Are Fidel Castro's Days Numbered?

Global Politician ^ | 4/25/2005 | Angelique van Engelen

[little jeremiah]

Everyone's days are numbered.

:-)

I hope he vacates Cuba (and planet Earth) soon.

[Betaille]

"to save on energy and work harder"

Wow... sounds exactly like Jimmy Carter.

[woofie]

Yea, the Cubans need to wear more sweaters

[Casloy]

Another sign that the Cuban leader is serious in effecting changes to his economy is his attempt to improve people's spending power by doubling the minimum wage to around USD10 a month.

Well then, things are looking pretty damn rosy in Cuba. It's only a matter of time before the economic boom sets in.

[datura]

Some serious Deja Vu in that article. About halfway through it, I was sure I'd read it before.

[Cincinna]

I'll believe it when I see it.
So far the old commie has outlived nine US Presidents.

[Imaverygooddriver]

Chevy Chase said after visiting Castro that "communism works" so that`s all the proof I need. If Chevy says so then it must be true. After all, living in Beverly Hills makes you an expert.

[LegendHasIt]

What is a "guagmire" ???

I've heard of "quagmire" ; (one of the Dem's favorite words)..... But this is a new one on me

[26lemoncharlie]

Some serious Deja Vu in that article. About halfway through it, I was sure I'd read it before

[thedilg]

[About halfway through it, I was sure I'd read it before]

Funny thing - same thing happened to me.

Godspeed, The Dilg

[26lemoncharlie]

Some serious Deja Vu in that article. About halfway through it, I was sure I'd read it before

[PzGr43]

Too right. There will be a tourism explosion once the Beard dies. But it is impossible to get money into the country or buy-in to property.

In reality, the best time is now, probably, if you want to do things like Scuba diving (lots of unexplored reefs).

They need to keep the relics of Communism for tourism, rather than make the mistake the Communist countries made. Someone is already offering the "Che Trail" across Cuba where budding left-wing romantics can re-trace his steps across the island.

Pre-Castro Cuba was an incredible place, the best most debauched night-spot in all the world. Let's hope it can return to its former glory.

[Roots]

Good article bump

[rdl6989]

The Castro regime may be about to, uh, "fall".

[sine_nomine]

Sounds like Animal Farm. "I will work harder" is the slogan of the horse, who gets taken to the glue factory instead of the retirement field he was promised. In fact, no one retires on Animal Farm. The pigs live it up in the farmer's old house, drink like, well, pigs, and betray their fellow animals every chance they get.

[Simmy2.5]

But look on the bright side, they have Universal Healthcare!

[libertylover]

...the Cuban leader is worried that he might be overthrown by the mob...

Lord, please don't let this evil man be martyred.

[maryz]

About halfway through it, I was sure I'd read it before.

It seems to me I read on FR quite a while back that it has happened a number of times: Castro loosens up when things get too bad, but when people's situations improve enough for them to start feeling independent, he tightens back up again and everyone goes back to poverty!

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

The Case For Democracy by Natan Sharansky is an excellent read. Sharansky (young FReepers might not know) was born in the USSR and agitated to be allowed to emigrate to Israel. His case became a cause celebre' and he was accused of being a spy and sentenced to a long prison term. Reagan insisted that Sharansky be allowed to emigrate, and Gorbychev eventually allowed it - after Sharansky had been in jail for eight or ten years, including 400 days in solitary confinement in punishment cells.

Sharansky make the point that it is foolish racism to limit "all men are created equal" to Americans or to English-speaking people, - or to Christians and Jews. It is fundamental to human nature that diverse opinions and desires must arise, and no polity - be it the USSR or Cuba, China or North Korea or Saudi Arabia - can rightly claim to have homogenized its population into a unified phalanx of true believers.

True believers there will be, but there will also be closet dissidents and open dissidents. Depending on the ammount of courage required to be an open dissident like Sharansky himself (and under Stalin that required even more courage than it did in Sharansky's time) there may be very few open dissidents, but there will always be many closet ones. The regime always labors to turn the closet dissidents into true believers - but "you can not fool all the people all the time."

Sharansky is a member of Israel's Knesset, or I would say that Bush should name him our national security coordinator. I think that he is able to see the things that are in plain sight. He would be the one whose advice on whether or not to boycott Cuba might be most helpful.