From our Bureau of Socialist Idolatry and Capitalist Insanity
In the early 1950’s, while he was married to socialite Mirta Díaz-Balart, Fidel Castro began an extramarital affair with another Cuban socialite, Naty Revuelta. The adulterous lovebirds wrote many letters to each other while Fidel was imprisoned for his failed attack on the Moncada barracks during the early days of Fulgencio Batista’s dictatorship. As a result of their many couplings once he was freed, Naty ended up giving birth to a daughter, Alina, who hardly ever received any attention from her dad, Fidel.
Many items related to Fidel, Che, and some of their minions ended up in Naty’s hands. Somehow, they ended up in the possession of a British capitalist who idolized Fidel, befriended him, and used his capitalist savvy to help him stay in power. And now these items are for sale.
So, now they can be YOURS if you have thousands of dollars to spare. Imagine that. Holy relics. Maybe über-kapitalist Billionaire Richard Branson will buy them all and open a Virgin Fidel-Che Shrine that will draw millions of devout idolaters from around the world. And the proceeds from admission fees can go directly to maintaining the military junta of Castro, Inc. in power.
How appropriately ironic that items that once belonged to rabid communist sociopaths are being auctioned off to capitalists with deep pockets, in London, of all places, where Karl Marx lived in exile and where he is buried. This is beyond appropriate, beyond ironic, and beyond insane.
Aaaah, yes, of course, Latrine American magical realism can’t be contained. It erupts wherever Latrine objects happen to appear.
Loosely translated from Diario de Cuba:
A cigarette lighter that Che Guevara bought in Ireland, intimate correspondence between Fidel Castro and Naty Revuelta, a Camilo Cienfuegos diving mask, as well as various belongings of Castro, went up for auction in the United Kingdom.
Belonging to Paul Fraser Collectibles, the selection of 39 objects included in the online bid belonged to British businessman Gary Shannon, close to Castro and his family, as well as other members of the Cuban regime’s leadership, and who helped provide technology and communications infrastructure to Cuba.
The sale, which began on May 26 and ends on the same date in June, has as its most prized object a box of cigars with secret compartments belonging to Castro, who according to the description used it “to organize the Cuban revolution while he was in prison “. Its starting price is more than $100,000.
In addition, there is a glass and silver ashtray and a bag of cigars that Castro allegedly used to prevent his murder and that was a gift from Naty Revuelta.
“The ashtray was carried by a member of his security team (Humberto Ramos) in a sealed bag with Castro’s initials (F.C.R.). (…) In December 1984, Castro stopped smoking. He wrapped the ashtray in a cloth that signed and put it back in its original bag,” the description reads.
Included in the group is a collection of 170 photos of Fidel and Raúl Castro, Guevara and others, some of them little known, of which approximately 70 would have been taken by the Cuban photographer Alberto Korda and nine by Raúl Corrales. One of the snapshots would also be signed by Guevara, says the auction company.
Added to them are 132 printed photos from a collection of digital snapshots belonging to Naty Revuelta. All for just over $50,000.
Continue reading HERE in Spanish
Revuelta (an apt name) was also married, so both parties were adulterers. As for the knickknacks, they may not sell much better than the Maradona memorabilia recently auctioned, which went largely ignored. True, Maradona is only really idolized in Argentina, and there are plenty of rich hypocrites who could bite on this rubbish. Still, how can one know for sure the stuff is what it’s purported to be?
Presumably, the British capitalist who’s now selling this stuff bought it as a kind of investment. How apt.
Assuming those ghastly earrings were really worn by Revuelta back in the day, they don’t speak well of her, certainly not of her taste, but also not of her character. I expect her affair with FC meant far more to her than it did to him, and maybe he was “el amor de su vida,” but this sort of nonsense is frankly cringeworthy.