Cuba Perfume Scandal Takes New Turn
HAVANA TIMES — The work of the alternative online media had a strong impact at the highest levels of the Cuban government with the news about the new perfumes “Ernesto” (for Che Guevara) and “Hugo” (for Hugo Chavez) .
On Saturday the official Granma newspaper published a press release in which the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers confirmed the facts and promised to punish those who devised the marketing “tribute” to Che and Hugo Chavez.
The following is the message from the Council of Ministers.
The Symbols Are Sacred
The Congress recently organized by LABIOFAM included the presentation of two perfumes that, according to statements to the international press from executives of that company, would carry as brands the names of “Ernesto” and “Hugo,” in an alleged “homage” to Comandantes Ernesto “Che” Guevara and Hugo Chávez Frías.
The details of this irresponsible act were analyzed in depth last night, Friday, September 26, with the director of the company and the staff who had presented the product, still in the development phase and therefore not yet produced commercially, much less registered.
It was learned that it isn’t true that the relatives of “Che” and Chávez approved such utilization of their names, as one of the company executives had told the United States news agency Associated Press.
Because of this grave error, the appropriate disciplinary measures will be taken.
Initiatives of this nature will never be accepted by our people or the Revolutionary Government.
The symbols of yesterday, today and forever are sacred.
Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers
LATEST! LATEST!
READ ALL ABOUT IT!
LABIOFAM held an international congress in Havana from September 22-25. The Head of LABIOFAM Dr. Jose A. Praga Castro (Nephew of Raul Castro Ruz) has issued a grovelling signed letter of apology to those who attended the Congress.
In it he fingers one Mario Valdes Rodriguez as the person responsible, but tries to shift responsibility for “the voracious disinformation campaign” on to “a malicious American agency journalist AP”.
Praga Castro says that Rodriguez was “motivated by his revolutionary sentiments to naming these new products under the names “Ernesto and Hugo” as his tribute to these giants of history. That he lacked “the ability to foresee that this proposal, born with a noble purpose” would then be exploited by AP. He adds that Rodriguez has acknowledged that it was unjustifiable not to have consulted with the families “of both leaders”
So, the plot thickens. It is obviously impossible to imagine that Praga Castro did not know of the names for the two perfumes, but it is necessary to have a fall guy to protect the name Castro. Will Rodriguez pay with his head or serve jail time for allowing his revolutionary sentiments to overcome him?
It is I think almost certain that AP will now be held responsible for the whole affair. Just goes to show that yet again the wicked Americans are responsible for raising the STINK about the two “sacred” figures of Dr. Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara and Hugo Chavez Frias.
Maybe the two scents will be renamed Barack and Kerry.
Oh the irony! The owners of the very lucrative “Che!” trademark object to the unlicensed use of their trademarked logo (Che’s face and or name) on the bottles of crappy perfume. Che, the man who helped abolish private property in Cuba, and who swore an oath to destroy capitalism, is now the intellectual property of capitalists using his face & name for profit.
THE LIVING GODS
Now that the Executive Committee of the Cuban Council of Ministers has decreed that the memories of the Argentinian Dr. Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara and the Venezuelan Mr. Hugo Chavez Frias are “sacred”, it is logical to assume that in due course the memories of Fidel Castro Ruz and Raul Castro Ruz will also be decreed “sacred”.
This logically implies that whilst still alive, BIG and little brother are living gods.
THIS IS MEGALOMANIA IN EXTREMIS!
Who do this bunch of tin pot political hacks think they are to replace St. Peter at the pearly gates?
Having been annointed by little brother Raul, Diaz-Canel, Machado Murillo, Bruno Rodriguez Cariles et al, are fast approaching a state of dementia.
It is said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, but to assume the position of gods is socialist lunacy in the extreme!
Publicity globally,illuminating”THE HEROES”was achieved!”MIRACULOUS”result, mysterious way!amen!
I’ve been gone awhile….might smell a bit musty.
