Death Watch for Fidel??

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Check the latest:

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070116/D8MMAR800.html

Could his regime fall? Could our long time enemy soon be in his grave? Is the Mafia poisoning him as revenge? Is this what happens when you socialize medicine?

Odd to think that this ageing Socialist is about to gasp his last. I'm 50, and as far back as I can remember, my father used to cuss him out whenever he appeared on the nightly news. What will happen to Cuba? Will they overthrow the government to install a democracy? Is the CIA ready to de-stabilize them? Will Cuba morph back into Casino Island??

Discuss ...

You mention your father cussing him out - I was just thinking this is happening forty years too late to be any fun.

my grandfather bought a bottle of champagne with one of his very first paychecks in the states to open when fidel died.. when he died he gave it to my father.. when my dad died it was passed on to me, but when i left for brasil i left it with my sister.. still kept cool..

Castro is a good leader. It will be a great shame when he dies. Especially for the Cuban people. They are going to have to brace for instability and an invasion of companies exploiting the country on low wages.

Fidel Castro has refused to step down or hold elections. 15,000 people were murdered under his regime (including many members of his own revolutionary movement who questioned his refusal to liberalize). The country's free press (which had existed under the corrupt Miguel Batista) was abolished. The economy, which was the the strongest aside in the Hemisphere except for the United States and Canada, was crippled his policies. Yet Castro himself, according to Forbes magazine has a net worth of $990 million dollars, or ten percent of the Cuban economy.

Here is a link to a website (link) that describes a political dissident who died in prison recently. His name was Miguel Valdes Tamayo. The website is in Spanish, however National Review Online has a brief description in English.

National Review Online Article link

What do you base this on? The tens of thousands who try to flee his island paradise? do you know how many have died trying to leave on rafts, anything that floats, risking their lives facing certain death, because between "sociolismo o muerte" (socialism or death) they prefer death. How about those he killed in the firing squads after bogus trials? Or those who languish in his prisons for daring to question his rule and authority? If Cuban medicine is so "good" why does he need a Spanish specialist? What the Cuban doctors are good enough for tourists but not for Fidel? Why did they backpedal and say he may have been misdiagnosed by the Cuban doctors in the first place? Do some research top see what the reality of Cuba is.

It is socialism or death because of the restrictions placed upon Cuba by the US. Cuba is poor, yes. The quality of life is quite high if you conform. I base my view of Cuba on how life is for an average, conforming Cuban. Cuba cannot afford dissidents. Castro has kept Cuba stable, and ensured a good quality of life for most Cubans with the resources available. He does not want to start a personality cult, either. Castro has not stepped down or held elections, because he is the best man for the job. Castro released Cuba from the shackles of companies which dominated there. His large bank account serves Cuba. How you look at it depends on what you value. Yes, he has been a little heavy handed, but I support most of his ideals.

Those restrictions are laughable. The amount Cuba IMPORTS from the US grows day by day!! What the restrictions say is that they must pay upfront, cannot buy on credit. And US business export away. Cuba can't afford dissidents? What kind of totalitarian control crap is that? A little heavy handed? The freakin walls are still stained with blood. He released them from one set of shackles and into another. Are you against free election in a nation? Who decides who is the best man for the job? A good quality of life? Geez if you think that is a good quality I hate to see what you think misery is. You are for conformity? What's the fun in that? Who decides what one must "conform" to?

Let's just say that the sort of lax democracy we have is injust and mediocre. There should be restrictions on what type of people get in power(the leader must be serious an, and an equal amount of coverage for all political parties. There should be a commitee which judges the performance of a leader, based on their aims, and what they have done in their rule. I'm no fan of the insincere political system we have now. Leaders such as Tony Blair and Bush sicken me. Only out for votes, not achieving anything for their nation most of the time.

Blair and Bush sicken you but you admire Fidel? You complain about lax democracy but applaud Cuba's form of government?. You like it so much and think it's great, try living under it.

BTW, using your "standards", Pinnochet was the greatest thing that happened to Chile, as was Franco to Spain. There was a "good quality of life" for all. The Chilean and Spanish economies improved by leaps and bounds. There is no stronger economy in South America, thanks to Pinnochet and the economic policies he implemented. Privatization was the path to prosperity in Chile.. He and the "Chicago Boys" created a system that has not been bested in South America. C'mon gimme a "Viva Pinnochet" for what he did to improve the standard of living in Chile.

Pinochet was a monster who murdered socialists in the name of capitalist greed. No minimum standard of life. The same applies to Thatcher, except that she didn't actually mass murder anyone as such, but ruined people's livelihoods and jobs under her Libertarian views.

Anubis, the standard of living has going down in Cuba since Castro has taken power in Cuba. Cuba used to be a jewel of the hemisphere, now it is the poorest country on this side of the world except for Haiti.

The quality of life is wonderful for high members of the party, who have access to health care that is not available that available to the general public.



And you know his how? Should not the Cuban people have a right to speak on his dictatorship? Should they not have a right to access to message boards like this where they can freely express their views? Should dissenters be thrown into prison?



Oh, absolutely, that is why he wears an military uniform (like Mussolini) and has state television carry his hours long propaganda speeches. It is why he attempted to set Cuba up as the center of the revolutionary world of the Americas.



Cuba does not provide coverage to all political parties. There state owned television and newspapers only cover the communist regime that runs the country. All opposition parties are illegal. Independent journalists are jailed Would wish coverage for all parties only to have the winning party declare a monopoly on power and banish the opposition?



Who would run this committee? How would it be objective? You comment negatively of Margaret Thatcher but her aims are not the same as, say, the late PM James Callaghan. Additionally leaders face both oppositions and circumstances outside their control.



How do you know this? Why then do they make unpopular decisions they know will be unpopular with the public that threaten to undermine own elections? Again, how would a committee of judges, who are not neutral, be able to establish if they have achieved what they set out to achieve.



Yes, but the standard of living went up under Augusto Pinochet by a large margin. This is not the case in Cuba (who cares if everybody is more equal if everybody is equally poor? Additionally the Communist elite in Cuba are represent a rich kleptocracy that is harder to reach then an average person to become rich in America, Canada, or Europe) He (Pinochet) was certainly an effective leader. He was also was responsible for the murder of tens of thousands of people (like Castro it was early in his regime), and the torture of more. Pinochet did not need to be remembered as the brutal leader of a junta but he will be. Fortunately, unlike Castro he did step down after he was defeated in an election.

Margaret Thatcher implemented economic policies. You may disagree with those policies but they did not implement anything like the economic harm Castro brought to Cuba. Eventually she was defeated by members of her own party and stepped down.

But the economy, it's stronger then ever. You must have never been to Chile. He wasn't a monster at all, just heavy handed as you say.

While Castro's done some level of good, his bad really suffocates any amount of good he's ever done. Sure, being the slave to corporations was bad, but so was suffering without a voice beneath the militaristic boot of a man too stubborn and close-minded to even care about the people.

I mean, if Castro's rule has been so peaceful and nifty, then why such mass exoduses from Cuba? Truth is that the reason there's any level of comfort in Cuba is because EVERYONE is poor.

Remember, too-- though Guevara as well had some great ideals, the man was still a ruthless murderer and terribly harsh commander during periods.