Humberto Fontova
Encyclopedia
Humberto Fontova is a Cuban-American author, blogger, political commentator, and conservative polemicist. Ardently anti-communist, many of his works attempt to correct the record to what he contends is the unreported and accurate point of view.
, Cuba
. Fontova's family went into exile to the United States (New Orleans) in 1961, when he was seven years old. Coinciding with their exodus, his father was held prisoner by the regime of Fidel Castro
for three months after the Cuban Revolution
, although he was later released. A short time later Fontova's cousin Pedro, whom he describes as a "fervent Catholic activist" who spoke out against the new regime, died while in Cuban state custody. The official cause of death given was a heart attack, although Fontova believes he was murdered by police interrogators.
and scuba diver, Fontova began his publishing career writing for the outdoor themed magazines Louisiana Sportsman, Sierra, Scuba Times and Bowhunter. In 2001 he published his first book The Helldivers' Rodeo, an account of an extreme scuba diving and spear fishing adventure, followed in 2003 by The Hellpig Hunt, about a hunting adventure in the wetlands along the Mississippi River
.
Fontova later entered the political publishing arena and authored two Cuba-related polemics. Fidel: Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant criticizes American
celebrities, particularly Hollywood actor
s, who support Fidel Castro
's government in Cuba
and often travel to meet with Castro personally. Among those singled out are Jack Nicholson
, Danny Glover
, Harry Belafonte
, Chevy Chase
, Steven Spielberg
, Ted Turner
, and Dan Rather
. Fontova interviews dissident
s as well as former government agents, such as Delfin Fernandez
, who recounts how he was ordered to bug these same celebrities' rooms with secret microphones and video cameras so that they could be monitored.
Exposing the Real Che Guevara and the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him is a critique of Che Guevara
and those who support him. Travel author Rolf Potts
, in a review of the book for World Hum
, noted that "taken in selective doses", the book puts "some well-placed holes in Che’s presumed humanism
and military competence." However, Potts said that what "is meant to be a polemic
against Guevara’s t-shirt-certified mythology" actually ends up showing "how Che’s reputation benefits from the myopic fury and misguided political influence of those who hate him the most." Potts said that the book's "slightly schizophrenic tone" meanders off into subject matter that has little to do with the book’s premise, that the book seems "less an indictment of Guevara than the New York Times or John F. Kennedy
. Ultimately, Potts states, the book is "less about Che Guevara than the King Lear
-style resentments of the Cuban-Americans who hate him — and the effectiveness of its argument suffers as a result."
Commentator and former Research Director of the Adam Smith Institute
Alex Singleton reviewed the book for the Social Affairs Unit
. He said that "Fontova's book aims to challenge the mythology surrounding Guevara. At the very least, it will provide useful factual ammunition for conservatives and libertarians." Singleton differed with Fontova's view on libertarian opponents of America's Cuban embargo
, saying that, "The embargo has been completely ineffective but created an excuse for Cuba's poor economic performance." Nevertheless, Singleton concluded that the book was an important one, having earlier in the review expressed the hope that it would "encourage scholars to reanalyse the conventional wisdom."
Journalist and Buenos Aires
bureau chief for Dow Jones Newswires
Michael Casey reviewed Exposing the Real Che Guevara in his 2009 book Che's Afterlife: The Legacy of an Image. Casey described it as "an art form of mixing frustration with ridicule." Casey said that Fontova's prose was a marriage of Ann Coulter
with the Gonzo journalism
of Hunter S. Thompson
, and that Fontova "basically yells at his readers, mixing a sarcastic wit with a touch of self-deprecation until it is overwhelmed by disdain for his opponents."
Lastly, Casey observed that Fontova often "lathers himself into a rage" when it comes to the issue of Che Guevara
, noting that his barrage of hyperbole
leads him to describe Guevara as an "assassin", "sadist", "bumbler", "fool", and "whimpering-sniveling-blubbering coward" who is "revered by millions of imbeciles." Other descriptions by Fontova of Guevara, cited by Casey, were "shallow", "boorish", "epically stupid", "a fraud", a "murdering swine", an "intellectual vacuum", and an "insufferable Argentine jackass."
Fontova is a frequent contributor to several conservative/right-wing websites and has made a guest appearance on the Glenn Beck Program
and Fox News show Hannity and Colmes.
