Fidel Castro, Cuba, castro death watch, havana, habana

Make of this what you will, but I found it interesting. Fark blogger Drew Curtis comes to his own conclusion as to why Fidel Castro’s “resignation” was announced at 3AM and not at a more convenient time:

The only valid reason to make an announcement like that at 3am was that the government was in a hurry. Something happened in the middle of the night to make them move up the timetable.

I’m going to go out on a limb and speculate that Castro is dead.

The Cuban government is getting their house in order before announcing it. They’ll “elect” his brother Raoul as Supreme King Hand of God of Cuba or whatever they call it. Then next week they’ll announce that Castro suddenly died, peacefully and in a way in no way related to his colon.

An interesting theory, for sure. Nothing out of the Castro brothers’ twisted world surprises me so this sounds plausible to me. But we’ll have to wait to see if Curtis is right…

[Ed. note: sorry, I previously typed in the code for a past poll. The correct poll is below.]

Okay, now that the bearded one has resigned and we’ll (hopefully) shortly see a free Cuba, who do you think should be its first president? Vote below.

A big “Thanks” to Babalu Blog for pointing this one out:

A Florida congresswoman asked the Justice Department yesterday to bring charges against resigning Cuban leader Fidel Castro for the deaths of four U.S. rescue workers who were killed while looking for Cuban migrants stranded at sea.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., said earlier attempts to prosecute Castro in the 1996 downing of a humanitarian flight off the Cuban coast might not have been successful because of his role as head of state.

But now that Castro resigned, there is no longer the technicality of his status as “head of state” to contend with. Bravo to Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen for not waiting a day to press for justice for the victims of this act of murder!

It sure looks that way after finding out, via The Natural Truth, the “news” agency sent its on-air staffers an e-mail yesterday with the following talking points on the “Castro resigns” story (my comments in parentheses):

-Please note Fidel did bring social reforms to Cuba – namely free education (you mean indoctrination) and universal(ly awful) health care, and racial integration (yep, now EVERYBODY gets treated like a slave, regardless of skin color).

-Some analysts would say the US embargo was a benefit to Castro politically – something to blame problems on (Castro never missed an opportunity to blame the US for Cuba’s problems, nor did CNN), by what the Cubans call “the imperialist,” meddling in their affairs.

-While despised by some (Some? Try millions!), he is seen as a revolutionary hero, especially with leftist in (the CNN newsroom) Latin America, for standing up to the United States.

Yep, brought to you by the network that spiked stories about Saddam Hussein’s atrocities.

With apologies to an individual who sent me, at best, a lukewarm, condescending e-mail a few months ago, today I received my first true hate mail. I won’t reprint it here–it was basically a self righteously indignant diatribe with the typical leftist “blame America first, Cuba has great education and medical systems,” etc., cliches. It was sent by someone who I will simply identify as “El Chileno” (don’t worry, I know he doesn’t speak for all Chileans).

For “El Chileno,” I have a little question. How many people from other countries come to the United States and want to live here, versus the number of people who go to Cuba wanting to live there? I’ll even be fair and note that the population of the United States is considerably larger than that of Cuba, so I’ll accept an answer in the form of percentage of the existing population.

You see, Mr. Chileno, there is a reason why more people want to come to the United States than anywhere else. People risk their lives–risk their lives–to come to the United States.

When was the last time somebody stowed away on an airplane in the wheel well to leave the United States and go to Cuba?

When was the last time an American got into a flimsy homemade raft and drifted 90 miles from Florida to reach Havana?

When was the last time someone from the United States converted a truck or automobile into a boat in a desperate attempt to leave the U.S. for Cuba?

How many Americans have died in the Straits of Florida trying to cross to Cuba?

Approximately 10 percent of Cuba’s population lives in the United States FREELY. What percentage of the U.S. population lives in Cuba?

And finally, I leave you with quote on America by a non-American:

Tony Blair
For all their faults and all nations have them, the US are a force for good; they have liberal and democratic traditions of which any nation can be proud. I sometimes think it is a good rule of thumb to ask of a country: are people trying to get into it or out of it? It’s not a bad guide to what sort of country it is.

