Zone of Reality: Castro Notes

This first appeared on May 11, 2009

Why Does Hollywood Love Fidel Castro?
By Humberto Fontova

"Fidel Castro is a genius!" gushed Jack Nicholson after a visit with the Cuban Führer in 1998. "We spoke about everything," the actor rhapsodized further. "Castro is a humanist like President Clinton. Cuba is simply a paradise!" Jack Nicholson has been saying such things for years now. Many of his Hollywood cohorts follow suit.

"Socialism works. I think Cuba might prove that" (Chevy Chase).

"Castro is very selfless and moral, one of the world's wisest men" (Oliver Stone).

"If you believe in freedom, if you believe in justice, if you believe in democracy, you have no choice but to support Fidel Castro!" (Harry Belafonte).

"It was an experience of a lifetime to sit only a few feet away from him (Castro)" Kevin Costner.

"The eight most important hours of my life," Stephen Spielberg describing his dinner with Castro.

While holding up the book "Fidel: Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant" on his TV show, Bill O'Reilly called these celebs "Hollywood pinheads."

But there might be more to these celebrity plugs for a tyrant who jailed more of his subjects than did Hitler or Stalin than the usual celebrity vacuity upstairs.

"My job was to bug their hotel rooms," says high-ranking Cuban intelligence defector Delfin Fernandez. "With both cameras and listening devices. Most people have no idea they are being watched while they are in Cuba. But their personal activities are filmed under orders from Castro himself."

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