Che Committed Suicide Read Free Page A

like an old man. At the third mouthful, I left the spoon in the bowl and went out of the kitchen.

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    I was sitting on the couch beside Adriani and watching the Aquarium . The Aquarium in question is not inhabited by tropical fish, but by the well-known TV hostess, Aspasia Komi, who every week invites various politicians, businessmen, sometimes a footballer or weightlifter, makes accusations, uncovers scandals and, in the end, sends her guests away smiling. In the past, I would turn my nose up at such programmes and leave the room. Now I turn my nose up and watch them, just like nine out of ten other Greeks today.
    Komi was sitting in a comfortable armchair facing Jason Favieros, a well-kept fifty-year-old, who was sitting in the other comfortable armchair. If it wasn’t widely known that he had made bags of money in the last twenty years, you would have taken him for a rocker from the seventies who had forgotten to shave and change his jeans. He was the owner of a huge construction company with projects throughout the Balkans, was building a large part of the works for the Olympics, but was wearing faded jeans and a crumpled jacket.
    Komi had him with his back to the wall and was questioning him about the accusations that the Olympic works would not be ready in time, but Favieros did not appear to be the slightest bit worried.
    ‘Put it all down to unfounded rumours, Mrs Komi,’ he said. ‘In undertakings of this kind, a great deal of money is involved, there’s a lot of interest generated and Greece is a small country in business terms. Even if we disagree, it’s only natural that competitors often resort to trying to discredit their opponents or even eliminating them.’
    ‘So are you telling me that the building projects will be ready on time for the Olympics?’
    ‘No,’ he replied with a self-confident smile, ‘I’m telling you that they’ll be ready much earlier.’
    ‘You realise that you have just made a commitment to our viewers, Mr Favieros.’ Komi turned to the camera and was beaming with satisfaction.
    ‘Of course,’ replied Favieros completely at ease.
    ‘Yes, I’d just like to see you when we’ve made fools of ourselves before the entire world,’ commented Adriani, who thinks all assurances are fraudulent.
    Perhaps she is right, but Favieros had brought the discussion to an end with his commitment and Komi was looking for some other ground to do battle.
    ‘Nevertheless, there’s still an unanswered question in business circles, Mr Favieros,’ she said. ‘How did you manage to create that – albeit by Greek standards – colossal business empire of yours from absolutely nothing in the space of fifteen years?’
    ‘Because very early on I understood two simple things,’ answered Favieros immediately. ‘First, if I confined myself to Greece, my businesses would be condemned to stagnation. And that’s why I opened up in the Balkans. Today, either directly or through my subsidiaries, I’m engaged in projects throughout the Balkans, even in Kosovo. And apart from that, I exploited the traditionally friendly relations that Greece has with a number of Arab countries.’
    ‘And what was the second thing?’
    ‘That a businessman shouldn’t have any complexes. A large part of our work is carried out in partnership with other European companies , much bigger than mine. I can assure you, Mrs Komi, that I have never been afraid that they would swallow us up.’
    ‘It seems that you discovered the secrets of globalisation very early, Mr Favieros.’
    Favieros broke into laughter. ‘I knew the secrets of globalisation long before globalisation.’
    ‘How about that, a pioneer then! And how did you come to discover them?’
    Komi came out with a cute little smile as a kind of down-payment for the amusing reply she was about to hear.
    ‘From leftist internationalism, Mrs Komi. Globalisation is the last stage of internationalism. Read the Communist Manifesto .’
    Whereas, until now,