Fidel Castro Resigns

[OUsooner1]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/02/19/castro/index.html

HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -- Fidel Castro announced his resignation as president of Cuba and commander-in-chief of Cuba's military on Tuesday, according to a letter published in the state-run newspaper, Granma.

Castro, 81, temporarily handed power to his younger brother Raul Castro in July 2006 after undergoing intestinal surgery. He hasn't been seen in public since his surgery, but he has appeared in numerous videos and photos in state media.

The announcement of Castro's resignation appeared just before 3 a.m. on the Web site of the state-run newspaper.

The news is likely to send shock waves across the island and through the tens of thousands of Cuban exiles who have sought refugee in the United States.

In December 2007, a Cuban television news anchor read a letter reportedly written by Fidel Castro promising he would not "cling to office" or be an impediment to rising young leaders.

Castro took power in Cuba in 1959 and has ruled the island nation ever since, governing the first communist nation in the Western Hemisphere.

Fidel Castro captured the world's attention and imagination at 32 when the bearded revolutionary led a band of guerillas that overthrew a corrupt dictatorship -- and then became an irritating thorn in Washington's paw by embracing communism and cozying up to the Soviet Union.

For the next 47 years, Castro reigned in Havana with an iron hand, outlasting nine American presidents and defying a punishing U.S. economic embargo designed to dislodge him.

Raul Castro is generally seen as more pragmatic and less inclined to deliver the kind of long-winded speeches for which his brother is famous.

Ordinary Cubans have wondered whether a permanent change in power in Cuba will lead to lower food prices, higher salaries and more freedom to travel.



edit: heyyyy I finally got a star. Wasted the dang 100th post on Castro. I should get a Cuban, Sic'em where are ya?

[Blue]

Will there be a Sandals resort and Hedonism IX in Havana before long. That's whats important.

[tommieharris91]

Wonder if/how the markets will react to this? I wonder how much debt we can get ourselves into with them now...

[OUsooner1]

too early??
http://www.absinthe-dealer.com/media/images/hava-ane15gemquer_big.jpg

[King Crimson]

yet another hilarious piece from CNN: Right wing ideological whore.

"ordinary Cubans"?

"Iron handed".

"cozying up to the Soviets"...etc.

pretty objective.

they should slut much harder for Obama's new bolshevik REVLOTUION!

[Sooner5030]

Never liked the guy much. The only way to get a Cuban cigar in Iraq was to make a trip off the base. Had he been a good boy over the last 50 years I could've just walked into the PX and bought them. Bastard.

Maybe one day we can have a military installation on Cuba where we can live on the economy instead in some barracks behind fences. That would make up for closing the posts in Panama.

[MrJimBeam]

"Raul Castro is generally seen as more pragmatic and less inclined to deliver the kind of long-winded speeches for which his brother is famous."

I wonder if Raul is less inclined to deliver a bullet to the back of the skull?

[SoonerBOI]

His brother would be the one taking over, that's already been made public. The real question is, will his brother be different or another Castro. I don't know much about it, but I've heard his brother wouldn't carry on the policies of Castro and the embargo might even be lifted if Raul were in power. (After negotiations etc.)

Wishful thinking? Who knows.

[sooneron]

Raul was once considered much more ruthless, but he's supposedly open to forum and listening to others. Those cigars won't be coming until the smoke clears (heh,) within the cuban infrastructure. I always thought Fidel would have to be wheeled out of office, feet first.

[Widescreen]

Somewhere, Danny Glover, Steven Spielberg and Harry Belafonte are weeping.

[BigRedJed]

Mmmm... ...Cohiba....

[Mjcpr]

I'd say this is good sign the death watch is on.

Where is my RIP thread, VK, you seen it?

[BigRedJed]

Ghoul.

[sooneron]

Cohiba? meh, there are better cubans that don't make it out of the country as easily as the cohibas (which were pretty much made for foreign purchasers).
Hoyo De Monterrey are much bueno. Not to mention Cohiba is prolly the most counterfeited brand- show me ten and I bet 9 are fake.

[BigRedJed]

Not after the embargo is lifted.

