Bacardi

Hernando Calvo Ospina

Description

The Bacardi rum company is one of the most successful and recognisable brands in the world. It spends millions on marketing itself as the spirit of youth and vitality. But behind its image as a party drink lies a very different story.



In this book, investigative journalist Hernando Calvo Ospina brings to light the commercial and political activities of the Bacardi empire to reveal its role in fostering the 40-year long confrontation between the United States and the revolutionary government of Cuba. Through meticulous research, Ospina reveals how directors and shareholders of the family-owned firm have aggressively worked to undermine the Castro government. He explores how they have been implicated in supporting paramilitary organisations that have carried out terrorist attacks, and reveals their links to the extreme right-wing Cuban-American Foundation that supported Ronald Reagan's Contra war in Nicaragua.



Bacardi: The Hidden War explains the company's hand in promoting 'special interest' legislation against its competitor, Havana Club Rum, which is manufactured in Cuba and promoted by the European company Pernod-Ricard. Ospina reveals the implications of Bacardi's involvement in this growing dispute that threatens to create a trade war between America and Europe. Exploring the Bacardi empire's links to the CIA, as well as its inside links with the Bush administration, this fascinating account shows how multinational companies act for political as well as economic interests.
Foreword by James Petras

By Way Of Introduction

1. The Bacardi-Bouteiller company

2. Expansion and prelude to departure

3. Bacardi leaves before the Revolution

4. The CIA, the businessman and the terrorists

5. From violence to the lobby

6. Reagan breeds a monster

7. CANF and The Shareholders

8. Two wars and their accomplices

9. The Torricelli-Graham Act

10. The Absurd. The Helms-Burton Act

11. ‘The Bacardi Claims Act’

12. Market ‘wars’

13. More than a rum war’

14. Cuba’s transition and ‘reconstruction’

Postscript

Appendix 1: Diagrams

Appendix 2: Photos And Documents.

Appendix 3: Photos And Documents.

About The Cuba Solidarity Campaign

Notes

Index

Sujets

• International Relations
• Political Science
• Cuba

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 20 juillet 2002
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783718955
• Langue: English

