Castro Dead?

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/7729760.htm

Posted on Fri, Jan. 16, 2004

Rumors of Castro's death sweep Miami-Dade -- again
Herald Staff Reports

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.

[mike1963]

1. It's his brother Lazarus Castro

:evilgrin:

[mlawson]

2. Oh, great!! Guess who will claim credit??

bush will act as if his own regime is responsible for "freeing" Cuba!!

Of course this is nonsense, but it worked for Poppy in 1989 (DDR).

[kixot]

3. wow

There are so many people (myself included) that hope and pray for that man to die. I hope God blesses the Cuban people and lets it be true this time.

Toast to a Cuba libre!

[dutchdemocrat]

5. Pray and Die

Don't belong in one sentence.

You are praying for someone to die? And lumping a whole bunch of people with you?

Surely - there are worse despots in the world. Mugabe, Jong II, Gaddhafi, et al.

Have you ever even been there? I have.

I am really surprised to see this level of hatred for Castro here.

Using prayer to wish anyone death is nasty.

[aquart]

27. Castro is not a sweetie.

But he didn't replace a democracy, now did he? And the people who fled to Miami were not terrified peasants but their oppressors, damned scared of being called to answer for it, and really pissed at how much money they had to leave behind.

And they can't wait for Castro to die and the party to start all over again.

Cheap labor! Gambling! Anything you want if you can pay for it! A sex industry a whole lot closer than Thailand!

That's the future of Cuba post Castro.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[brainshrub]

4. Castro will never die!

He won't. Just to spite the Americans he'll go on and on and on...like the @#$%ing Energiser Bunny. . 200 years from now, he'll still be kicking.

The bastard.

[wuushew]

6. Nine U.S. Presidents and counting.

Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Raygun, Bush I and Clinton. All either dead or out of office.

[westman]

9. 9?

Subtle message?

[RainDog]

7. Who would suceed Castro when he dies?

And when he does, I wonder if the US might use that opportunity to stop the stupid embargo and let ALL U.S. citizens, not just those with Cuban ancestors, visit there.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, I think America missed an opportunity to normalize relations.

Nixon went into China to create more dialogue between our nations, why can't the US do that with this little island?

[wuushew]

8. Because there is no Chinese mafia pulling political strings in Washington.

n/t

[Bush loves Jiang]

21. Oh yes there is...

Otherwise, you would not hear both DLCers and Republicans supporting the sinafication of Tibet or anti-Democratic fucktards in Taiwan.

[mlawson]

10. I am concerned that the RW Miami Cubans would

mak an all-out effort (with help from the BFEE), to take it back, and reintroduce the plantation system there. Is that possible??

[mitchum]

15. Of course, the Miami crybabies want their ancestral plantations and...

donkey shows back. Screw them.

[guajira]

11. Of Course B* would end the embargo... It's there for Miami Batistianos!

The purpose of the Cuban embargo and travel ban is to satisfy the utter hatred Miami "exiles" have for Castro! And of course to keep Americans out of Cuba, so Miami Batistianos can spread their anti-Cuba propaganda, which many Americans believe.

The truth is, Cuba is one of the safest places anyone can visit, there are no homeless people, all children have to attend school, Cubans on the island welcome Americans, the island is beautiful and has very interesting historical Spanish architecture. Visitors can go anywhere, rent cars or campers and drive from one end of the island to the other, meet Cubans without any interference from authorities. It's really sad for Americans and for Cubans to be kept apart by a bunch of hate-filled "exiles" - WHO FLY BACK AND FORTH FROM MIAMI TO HAVANA ALL THE TIME!!!

Our State Dept. allows this discrimination based on National Origin, just to get Republican votes and campaign $$$. And US media will not ever speak out and inform US citizens about this issue!!

[YankeeFan]

13. So Please Explain to Me...

... why, after some people hijacked airliners to Cuba in the 1970’s, they volunteered to come back to America, even though they knew they would go to prison????

