最近常看到瑪歌·芳婷(Margot Fonteyn, 1919.5.18 ~ 1991.2.21)的報導，不但是英國的媒體，美國的媒體也報導。剛剛上網查了一下，台灣的中時與聯合兩大報也都有。

這位與紐瑞耶夫(Rudolf Nureyev)搭檔風靡西方世界的芭蕾名伶，還曾與夫婿(Roberto Arias)一起計畫並參加武裝政變。夫婦倆還乘私人遊艇到古巴（1959年一月)尋求剛革命成功，取得政權的卡斯楚(Fidel Castro)的協助。這一則佚事於最近解密的政府文件中揭露，更添這位芭蕾名伶的傳奇色彩。這次武裝政變可以說還沒開始就失敗了，瑪歌·芳婷在英國的援救下離開監獄，先到紐約之後，在回英國。而他的丈夫也在兩個月後離開巴拿馬，返回英國。

中國時報的報導與英國國家廣播公司(British Broadcasting Corporation, generally known as BBC)、泰晤士報(Times)及衛報(The Guardian)的報導多有出入，不知是引用什麼資料。而聯合報的譯稿與英國國家廣播公司、泰晤士報及衛報的報導相較，只是較為精簡，脈絡一致。兩家的報導亦引用於下，並將聯合與中時報導中與泰晤士報(Times)及衛報(The Guardian)報導不同之處以藍色標識。


From The Times
May 28, 2010
Margot Fonteyn’s merry dance through the farce of a failed coup d’état
 
Margot Fonteyn in the dressing room in 1964 when she performed Swan Lake

Ben Macintyre

The great British ballerina Margot Fonteyn was also a revolutionary, involved “up to her neck” in a 1959 plot to overthrow the Government of Panama with the support of Fidel Castro.

Dame Margot played many famous roles as Prima Ballerina Assoluta with the Royal Ballet, but the full details of her role in one of the strangest episodes of the Cold War has only now been revealed by the declassification of government files. Her involvement in this “plot of vast ramifications” caused deep embarrassment to British officials, who had to bail her out of a Panamanian jail, after an extraordinary escapade involving gun-running, an army of Cuban mercenaries, Covent Garden, John Wayne and a woman better known for the pirouette than the coup d’état.


When she later explained what had happened to John Profumo, then Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, he wrote: “I had to pinch myself several times to be sure I wasn’t dreaming the comic opera story she unfolded.”

The failed coup was led by Fonteyn’s husband, a journalist, diplomat and dissolute playboy named Roberto Arias, the scion of a prominent Panamanian political family. Arias, a former envoy to Britain whose father had been President of Panama, divorced his first wife and married Fonteyn in 1955. Fonteyn, who was born Margaret Hookham in Reigate, Surrey, was then 36, and at the height of her fame.


Soon after, Arias fell out with the ruling regime and began fomenting rebellion against President Ernesto de la Guardia. In January 1959, according to the documents, Fonteyn and her husband sailed to Cuba in their yacht to meet Castro, who had then been in power for less than a year.

According to Profumo, whose name would become linked to scandal a few years later, leading to his resignation in 1963, “Castro promised to help her husband in his aims to overthrow the existing regime”. Although the Cuban leader would later disclaim all knowledge of the coup, the Foreign Office was certain that “Castro was behind this coup” and had agreed to provide “both arms and men”.



Three months later Fonteyn, her husband and several accomplices sailed for Panama on their yacht, carrying large amounts of guns and ammunition. The coup plotters planned to join the other insurrectionists waiting in fishing boats offshore, then take to the hills to mount a guerrilla war. As far as the British authorities were concerned, the ballerina was being taken on holiday by her husband, although as one official later remarked: “His idea of a holiday consisted of gun-running and the mustering of armed adventurers.”

