Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Is Castro Dead?

On Monday evening in Havana, a computer-generated statement from Cuba’s President Fidel Castro was read on Cuban television. It said Castro had undergone complicated intestinal surgery and would need several weeks to recuperate. If still alive, Castro will be 80 on August 13th. Castro’s dweeby brother, Raul, has taken over running Cuba until Fidel’s health returns. Raul is 75. Is Castro dead? I don’t know. But I’ve e-mailed Paddy Power to see if any bets are developing on his chances. However, God help us, the White House press secretary Tony Snow has already weighed in about George Bush's views re Cuba. “The one thing that this president has talked about from the very beginning is his hope for the Cuban people finally to enjoy the fruits of freedom and democracy,” Snow said. OH MY GOD! The freedom and democracy thing. Two weeks ago, the State Department announced a plan. OH MY GOD! The State Department has a plan. The State Department says it will provide $80 mil over two years to “help with a post-Castro transition”. And the US will send “special monitors and advisers to Cuba in the weeks after a full transition” begins. Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) was born in Cuba and came to the US when Castro made his power grab in 1959. The New York Times reported this morning that Martinez said the administration has plans to prevent “mass migration or mass boat traffic in either direction of the Florida straits,” when a power shift occurs in Cuba. Martinez says he was briefed by military officials two weeks ago. Martinez says he has confidence in the Navy and Coast Guard being able to “interdict vessels in the open waters between the countries” in order to “prevent Cuban-Americans from entering Cuban waters while the changes were taking shape in Havana”. TWO WEEKS AGO? The State Department was making plans to interdict vessels to and from Cuba TWO WEEKS AGO? What made the State Department think it should gear up for a power shift in Cuba two weeks ago? Well here’s a possibility: Castro was on his death-bed two weeks ago and Florida Guv Jeb Bush got the word and told his freedom- and democracy-loving brother so that the US military could facilitate another affectionate, caring and compassionate take-over of another weak country. How's that sound?

2 comments:

Barry Schwartz said...

My grandmother had colon cancer surgery when she was 78, totally successfully, although she did die at 84 from those nasty crawling cancer cells that weren’t caught. Anyway, my point is that her surgery requires hours and it really knocked her off her feet, without bringing her near death. Right after the surgery she looked terrible, absolutely awful. She couldn’t eat or drink afterwards, and I have inferred from the amount of worrying she did about it that they left her (by design) an open wound to heal by granulation. So Castro may have many years left, but be knocked off his feet like he never has before.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if the US decision to build a bigger, better quantanimo prison figured into that equation too, once the bushies became aware of castro's "health."
One thing's for sure if the US "liberates" the cubans, they can kiss their current health-care-for-all system goodby.