BREAKING from Little Havana (via a Ven. blogger): Fidel Castro DEAD or about to be.

[Mika]

Cerebral hemorrhage is the word on the streets and on the exile radio.





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[flamingdem]

1. wow, they're really into it this time!

[RandySF]

2. I've heard this many time over the decades.

And it doesn't matter for Cuba. Raul is running the show.

[hrmjustin]

3. +1

[PoliticAverse]

4. In other news, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead. n/t

[LeftofObama]

5. I've heard of him being on his deathbed many times over the years.

I'll believe it when I see the funeral on tv.

[Judi Lynn]

6. I hope he will come through again by continuing to live as he has so many times

they geared themselves up for a big celebration.

I'd love to see them rev up their "exile" flotilla and get almost to Cuba to snatch it before learning it was a lie again.

Fidel Castro should live longer and prosper. He's worked his whole adult life for his country.

[blueknight]

7. doesnt really matter

fidel is now just a figure head, raul has been running things for awhile

[Judi Lynn]

8. Saw a headline a day or two ago which quoted Fidel Castro's son, Fidel (Fidelito),

the physicist, who said Fidel is doing fine.

Hope that is the real story.

Keep us informed if you hear anything.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Update: Cuba releases 1st public letter from Fidel Castro in months in wake of health rumours

Cuba releases 1st public letter from Fidel Castro in months in wake of health rumours
By Peter Orsi, The Associated Press October 18, 2012

HAVANA - Cuban news media on Thursday published the first new writing in months from retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

The letter, which was dated Wednesday, comes in the wake of rumours that prompted relatives in both Cuba and Miami to deny that the health of the 86-year-old ex-president was critical.

Castro has not been seen in public since video images showed him greeting a visiting Pope Benedict XVI in late March, and the last of his essays known as "Reflections" was published June 19.

In the letter published by the Communist Party daily Granma, Castro congratulated students of a Cuban medical institute on its 50th anniversary and recalled how just days after it opened in 1962, it was converted into an anti-aircraft installation during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

More:
http://www.canada.com/news/Cuba+releases+first+Castro+letter+since+July+wake+health+rumours/7407708/story.html

[flamingdem]

10. On Facebook I read a poignant thread between Cuban Americans in which

they discuss this news. Most know that as Miamians they should celebrate but they are younger so it's not quite the same as their parents generation. Then one of them says that they want to name their next son Fidel, and then another and then another! All of them just saying how much they love the name.. but their parents would kill them.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Interesting! There has to be some real respect there, or that idea would never have been mentioned.

Looks as if the younger ones have been able to see a little beyond the propaganda, doesn't it?

I've heard the younger generation is completely different in many cases. It would be very interesting to be able to see further into their opinions of their parents' homeland.

[flamingdem]

12. They were saying some of

the expected things regarding Fidel but without conviction - I don't think they have seen that much past the propaganda but when you think about it -- Fidel is such a symbol of Cubanness regardless of politics he really saved the Cuban identity from homogenization, vs. Puerto Rico for instance - that is like the USA with Walmarts etc. all over - so they know that he was this rebel and they aren't allowed to like him ... but naturally they are suspicious at least on a subconscious level, that there is more than meets the eye. So perhaps this is expressed by this indirect admiration in their choice of favorite names, that is their rebel streak. It was just notable to me that three people echoed this desire to name their children Fidel. I can see that generation re-writing the usual version of Miami Fidel history over time to something more positive, something that can be proud of even if it must remain indirect.

[Bacchus4.0]

13. hmmm....I am interested in hearing about the Cubaness and saving Cuba from homogenization

since comparing to Puerto Rico isn't a very valid as PR is a US territory and US corporations can set up in PR just as they can in Michigan.

do you think Cubans have more Cubaness than Dominicans have Dominicaness, or than Colombians have more Colombianess? I wouldn't attribute Dominicaness or Colombianess to a particular leader in their history thats for sure.

[flamingdem]

14. I think the risk for over a century is that Cuba would be absorbed into the USA

and we can see what that's like in Puerto Rico. I was not impressed by PR. It was too US dependent with food stamps and people working at crappy US owned factories, buying US made goods. There is less of the culture left there, they even have to import Cuban music (which they like to claim as their own but let's not go there) and Cuban religion .. many practice Santeria - and even that they sometimes claim as their own.

I don't know about DR to say, never been there, but I've been to Colombia and that's not a valid comparison since they are not 90 miles away. However it does look like the USA has been working to dominate there as well via trade and war on drugs.

I'm open minded enough to consider that Cuba would have been better off annexed - in financial terms - but I have learned after multiple trips there that it's been about a struggle to retain their very unique identity. They've really had to pay dearly for that but long run it will benefit them.

[joshcryer]

15. Darn, I wanted to have a sit down with him one day.

Always fantasized about that...

[Judi Lynn]

16. Maybe not just yet: "Fidel Castro alive and well : Chavez aide"

Fidel Castro alive and well : Chavez aide



Marc Frank
Reuters
2:10 p.m. EDT, October 21, 2012

HAVANA (Reuters) - Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro is alive and well, according to Elias Jaua, a former Venezuelan vice president who says he met with Castro over the weekend.

Squelching rumors that Castro was at death's door, Jaua, a key aide to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, on Sunday showed reporters pictures of the Saturday meeting and said Castro, 86, was in good health and lucid.

Jaua, who is running for governor in Venezuela's contested state of Miranda, said Castro accompanied him to Havana's famed Hotel National early on Saturday evening after their meeting. He then chatted briefly with the hotel's general manager, Antonio Martinez Rodriguez, before departing.

Castro's long absence from the public eye has fueled blogger and Twitter rumors for weeks that he was dead or near dying.

More:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sns-rt-us-cuba-castrobre89k0do-20121021,0,2805359.story

[flamingdem]

17. I hope that the media gets a hint not to listen to doctors in Naples

who spread rumors and rile up Miami.

Will they ever learn! Nice to see him looking well.