The revolutionaries had even packed “green jerseys, for the rebels to wear”, and white armbands to distinguish them from government troops. Despite Castro’s involvement, the coup was not a communist uprising, merely a grab for power. The 125 Cubans involved were hired guns, in Fonteyn’s estimation, not the vanguard of communist revolution. Arias insisted that he did not want to be president. Fonteyn later declared that “her husband’s interest were strictly honourable and that, although he realised that revolutions were not very pleasant things, he was prepared to go to any extreme to help the ordinary common people of Panama”.

The plan began to unravel almost immediately, like a “slapdash comedy”, according to Profumo. Fonteyn was told to get rid of some papers, including Arias’s address book, by throwing them into the sea. But she accidentally jettisoned a packet of armbands and packed the incriminating documents in a case of machineguns. Arias went ashore with an advance party, about 100 miles north of Panama City. But it swiftly became clear that the plotters had been betrayed, as government forces closed in.


The revolutionaries buried the guns and fled into the jungle, while Fonteyn sailed back to the capital. “She used her yacht to decoy government boats and aircraft away from the route that her husband was taking.”

By the time she reached Panama City, news of the abortive coup attempt had spread. She was arrested and imprisoned. Meanwhile, government forces had found the arms cache and incriminating documents, including the address book containing “names of the rebels and several Hollywood personalities with whom [Arias] had, in the past, had business dealings – that is how the names of John Wayne, Errol Flynn, etc, come into all this.”

The British Ambassador, Ian Henderson, now found himself confronting a bizarre predicament: the world’s most famous ballerina was banged up in a Panamanian jail, John Wayne was mysteriously rumoured to be implicated, Cuban revolutionaries were somewhere in the interior and the Panamanian Government was understandably livid. To make matters even worse, the British ballet establishment was also on his case. Lord Drogheda, the chairman of Covent Garden, had already contacted the Foreign Office to ask “what they could do for their ‘beloved ballerina’ ”.

In Britain the arrest of Fonteyn was reported as the case of a Third World country mistreating an innocent ballerina caught up in her husband’s politics. Any suggestion of complicity was dismissed. The truth, as Profumo later remarked, was rather different: “It is clear that she is involved up to her neck.”

Fonteyn was lodged in the most comfortable part of the prison, wittily referred to by the Foreign Office as “the presidential suite”, since that was where so many of the country’s leaders ended up. Every day cut flowers were placed on her dressing table, as the Panamanian Government went out of it way to show “gallantry and consideration”. The Panamanians knew how to treat a prima ballerina, even if she had tried to topple their Government.

Panama registered a protest through its ambassador. The statement said that the President “did not think either Arias’s venture or the attempt to set up a rebel organisation in the hills on the Castro model ... constituted any real threat to the Government”. Through the intervention of the ambassador, Fonteyn was placed on the next plane to New York. Mr Henderson was delighted to see the back of her. “The ‘holiday’ of Dame Margot Fonteyn has been disastrous,” he wrote. “I do not regard her behaviour as fitting in any British subject, let alone one who has been highly honoured by Her Majesty the Queen.”

Meanwhile, Arias had holed up in the Brazilian Embassy in Panama City, providing the Foreign Office with another headache. The hopeless revolution, however, was not quite over. In New York, Fonteyn met two of her co-conspirators, an Englishman named Alistair McLeod, and Judy Tatham, “a pretty young woman of about 26 who regarded the whole affair as a tremendous joke” and had acted as courier. The trio met at Idlewild airport, New York, “all wearing dark glasses”, according to the files, and concluded that nothing could be done. The force of 125 Cubans was still en route, but since they had forgotten to pack radios, they could not be warned of what had happened. Their fate remains unknown.

On her return to London, Fonteyn was invited to drinks with Profumo, and asked to explain herself. He wrote up the conversation in detail in a secret memo, now available at the National Archives.

