Bacardi, the Hidden War, by Hernando Calvo Ospina, Pluto Press, reviewed by Paul Wilcox HERNANDO Calvo Ospina's book traces the history of Becardi. the world's larrest rum company, with annual US itself sales of over 240 million bottles in over 170 contries. Its history stretches back to 1862 when it was Cuba by Jose Leon Bouteillier and two brothers - Jose and Facundo Bacardi. For over 40 years it has been in the business of try. ing to overthrow Fidel Castro and the Cuban Goverment. the adverts.
The Cuban Revolution of Batista. 1959 profoundly changed economic and social life in Cuba. The revolution created a planned economy, with virtually all industry, large commerce. and land holding. removed from private ownership and run for the com. mon welfare instead of for private profit.
For over 40 years revolutionary Cuba has been a thom in the side of the Yankee imperialists. And since the fail of the Soviet Union, it has stood alone against history's most ruthless and most powerful imperialist behemoth just 90 miles from its shores.
Cuba, with a population of been under an "illegal" blockade for nearly half a light on the US and its involvement in terrorism, while we wait for the present president of the US, George W Bush, to bomb Iraq in the name of "fighting terrorism". It shows the US and its relawhat it is - and exposes the as a terrorist state. in tact Bacarol is the bil Burtor player in all this - the book tionships in the terrorist cott of Cuba. web, in which the US govCuban exiles and the Mafia are all linked to the embargo" the Bacardi company, in the one aim they all share and that is profit.
All the players in the game wish Cuba to return to the supporting such laws, "good old days" of the gangalive a policy that the Mind you some of the terplete farce. Jose Pepin Bosch, the boss of Bacardi dence is in the public in the mid 19ovs, panico d bombing raid on Cuban oil refineries to leave Cuba in darkness and ensure a called "free world". state of national subversion would be created Unfortunately for Bosch the B-26 bomber he bought did not have rockets. He searched most of South the media. America to no avail, unti the Brazilian dictatorship gave him two rockets.
With the plane ready to take off from Costa Rica (a favoured place for the CIA terronst acuvies) the bomb ing run was delayed due to the fact that on the second page of the New York Times was a picture of the said aeroplane. Facing a scandal, the Costa Rican govemment For the most part, this farwas not the up by Bacardi boss Pepin norm. The Bacardi company Bosch - himself once a minwas to make use of the US ister in Batista's governespecially sen- ment. ators Jesse Helms and Dan The CRE were involved in who gave us the the 1961 Bay of Pigs invaHelms Burton Law which sion, in which a ClA-led imposes the economic boy- Torce of over 1,ewo toroo naries and supported by US Bacardi has admitted that warships, was defeated by it "has historically supported and that they armed forces led personally made their lawyers available by Fidel Castro. on request to advise on Bacardi has also been technical aspects of drafting involved in countless other the Helms Burton Law. By terrorist atrocities, constant assassination attempts on Bacardi are helping to keep the Cuban leadership and chemical warfare against the American Association of Cuban People. In one such World Health has said attack an epidemic of causes deaths among chil- Dengue fever in May 1981 ‹illed 101 children. A CIA The fact that all this evi- agent later admitted bringing the virus to Cuba. domain sheds light on tr Pinochet corrupt nature of the so Pinochet's regime in Chile funded and trained Cuban Information is probably the most powerful tool that the counter revolutionanes. including terrorist Orlando capitalists have. They control Bosch, a known ClA-agent through goverments and the flow of information and friend of Jesse Helms. who was involved in the CRE There is no doubt that and was responsible for the bombing of a Cuban Airlines without Bacardi, there would plane, which was dynamited be no Cuban American National Foundation (CANF). bodies of 73 people were in mid flight in 1976. The CANF was set up in the strewn across Barbados. 1980s by Bacardi with the help of the Reagan adminis- book at which i would point The only thing about this La big cnitical finger, is the the Cuban Representatives in Exile (CRE) which was set absence of any reference to Still a thorn in the side of US imperialism: Castro (left) with Venezuelan leader Chatez the Soviet Union. You cannot separate Cuba from the Soviet Union, which played the part both of the saviour and of the oppressor in the continuing story of the Cuban revolution. Moscow gave economic support after the blockade started, but they also forced bureaucratic structures on Cuba and its people that I'm arguing that the Cuban leadership did not. have a part to play in these bureaucratic deformities). But this debate is missing in the book. In one sense this is good, as it opens up the story of the corrupt ar murderous Bacardi company to a wider audience without going through the old polemic of what sort of state Cuba is. But the debate is sull valid now. pomops more For anybody who has a litthe knowledge of Cuba or for the new radicalised generation of anti-capitalists and anybody who is opposed to Bush's cynical "war against terrorism* this is an excel: lent book, well worth a read.
But it's more than just a book: it is a campaign tool. At the present time there is Union of Students (NUS) about getting Bacardi banned in student unions.
Recently the commercial arm of the National Union of Ished the carty rituals of hunting, includStudents voted to accept a three-year sole supply deal with Bacardi. The deal. worth around £625,000, means that student bars wil in future only stock Bacardi white rum and not Havana club. which is produced by the Cuban goverment in sartnership with French drinks giant Pernod Facard, (Not Last year, student unions. from Oxford, Sheffield, London and Middlesex universities asked the NUS to stop buying Bacardi, in line with its ethical mandate. it is vital for all students to support this call.
Whatever your view of the Cuban leadership, we must support the Cuban people and defend their revolution against Bacardi, the US and all imperialist aggression.
We must oppose the eco nomic blockade, the continued presence on Cuban soil of imperialist troops (in the Guantanamo base). Washington's covert aki to terrorist squads operating out of Florida, and any direct move by the US warmachine against Cuba.
Down with the multinationals and HANDS OFF CUBA.
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