Posted on 12/05/2003 7:18:30 PM PST by yonif
President Fidel Castro insisted Friday that his socialist system will survive him, as he celebrated the 10th birthday of Elian Gonzalez - the shipwrecked boy who was the center of a fierce international custody battle.
Castro characterized as "idiots" those who believe that socialist rule on the island will end with his death.
"This revolution does not depend on one individual, or two, or three," Castro declared in a speech of more than two hours at a birthday celebration in the courtyard of Elian's school in the child's hometown of Cardenas, about 85 miles east of Havana.
Speaking about a meeting he said occurred earlier Friday in Washington between Cuban Americans and U.S. officials, Castro said "that group of idiots ... would die of bitterness, of frustration and even shock to see how this country has resisted 45 years of blockade."
Castro was referring to the U.S. embargo against the Caribbean country, a policy supported by his vociferous enemies in the Cuban-American community and imposed more than four decades ago to force his government to abandon its left-wing policies.
The 77-year-old leader, who will celebrate 45 years in power this New Year's Day, also joked about his "longevity genes." His father, Angel Castro, was in his early 80s when he died October 1956, two years before the triumph of the Jan. 1, 1959 revolution.
Castro's death and its effect on Cuba's future are a constant source of speculation at home and abroad.
The bearded revolutionary, who favors olive green uniforms, is the world's longest ruling head of government and leader of only four remaining socialist countries in the world.
During his speech Friday night, Castro characterized the U.S. government as "monstrous."
But he said he didn't put the American people in that same category. "No one can blame them for the system they live in," Castro said.
It was precisely the American people Castro appealed to four years ago when Elian Gonzalez was thrust to the center of an international custody battle after he was found clinging to an inner tube in the waters off Florida's coast.
During the birthday celebration, Castro helped Elian blow out the candles on a big white cake.
He also lambasted the Cuban Adjustment Act, a 1966 law that communist officials say encourage Cubans to take risky sea journeys - as Elian's mother did - because they can get legal U.S. residency after one year if they reach American shores.
Elian's mother and most of the other passengers traveling illegally from Cuba to the United States in November 1999 died when their boat capsized.
The boy was placed with relatives in Miami who, backed by other Cuban exiles, fought to keep him in the United States.
Castro organized nearly daily rallies to demand that Elian be returned and reunited with his father.
Elian returned to Cuba on June 28, 2000, after a legal battle that went to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The original speech.
There are actually 5.
Cuba, Vietnam, North Korea, China and Laos.
You can take that to the bank!
Another reason why the left hates the guy.
China, obviously, but isn't Syria ruled by the Ba'ath Socialist Party?
BY RAFAEL LORENTE
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
WASHINGTON - (KRT) - President Bush's October call for more rigorous enforcement of sanctions against Cuba has led to an increase in searches of people traveling to and from the island, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Mel Martinez said Friday.
Martinez, who will quit his post next week to run for the U.S. Senate from Florida, co-chairs President Bush's commission on a transition to democracy in Cuba with Secretary of State Colin Powell.
The group, which also includes representatives from the Treasury Department and other federal agencies, met for the first time Friday morning. The one-hour meeting included comments by National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice.
"The commission is only part of our policy," said Roger Noriega, the assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs. "Our efforts to enforce restrictions on financial transactions that benefit the regime have been stepped up significantly since the president's speech."
.... Martinez and Noriega told reporters in a conference call afterward that the commission will focus on ways to speed up the beginning of a political and economic transition to Democracy in Cuba and to respond once that transition is underway. The goal is to prevent a succession that allows the present government to continue, Noriega said.
More... http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/politics/7424402.htm
scott7278: No, it won't.
Oh, Fidel, you crazy old coot. I'm sure gonna miss you.
Yeah really...the author forgot about Germany, Sweden, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Belorussia, Finland, Norway, China, Vietnam, Laos, Burma (socialist/military dictatorship, right?), a host of worthless African nations, Venezuela, Brazil and Belgium.
I doubt it. I think that they've filled their 'socialist nutjob' quota for quite some time.
True, in the sense that they have communist parties in power. Theoritically speaking, of course, they have not reached the communist status and they never will.
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