Extrait

Bacardí
Hernando Calvo Ospina is a Colombian journalist, resident in Europe. He defines himself as being politically committed and this is reflected in his work. He has written various books, all of which have been translated into numerous languages. Among them are: Perú: los senderos possibles (Peru: The Possible Paths, 1994), The Cuban Exile Movement: an exposé of the Cuban American National Foundation and anti-Castro groups (Ocean Press, 1999) and Salsa! Havana Heat, Bronx Beat (LAB, 1995).
Bacardí
The Hidden War
Hernando Calvo Ospina
Translated by Stephen Wilkinson and Alasdair Holden
Preface by James Petras
First published in French 2000 by EPO.
First English language edition published 2002 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA and 22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166-2012, USA
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright © Hernando Calvo Ospina and EPO, 2000; this translation © Stephen Wilkinson and Alasdair Holden 2002
Author’s email address: [e-mail]
The right of Hernando Calvo Ospina to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Calvo Ospina, Hernando, 1961–
[Ron Bacardí. English]
Bacardí: the hidden war/Hernando Calvo Ospina; translated by
Stephen Wilkinson and Alasdair Holden; preface by James Petras. – 1st English language ed.
p. cm.
Translation of: Ron Bacardí.
ISBN 0-7453-1874-6 (hardback) – ISBN 0-7453-1873-8 (paperback)
1. Bacardâi Corporation (Puerto Rico)—History. 2. Bacardí
Corporation (Puerto Rico)—Political activity. 3. Rum industry—United States. 4. Rum industry—United States—Political activity. I. Title.
HD9394.U54 B33313 2002
338.7’66359’097295-dc21
2001006330
ISBN 0 7453 1873 8 hardback ISBN 0 7453 1874 6 paperback ISBN 978 1 7837 1895 5 ePub ISBN 978 1 7837 1896 2 Kindle
10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1
Designed and produced for Pluto Press by Chase Publishing Services, Sidmouth, EX10 9QG Typeset by Replika Press Pvt Ltd, India Printed in the European Union by Antony Rowe, Chippenham, England
To:
Nabor Calvo, Elvia Ospina, Paula Andrea Calvo, Yohan Calvo, Karine Álvarez, Manolo and Alina, Miguelito, Annemie Verbruggen, Katlijn Declercq, Pedro and Odile, Miriam Rodríguez, Paquito, Luis Berois, Paco and Federica, Annette Lacoste, Alfonso and Rita, Enrique González, Teddy Gorman, Jaime and Leticia, Juan and Niurys, Florance Rigaud, Jesús and Miselda, Wanda Lawn. With special thanks to the Cuba Solidarity Campaign UK .
Without their support and kindness this work would not have been possible but that does not imply any legal responsibility on their part for its content .
All my operations are strictly carried out according to the American rules, and they always will be. This American system, which is our system, call it Americanism, call it capitalism, call it what you like, gives everyone and each one of us immense opportunities if we know how to grab them with both hands and squeeze them as much as possible .
Al Capone Italian-American Gangster
Content
PROLOGUE by James Petras
BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION
1: THE BACARDÍ-BOUTEILLER COMPANY
The Sugar Islands and Rum
The US Almost Ruins Bacardí
Bouteiller Produces Bacardí Rum
Earnings that Sound like Fantasy
Business and Pro-annexationism
2: EXPANSION AND PRELUDE TO DEPARTURE
Millions Amid the Crisis
‘The Rum Route’
‘The Golden Age of Cocktails’
Business Before National Interests
Bacardí Continues on its Way
Pepín Bosch Expands the Businesses
Two Short Anecdotes about Pepín and Co .
‘The Empire of Havana’
3: BACARDÍ LEAVES CUBA BEFORE THE REVOLUTION
Bacardí Moves to the Bahamas
A Revolution Incompatible with Bacardí
The Nationalisations Were Not a Game
How the Revolution Helped Bacardí
4: THE CIA, THE BUSINESSMAN AND THE TERRORISTS
The Businessman and the Bombardment
Kennedy and the ‘Orphans’
Pepín Bosch Prepares the Second Invasion
CIA Money and Bacardí
The Plot to Assassinate Fidel, Raúl and Che
Unity for Terrorism
5: FROM VIOLENCE TO THE LOBBY
Enter Jesse Helms
From the Brazilian Dictatorship to the Chilean Dictatorship
Terrorist Effectiveness and Economy
Complicity through Silence
Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing
6: REAGAN BREEDS A MONSTER
Goodbye RECE, Hello CANF
The NSC as Father and Mother of the CANF
‘Project Democracy’
The CANF and ‘Project Democracy’
The First Godfathers of the CANF
7: THE CANF AND THE SHAREHOLDERS
Accomplices in Sin
Bacardí’s Directors Strengthen the CANF
The Role of Conservative Intellectuals
Academic Infiltration
The ‘Bacardí Chair’
Radio Martí
8: TWO WARS AND THEIR ACCOMPLICES
The Contras War
The Fall of ‘Project Democracy’
Public Means, Private Means
With the Freedom Fighters
The Principle of Brotherhood
Aid to UNITA in Angola
The Civil War in Angola
Pepín Bosch, the CANF and UNITA
Agreements with UNITA
