A comment on a recent post led me to Google to investigate
Forbes Magazine's ludicrous claims of the alleged personal wealth of Fidel Castro. It's an absolutely remarkable story (emphasis on the word "story").
Warren Buffett, move over! Fidel's got your rate of return beat by a mile! At least he would, if
Forbes were a magazine purveying facts rather than fairy tales.
For the record, Fidel claims, and there isn't the slightest evidence to the contrary, that his net worth is nil. Here are the kind of "facts"
Forbes includes in its "analysis": "Travels exclusively in a convoy of black Mercedes-Benzes. Sold state-owned Havana Club rum to French liquor giant Pernod Ricard for $50 million in 1993."
Yes, I'm sure he does occasionally travel in nice cars. Which are owned by the state, just like the ones George Bush travels in (different state). If you've seen the recent movie Fidel: The Untold Story by Estela Bravo (my recent review here), however, you know that those cars are often at a rather lower level than the ones Bush travels in. The film shows Castro hosting a visit (at some time in the past) by Ted Turner, and having to have his jeep (not a Mercedes-Benz) pushed in order to get it to start.
Pernod did not "buy" Havana Club from Cuba. They did enter into a joint venture to market Havana Club rum, and I presume they paid money for the privilege. But in any case, whatever they paid went, naturally, straight to the Cuban treasury, not to some secret Swiss bank account.
I'd say "you'd think they could do better," but the fact is, they can't. That's as "good" as the slander they can come up with. But no matter, because now the corporate media are dutifully repeating, without elaboration (which would be embarassing), that Fidel Castro is "worth" $900 million. After all, Forbes says so.
Reprinted from Left I on the News