The Fascist Roots of Carlos Slim's Dynasty
10/15/2016
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With Donald Trump finally mentioning the name of the sometimes richest man in the world Carlos Slim Helu, it’s worth recalling what I wrote in February:

But this notion that Hispanics are a race tied together by blood who are the hereditary victims of racism by the white race, present and past, raises peculiarly delicate questions for the New York Times. If the sins of non-Hispanics ancestors are on the table for a full airing, what about the dynasty that is the largest shareholder in the New York Times itself?

It would be especially interesting to discuss why the six heirs of the New York Times’ financial savior, Carlos Slim, would qualify for affirmative action as Hispanics if they moved to America, considering that they are pure Lebanese Maronite by descent.

Their great-grandfather, Pierre Gemayel, who founded the fascist Phalangist paramilitary of Lebanon after participating in Hitler’s Olympics in Berlin.

And a great uncle of Slim children was the most notorious rightwing warlord in modern Lebanese history.

Screenshot 2016-10-15 18.48.35When Carlos Slim’s in-law Bashir Gemayel, President Elect of Lebanon, was famously assassinated in 1982 during Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, setting off the Sabra and Shatila massacres of Palestinians perpetrated by his followers, his NYT obituary featured the great headline: “Bashir Gemayel Lived by the Sword.”

It’s also likely although less certain that Slim’s mother, Linda Helú Atta, was related to another founder of the Phalange, Charles Helou, later President of Lebanon. The Mexican government forced Arab immigrants to Hispanicize the spelling of their last names — e.g., Salim to Slim — so it’s likely that Helu and Helou are the same name, although how close they are genealogically remains uninvestigated.

We do know that Carlos Slim’s maternal grandfather brought a printing press to Mexico with him from the Levant and started an Arabic newspaper in Mexico, so the Helus and Helous sound sociologically quite similar. Indeed, Carlos’s Mexican-born cousin Alfredo Harp Helu is also a billionaire.

If so, the Slim heirs aren’t products of random romantic attraction, but of dynastic marriages among the leading far right Lebanese clans. This helps explain the Slim family’s career choices in Mexico, such as Carlos’ older brother’s Julian’s career with a Mexican government secret police force accused of torturing and disappearing leftists.

All this is a topic that the NYT has shown extremely little interest in reporting during the years in which Slim has been the leading stockholder in the newspaper.

[Comment at Unz.com]

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