After two months Arias was allowed to leave Panama and return to Britain to rejoin his wife. A later change in government meant that the couple were even allowed to return to Panama. In 1964 Arias was elected to the National Assembly, but two months later he got into an argument on a street corner with Alberto Jiménez, a friend and former political associate, who shot him. It was rumoured that Arias had been having an affair with Jiménez’s wife. Arias was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/dance/article7138529.ece

巴拿馬政變 芭蕾名伶瑪歌芳婷也有份
【聯合報╱編譯陳世欽／美聯社倫敦28日電】
   
2010.05.29 02:52 am

英國國家檔案局28日解密的檔案顯示，英國芭蕾舞名伶瑪歌‧芳婷（Margot Fonteyn）曾於1950年代末介入推翻巴拿馬政府未遂的陰謀。密件詳述她的秘密政治活動如何令大西洋兩岸官員既煩惱又莞爾的經過。

密件顯示，瑪歌‧芳婷及巴拿馬前總統之子、夫婿艾里亞斯（RobertoArias）當時率領125名古巴革命分子潛入巴拿馬準備搞政變。1959年4月20日，瑪歌‧芳婷事敗被捕，她當時39歲，已是馳名國際的芭蕾舞女伶。在此之前數日，她與艾里亞斯表面上共乘遊艇出海享受垂釣假期，實則準備接運人手及武器發動政變。

相關官員認為，這次政變陰謀也是「突如其來的喜劇」，因為瑪歌‧芳婷與當時的古巴總統會談，卡斯楚承諾將提供「援助」。瑪歌不諳西語，以為「援助」包括足夠的武器和人手，實則不然。東窗事發後，卡斯楚將責任推得一乾二淨。

http://udn.com/NEWS/WORLD/WOR3/5630955.shtml



舞者瑪歌芳婷 曾助卡斯楚政變

    * 2010-05-29
    * 中國時報
    * 【江靜玲／倫敦廿八日電】


    　根據一項最新解密文件，英國著名芭蕾舞家瑪歌芳婷（Margot Fonteyn）於一九五九年時，曾間接協助古巴領袖卡斯楚幕後操控的一場中美洲政變，企圖推翻當時的巴拿馬政府。

    　一九五九年四月二十日，瑪歌芳婷在巴拿馬首都遭拘捕。當時，三十九歲的瑪歌芳婷已是世界知名舞蹈家，這個消息，震驚各界。瑪歌芳婷在巴拿馬市獄中停留一晚後，次日經紐約返回倫敦。唯對為什麼遭拘捕，是否與外傳參與巴拿馬政變有關，瑪歌芳婷一律拒絕答覆。

    　這個謎題，在英國政府最新公布的一批解密文件中，首次揭曉。文件顯示，瑪歌芳婷當時在知情的情況下，協助她的巴拿馬反對派領袖丈夫亞瑞斯脫離巴拿馬政府追捕。

   　眾所週知，瑪歌芳婷的丈夫長期以來是巴拿馬的反對領袖。根據當時英國駐巴拿馬大使，瑪歌芳婷遭拘捕偵詢釋放後，英國駐巴拿馬大使館發現，「她知道她的丈夫攜槍逃亡，知道他跟叛軍在一起。在一定的情況下，她甚至以自己的遊艇引誘巴拿馬政府船隻，誤導他們她的丈夫逃亡方向。」。

    　英國大使在文件中批評，瑪歌芳婷的行徑，並不配獲得英國伊莉莎白二世女王封給她女騎士頭銜的榮譽。

    　然而，更令人驚訝的事是瑪歌芳婷回到倫敦後，應邀前往英國外交次長帕福莫家作客時，向其夫婦透露，一九五九年巴拿馬政變的幕後黑手，是當時新上任的古巴領袖卡斯楚。政變計畫浩大，無奈在最後一刻出狀況。

    　在解密文件中，帕福莫描述聆聽瑪歌芳婷的陳述過程中，他數度捏自己以確定聽到的是事實，不是在做夢。帕福莫後來把這件事跟英國外交部報告，英國政府考慮是否應該知會美國。但後來因為帕福莫承諾瑪歌芳婷，他們的談話必須保密而作罷。

    　瑪歌芳婷於一九九一年過世，享年七十二歲。

http://news.chinatimes.com/reading/0,5251,110513x112010052900335,00.html

Dame Margot Fonteyn: the ballerina and the attempted coup in Panama

Confidential files reveal her role in Cuban-backed military plot

 

Prima ballerina involved in revolutionary plot Dame Margot Fonteyn, whose husband launched a failed Panamanian coup attempt in 1959. Photograph: PA Wire

The extraordinary conspiratorial role played by Dame Margot Fonteyn in a Cuban-backed military coup aimed at overthrowing the government of Panama is revealed in confidential government files released today.