[guajira]

26. Some did - some didn't. There are Americans living in Cuba

One of the Black Panthers who hijacked a plane to Cuba is William Brent. He served time in a Cuban jail then got out, finished his degree at U of Havana, then taught and retired.

If he had returned to US, he probably would have spent his entire life in jail, so he stayed in Cuba. He wrote a fascinating book called "Long Time Gone - A Black Panther's True-Life Story of his Hijacking and Twenty-five Years in Cuba".

[newyawker99]

31. Hi YankeeFan!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

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[Character Assassin]

14. We should be so lucky......

[TexasMexican]

16. Mixed Feelings on Castro

Part of me admires him for some of the things that he has done for his nation, and because of how long he has been around.

Part of me also dislikes him for the way he has restricted freedoms in his own nation and because of his support of Communism.

Castro is definately a dicator and it will definately be better for everyone when he finally dies of natural causes, but IMO he is a lesser dictator. He atleast isnt as cruel to his own people as other dictators are, nor he is incompitent or as delusional as others.

[westman]

17. There is no reason to admire Castro.

He is a murdering, totalitarian, thug who won't die.

[Bush loves Jiang]

23. All of me says...

That he's a fucking asshole whose only quality is being less evil than Batista.

[absyntheNsugar]

18. If the US wanted Democracy in Cuba

The first thing they would have done would be normalize relations.

There's no way the Communists could stop the marketplace of ideas....

Castro is a thug, and the thing he fears (feared?) most was normalized relations - then he would have to answer for the poverty in Cuba. Right now he can point North and blame the embargo. If we took that away, he'd have to come up with something better.

! Cuba Libre !

[...Alltogethernow]

20. < fingers crossed >

notext

[aquart]

28. Castro sought normal relations immediately. We snubbed him.

It might be fair to remember that. He didn't fear normal relations or prosperity for his people. He hoped for it. We decided to starve him out.

We have NOTHING to be proud of in our dealings with Cuba and Castro.

[TheRock]

22. No such luck

As long as the price of cigars stays stable he can kick it anytime. Dictators are a dime a dozen but good cigars are hard to find.

[Mika]

24. Nothing like the babbling of the uninformed

This goes on every few months in Miami.


I have been to Cuba many times, including during the 1997-98 election season, where I saw the nominations, the direct elections, and the ratification elections of the candidates. Cuban elections are, by far, cleaner than US elections, and the Cuban people are much more politically involved and aware, by far, than Americans.


For all of the Cuba "experts" who have never been there and who might feel like ending the wallowing in ignorance about the Cuban democratic system might try reading these.



http://www.poptel.org.uk/cuba-solidarity/democracy.htm

This system in Cuba is based upon universal adult suffrage for all those aged 16 and over. Nobody is excluded from voting, except convicted criminals or those who have left the country. Voter turnouts have usually been in the region of 95% of those eligible .

There are direct elections to municipal, provincial and national assemblies, the latter represent Cuba's parliament.

Electoral candidates are not chosen by small committees of political parties. No political party, including the Communist Party, is permitted to nominate or campaign for any given candidates.

The Cuban government was reorganized (approved by popular vote) into a variant parliamentary system in 1976.

You can read a short version of the Cuban system here,
http://members.attcanada.ca/~dchris/CubaFAQ.html#Democracy

Or a long and detailed version here,
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0968508405/qid=1053879619/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-8821757-1670550?v=glance&s=books





Americans do not have the liberty to go to Cuba to see for themsleves like the rest of the free world - Americans are banned from doing so by the US government.


Freedom for Americans? Not yet.



----

Poll: Americans on Cuban Sanctions
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=770
-
Poll: Cuban-Americans focus is local
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/cuba/6269237.htm

Sadly, only ONE candidate for
US president openly states that he
would end this unjust and insane
policy against Cuba AND Americans.

That candidate is Dennis Kucinich.