File this one in the “a half century late, a few billion dollars, thousands executed and imprisoned and millions of Cubans tormented short” category: Fidel Castro has resigned as dictator of Cuba:

An ailing, 81-year-old Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba’s president Tuesday after nearly a half-century in power, saying he will not accept a new term when parliament meets Sunday.

The end of Castro’s rule—the longest in the world for a head of government—frees his 76-year-old brother Raul to implement reforms he has hinted at since taking over as acting president when Fidel Castro fell ill in July 2006. President Bush said he hopes the resignation signals the beginning of a democratic transition.

“My wishes have always been to discharge my duties to my last breath,” Castro wrote in a letter published Tuesday in the online edition of the Communist Party daily Granma. But, he wrote, “it would be a betrayal to my conscience to accept a responsibility requiring more mobility and dedication than I am physically able to offer.”

For those who think this means change and freedom in Cuba, it doesn’t. Not until the entire Castro cabal is out. Sure, there will be some so-called “reforms” under Raul, but they will be nothing but meaningless window dressing, as they have been since Fidel “temporarily” handed power to his brother.

Some blog reactions:

Babalu

Michelle Malkin

Uncommon Sense

My Pet Jawa

Kill Castro

Captain’s Quarters

Gateway Pundit

Fausta’s Blog

UPDATED: More blogs react

Hot Air

Jammie Wearing Fool

Neocon News

…since your big brother took ill. Break my freakin’ heart:

I’ve got little time to read books. I’ll die with hundreds of books I’ve got waiting there for me to read some day … but for now, lots of (official) papers” to handle, Raul said on opening the International Book Fair in Havana.

Lots of other Cubans have too little time to read books, Raul. Because they spend every waking moment looking for basic necessities like food and clothing, thanks to your and your brother’s corrupt regime.

Here, I’ll play the world’s smallest violin for you:

So Spain made the grand announcement that Cuba is releasing seven political prisoners, and the MSM rejoices and makes Raul sound like the second coming of Ghandi:

Cuba will free seven of 59 dissidents imprisoned since 2003, a move that opponents of ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro said reflects a “climate of change” under his brother’s rule.

The first releases of jailed dissidents since August were negotiated by Spain on health grounds and announced by Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos on Friday.

“The decision was made unilaterally by the Cuban authorities and we are very satisfied,” Moratinos told Spanish radio from the city of Cordoba, noting that the move came after dialogue with Cuba.

Dialogue with Cuba, huh? I wonder what exactly was discussed. Look for new exclusive business deals for Spain in Cuba during the next few months.

Meanwhile, the credulous MSM fails to ask the obvious questions:

• -Why does Cuba have ANY political prisoners in the first place?

AND…

• -WHen are you going to release the rest of them?

And then there’s this little tidbit buried near the end of the article I linked to above:

The Cuban government does not allow the International Red Cross access to its prisons.

And of course, this begs yet another couple of questions that remain unasked by the MSM:

• -Why not let the Red Cross visit political prisoners? What are you trying to hide, Raul and Fidel?

…but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

Cuba rejects “the violation of human rights, unjust incarceration of prisoners held there (Guantanamo) without charges, and their appearance in courts without guarantees and in which they are convicted in advance,” (Castro’s Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque) told reporters, without directly referring to the case of six detainees facing charges that carry the death penalty.

Yep, you know a lot about “violation of human rights,” “unjust incarceration” and people “convicted in advance” since you engage in this just about every single day, Ratfink.

The annual Cuban Memorial is on display beginning today at Miami’s Tamiami Park (the site is better known as the site of the County Fair). The memorial features 10,000 white crosses, each one symbolic of a life taken by Castro either through execution or by dying in the Florida Straits. The Cuban Memorial’s website has pictures and tons of info. The Miami Herald has an article.

The Cuban Memorial opened today with a press conference. It will remain in place through Sunday, with a number of events taking place onsite throughout the weekend. Visit if you can.