The British prima ballerina confessed her extensive involvement to the Foreign Office minister John Profumo shortly after fleeing the abortive revolution.

The extent of her complicity – and the government's reluctance to inform the US – is detailed in files from 1959 that have been sent to the National Archives in Kew, west London.

The "slap dash comedy", as Profumo described the episode, was brought to the attention of the British ambassador in Panama, Sir Ian Henderson, in the early hours of 21 April that year.

The Duke of Edinburgh, visiting the Central American state, had left the country two days earlier. Dame Margot, an internationally acclaimed performer famed for her partnership with the Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev, was on holiday nearby but had failed to attend a reception in his honour.

"Police confirm information reaching me that Dame Margot Fonteyn ... was detained for questioning late last night at Panama City prison," Henderson cabled urgently to the Foreign Office.

His immediate concern was for the safety of such a "public figure". Henderson woke the Panamanian foreign minister and raced down to the prison. He was initially denied access.

The tone of outraged diplomatic protocol was gradually replaced by one of accumulating suspicions. Fonteyn, then 39 and at the height of her professional career, was married to a Panamanian, Dr Roberto Arias, who was the son of a former president and onetime ambassador to London.

Reports began to emerge that Arias had landed a band of armed rebels, some Cuban, from his yacht. Fishermen had spotted weapons being landed.

Henderson was allowed into the jail to see her that evening. His despatch to the Foreign Office explained how he had dealt with the "incarceration" of the prima ballerina of Sadler's Wells and Covent Garden.

"I found her physically well though naturally a little confused at first and with no complaints about her accommodation," he wrote. "She had been allotted the prison's 'presidential suite', reserved for political prisoners of high standing ... and the English-speaking 2nd Lieutenant detailed to look after her was careful to provide fresh flowers for her dressing table.

"My conversation with Dame Margot, part of which she tried to carry on in conspiratorial whispers – which I discouraged in front of the police – convinced me, if I needed convincing, that the Arias family are conspiring against the government and that she herself had at least on arrival here complied in their rebellious designs.

"She knew that her husband was gun-running, she knew that he was accompanied by rebels and at one point she used her yacht to decoy government boats and aircraft away from the direction her husband was taking. I do not regard her conduct as fitting in any British subject, let alone one who has been highly honoured by Her Majesty the Queen."

Early the next morning Dame Margot was put on a plane to New York. There she met up with two friends, Judy Tatham and Alistair Mcleod, who had helped to organise the coup and buy green jerseys for the military expedition that included 125 Cuban soldiers.

The British consul general in New York, nonetheless, arranged for Tatham and Fonteyn to be flown back to London because the women feared that when details of the coup – against an administration with close ties to the US – leaked out they might be arrested. The consul general's wife, Lady Dixon, kept them hidden from the press while they waited for the flight.

Back in London, Profumo and his wife invited Dame Margot around to their home for an evening drink. "I had to pinch myself several times during her visit to be sure I wasn't dreaming the comic opera story which she unfolded," the minister recorded.

"She has been and still is deeply involved in Panamanian politics. She admitted visiting Cuba in January and, with her husband, seeing Dr Castro." The new Cuban head of state had promised aid to overthrow the Panamanian regime. "She was bit hazy about the extent of the aid offered, she said, because the talks were in Spanish, but she was certain the aid included men and arms.

"The plan was to land somewhere and collect in the hills but the gaffe was blown (by fishermen), she said, so it was hurriedly decided that the game was up and her husband must go into hiding.

