Viaje al corazón de Cuba
Montaner starts his biography of Fidel Castro noting that of all living political figures Castro stimulates the most interest. He ends the book with an epilog portraying Castro's hypothetical death and the subsequent decommunization of Cuba. Castro has been simply a disaster for Cuba. Interested in power for its own sake; devoid of loyalty to anything except his own conceptions and place in power; uncomfortable around those who grapple with ideas, such as Che Guevara, Castro has depended on charisma, fear, and Soviet support. In the last decade, Soviet support has ceased, his charisma has diminished, and fear has taken up the slack. Montaner paints an unchanged Castro and sketches the damage that this has caused his fellow Cubans: the exodus, the hunger, the prostitution, the poverty. A corroborating read for those who oppose Castro and a necessary one for those who don't.-John P. FarranceCopyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.