Summary

In Chapter 14, Didion reflects upon the many frustrations of the Miami exiles, with Guillermo Novo – known as Bill Novo – represents in her mind. He was an exile from Cuba who was tried for many attempted and successful terrorist actions – such as the assassination of Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier – in the United States, but ultimately was acquitted. Didion met him once in 1985 and was shocked at how casual the encounter was. Though President Reagan himself had explicitly doubted Novo’s involvement in the assassination, Didion says that either way Novo was a ‘man of action’ and a person not entirely innocent of criminal activity in Miami and Washington. Didion draws parallels between Kennedy’s promise of a free Havana and Reagan’s later promise that someday, “Cuba itself will be free” (160). Figures like Novo were to Didion, in 1985, symbols of the engagement and then...