Castro, Inc. has never been good at much except staying in power, but it has always been up on leftist fashion and duly followed it, mostly for foreign consumption. It has always counted on, and benefited from, the solidarity of leftist and/or anti-American elements, and it has consistently taken up corresponding causes, no matter how alien or unrelated to the Cuban people. So, it was bound to take the Palestinian side, as it unequivocally and exhibitionistically has since the savage massacre perpetrated by Hamas against Israel last October 7th.
Typically, Cuba’s state-controlled media has manipulated what it tells the citizenry to portray Hamas as justified and heroic and the Israelis as “colonizers” and oppressors. This is both to project “virtue” to a certain audience and to deflect attention from Cuba’s escalating misery, poverty and generalized dysfunction (for those outside the ruling class). The regime cannot or will not address Cuba’s myriad practical problems, always blaming them on either external factors like the US “blockade” or even on ordinary Cubans themselves. The “revolution” is never responsible.
Those in power don’t care about Gaza, just as they never cared about South Africa, but they know on which side their bread is buttered and act accordingly, being highly attuned to PR/image considerations. That was assiduously practiced by Fidel Castro, who was keenly aware, for instance, of the extreme desirability of being connected with someone like Mandela, even though Cuba’s military involvement in Africa was largely as a surrogate for its Soviet paymasters. To paraphrase Billy Crystal’s SNL Fernando character, what matters is looking good, not being good.
So, now we have the recurring spectacle among Cuba’s power elite of calculated keffiyeh-flashing, even at functions unrelated to the conflict in Gaza, like the recent May Day celebrations. It’s become de rigueur, or so it seems, even though average Cubans are far too immersed in day-to-day survival, if not trying to emigrate, to be interested in anything that distant and alien. I mean, Cuban women are hard-pressed to procure feminine hygiene products, like countless other necessities, so how are Cubans going to get those modish rags, and how would that help them?
Anyway, while the ancient “retired” but still de facto dictator Raúl Castro has yet to do the keffiyeh thing, practically everyone else who’s anyone has, including his daughter Mariela. In the photo above, the three central figures, from left to right, are the paunchy Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, the “president” (or designated dictator) Miguel Díaz-Canel (with an oh-so-presidential red baseball cap) and his wife, Lis Cuesta, ready for her Al Jazeera close-up. It’s all more than a little cheesy, not to say grotesque, but Cuba’s “revolution” has always played this sort of game.
Thus, Castro, Inc.’s new slogan, at least implicitly, has been made graphically clear: We are all Hamas now.
For context, anti-Israel grandstanding is quite Latrine. Back in 2009, Venezuela (under Chávez) broke diplomatic relations with Israel. Last November, Bolivia did it. Chile and Honduras have recalled their ambassadors from Israel over the Gaza conflict, and a few days ago Colombia’s president Petro broke relations with Israel, calling both Netanyahu and his government “genocidal.” Birds of a feather and all that.