[BigRedJed]

Plus, it was really a shout out to somebody. Clique of two.

[TexasLidig8r]

The embargo has not made much sense for over 30 years and especially since the fall of the Eastern Bloc.

It was more than adquately demonstrated that to instigate the fall of totalitarianism, you don't do it through isolatianism but through innundation. You infilitrate through education and exposure, you embolden the minds of the common people, the working class, you push for worker organization to improve their own plight.

You push new technologies, show the workers a higher standard of living and because the totalitarian state, by its very nature, is unstable and unnatural, confidence in the state erodes, leading to its fall.

[Mixer!]

Cohiba & Cambria - Welcome Home

[Widescreen]

The embargo has not made much sense for over 30 years and especially since the fall of the Eastern Bloc.

It was more than adquately demonstrated that to instigate the fall of totalitarianism, you don't do it through isolatianism but through innundation. You infilitrate through education and exposure, you embolden the minds of the common people, the working class, you push for worker organization to improve their own plight.

You push new technologies, show the workers a higher standard of living and because the totalitarian state, by its very nature, is unstable and unnatural, confidence in the state erodes, leading to its fall.
Explain China. Their suppression of political and religious ideas is probably worse than Cuba's. Yet all we hear about is how we should "engage" the Chinese so they'll be nice. Like how they are hosting the Olympics this year. Doesn't seem to be working so well.

[King Crimson]

The embargo has not made much sense for over 30 years and especially since the fall of the Eastern Bloc.

It was more than adquately demonstrated that to instigate the fall of totalitarianism, you don't do it through isolatianism but through innundation. You infilitrate through education and exposure, you embolden the minds of the common people, the working class, you push for worker organization to improve their own plight.

Lid=straight up Commie:texan: :texan:

[TUSooner]

Explain China. Their suppression of political and religious ideas is probably worse than Cuba's. Yet all we hear about is how we should "engage" the Chinese so they'll be nice. Like how they are hosting the Olympics this year. Doesn't seem to be working so well.

But it's ALL about economy and money and stuff.
When it comes to religion and ideas, a materialist is a materialist is a materialist, Marxist or not.
:twinkies:

[SicEmBaylor]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/02/19/castro/index.html

edit: heyyyy I finally got a star. Wasted the dang 100th post on Castro. I should get a Cuban, Sic'em where are ya?
I'm conflicted on this. I detest Castro with a passion, and I love seeing any communist nation suffer and remain impoverished. HOWEVER, I also would love to legally and easily buy Cuban cigars so my own self-interests favor lifting the embargo.

I hope Castro dies soon though because the fires of hell need to be stoked.

[VeeJay]

Screw Puerto Rico.

Let's take over and grant Cuba statehood.

[Scott D]

Explain China. Their suppression of political and religious ideas is probably worse than Cuba's. Yet all we hear about is how we should "engage" the Chinese so they'll be nice. Like how they are hosting the Olympics this year. Doesn't seem to be working so well.

China - 1.3 billion ppl
Cuba - 11.4 million ppl

who sounds scarier ;)

[CatfishSooner]

Cuban cigars are way over-rated IMO...

[BigRedJed]

Aw, hell.

[VeeJay]

It's easy to tell the Cuban exile community to "get over it." And we gringo's can dream about Cuban cigars, rum, beach trips, gambling and naked beaches and whatnot.

Fact remains that the people who came here in the early days had their businesses, property and livelihoods "nationalized" at the convenience of the bastard. Most came here with little or nothing. That generation, like Fidel, has died off or is seriously aging, but for the most part have contributed greatly to the United States and love our country; are thankful we were here to take them in, and help them re-start their dreams.

The younger Cuban Americans are less inclined to remember the past, and this will continue with future generations. They have grown up here, or were born here, and even though they're bi-lingual and cognizant of their heritage, they consider themselves Americans and will not look back.

Their parents and grandparents hold out hope that someday their property will be rightfully returned to them. My message to them is "I feel your pain, but that ain't the job of the American taxpayer."

So I understand both sides - I'd like to see a free Cuba, but I can't toss aside the Castro years and give a pass to his regime because I thirst for rum and cigars.