Early life
Fontova was born in 1954 in HavanaHavana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. Fontova's family went into exile to the United States (New Orleans) in 1961, when he was seven years old. Coinciding with their exodus, his father was held prisoner by the regime of Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
for three months after the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
, although he was later released. A short time later Fontova's cousin Pedro, whom he describes as a "fervent Catholic activist" who spoke out against the new regime, died while in Cuban state custody. The official cause of death given was a heart attack, although Fontova believes he was murdered by police interrogators.
Writing career
As an avid hunter, fishermanFisherman
A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishermen and fish farmers. The term can also be applied to recreational fishermen and may be used to describe both men...
and scuba diver, Fontova began his publishing career writing for the outdoor themed magazines Louisiana Sportsman, Sierra, Scuba Times and Bowhunter. In 2001 he published his first book The Helldivers' Rodeo, an account of an extreme scuba diving and spear fishing adventure, followed in 2003 by The Hellpig Hunt, about a hunting adventure in the wetlands along the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
.
Fontova later entered the political publishing arena and authored two Cuba-related polemics. Fidel: Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant criticizes American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
celebrities, particularly Hollywood actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
s, who support Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
's government in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and often travel to meet with Castro personally. Among those singled out are Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
, Danny Glover
Danny Glover
Danny Lebern Glover is an American actor, film director, and political activist. Glover is perhaps best known for his role as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise.-Early life:...
, Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte
Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...
, Chevy Chase
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase is an American comedian, writer, and television and film actor, born into a prominent entertainment industry family. Chase worked a plethora of odd jobs before moving into comedy acting with National Lampoon...
, Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
, Ted Turner
Ted Turner
Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...
, and Dan Rather
Dan Rather
Daniel Irvin "Dan" Rather, Jr. is an American journalist and the former news anchor for the CBS Evening News. He is now managing editor and anchor of the television news magazine Dan Rather Reports on the cable channel HDNet. Rather was anchor of the CBS Evening News for 24 years, from March 9,...
. Fontova interviews dissident
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
s as well as former government agents, such as Delfin Fernandez
Delfin Fernandez
To see article about the drummer of Los Salvajes, go to Delfín Fernández .Delfín Fernández is a former Cuban spy who spent 15 years working for the Cuban counterintelligence Department 11 with the codename Agent Otto. He defected from Cuba and moved to Spain in 1999. He settled in Spain for five...
, who recounts how he was ordered to bug these same celebrities' rooms with secret microphones and video cameras so that they could be monitored.
Exposing the Real Che Guevara and the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him is a critique of Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
and those who support him. Travel author Rolf Potts
Rolf Potts
Rolf Potts is a travel writer whose work has appeared in National Geographic Traveler, the New York Times Magazine, Slate.com, Condé Nast Traveler, Outside, The Believer, The Guardian, National Public Radio, the Travel Channel, Salon.com and World Hum. His travel advice book Vagabonding, which has...
, in a review of the book for World Hum
World Hum
World Hum is an award winning online travel magazine . Founded in 2001 by Jim Benning and Michael Yessis, Worldhum.com was acquired in May 2007, by Travel Channel World Hum features a Travel Blog, How To's, Book Reviews, Q&A, and travel dispatches...
, noted that "taken in selective doses", the book puts "some well-placed holes in Che’s presumed humanism
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
and military competence." However, Potts said that what "is meant to be a polemic
Polemic
A polemic is a variety of arguments or controversies made against one opinion, doctrine, or person. Other variations of argument are debate and discussion...
against Guevara’s t-shirt-certified mythology" actually ends up showing "how Che’s reputation benefits from the myopic fury and misguided political influence of those who hate him the most." Potts said that the book's "slightly schizophrenic tone" meanders off into subject matter that has little to do with the book’s premise, that the book seems "less an indictment of Guevara than the New York Times or John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
. Ultimately, Potts states, the book is "less about Che Guevara than the King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
-style resentments of the Cuban-Americans who hate him — and the effectiveness of its argument suffers as a result."
Commentator and former Research Director of the Adam Smith Institute
Adam Smith Institute
The Adam Smith Institute, abbreviated to ASI, is a think tank based in the United Kingdom, named after one of the founders of modern economics, Adam Smith. It espouses free market and classical liberal views, in particular by creating radical policy options in the light of public choice theory,...