-The Democratic Presidential Candidates on Cuba-
http://www.lawg.org/pages/new%20pages/Misc/prez-candidates1.htm

[Silverhair]

25. On paper the old Soviet system look great too. They had voter

turnout approaching 100% too, and the Communist Party always won, for over 70 years, until they finally got a chance to overthrow the system.

Same pile of crap in Cuba. Casto always wins and any discenting voice gets jailed.

[Judi Lynn]

29. Maybe you should share your findings with our CIA

MSNBC
April 13, 2000
CIA: Most Cubans loyal to homeland

Agency believes various ties to island bind the majority

By Robert Windrem
NBC NEWS PRODUCER




(snip) The CIA believes there are many reasons Cubans are content to remain in their homeland. Some don’t
want to be separated from home, family and friends. Some fear they would never be able to return, and still
others just fear change in general. Officials also say there is a reservoir of loyalty to Fidel Castro and, as in
the case of Juan Miguel Gonzalez, to the Communist Party.

U.S. officials say they no longer regard Cuba as a totalitarian state with aggressive policies toward its people,
but instead an authoritarian state, where the public can operate within certain bounds — just not push the envelope.
More important, Cuban media and Cuban culture long ago raised the banner of nationalism above that of
Marxism.
The intelligence community says the battle over Elian has presented Castro with a “unique opportunity” to
enhance that nationalism.
There is no indication, U.S. officials say, of any nascent rebellion about to spill into the streets, no great
outpouring of support for human rights activists in prison. In fact, there are fewer than 100 activists on the island
and a support group of perhaps 1,000 more, according to U.S. officials.
(snip/...)

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/cuba/loyal.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What about the very visible Cuban dissident activist, Elizardo Sanchez, who travels everywhere?

The ones who were locked up in 2003 were tried in court on evidence based on material presented by eye witnessses, Cuban informants who worked with them for years and years, and brought the information of payoffs from the U.S. with them to trial.

On edit:

Here's a reference to one of the people who gave testimony concerning Cuban "dissidents:"

(snip) Roque held an open press conference in Havana shortly after the much condemned trial of the ³dissidents and independent journalists² in early April. A respectable number of the 157 foreign correspondents operating freely in Cuba were there, but few found the testimony of one Nestor Sanchez Galarraga Baguer of any interest.

Sr. Baguer was Chairman of the Cuban Independent Press Association, an organization home to several dissident journalists revered by Canadian media.

It turns out that Sr. Baguer was recruited by the US Interests Section of Havana (the compound that houses American foreign service personnel) to create and/or distort information to feed to American sponsored counter-revolutionary Radio Marti, and to several other journalistic fronts as necessary.

A special open pass gave him 24 hour access to the US facilities including an Internet room where a couple of dozen other phoney ³independents² worked. Sr. Baguer explained that they were told what to write about and paid generously in cash with money smuggled in through couriers. Among his assorted colleagues in disinformation was the alleged exiled poet Raul Rivero, also ³connected² as a writer for the ultra-conservative newspaper, the Miami Herald.

Fortunately for the US Interests Section, Nestor Baguer was a real journalist who knew how to make phoney stories look good. Unfortunately, he was also a double agent for Cuban intelligence(codename Octavio) who¹d been operating undercover successfully since 1960. Should have been a helluva story, but for all the attention he got, Sr. Baguer could have saved his breath. Not only are North American media not interested in the truth about Cuba; when we find it, we kill it. (snip/...)

http://www.canadiandimension.mb.ca/v37/v37_4lh.htm

[Mika]

30. So, Silverchair, you've been to Cuba when?

You seem to be privy to some info that needs sharing.

Got a link?



If you would actually read the links I posted you would have read that Cuba does not have direct head of state elections. Cuba's system is a variant parliamentary democracy, like most of the world (USA not included).

I've seen it in action. Dissenting parties and candidates too.

[MSchreader]

32. "This goes on every few months in Miami"

And this kind of thread seems to go on every few months here, too.

Martin

[Cuban_Liberal]

33. Dear God, let it be so!

Cuba libre! :D