New York Times unwittingly exposes Arturo Lopez-Levy
Arturo Lopez-Levy is a favorite of the media for quotes defending the Castro dictatorship and criticizing sanctions the U.S. has against the corrupt and criminal Cuban government. What the media never tells you, however, is that Lopez-Levy was an officer of the Castro military and he continues to have ties to the Cuban regime.
That is until the New York Times -- no doubt unwittingly -- let the cat slip out of the bag:
[...] Many Cubans say they are hesitant to let go of a reliable system summed up by a common joke: “We pretend to work, they pretend to pay us.” Taxi drivers told Mr. López Levy that they were working harder for less money because of increased competition. A farmer I met at the wholesale market outside Havana equated capitalism with higher prices, and said that the government needed to intervene.
But mostly, this is an aging crowd and Mr. López Levy — who still has friends and relatives in government — says that even among Cuban bureaucrats, the mentality is changing. If so, more capitalism may be inevitable. Because with every new entrepreneur it licenses, Cuba becomes less socialist, less exceptional, less of a bearded rebel raising its fist against the horrors of Yankee capitalism. In the eyes of some Cubans, the jig is already up.
Touche!
No doubt, the journalist and the proofreader at the NYT's responsible for this piece are in deep trouble. Although, most readers are so passive and the media has done such a good job of making Cuba appear just like any other country that Lopez-Levy's gov't ties will not be seen by most Americans as anything different than as if you said that Lopez-Levy was Swiss and had ties his government.
The New York Times considers Castro, Inc. legitimate, so it sees no problem in a Cuba “expert” having friends and relatives (!) in the government apparatus. It probably considers that an advantage which puts this particular “expert” ahead of other so-called experts. I know it’s warped, to say the least, but then again, it’s perfectly in character for the NYT.
Asombra,
You are absolutely right. The New York Times, nay, the entire MSM sees castro's tyranny as a legitimate government. And this is nothing new. From far back as I can remember, the mainstream media whether it be in the form of Dan Rather, Peter Jennings, Barbara Walters, Lucia Newman, Anita Snow, whether it be CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, Time and Newsweek, etc... has seen the castro regime as legitimate. That is why when they do Cuba reports, they interview Cuban government officials and take their word as face value, that is why they cite statistics given to them by government officials. They treat Cuba as if it were Switzerland, Great Britain or France. In other words, as if the government had the people's mandate and one could believe the statistics that the self-serving regime provides.
Little does it matter that dictatorships have incentives to lie, that there is no oversight whatsoever in Cuba and that revisionist history and propaganda are to a Communist country what blood is to a vampire.
So, yes, as Asombra notes, Lopez-Levy's government ties are seen something positive. He's on his way NO DOUBT to becoming the top Cuba expert and will probably soon replace Phil Peters and Julia Sweig.
Can you imagine this guy getting the time of day if he had friends and relatives in the Pinochet government and claimed to be a Chile expert? Uh, not a chance in hell.
This NYT "slip" is a prime example of hypocrisy taken as normal. If it's "normal," then there's no need to hide it, is there?
"Mr. López Levy — who still has friends and relatives in government"
Look, The New York Times never clearly and specifically stated that he was an officer of the Castro military for obvious reasons...
The New York Times has to inject deceit into its story to confuse the readers. Painting Mr. López Levy as being somewhat a regular Cuban that has friends and family as part of the Castro tyranny is more far more palatable than the story of an individual who was part of that tyranny repressive machine.