First off, El Nuevo Herald is truly exaggerating when it claims 100 Cuban exiles protested the private screening of the Steven Soderberg’s movie “Che” on Miami Beach Thursday night.
At most, there was maybe 40 protesters protesting the movie about Che Guevara. And that’s stretching it.
But you know the old saying, “yo no creo en el Herald”.
And it was obvious they were completely out of their element because they did not show nearly the aggressiveness they normally show when they’re gathered at Versailles Cuban restaurant in Little Havana.
But one lady demanded to know if I was “liberal”, and when I told her yes, she demanded to know where I stand on the Castro issue because obviously liberalism and communism go hand in hand.
Yawn. Yes, it was pretty much an uneventful protest considering I did not get assaulted nor did the protesters chase Benicio del Toro away as they did Code Pink.
But still, I don’t understand why every time I film these people, a few of them always accuse me of being communist. It’s not like I have a beard and walk around in fatigues chomping on a cigar.
I think it’s because when they ask me my political leanings, I don’t hesitate to let them know exactly where I stand. And they are so used to people coddling to them in Miami, either out of fear or exasperation, that they get insulted that somebody doesn’t think just like them.
But on this night, the most dramatic moment came when I had to defend my democratic leanings in Spanish, which sometimes gets me tongue-tied, as you will see (or rather hear) in the video.