Aid to Criminals
9: THE TORRICELLI-GRAHAM ACT
Here’s to the Fall!
‘If Blood Has to Flow …’
A Lawmaker’s Price
Why and How a Law is Passed
Electoral Opportunism
The Effects of the Act
10: THE ABSURD: THE HELMS-BURTON ACT
Jesse Helms and Dan Burton
The Cobbled Together Act
The Battle Commences
The Battle Reaches Europe
Intolerance
‘An Emotional Act’
Titles I and II
Titles of Discord
Negotiations Behind the Scenes
The Birmingham Agreement
11: ‘THE BACARDÍ CLAIMS ACT’
A Whisper Takes Shape
A Very Different Lunch
An Absurd Calculation
The Earliest Proof
More Proof
And Yet More Proof
Bacardí, Though Not US …
12: MARKET ‘WARS’
Subtle Threats
A Coincidental Warning
The Object of Fear: Pernod-Ricard
Deceitful Propaganda
‘Cuba Libre’
13: MORE THAN A RUM ‘WAR’
Unfair Competition?
The Owner Cannot Choose
He Who Lives by the News …
The Return of Bacardí’s Legislators
Bacardí ‘Discovers’ the Arechabalas
Dynamiting the Factory
Bacardí and the United States Against the Agreements
Section 211: By Bacardí for Bacardí
The United States Has Nothing to Say
Much More Than Just a Rum ‘War’
14: CUBA’S ‘TRANSITION’ AND ‘RECONSTRUCTION’
Cuba’s ‘Reconstruction’
Selling off the Island
Free Trade?
‘Humanitarian’ Businessmen
The US-Cuba Business Council
Is Bacardí ‘Making’ the Economic Transition?
‘Cuba in Transition’
Will Bacardí Be Put in Charge of Selling Off Cuba?
Backdrop
POSTSCRIPT
APPENDIX: DIAGRAMS
NOTES
INDEX
ABOUT THE CUBA SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN
Prologue
by James Petras
Professor of Political Ethics at the University of Binghamton, New York
This is the story of the close-knit relationship between major stockholders and directors of Bacardí rum, the extreme right-wing Cuban American National Foundation and the CIA. It provides a wealth of details documenting how Bacardí acted as a conduit for CIA funding to paramilitary mercenaries in Nicaragua, Angola and of course Cuba. But this is more than a litany of horror stories about a nasty multinational corporation acting with impunity against desperate people struggling to improve their lives.
This book raises fundamental issues about the relationship between multinational corporations and imperialist politics, about the instrumental use by the state of private corporations to serve state-directed terrorism. Fundamentally, this study argues that multinational corporations are not simply economic units pursuing market maximising goals but political units that are used by the state to pursue clandestine activities.
By focusing on the role of Bacardí in the formation of the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) and its direct participation in influencing US policy towards Cuba, it raises the issue of how foreign corporate executives with an ideological axe to grind can make policy behind the backs of US citizens and against their interests. Because the fact of the matter is that Bacardí is not a US corporation though it controls US legislators and contributed to the financing of President Clinton’s election campaign.
The Cuban American National Foundation and Bacardí are tightly interlinked as key representatives of Bacardí are on the board of directors of CANF. The policies of Bacardí/CANF have been a major impediment to any rapprochement between the US and Cuba. The fact that the President of the US Chamber of Commerce – the major business association in the US has declared it a top priority to re-establish economic ties with Cuba – tells us that Bacardí-CANF are increasingly isolated from major business interests in the US. Why then does Washington persist in following the extremist policies of Bacardí-CANF?
Calvo Ospina provides us with some promising leads to uncovering why a numerically insignificant émigré group, concentrated in one city of one state (Miami, Florida) can wield so much influence. Wealthy right-wing extremists provide up to 15 per cent of congressional campaign funds. More importantly, Cuban émigrés have played a major role in dirty clandestine operations in areas designated by Washington as being of strategic importance. Washington is loath to disown those who directed and funded the Nicaragua Contras, the UNITA mercenaries in Angola, the death squads in El Salvador or advised the fearsome political police in Chile. The Cuban émigrés are or have been a strategic asset.
Thus while an increasing number of major conservative US corporations and farm groups are clamouring for Washington to lift trade barriers with Cuba, the Clinton-Gore-Bush administrations resisted so as to avoid alienating their terrorist prodigy among the right-wing Cuban émigrés.
Calvo Ospina highlights the ideological terrorist component of US policy and the key role that Cuban émigrés and Bacardí played in implementing this policy. It remains to be seen, in this new pos