In Fiction, Veritas

This week's read is Comrades in Miami by Joseph LaTour. It was the newest title by the author I could find. Interestingly enough, as I scanned the publication dates and the covers, the earlier titles indicated he lived in Havana. By the time this particular book was published, 2005, he "resides in Toronto." Any guesses?

On the front cover, Martin Cruz Smith is quoted as saying that LaTour is a master of the Cuban noir, which genre I am sad to say I've only discovered fairly recently. Frankly, I thought the book a bit more Elmore Leonard than Raymond Chandler. It chronicles the travails of one Eliot Steil, supposed Cuban balsero made good, as he gets inveigled into a FBI investigation/spy scam with critical input from the Cuban Miami bureau chief/spymaster. Victoria aka Micaela. Remember the five. There are plenty where they came from. Sorry to be so general, but I'm trying not to give the plot away. It's important here.

As far as I'm concerned, the best parts of the novel rest in its examination of the mindset of the Cuban apparatchiks. I know it's fiction, but to those of us even vaguely familiar, it has the ring of truth.

Here she meditates on "the Chief" as she calls the government head.

He would proclaim over and over again that most Latin American governments were lackeys of US imperialism, Cuba was the finest democracy the world had ever known, the Revolution had the best human rights record on the planet. Victoria and many other well-informed government officials, civil servants, and party bureaucrats watching him from their homes closed their eyes and slapped their foreheads in desperation. Had the man taken leave of his senses? Who was he trying to fool?

Later she comes to her own conclusions

First: the system was falling to pieces in slow mo. Second: Considering his genetic background and the medical care he got, the Chief had probably ten or more years to live and would most likely die of natural causes. Third: He would remain in power until the last day because those who could end his rule overnight would not move a finger. They feared (a) losing their privileges and (b) retaliation for having executed or sent anticommunists to prison. Fourth: her husband was 100% right.

Need I say more?