When Che and soccer mix, an apology suffices

Fabiola Santiago: When Che and soccer mix, an apology suffices

Soccer stadium investor tweets controversial Che image
Political theater ensues, but not for long
Miami mayor all too happy to defuse discontent
BY FABIOLA SANTIAGO
fsantiago@miamiherald.com

Nothing perks up my anthropological interest like another fool falling
for the mythological Che Guevara image fabricated in La Habana and
exported to the world like a runaway marketing cliché.

The list of the duped is star-studded.

Most notably, given Guevara's documented racist comments against blacks,
rapper Jay-Z was photographed dangling multiple gold necklaces over his
Che T-shirt and cluelessly rapping away: "I'm like Che Guevara with
bling on /I'm complex…"

If you're Cuban, after puking at the glorification of a foreign
adventurer who led executions in your homeland and Jay-Z's insensitive
flaunting of wealth in a poor country, you're laughing your heart out,
thinking, "Jay-Z must be … asthmatic!"

It's a throwback to a popular joke on the island inspired by the
indoctrination of children in school who are made to chant every
morning: "Pioneers for communism, we will be like Che!" Someone
acquainted with the guerrilla warrior's medical history of troubled
breathing whispered into the annals of popular Cuban culture: "Asthmatic!"

Humor is an effective tool of survival.

Enter into this playground Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure — an investor in
David Beckham's proposed soccer stadium next to the often-empty Marlins
one in Little Havana — and no ordinary fool. He was in Havana to sign a
deal with the Cuban government to provide roaming cellphone service on
the island. Routine news in these days of rapprochement, but then, all
too enthusiastically, Claure tweeted the tribute image of Guevara at
Revolution Square.

"Hola Cuba," Claure wrote with the photo, "Happy to be here in La
Havana, Cuba."

You could hear the collective gasp in Miami. Like the time bad boy Miami
Marlins Manager Ozzie Guillen told Time magazine that he admired the
longevity of Fidel Castro.

One could make the case that the two-time World Series-winning Marlins
team that we knew and loved started to go downhill after Guillen brought
up Castro. No matter how much the known louse — but winning manager —
insisted that he actually hated the dictator, and apologized for his
insensitivity, he was out of there.

But in this case, just as the Claure-induced political theater began to
emerge on Twitter — Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez pointed out
that Claure (or his cellphone?) couldn't even spell "La Habana" right,
and Republican U.S. representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Carlos
Curbelo also chimed in to protest — the scrimmage was over.

Claure deleted his tweet and apologized.

The pro-free-speech crowd half-heartedly objected, defending Claure's
right to post anything he wants, but with no takers for a duel, it was over.

Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado — who as the anti-Communist warrior
"Tomasito" of Cuban radio in previous decades might have condemned
Claure — was happily plugging the stadium and the School Board
involvement in the deal on FM radio.

Claure's apology is "good enough, and people will understand," Regalado
told the Miami Herald's David Smiley.

There's a precarious deal on the table — and we may hate Che, but we
love our sports stadiums more.

Fabiola Santiago: 305-376-3469, fsantiago@miamiherald.com, @fabiolasantiago

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