The Mouth That Set Little Havana Aflame
Ozzie Guillen, newly installed manager of Major League Baseball's Miami Marlins, has a bit of a reputation for shooting off his mouth.
During his last managerial stint, when he skippered the Chicago White Sox, Guillen was fined for publicly referring to a Chicago sports columnist with a homosexual slur. During the controversy over Arizona's immigration bill, SB 1070, he said that part of the need for immigrant labor stems from the fact that "there are a lot of people from this country who are lazy. We [Hispanics] are not." Of the president of his native Venezuela, he has said "I like Chavez the man. I don't say I like him politically, because I don't agree with a lot of the stuff he does and says. But I have a right to like somebody, and I like the man."
But none of Guillen's previous gaffes have created a public firestorm anything like the one that has accompanied his recent statement to Time Magazine (subscription required for full content -- yes, Time is suicidal) that, "I love Fidel Castro. ... I respect Fidel Castro. You know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but that (expletive) is still there."
Thankfully, Castro is one of the few totalitarian figures on the world stage for whom revulsion is still widely considered the appropriate reaction stateside (unless you're part of the liberal cognoscenti, in which case singing his praises will land you a movie deal). This is especially the case in Miami, ground zero for the Cuban expatriates who are the heart of the anti-Castro movement.
Over the course of the past year, the Marlins have gone to extreme lengths to market themselves to Miami's Hispanic community, opening up a new stadium in the heart of Little Havana, making special efforts to attract Hispanic talent (including Guillen), and even redesigning their uniforms to embrace a color palette that you'd expect to see on a Univision house band. Translation: if Ozzie Guillen had been intentionally looking for a way to poison his relationship with the city, he probably would've chosen exactly the same words he spoke to Time.
Hardline anti-Castro activists are pledging to boycott the team until Guillen is fired. Miami's mayor has called on the Marlins "to take decisive steps." The Chairman of Miami-Dade County's Board of Commissioners has called on him to resign. This morning, the Marlins announced that they are suspending Guillen for five games. During his press conference in Miami, he told the assembled crowd, "This is the biggest mistake of my life."
Who knows what caused Ozzie Guillen's outburst. My suspicion is that Guillen's affection for Castro bears a passing resemblance to the cult of Che Guevara, where style is worshiped and substance is ignored. How else can one explain a sentient human being lauding a man responsible for tens of thousands of deaths as a 'survivor' without so much as a whiff of irony?
Since Guillen will have plenty of time on his hands over the next few days, I recommend he take a history lesson from Orlando Sentinel sports reporter George Diaz:
On Tuesday, author Carlos Eire was in downtown Orlando, sharing his profound pain with other Cuban-American exiles like myself and former U.S. Senator Mel Martinez.
He spoke of his personal experience as one of 14,000 children airlifted out of Cuba — exiled from his family, his country, and his own childhood after Castro's revolution. He was only 11 years old when his parents cast him away to the United States in the most heartbreaking proof of unconditional love you will ever find.
The project was called Pedro Pan. Peter Pan. He flies. A metaphor for dreams, miracles and faith.
Eire would never see his father again.
The parents of those 14,000 children would rather not see their children for the rest of their lives, as long as they were certain those children were safe from the tentacles of Fidel Castro.
Any wonder that so many people wanted to kill that (expletive), Ozzie?
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Comments:
Aug '10
Re: The Mouth That Set Little Havana Aflame
Guillen has also had less than kind words to say about Chavez when it comes to Chavez's politics.
Guillen is Guillen. He's a gaffe machine. Given enough time, he likely would have compared the Yankees to Castro.
May '10
Re: The Mouth That Set Little Havana Aflame
Shut up and play ball (although it's probably too late for that) .OTOH isn't bball big in Cuba? Maybe he could find a spot there.
May '10
Re: The Mouth That Set Little Havana Aflame
Troy - My answer is in the thread started on the Member's Feed.
Aug '10
Re: The Mouth That Set Little Havana Aflame
Ozzie is funny and I love his quotes but saying you love Castro in Miami of all places? The big dumb jock stereotype is safe for now...
