[Chi-townChief]

... and the plot persists in thickening.

[Battle Hymn of the Republic]

marxist just about control the world now anyways...

they just don't see it as marxism..

[Bringbackthedraft]

Raul, keep the plane engines running on the tarmac. Be ready!

[theDentist]

..."rapid response groups" used to put down riots in the past had been activated.

What? "Riots" in the workers paradise? Why would that be?

[Triggerhippie]

Isn't it odd how the Proletariat never seems to outgrow its need for a dictatorship?

[from occupied ga]

Fidel, a notorious workaholic whose 80th birthday is August 13, temporarily handed over power to Raul after undergoing surgery to stop intestinal bleeding.

At his age the most likely cause of intestinal bleeding is colon cancer (although you'd think he'd be one of the few in Cuba who got routine screening.)

[goldstategop]

Raul does not have his brother's charisma. Fidel has always been a Caudillo - of the Red variety. He cynically chose Marxism because it gave him a powerful patron and it allowed him to develop an organizational structure to carry out his policies. But the key to the Cuban Communist system has always been "Fidelismo." That's the irreplaceable ingredient that make the Cuban state run. And Raul can't sustain the personalist dictatorship that his brother perfected over the last half century.

(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em Down Hezbullies.)

[Maceman]

Fidel, a notorious workaholic

Working at what, exactly? Writing his famous 6 hour speeches that he regularly forces the Cuban people to listen to under pain of imprisonment, death, or both?

Workaholic, my butt.

[Gordongekko909]

I believe the term is "nationalized the collective." I prefer "stopped wasting air" myself. Waste of carbon and water, he is.

[b4its2late]

Sounds like Miami might be partying hardy again tonight!

[conservative in nyc]

In a typically cryptic message, the main Communist Party newspaper Granma printed an old speech by Raul Castro, who took over island leadership on Monday, saying that his brother's only heir was the Communist Party itself.

Only dead people have heirs.

[Enterprise]

Cuba's Communist Party tried to quell fears of chaos on Thursday following the temporary surrender of power life by the ailing Fidel Castro.

[TXBubba]

released a message on Tuesday saying he did not know if he would recover.

Hmmmm....

[BenLurkin]

Viva Cuba libre!

[Rocky]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1050933/posts

Remembering The Dead -- January 3, 1959 "The Revolution Begins Now"

[wideawake]

The fact that neither Raul nor Fidel have publicly appeared or spoken in days is fascinating.

I suspect that the "false alarm" of Fidel's demise a few months ago was a test balloon to see whether or not stability could be maintained in the days following a death announcement.

[reagan_fanatic]

Installing a 75 year-old as your new President is just delaying the inevitable. Communism will fall in Cuba - the only question is when.

[Jeff Chandler]

It looks like we got him, now send the Marines!

[RegulatorCountry]

Why does this bring Al Haig to mind, after he learned of the assassination attempt upon President Reagan?

[AmericaUnited]

Maybe the resistance had a "sleeper" nurse positioned and she popped both Fidel and Raul...

[kempo]

I'll bet his in a coma. If he is they will keep him on life support until his flesh rots of the bone. The reason no one has taken charge in a public forum is because the Cubans don't know how to function without him.