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Castro as Hitler on Cuban front page sparks hunt for mystery satirist
The Guardian ^ | Tuesday December 30, 2003 | Unidentified correspondent in Cuba (for his/her own protection)

Posted on 12/29/2003 8:21:07 PM PST by FormerACLUmember

The Cuban authorities have launched an inquiry into how the official newspaper of the Communist party ran a front page photograph of Fidel Castro which appeared to have been doctored to make him look like Adolf Hitler. When the edition of Granma hit the streets this month party officials began to retrieve as many copies as they could, an operation which appears to have deterred foreign journalists based on the island from reporting the story.

The picture appeared above a story which reported President Fidel Castro's meeting with North American students. Close examination of the photograph shows that the image of the Cuban leader has been subtly altered to make him look like the Nazi leader.

Underneath banners proclaiming Cuba's opposition to war and terrorism, President Castro is seen in full military uniform, but the world's most famous beard has been replaced by history's most striking moustache, while his grey hair now has the faint hint of a black comb-over.

Although details of what happened remain unclear, what is known is that someone or some group at the newspaper appears to have risked all in the name of political satire.

Yesterday a spokesman for the newspaper confirmed that an investigation was under way, but that the photographer who took the picture was not responsible.

Now the talk of Havana is not just of what the image was supposed to mean, but of what has happened to those under suspicion. Rumours have spread, not least because the local offices of the Communist party went to work as soon as the change was noticed, ensuring that fewer copies than normal made it on to the streets.

Many people did not receive their daily delivery, while those sent to offices were subsequently recalled.

Some say that those seated in the background of the photograph, which was published on December 4, have had their glasses darkened, to make them look like mafiosi, or that they have had white lines superimposed on their lips, suggesting that they dare not speak out against President Castro's wishes.

Others argue that the whole thing is nothing more than a trick of the light. But the Cuban authorities are treating the matter far more seriously than that.

There is no official word on what has happened to the suspected culprits, but rumours of arrests and a large-scale investigation have hit the Havana grapevine.

Yesterday the newspaper tried to play down the significance of the investigation. A spokesman dismissed rumours about the number of those arrested as "lies", saying that there was a single suspect.

The government has as yet made no official statement, and no story has appeared in the foreign press, leading many Cubans to question the purpose of foreign journalists based on the island.

This latest dissent highlights what some see as a changing mood in Havana.

In October dissident members of the Proyecto Varela, led by Oswaldo Payá, delivered a petition to parliament in Havana calling for a referendum on human and democratic rights. This was the second petition to be presented in the past two years and carried the signatures of more than 14,000 Cubans.

The petition has been refused by the Cuban authorities. How many others privately agree with Mr Payá is impossible to gauge, but this most recent example of dissent against President Castro suggests a new mood.

In April the president provoked international criticism in his most brutal crackdown on dissent since the early years of the revolution in the 1950s.

More than 80 journalists, economists and librarians were arrested and hastily tried, with some of the leading voices of dissent among those sentenced to prison for up to 30 years.

The brief trials saw former colleagues and aides used as witnesses, accusing them of "activities against the integrity and sovereignty of the state" and of having worked as infiltrators on behalf of the US.

Young Cubans, particularly in Havana, have failed to immerse themselves in the revolutionary ideals to the same extent as those born before 1959 and President Castro's triumph over the former rightwing dictator Fulgencio Batista.

With the collapse in 1989 of the Soviet Union - Cuba's main international source of financial and political support - the island has been forced to turn to tourism.

Although this has brought in much needed dollars, and helped to fund education and healthcare, it has also been the source of discontent.

Wealthy foreigners parade along the streets of the capital, carrying digital cameras, mobile phones and wearing the kind of expensive sportswear of which the average Habañero can only dream. It is no surprise then that young Cubans look on enviously, while turning their backs on the Communist ideology that preaches against western consumerism. But, with the regime as vigorous as ever in clamping down on opposition, they may yet have to wait for change.


TOPICS: Cuba; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: castro; disgrace; granma; hitler; murderer; photoshop; prank; vermin
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The end is near when the evil bearded pig Castro is so openly mocked!

He and brother Raul will soon either be hanging upside down naked on a lamppost (a la Mussolini) or living the rest of his days in a mansion on the Riviera with their stolen billions.

