Breaking News: HBO Yanks Heavily Promoted Oliver Stone Documentary of Castro

Heather Fletcher

HBO stated today that it is not airing Oliver Stone's glowing documentary of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, admitting to BreakingNewsNet.com that the film was "incomplete."

Yesterday, in response to inquiries by BreakingNewsNet.com, the cable giant was simply saying it planned to "reschedule" Stone's portrayal of the life and times of the dictator who recently jailed 80 of his critics.

Today, HBO changed its position.

"We are indeed not airing it in May," said a network spokeswoman. "It's obviously an incomplete film."

HBO said Stone's documentary, which was filmed in February 2002, is not appropriate given today's circumstances. The network hopes Stone returns to Cuba to interview Castro about recent events and updates the documentary.

The network had breathlessly promoted the 8 p.m. May 5 broadcast of Stone's documentary, "Comandante," before saying Tuesday that the show would not go on until a "later" date that has yet to be announced. HBO representatives would not disclose why the change occurred, except to say that the network reschedules shows "all the time."

The network's Web site still touted the documentary Tuesday, saying "Oliver Stone spends three days with Cuban leader Fidel Castro and delivers an unflinching portrait of the famous icon."

Natasha Subova, a Stone spokeswoman with the Angellotti Co. in Studio City, Calif., said Tuesday that the director was out of the country. No one answered the phone Tuesday at the Cuban Interest Section, a Cuban embassy of sorts housed in the Swiss Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Joe Garcia, the executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation - a Miami-based Cuban exile organization - said most Americans know Castro as the megalomaniac in the Caribbean and treat him as such.

Now, he said, HBO appears to be noticing the Cuban government's execution of three men and sentencing of 80 dissidents to 1,400 years in prison for crimes ranging that included the practice of independent journalism to the defense of human rights. The men hijacked a ferry April 2 and ordered the crew to head to the United States.

"I think HBO readjusted itself because Oliver Stone did a piece that was, in essence, an homage to a murderous dictator," Garcia said. " … Every once in a while, there is a glimmer of morality from the Hollywood intellectual elite."

Dennis K. Hays, the foundation's executive vice president, directs the office in the nation's capital. Hays said many of those who were jailed this month were not allowed the artistic freedom that Stone enjoys.

"If Oliver Stone were a Cuban, he would've been arrested or shot long ago," Hays said.

Hays added that he believes Stone is among those who are "complicit" in allowing Castro's regime to continue. Castro relies on foreign investment and political support that flow in due to portrayals such as Stone's, Hays said. Through such a lens, Castro is seen as an aging rock star instead of a dictator "whose hands run red with the blood of innocents," Hays said.

Garcia added that he believes Castro purposely jailed the dissidents during the U.S.-led Iraqi war.

"I think it was timed," Garcia said.

CubaNet.org, a news Web site based in Coral Gables, Fla., published the stories written by many of the jailed journalists whose names and prison sentences it now posts on its home page:

Victor Rolando Arroyo, 26 years; Pedro Arguelles Moran, 20 years; Majail Barzaga Lugo, 15 years; Carmelo Diaz Fernandez, 15 years; Oscar Espinosa Chepe, 20 years; Adolfo Fernández Saínz, 15 years; Miguel Galván Gutiérrez, 26 years; Julio César Gálvez, 15 years; Edel José García, 15 years; Roberto García Cabrejas; Jorge Luis García Paneque, 24 years; Ricardo González Alfonso, 20 years; Luis González Pentón, 20 years; Alejandro González Raga; Normando Hernández, 25 years; Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta, 20 years; José Ubaldo Izquierdo, 16 years; Héctor Maseda, 20 years; Mario Enrique Mayo, 20 years; Jorge Olivera, 18 years; Pablo Pacheco Avila, 20 years; Fabio Prieto Llorente, 20 years; José Gabriel Ramón Castillo; Raúl Rivero Castañeda, 20 years; Omar Rodríguez Saludes, 27 years; Omar Ruiz Hernández, 18 years; and Manuel Vázquez Portal, 18 years.

CubaNet News also lists 55 "peaceful opponents," including: Osvaldo Alfonso, 18 years; Nelson Aguilar, 13 years; Pedro Pablo Alvarez Ramos, 25 years; Rafael Ernesto Avila Pérez; Margarito Broche Espinosa, 25 years; Marcelo Cano, 18 years; Eduardo Díaz Fleites, 21 years; Antonio Díaz Sánchez, 20 years; Alfredo Domínguez Batista; Efrén Fernández, 12 years; José Daniel Ferrer Castillo; Luis Enrique Ferrer García, 28 years; Orlando Fundora; Alfredo Felipe Fuentes, 26 years; Próspero Gainza, 25 years; Javier García Pérez; Diosdado González Marrero; Léster González Pentón, 20 years; Jorge Luis González Tanquero, 20 years; Leonel Grave de Peralta; Iván Hernández Carrillo; Regis Iglesias, 18 years; Rolando Jiménez Posada; Reynaldo Labrada Peña, 6 years; Librado Linares, 20 years; Marcelo López Bañobre, 15 years; José Miguel Martínez Hernández; Rafael Mollet; Luis Milán Fernández; Roberto de Miranda, 20 years; Nelson Molinet, 20 years; Angel Moya Acosta; Jesús Mustafá Felipe; Félix Navarro; Héctor Palacios Ruiz, 25 years; Arturo Pérez de Alejo / 20 years; Omar Pernet Hernández / 25 years; Horacio Julio Piña Borrego, 20 years; Alfredo Pulido, 14 years; Arnaldo Ramos Laubiriquet; Alexis Rodríguez Fernández; Blas G. Rodríguez Reyes, 25 years; Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello, 20 years; Claro Sánchez Altarriba; Ariel Sigler Amaya; Guido Sigler Amaya; Miguel Sigler Amaya; Ricardo Silva Gual; Fidel Suárez Cruz, 20 years; Manuel Ubals González; Julio Antonio Valdés Guerra, 20 years; Miguel Valdés Tamayo; Héctor Raúl Valle Hernández, 12 years; Antonio A. Villarreal Acosta, 15 years; and Orlando Zapata Tamayo.

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