Posted on 01/15/2009 7:53:38 AM PST by Ebenezer
(English-language translation)
MIAMI (AFP) - Two months have passed since a photograph of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro greeting Chinese President Hu Jintao was released in mid November as the last known image of the former.
The health of Fidel Castro - "enemy number one" to thousands of Cuban exiles who fled to Miami - questions about his long absence, and rumors about his death once again circulated throughout this city, "the other Cuba" as many of the refugees call it.
Days ago, during the 50th anniversary of the [Cuban] revolution the always-talkative Fidel led in the largest island of the Caribbean, he only sent a very brief and cold message congratulating "our heroic people".
Last seen in public 2 1/2 years ago, his "Reflections of the Commander" in the official press were his most recent mode of contact, but they began to disappear and have not been published for a month.
"To say if Fidel has died or not only leads to conjectures we cannot make," Janisett Rivero with the Cuban Democratic Directorate told AFP.
"What we can say is that repression against opponents has increased during the last few weeks," he added.
"A greater nervousness is being felt in Cuba, and I think the climate being lived is due to the people's growing dissatisfaction because the government is losing ground and maybe because they are definitely losing their leader," was his opinion.
While versions of Fidel's "terminal condition" ran through the web, police in Miami spoke on Wednesday to exile organizations to evaluate security measures in the city in case of eventual celebrations or the arrival of refugees if an announcement about Fidel's death were made.
During the last few weeks, several Latin American presidents such as Panamanian Martín Torrijos and Ecuadorian Rafael Correa were in Cuba but were unable to see Castro, according to reports following their visits.
"The display of presidents in Havana already looks like part of a funeral, and they left without even seeing him!" Cuban exile and editor of the Miami electronic daily La Nación Cubana ["The Cuban Nation"] Pedro González Munne told AFP.
"Fidel is only a symbol today, such as a monument on a square. His death will be important news throughout the whole world, but, unfortunately, it will change nothing either in Miami, or in Cuba where the military government Raúl Castro heads hasn't been [in power] two years and it has already consolidated," González added.
During his weekly radio address, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, the former Cuban president's main spokesman in the last few years, cryptically referred on Sunday to Castro's eventual death, thus creating more uncertainty over the old leader's condition.
"We know that the Fidel who would roam streets and towns with his warrior image, his uniform, and embracing the people will not return. It will be a memory."
"Because Fidel will live, just as he is alive, and will always live beyond physical life. And he knows he must live for years. We still need you," Chávez said.
Discussions about Fidel Castro's health entertain veterans of the exile who meet in Cuban cafés spread throughout central Miami and in Little Havana.
On the other hand, the matter is of no consequence to young Cuban-Americans who are more concerned over employment problems and economic difficulties in the United States than what is going on in the island.
Miguel Calleja, a 37-year-old Cuban who works in a restaurant, believes that news of Fidel's death will be known immediately in Miami. "We have more information here about what's going on in Cuba than what the Cubans over there have," he thought.
Dr. José Alfonso, a former military surgeon with the Cuban Ministry of the Interior, thinks Fidel's absence is a matter of protecting his image.
"I don't believe Fidel Castro has died. They simply don't want to show him in the condition he is. They prefer keeping the image of the young and strong man," was his opinion.
"I returned from Cuba a few days ago, and everybody was calm, including many officials who I know were on vacation. They would have not been so if something had happened," said Alfonso, a Cuban political analyst with Miami's Radio 1140.
Maybe he is in DC having lunch with BHO!
More likely he’s in conference with Fulgencio Batista.
Or Bin Laden
ping
Any word on what the Cuban exiles in Puerto Rico are saying?
I haven’t heard anything. Not that I’m Cuban but I have always been surrounded by them. The people I know have pretty much written him off. This week they have been mostly fuming about Benicio’s exhultation of the Argentine murderer in local theaters. Here’s here to launch his biopics on the communist bastard.
Benicio playing an “Argentine murderer” and “communist bastard”; Che Guevara, of course! Speaking of, I have seen this poster of Obama that looks eeriely close to Guevara iconography. Scary!
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