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Wheeler's account of the ways he had to exercise his training on the streets of Havana is mesmerizing, as are his descriptions of the intensely personal politics of Cuba in the Sixties. When he details the reasons he was kicked out of Cuba by no less than Castro himself, we can truly feel his longing to return to the intense politics, constant pressures, and fancy footwork required to exist, let alone report from Castro's Cuba. It appears that at times Wheeler pushed his luck, but that was inevitable when seeking the truth in an environment beset by constant competition, debate and fear. -Book News Inc. (November © 2008)
New
Should a Journalist be a Judge?
Cuban President Ovaldo Dorticós was exasperated. "How can any honest man have the slightest doubt?" he asked 200 or so people during the press conference, which also included about 20 U.S. journalists. The year was 1967, and Cuban authorities had just arrested two Cuban exiles who, they say, confessed that they had been sent by the CIA to assassinate Fidel Castro.
But some of the U.S. journalists were skeptical. So Dorticós began polling them, one by one. The first replies came from the leftist and anti-Vietnam War press, who said they believed the men were agents. United Press International’s correspondent was a Cuban who wanted to leave Cuba, so he, too, accepted the evidence.
"What about the Associated Press?" Dorticós asked.
"I am a journalist, not a judge," John Fenton Wheeler said. Behind him, a reporter from the British Broadcasting Corporation muttered, "hear, hear." The room was silent.
"Castro clearly was not happy with my answer and said so during his speech at the closing the OLAS (Organization of Latin American Solidarity) conference (in 1967)," Wheeler writes in Last Man Out, a memoir about his years in Cuba during the late 1960s. For nearly three years, Wheeler was the only U.S. reporter in Cuba and one of the few Americans to witness firsthand Castro’s attempts to reform the country — economically, politically and socially. Wheeler did his best to be fair-handed in his coverage, but Castro’s communist government never trusted him and desperately tried to find evidence that he was connected to the CIA.
History is most often told from the top down — from the perspective of the powerful. This book tells the story from the bottom up. This is the real-life story of spies, counter spies, dissidents, defectors, revolutionary patriots, Soviet journalists, and, of course, Castro himself. Wheeler tells the story like any good journalist would — in a detached, self-critical manner.
Contents
Chapter One — In the Line of Fire, 1
Chapter Two — Getting to Havana, 15
Chapter Three — Dateline Havana, 27
Chapter Four — Learning About Castro, 43
Chapter Five — Paco, 55
Chapter Six — Che, 67
Chapter Seven — A Lone Ranger, 75
Chapter Eight — Sudden Communism, 83
Chapter Nine — Soviet Friendship, 93
Chapter Ten — Politics, Always Politics, 103
Chapter Eleven — Castroese, 113
Chapter Twelve — Fidel, Face to Face, 119
Chapter Thirteen — Hijacking, Etc., 129
Chapter Fourteen — Red Beard Cows and Rabbits, 139
Chapter Fifteen — 10 Years, 10 Million? 149
Chapter Sixteen — Judgment Day, 167
Epilogue, 177
Index, 181
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