1 posted on 12/29/2003 8:21:09 PM PST by FormerACLUmember
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
ping
2 posted on 12/29/2003 8:25:25 PM PST by FormerACLUmember (A person is only as big as the dream they dare to live.)
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To: FormerACLUmember
Pix please.
3 posted on 12/29/2003 8:27:06 PM PST by keithtoo (DEAN - He's Dukaki-riffic!!!! - He's McGovern-ous!!! - He's Mondale-agorical!!!)
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To: FormerACLUmember
But the cuban people love Castro.
4 posted on 12/29/2003 8:29:06 PM PST by Bogey78O (If Mary Jo Kopechne had lived she'd support Ted Kennedy's medicare agenda! /sarcasm)
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To: FormerACLUmember
You know, we just don't hear that much in our mainstream media about the 'free' journalists in the Students and Workers Paradise getting jailed for 30 years.

No... but we do continue to get gushing, slobbering praise for the noble, courageous leadership of Fidel.

5 posted on 12/29/2003 8:30:55 PM PST by edwin hubble
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To: FormerACLUmember; Luis Gonzalez
Wow, that took guts.
6 posted on 12/29/2003 8:31:10 PM PST by dighton
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To: FormerACLUmember
Castro's response will be something along the lines of, "Say hello to my little friend!"
7 posted on 12/29/2003 8:33:06 PM PST by KellyAdmirer
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To: dighton
Dammit!

I can't locate the picture!

Have to call some people.
8 posted on 12/29/2003 8:36:20 PM PST by Luis Gonzalez (The Gift Is To See The Trout.)
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To: FormerACLUmember
LOL!!! Brilliant!

9 posted on 12/29/2003 8:38:28 PM PST by headsonpikes (Spirit of '76 bttt!)
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To: Luis Gonzalez
Good thing I checked the whole thread. I was just about to ping you :o)
10 posted on 12/29/2003 8:39:09 PM PST by McGavin999
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To: FormerACLUmember
An investigation has been launched has it?
Bush=Hitler is a favorite mantra of Castro's apologists in the West. Hypocrites.
11 posted on 12/29/2003 8:44:45 PM PST by atomic conspiracy ( Progressives: Vote Green! Nader/Kaczynski '04!)
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To: atomic conspiracy
An investigation has been launched has it? Bush=Hitler is a favorite mantra of Castro's apologists in the West. Hypocrites.

Excellent point. The Left's Big Lie is that Bush = Hitler.

It is all deceitful projection on the Left's part. Their socialist god Castro will in fact shoot the courageous satirist for making him look like Hitler.

12 posted on 12/29/2003 8:48:35 PM PST by FormerACLUmember (A person is only as big as the dream they dare to live.)
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To: FormerACLUmember
Is Castro a Nazi? - "In 1941, as a student at a Catholic school run by Spanish Jesuit priests who were sympathizers of Fascism at that time, the young Fidel Castro was looking for his ideology. Displaying a fascination with power, war and domination since childhood, Castro discovered Fascism -- and promenaded around campus with a copy of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf in his armpit. According to many fellow students, "the crazy," as he was nicknamed, mimicked the speeches of Hitler and Mussolini speeches in front of a mirror, practicing their mannerisms hour after hour.
13 posted on 12/29/2003 8:49:58 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
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To: freedom44
Cuba ping
14 posted on 12/29/2003 8:58:08 PM PST by Pan_Yans Wife (Submitting approval for the CAIR COROLLARY to GODWIN'S LAW.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
EXCELLENT ARTICLE AND A GOOD POST! And the leading pic from that thread looks like something you would normally expect to see on the front oage of The Enquirer with the exception that IT IS REAL!!!


It looks like Castro is slurping Aridfart so bad he's got his tounge caught up Aridfarts nose!

15 posted on 12/29/2003 9:21:27 PM PST by EUPHORIC (Right? Left? Read Ecclesiastes 10:2 for a definition. The Bible knows all about it!)
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To: dighton; McGavin999; Tailgunner Joe

Embrace me, my sweet embraceable you
Embrace me, you irreplaceable you


16 posted on 12/29/2003 10:03:05 PM PST by Luis Gonzalez (The Gift Is To See The Trout.)
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To: Luis Gonzalez
It just needed a soundtrack...
17 posted on 12/29/2003 10:03:56 PM PST by Luis Gonzalez (The Gift Is To See The Trout.)
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To: FormerACLUmember
Well, since we don't have the Castro image to view, how about this whilst we're waiting


18 posted on 12/29/2003 10:34:26 PM PST by In The Defense of Liberty (Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.)
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To: dighton
Yeah, that hombre has some serious cajones. Hope he survives the ordeal.
19 posted on 12/29/2003 10:37:10 PM PST by Mr. Mojo
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To: In The Defense of Liberty
Post 18:

If this were a socialist hellhole like Cuba (or pre-election USA according to the SCOTUS) you would not be able to post your little picture of the evil psychotic Dean Fuhrer.

20 posted on 12/30/2003 1:53:46 AM PST by FormerACLUmember (A person is only as big as the dream they dare to live.)
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