Rumors of Castro's death sweep Miami-Dade -- again

The Miami Herald ^ | 1/16/2004 | Herald Staff Reports

[reynols]

I know some members of the Cuban community in Miami, FL and they are all going nuts hoping this latest rumor is true!

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Moderator note, added article.

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Uncorroborated rumors that Cuban President Fidel Castro had died or suffered a stroke buzzed around Miami-Dade County on Friday, with anxious callers inundating police departments, media outlets and exile groups.

''We've gotten hundreds of calls, mostly from the media, but also from our own officers and some members of the public,'' said Miami-Dade police spokesman Randy Rossman. ``At this point, we are not mobilizing anyone for anything special at this time.''

The latest rumor -- something that has occurred frequently over the years -- appear to have been spawned from comments published Wednesday from Luis Eduardo Garzón, the leftist mayor of Bogota, Colombia. He said that Castro appeared to be ''very sick'' during their talks in late December.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez met with his friend Castro in Cuba on Wednesday, Cuban state television reported, without offering details of the visit.

One senior exile community leader said he was contacted by a CIA official Friday to ask what he knew about it.

A foreign correspondent in Havana took a precautionary drive past Castro's offices in the Palace of the Revolution Friday afternoon and reported that all seemed normal.

Officials at the Cuban American National Foundation said many of the 100-plus callers who phoned their Miami office said they saw or heard about something on TV that suggested Castro might have suffered a stroke or worse.

''It's a rumor that started yesterday,'' CANF executive director Joe Garcia said Friday afternoon. ``It's wishful thinking. I don't have anything on it. But it's gotta be right some time.''

[Petronski]

Well, if he's that close, maybe some Tony Montana ambitious-type with access to Castro will finish him and take charge.

[mgist]

Aren't you a big anti-immigrant guy. What gives?

[Petronski]

I do know that if he is dead, I will go and find the finest cigar I can and smoke it in relief.

[Porterville]

If he dies under Bush's watch, the dems will absolutely begin to commit suicide.

[mware]

LOL, I hope Curtis Sliwa doesn't go on the radio and announce he died again.

That one almost got him fired by Phil Boyce at WABC radio NYC

[freebilly]

I hope he dies of natural causes, like asphyxiation caused by a noose around his neck....

[Polybius]

I know some members of the Cuban community in Miami, FL and they are all going nuts hoping this latest rumor is true!

Yawn........We Cuban Americans have been hearing that rumor since 1961.

[cyncooper]

Oooh, let me just pause and linger over your post for a moment....

On the eve of the Iowa Caucus. Do you think it would be too much to hope for that Castro would die and the dem nominees would have to comment on it?

[cmsgop]

We have been on this for a couple of hours here. Please get as much info as you can for us.

[AnAmericanMother]

Oh, I'd settle for a painful, lingering, disfiguring fatal disease, wouldn't you?

[LibKill]

If this murdering communist monster goes to his eternal punishment, no one will be better pleased than I. And I'm not even Cuban! I just hate murdering communist dictators.

[TLI]

If it is a hemp rope, wouldn't that be "natural?"

[AnAmericanMother]

This SOB killed the entire family of one of my college roommates.

[muawiyah]

The American Library Association will be broken-hearted over this.

He's their best buddy.

[tet68]

Oh, I'd settle for a painful, lingering, disfiguring fatal disease, wouldn't you?

No NO, absolutely not, I'm not settleing for anything less
than complete raving lunacy, gibbering,foaming at the mouth insanity. And I want it to happen on LIVE TV too.

So there.

[zarf]

Jorge Mas Canosa must be licking his chops. He's probably got plans to declare himself dictator and change the name of the island to his.

[Porterville]

I would laugh, it as if Bush is blessed, and Satan stalks the dems.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

This just in: Baghdad Bob, who was recently hired as press secretary by Castro has issued a press release...

"There are no Grim Reapers within a hundred miles of Havana. They are surrendering. We will roast their stomachs in the pits of hell."

[freebilly]

If he can't die of natural causes, like cardiac arrest caused by a firing squads bullets in his heart, then a painful unnatural death will have to do.