August 1, 2006

OUTLASTED ANOTHER:

After power shift, no word on Castro's condition (FRANCES ROBLES, IDY FERNANDEZ AND MARTIN MERZER, 8/01/06, MiamiHerald.com)

After a night of unexpected news on the health of Cuban president Fidel Castro -- and spontaneous celebration among Cuban exiles in South Florida -- dawn brought quieter reactions and a question in both Miami's Little Havana and the actual Havana:

Would the announcement Monday night that Castro, 79, was temporarily stepping down from his presidential powers because of health concerns truly mean the end of his nearly 47-year reign?

Answers were slow in coming. Radio Havana offered no new information or commentary in its 7 a.m. broadcast -- merely a re-reading of Monday's announcement that the Cuban leader had undergone surgery to correct ``a sharp intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding.''

In Miami, the news that Castro, who will turn 80 in two weeks, would turn over power -- even temporarily -- to his brother Raul Castro, 75, had sparked a party atmosphere and immediate speculation that the widely despised Cuban leader was gravely ill, or dead.


Strike while the iron's hot.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 1, 2006 9:36 AM
Comments

Damn, think of all those liberal politicans and Hollywood celebrities who are going to have to start flying the extra distance to hang out in Caracas instead of Havanna.

Posted by: John at August 1, 2006 12:12 PM

He ain't dead yet, but is it too much to hope that Cuba's Model Universal Health Care System will quickly finish the job?

Posted by: Raoul Ortega at August 1, 2006 12:16 PM

Hurry up and die already!

Posted by: Mike Morley at August 1, 2006 1:12 PM

George Felos, call your office.

Posted by: Just John at August 1, 2006 1:31 PM

Can we send Kevorkian as a "humanitarian" gesture?

Posted by: John Resnick at August 1, 2006 1:37 PM

Raoul: Sadly, that is too much to hope. The rules must change for the leader of the Leninist vanguard, don't you know. No doubt he's treated like a hypochondriac movie star, with the added feature that all medical personnel work under the threat of prison or death.

Posted by: PapayaSF at August 1, 2006 2:17 PM

If George Felos called a dehydrated, starving, brain-injured woman 'beautiful' in her death, then he would take one look at Castro and pronounce him a deity.

Posted by: jim hamlen at August 1, 2006 2:31 PM

Thanks for the post, OJ! Somehow it reminded me finally put "Weekend at Fidel's, um, Bernie's" in my Netflix queue.

Posted by: Rick T. at August 1, 2006 3:39 PM
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