolivian diary of Harry "Pombo" Villagas who I met while traveling to Cuba. Pombo was Che's personal bodyguard and unquestionably an African. He was also with Che during the ill fated mission in Bolivia where Che was killed. Pombo was one of only three suvivors of that mission and he talks in his diary about how those three tried to determine how they could free Guevara from his captors and how much Pombo has been haunted in the years since about not being able to save Commandante Guevara. So, who's word makes more sense? Courageous and selfless freedom fighters like Dreke Cruz and Pombo or a lying self-serving coward like Marco Rubio? At least there's one good thing. Rubio gave me a reason to give my first ever thumbs up to Jay Z and Beyonce.
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