Bacardi: The Hidden War

Author Hernando Calvo Ospina
Colombian journalist Hernando Calvo Ospina's expose of the anti-Cuba activities of the Bacardi rum company. This book is full of revelations such as the way in which Bacardi's boss once plotted to assassinate Fidel Castro and the company's role in promoting laws that strengthened the US blockade. Calvo Ospina also explains how Bacardi's men are also at the heart of the Bush administration. Chilling stuff. A must for all activists.
| Publisher: Pluto Press | ISBN no: 0-7453-1873-8 | Year: 2002

£22.50 inc p&p

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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, the Columbian investigative journalist, Hernado 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 perpetrated terrorist attacks, and reveals their links to the extreme right-wing Cuban American Foundation that supported Ronald Reagan’s Contra war in Nicaragua.

Among the myths that Ospina explodes is the idea put about by Bacardi that it left Cuba after the revolutionary government nationalised their properties. In reality, Bacardi had moved its registration to the Bahamas in 1958, a full year before the guerrillas triumphed.

He shows how the boss of the company at the time, Jose Pepin Bosch was instrumental in all the plans against Cuba hatched by the US State Department at the time, planned to bomb the island and even at one stage financed an assassination attempt on Fidel Castro’s life.

Bacardi: The Hidden War explains the company’s hand in promoting “special interests” legislation against its competitor, Havana Club Rum, which is manufacture 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 and very readable account demonstrates how multinational companies act for political as well as economic interests.