That Humberto is exactly why I continually refer to the “Castro family regime”. Cuba is the fiefdom of that one family. You obviously speak Spanish and therefore know that in Spanish it is usual to speak of “el poder”. That is exactly what the Castro family regime has and controls – the power!
Since 1952, the Castro brothers have continually sought power. A combination of good fortune and total commitment enabled them to achieve the power. Sharing it with others would diminish their share, so they have kept it to themselves and Socialismo is but a vehicle.
There are those who think that Fidel and Raul are the end of the line, but the terrifying prospect is that they may be just the beginning. They have manipulated and appointed members of their families into positions where they control the key economic positions in Cuba. This is no accident.
Murillo may be the latest economic supremo, but he is so much putty in the hands of the Castros and solely a front man,
You can bet that this doctor of the Castro clan along with Fidel Castro’s youngest son Dr. Antonio Castro wont be leaving for Africa to help with the Ebola epidemic any time soon!
An interview with Doctor José Antonio Fraga Castro – Faced with an everyday reality that demands transformations, that requires developing national productions to replace foreign imports, the LABIOFAM Entrepreneurial Group has chosen to diversify its product portfolio to remain profitable and finance its own operations, not only securing a prominent position in the national market, but seeking commercial opportunities abroad.
For over two decades, this institution has been headed by Dr. José Antonio Fraga Castro. Moved, as a youngster, to study veterinary medicine by his sense of duty and the shortage of qualified professionals Cuba faced at the time, the practice of his chosen profession brought about, however, a long-hidden vocation that matured into a genuine commitment to the national livestock industry.
http://revistas.labiofamcuba.com/en/articulo/interview-doctor-jose-antonio-fraga-castro.html
You mean one of the Castro clan is the head of a multi-million dollar state controlled “private” enterprise?? The Castro Oligarchy at work! The nephew of Fidel & Raul Castro , Doctor José Antonio Fraga Castro is the head of LABIOFAM but is not mentioned on this list!
FOREIGN POLICY MAGAZINE: The Castro family playground- Blake Hounshell Friday, May 2, 2008
During the past few years family members of both Fidel and Raúl Castro have come to occupy important positions in Cuba’s government. This Castro clan represents in addition to the military, the security apparatus and the Communist Party, a significant force in Cuba’s political and economic structures.
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2008/05/02/the_castro_family_playground
Headlines:
CHE and HUGO perfumes raise a STINK
There will be rumblings in the Castro family regime following the political faux pas of the nephew operating LABIOFAM naming two per
fumes after Dr. Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara and Hugo Chavez Frias of Venezuela.
No less an august body than the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers of the Communist government of Cuba following investigation of what they descibed as; “This irresponsible act” is to pursue “appropriate disiplinary measures.
The matter is of particular concern to those who worship the memory of ‘Che’ who was known for his aversion to bathing and in consequence few went close to him. There is an obvious implied joke in naming a perfume after him, musty rather than musky being an appropriate constituent
Hugo Chavez Frias when President of Venezuela succeeded in achieving the second highest rate of inflation for his country in the world – second only to Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe. Chavez learned much of his policies at the knee of Fidel Castro Ruz whom he described as “like a father”.
Following the decision of the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers, the world will be deprived of the two scents (worth) and will have to content itself with those with less intriguing names.
The final words from the Executive Committee were that:
“Initiatives of this nature will never be accepted by our people or the Revolutionary Government. The symbols of yesterday, today and forever are sacred.”
The Oxford English Dictionary says:
Sacred: connected with God (or the gods) or dedicated to a religious purpose and so deserving veneration.
It would appear that Dr. Guevara and Senor Chavez have achieved there place in the socialist heaven.
Although I find the creation of this “perfume” hugely funny and at the same time utterly repulsive, what is truly scary, a true indication of a repressive society, is that the folks who created this are to be “punished” by the state, as if they were recalcitrant children. Does no one see the sadistic casual brutality of the state?
It’s no wonder Cubans are afraid of making any type of decision for fear of having the state come down on them. Once again its the few dictating to the masses