Free Republic

Photo sourceCorporal Cason wears a pink robe and with a swing of his magic wand -- poof! -- the cartoon character converts one of Cuba's free medical clinics into a private hospital adorned with Mastercard logos. The character in the comic strip Transition Man is the Cuban government's answer to James C. Cason, the outgoing top U.S. diplomat in Havana and thorn in Fidel Castro's side since his arrival there in 2002. ''Dictatorships are not good at humor,'' Cason said during a recent speech at the University of Miami. ``The cartoons inadvertently reminded all Cubans that a transition is...

Havana, Jul 5 (EFE).- The outgoing head of the U.S. Interests Section here used his last public speech to defend his confrontational approach to Cuba's Communist regime and to proclaim that change is inevitable on the island because Fidel Castro is close to collapse or death. "Castro's jerry-rigged system cannot last long. Everyone knows that it does not work and is held together by the force of one domineering personality. And that personality is literally on his last legs," James C. Cason said Monday night at the mission's U.S. Independence Day celebration. "Change is inevitable. I'm confident that the...