(Photo credit: HO/AFP/Getty Images)
by Matthew Hay Brown
Well, he did say he wasn’t going anywhere.
In the message this week announcing his resignation as president of Cuba, Fidel Castro said he would continue to write the idiosyncratic essays that have been his main means of communicating to Cubans and the world at large since he dropped out of public view in 2006.
While the erstwhile Maximum Leader promised himself a vacation after that announcement appeared in Granma, it’s now just three days later, and he’s back in the Communist Party newspaper. With a presidential campaign underway in the United States, Cuba’s leading pundit apparently couldn’t contain himself.
“I enjoyed watching the embarrassing position of all the candidates” after his announcement Tuesday, he writes. “One by one they were obliged to announce their immediate demands of Cuba in order not to risk losing a single voter. …”
“Half a century of blockade seemed little enough to the favorites. ‘Change, change, change!’ they cried in unison.
“I am in agreement, change! But in the United States. Cuba changed a long while ago …
“ ‘Annexation, annexation, annexation!’ responds the adversary; that is what they are really thinking deep down about when they talk of change.”
Under the heading “Reflections of Fidel” – until today, the occasional column was called “Reflections of the Commander in Chief” – Castro also mocks the response of President Bush to his resignation.
“Bush Jr., in a country of Africa … where nobody knows what he is doing, said that my message was the beginning of Cuba’s road to freedom; in other words, the annexation decreed by his government.”
In the typically wide-ranging essay, Castro touches on the declaration of independence by Kosovo, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. He notes protests “by important countries” against the U.S. shootdown of a spy satellite – “one of the many artifacts that, for military purposes, the United States has sent into orbit of the planet.”
Castro, exhausted by the “days of tension” leading up to the meeting of the Cuban National Assembly on Sunday to ratify his brother and chief lieutenant Raúl as president, writes that he had planned to refrain from issuing any further reflections for at least 10 days after his announcement. "But," he concludes, “I had no right to keep quiet for so long.”
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Comments
How about a Swamp item about how Raul Castro endorsed Obama today?
Posted by: Jeff | February 22, 2008 2:46 PM
INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - Republican presidential front-runner John McCain suggested on Friday that he hoped retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro would die soon and said Castro's brother will be a worse leader.
These are the type of over the top comments you'll see from Mr.Grand Daddy.
Have they served us well with other nations?
How about Venezuela where the Bushies tried to get Chavez overthrown.
Results:Higher gas prices for us the consumer.
Hey Pops,tell us what your going to do about health care and gas prices.
Posted by: Anonymous | February 22, 2008 3:21 PM
I was worried that Fidel would replace himself with his idiot son, Fidel W. Castro.
At least we know what we're getting with his brother, Raul...more of the same.
Posted by: John E | February 22, 2008 3:23 PM
Jeff:
I believe that Bin Laden is ready to endorse McCain today - his group has done so well in recruiting under Bush that he probably sees four more good years with McCain.
Posted by: BobinATL | February 22, 2008 3:25 PM
Here's Fidel's song. Funny how this tune fits most old politicians.
Dogs (Waters, Gilmour)
By the way, which one's Pink?
You gotta be crazy, you gotta have a real need.
You gotta sleep on your toes, and when you're on the street,
You gotta be able to pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed.
And then moving in silently, down wind and out of sight,
You gotta strike when the moment is right without thinking.
And after a while, you can work on points for style.
Like the club tie, and the firm handshake,
A certain look in the eye and an easy smile.
You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to,
So that when they turn their backs on you,
You'll get the chance to put the knife in.
You gotta keep one eye looking over your shoulder.
You know it's going to get harder, and harder, and harder as you
get older.
And in the end you'll pack up and fly down south,
Hide your head in the sand,
Just another sad old man,
All alone and dying of cancer.
And when you loose control, you'll reap the harvest you have sown.
And as the fear grows, the bad blood slows and turns to stone.
And it's too late to lose the weight you used to need to throw
around.
So have a good drown, as you go down, all alone,
Dragged down by the stone.
I gotta admit that I'm a little bit confused.
Sometimes it seems to me as if I'm just being used.
Gotta stay awake, gotta try and shake off this creeping malaise.
If I don't stand my own ground, how can I find my way out of this
maze?
Deaf, dumb, and blind, you just keep on pretending
That everyone's expendable and no-one has a real friend.
And it seems to you the thing to do would be to isolate the winner
And everything's done under the sun,
And you believe at heart, everyone's a killer.
Posted by: C.Morris | February 22, 2008 5:35 PM
I think Cuba is beautiful and unspoiled--except for GITMO. I wish the best to all the people of Cuba. It affects all the people of a nation any time a gov't is in some sort of transition. Most of the people there are living the best that they can with no real or direct control--kind of like here--except for the 100 in the Senate and the 435 in the House.
Posted by: Vivian | February 22, 2008 9:28 PM
First off, there's very good reason to believe that Fidel is already dead. Second of all, there's nothing over the top about hoping that he meets his maker soon. There are thousands of Cubans in the world whose relatives or whole families are living in communist prisons because of Castro. Every president since JFK has known about them.
The world will be a better place when he's gone. I, for one, hope he already is. Maybe then a people can finally be free.
Posted by: Jeff | February 22, 2008 10:11 PM
One would think that after fifty years of failure and ten American administrations that some one would question our policy versus Cuba. The rest of the world thinks we are crazy.
The one thing that Castro fears is comparisons with free, prosperous, Cubans from America roaming around His island sowing discontent. We have spared him that.
Castro's other fear is a domestic opposition growing larger over time. We have encouraged the domestic opposition to do their over throwing from Miami. Castro would much rather have his enemies in Miami than Cuba.
Our policies have kept this despot in power for all of these years and we are still working at supporting the ststus quo in Cuba.
Our candidates, except Obama, are taking cheap shots at Castro and guaranting continued succcess of the Cuban regime.
Posted by: c. perry | February 23, 2008 11:42 AM