In Fidel Castro’s “Reflections” column this week, he reflects on the fact that Western media all but ignored his country’s brush with Hurricane Gustav last week in lieu of reporting on TV actor Yamil Jaled’s defection from that country. Who? We personally never heard of the dude and a half-ass Google search turned up no English language press except for on the same blog reporting this story. Still, we will admit that when it comes to foreign news, unless there are shocking photos like a tidal wave taking out an entire beach resort, you’re not going to hear more than a sentence on the matter. It has less to do with a hate campaign against Cuba than a love campaign with ourselves. We are the Narcissus of countries and don’tcha know. Still it’s a little rich hearing Fidel say of Jaled:

I don’t hate other human beings, but I do hate vanity, egocentricity, egoism, pedantry, self-sufficiency, the lack of ethics and other tendencies of mankind. People need to think about the need for modesty. Jaled has much to reflect on.

Perhaps Jaled should get his own column in the Granma?

El huracán [Diario Granma via]