Mar '11
Re: The Mouth That Set Little Havana Aflame
Turns out baseball players aren't philosophers. Who knew?
May '10
Re: The Mouth That Set Little Havana Aflame
Nothing could be farther than the truth.
Apr '11
Re: The Mouth That Set Little Havana Aflame
Is Ozzie a citizen?I always thought he could try to speak more clearly.
Oct '10
Re: The Mouth That Set Little Havana Aflame
It was dumb, and the suspension is probably necessary, but my sense is this is will blow over fairly quickly. I just spoke to a friend who is Cuban and a Marlins season ticket holder and he thought it was not a very big deal. Ozzie was saying that he admired Castro's ability to survive, not for his propensity to imprison innocent people, confiscate property, and execute political enemies.
Jun '11
Re: The Mouth That Set Little Havana Aflame
EJHill
Nothing could be farther than the truth. · 5 minutes ago
Ummm... mah views are purty much the same as EJ's.
Mar '11
Re: The Mouth That Set Little Havana Aflame
Really?
Apr '11
Re: The Mouth That Set Little Havana Aflame
The suspension and calls for boycott and firing are the exactly wrong response. That's the way suits and hysterical bullies think . Such measures are a weak form of the taboo that exists in France and Belgium against speaking of Muslim aggression and take-over of certain neighborhoods and towns.
The right response is like this post. Guillen should be called out publicly. Engage the useful idiot blowhard with the facts. Make him answer whether he really wants to be linked as an amigo of murderous tyrants like Castro and Chavez. Don't be distracted by non-apology apologies--make him answer the question. What matters is not that he "offended" people. It is that he has used his public position to promote stupidity and evil, to praise men who are America's enemies, hostile to every virtue that makes America good and great.
Mar '11
Re: The Mouth That Set Little Havana Aflame
The who knew was perhaps too obscure.
Therefore, with your consent, I revise my previous statement in light of my love of baseball and of philosophy: Not all baseball players are philosophers.
Mar '11
Re: The Mouth That Set Little Havana Aflame
I will have to write a post sometime on the ways in which philosophy and baseball can be harmonized.
In the meantime, I can merely recommend this humble volume.
Jun '10
Re: The Mouth That Set Little Havana Aflame
Maybe he'll end up with the Cleveland Indians, where he can tell Cleveland fans how much he loves and admires Art Modell.
Aug '10
Re: The Mouth That Set Little Havana Aflame
In the off-season Ozzie will be going on tour to tell folks in Brighton Beach, NY how much he loves Stalin, people in Dearborn, MI what a great fan of Saddam Hussein he was and folks in San Francisco how much he admired Mao Tse Dung.
Apr '11
Re: The Mouth That Set Little Havana Aflame
How is this different from most leftist politicians, celebrities, academics, etc...
Apr '11
Re: The Mouth That Set Little Havana Aflame
Give Me Liberty
How is this different from most leftist politicians, celebrities, academics, etc... ·
They get--or should get--challenged, too. Guillen disassociated himself from Chavez and Castro's policies, confining his remarks to personal traits he admired. That's OK, but his remarks were too chummy, and his demurrers too glib.
I think some of the outraged reaction is based on the facts that 1) affiliation with sports teams is personal and also they represent themselves as representing the community (whom do Sean Penn or Emma Thompson represent?) and 2) political comments are so unnecessary and outside the scope of his public role.
Sep '11
Re: The Mouth That Set Little Havana Aflame
That Ozzie would say something so profoundly foolish isn't a surprise. Suspending (or eventually firing) him is nothing but a public relations exercise. If someone wanted to actually get through to him, they would force him to talk to Andy Garcia and representatives of the "Ladies in White" for 20 minutes every day when he arrives at the ballpark. Maybe their stories of 50 years of Castro's murderous oppression would pound a little perspective into his head.
Apr '11
Re: The Mouth That Set Little Havana Aflame
I'm surprised Lance didn't make The Ramones' "Havana Affair" the SOTW.