Alex Singleton reviewed the book for the Social Affairs Unit
Social Affairs Unit
The Social Affairs Unit is a right-leaning think tank in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1980 as an offshoot of the Institute of Economic Affairs, it publishes books on a variety of social issues...
. He said that "Fontova's book aims to challenge the mythology surrounding Guevara. At the very least, it will provide useful factual ammunition for conservatives and libertarians." Singleton differed with Fontova's view on libertarian opponents of America's Cuban embargo
United States embargo against Cuba
The United States embargo against Cuba is a commercial, economic, and financial embargo partially imposed on Cuba in October 1960...
, saying that, "The embargo has been completely ineffective but created an excuse for Cuba's poor economic performance." Nevertheless, Singleton concluded that the book was an important one, having earlier in the review expressed the hope that it would "encourage scholars to reanalyse the conventional wisdom."
Journalist and Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
bureau chief for Dow Jones Newswires
Dow Jones Newswires
Dow Jones Newswires is the real-time financial news organization owned by Dow Jones . Founded in 1882, its primary competitors are Bloomberg L.P. and Thomson Reuters. The company reports more than 300,000 subscribers -- including brokers, traders, analysts and fund managers -- as of July 2011.-...
Michael Casey reviewed Exposing the Real Che Guevara in his 2009 book Che's Afterlife: The Legacy of an Image. Casey described it as "an art form of mixing frustration with ridicule." Casey said that Fontova's prose was a marriage of Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Hart Coulter is an American lawyer, conservative social and political commentator, author, and syndicated columnist. She frequently appears on television, radio, and as a speaker at public events and private events...
with the Gonzo journalism
Gonzo journalism
Gonzo journalism is a style of journalism that is written without claims of objectivity, often including the reporter as part of the story via a first-person narrative. The word "gonzo" is believed to be first used in 1970 to describe an article by Hunter S. Thompson, who later popularized the style...
of Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author who wrote The Rum Diary , Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 .He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to...
, and that Fontova "basically yells at his readers, mixing a sarcastic wit with a touch of self-deprecation until it is overwhelmed by disdain for his opponents."
Lastly, Casey observed that Fontova often "lathers himself into a rage" when it comes to the issue of Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
, noting that his barrage of hyperbole
Hyperbole
Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally....
leads him to describe Guevara as an "assassin", "sadist", "bumbler", "fool", and "whimpering-sniveling-blubbering coward" who is "revered by millions of imbeciles." Other descriptions by Fontova of Guevara, cited by Casey, were "shallow", "boorish", "epically stupid", "a fraud", a "murdering swine", an "intellectual vacuum", and an "insufferable Argentine jackass."
Fontova is a frequent contributor to several conservative/right-wing websites and has made a guest appearance on the Glenn Beck Program
Glenn Beck Program
The Glenn Beck Program is an American talk radio show hosted by commentator Glenn Beck on Premiere Radio Networks. Since its inception as a nationally syndicated show in 2002, the program has become one of the highest rated radio programs...
and Fox News show Hannity and Colmes.
Works
- Humberto Fontova, The Helldivers' Rodeo: A Deadly, X-Treme, Scuba-Diving, Spearfishing, Adventure Amid the Off Shore Oil Platforms in the Murky Waters of the Gulf of Mexico, M.Evans & Company (April 24, 2001), ISBN 978-0871319364
- Humberto Fontova, The Hellpig Hunt, M.Evans & Company (October 30, 2003), ISBN 978-1590770092
- Humberto Fontova, Fidel: Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant, Regnery Publishing (February 25, 2005), ISBN 978-0895260437
- Humberto Fontova, Exposing the Real Che Guevara and the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him, Sentinel HC (April 19, 2007), ISBN 978-1595230270
External links
- Fontova's Official Website
- Fontova Blog at Babalu blog
- Fontova Archive at American Thinker
- Fontova Archive at Big Journalism
- Fontova Archive at Canada Free Press
- Fontova Archive at Capitalism Magazine
- Fontova Archive at FrontPageMag.com
- Fontova Archive at Human Events
- Fontova Archive at LewRockwell.com
- Fontova Archive at Louisiana Sportsman
- Fontova Archive at NewsMax.com
- Fontova Archive at Town Hall