20
PARTISAN REVIEW
For a great deal is needed to crown a leader when he is maximus!
It
was an enormous task to create such an unusual treasure;
the specialists didn't allow class prejudices to get in the way: other–
wise it would have had no legs, no eyes, no motor, and no class.
It was necessary, in so difficult a situation, to show good
judgment; they avoided the errors of their red comrades and used
the tools of the reviled whites:
the steel came from Sweden
the motors from Detroi t - thanks to a diabolical Dutch ruse–
the propellers from England
the marbles from Italy
the aluminum from Ottawa
the pianos from Tokyo
the designs from Miami
the porcelain from London
the perfumes from Milan
the axles from Liverpool
the electronic equipment from Japan
(In the dry dock of your arrogance, among ashes and rags,
the cows low without udders and the crows caw without wings.)
The TUXPAN is a yacht with three bridges surrounded by
bulletproof glass, a projection room, staterooms with marble baths
and fittings for deep sea fishing, for it would be foolish for you to sail
discontentedly when you steer the ship of state with such a firm
hand, your lackeys said to themselves.
When you are not using your pharoah's barque, it is berthed in
the Navy Arsenal, under the care of "personnel selected by State
Security," so that the common people cannot touch the treasure or
tarnish with tainted breath its porcelain or marble.
Perhaps one day you'll come down and prove to them with
photographs or film that your yacht ought to be in pictures!
Knowing that you sail the seas in such luxury does not help
or hearten the Cubans, it disheartens and sickens them, because for
Cubans, according to Niedergand in
Le Monde,
"transportation is a real calamity."
Thanks to Francis Pisani, also of
Le Monde,
we know that
"it is frequent to wait two and even three hours for a bus that
never comes"; the buses, when they do arrive, are packed with
passengers; they don't stop at the busstops for fear they'll be
assaulted ... or if they do stop, you have to force your way on."