"She mistakenly threw some white armbands into the sea (meant to distinguish rebels when they landed) rather than incriminating letters and her husband's address book – which were hastily packed with machine guns and ammunition and landed with her husband and his followers."

The weapons were buried but later uncovered when one of the rebels "squealed" to his captors. They included letters from Tatham and Arias's address book that held the name of his followers as well as those of "Hollywood personalities" such as John Wayne and Errol Flynn.

"Dame Margot," Profumo concluded, "was at pains to say that her husband's intentions were strictly honourable and that, although he realised that revolutions were not very pleasant things, he was prepared to go to any extremes to help the ordinary people of Panama who ... were having a raw deal."

The Foreign Office accepted that her admission had been made in confidence and did not pass details about Cuban involvement on to the US. Roberto Arias sought refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Panama and was eventually allowed to fly out of the country.

Fonteyn later sent a Profumo a note from her home in Kensington, west London. "I do want to thank you very much indeed for your extreme kindness to me," she wrote. "My husband is definitely 'out' at last and I am trying to fly down to Rio this evening. I do hope that you and Valerie [Profumo's wife] will have time to come in and see us when we are both back – and definitely not plotting!"

Profumo, better known for his role in a call girl scandal, was forced to resign in 1963. The following year Arias was shot and paralysed when he returned to Panama. Dame Margot Fonteyn died in 1991.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/may/28/margot-fonteyn-panama-coup

Fonteyn: Revolutionary ballerina?

By Sanchia Berg
Today programme

Dame Margot Fonteyn, one of Britain's most famous ballerinas, was "up to her neck" in a coup plot in Central America - along with Fidel Castro, according to government files released today at the National Archives.

It seemed "better than fiction" as the news reporters put it. Britain's leading ballerina, Dame Margot Fonteyn, had been accused of plotting to overthrow the government of Panama, in 1959. She'd been arrested and held in jail overnight. Mobbed by press in New York, on her way back to London, she delicately avoided all questions on the subject. Poised, graceful, courteous, she gave the impression of a somewhat regal figure, accidentally caught up in some local political trouble.

In fact, as newly released government files show, Dame Margot Fonteyn was closely involved in the coup attempt. Her husband, Roberto Arias, was a leading opposition figure in Panama and according to the British Embassy there "it has long been known that he has been conspiring against the Panamanian government". When Dame Margot Fonteyn spoke to the British Ambassador, after she'd been questioned, he learned that:

"She knew that her husband was gun-running, she knew that he was accompanied by rebels and at one point she used her yacht to decoy government boats and aircraft away from the direction which her husband was taking."

He was highly critical. "I do not regard her conduct as fitting in any British subject, let alone one who has been highly honoured by Her Majesty the Queen."

Back in London, the Foreign Office Minister John Profumo invited Dame Margot Fonteyn to his home for a drink - with his wife Valerie. He found her story hard to believe: "I had to pinch myself several times during her visit to be sure I wasn't dreaming the comic opera story which she unfolded". She told him that Fidel Castro, the newly installed Cuban leader, had been behind the coup. It was to have been a large scale operation, but had gone wrong at the last minute.

Officials considered whether they should pass this key information to the Americans - but as Profumo had amended his note to say he'd agreed the conversation was confidential- they decided against it. They decided the best course overall was to "do nothing" and "hope the excitement dies down".

Meanwhile, Fonteyn's husband had found refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Panama. Some weeks later he made his way to Rio. Dame Margot Fonteyn was thrilled. She wrote to John Profumo saying she was planning to meet him there and added :"I do hope that you and Valerie will have time to come in and see us when we are both back --and definitely not plotting!"

That was the kind of tone she'd adopted throughout. One British diplomat wrote of the "charmingly light hearted way" she viewed the situation. And though that approach shocked officials and ministers alike, there were apparently no lasting consequences for Dame Margot or her husband. That same summer, in Rio, they were once again on the guest list for a ball organised by the British embassy.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/today/hi/today/newsid_8709000/8709614.stm

Published: 2010/05/27 23:31:53 GMT

© BBC MMX

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