Castro hands power to brother during surgery

CNN ^ | 7/31/06 | CNN

[tdewey10]

Cuban President Fidel Castro is transferring power provisionally to brother Raul while he undergoes an operation, Cuban TV announces.

[P-Marlowe]

Rat poison causes internal bleeding.

Hopefully this is a really painful condition!

[cjmae]

I heard he had to have Danny Glover's lips removed from his butt.

[mkmensinger]

...or perhaps chavez was a little rough that last time.

[brazzaville]

Good evening.

Raul has done a lot of killing for Fidel. He may be too crazy for the Cuban military.

We can only hope.

Michael Frazier

[txroadkill]

from E medicine

Gastrointestinal bleeding: Upper GI bleeding originates in the first part of the GI tract—the esophagus, stomach, or duodenum (first part of the intestine). Bleeding can come from ingestion of caustic poisons or stomach cancer.

So basically...good news for all!

[AnAmericanMother]

Oh, let's send Cindy Sheehag, and make them keep her. She can flop down on his grave and clutch the grass between her fingers . ..

I guess I'm showing my age, but back when the Soviets were losing Politburo members right and left, the regular programming would go off the air and they would play solemn music for hours before they finally worked themselves up to the announcement of somebody's death . . .

[kabar]

Our best hope for Cuba was that Fidel suddenly dies

Maybe he has and this is a ruse to legitimize the new government.

[clintonh8r]

Dr Dean...Dr Howard Dean.....

[DJ Taylor]

"Are they finally trying to get his head out of his ass???"

Nope, this is what happened. Zidane got him.

[AnAmericanMother]

Well, there are a lot of relatively innocuous reasons for intestinal bleeding too.

But as Dorothy Parker once said when told somebody was ill, "I hope it's nothing trivial."

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Good point. What little I've found on the subject suggests that if things get tough, Raoul can't count on military support even a slight amount compared to his brother. I hear the Cuban military doesn't like him.

[rdl6989]

I wouldn't want to be in certain parts of Miami tonight if he does kick the bucket.

[right-wingin_It]

The Weekend at Bernies begins...

[rodguy911]

The line on Raoul is that he is weaker than Fidel and also a drunk.

[4yearlurker]

Yes..give the old bas$#@d plenty of water.

[NinoFan]

But surgery on the intestine at 80? I doubt he'll last a week.

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

I remember in the early 80's. Granted I was 11 or 12. But I remember when Breshnev, chernenko and whatever the other guys name was. Actually i think he was between Breshnev and Chernenko. Andropov? Perhaps. Any way I remember that it seemd the leader was dead for a t least a solid day or 2 before we knew.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Would be funny and ironic if one of those doctors was the only one who could have saved Fido.

[Former Fetus]

if the term "accident of health" is idiomatic for anything?

I don't know in Cuba, but in Spain it does not mean anything in particular.

BTW, the Spanish newspaper El Mundo is announcing that Fidel will have to spend several weeks resting, away from public view. How will we know when to celebrate?

[cmsgop]

The DU Thread for good measurehttp://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2427094