Decision ‘08

Ailing Castro Relinquishes Power (Temporarily?)

Fidel Castro temporarily relinquished his presidential powers to his brother Raul on Monday night and told Cubans he underwent surgery.

The Cuban leader said he had suffered gastrointestinal bleeding, apparently due to stress from recent public appearances in Argentina and Cuba, according to the letter read live on television by his secretary, Carlos Valenciaga.

…Castro said he would also temporarily relinquish his duties as first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba to Raul, who turned 75 in June and who has been taking on a more public profile in recent weeks.

In power since the triumph of the Cuban revolution on Jan. 1, 1959, Castro has been the world’s longest-ruling head of government. Only Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, crowned in 1952, has been head of state longer.

The “maximum leader’s” ironclad rule has ensured Cuba remains among the world’s five remaining communist countries. The others are all in Asia: China, Vietnam, Laos and North Korea.

I wish Castro no personal harm, but he is not the romantic figure of myth. He’s one of the world’s richest men (frequently making the Fortune list, much to his chagrin, with an estimated net worth of well over half a billion dollars), and he has amassed that fortune on the backs of the Cuban people, who live like beggars under the stale communism imposed by the ancient ‘revolutionary’.

Unfortunately, there is little hope of things being any better under his elderly brother. It will take generations to undo the harm Castro has caused Cuba, and there is no indication that the healing will start anytime soon…

5 Responses to “Ailing Castro Relinquishes Power (Temporarily?)”

1 The Right Nation Says:
August 1st, 2006 at 7:18 am
Finger-Crossing

According to the Associated Press, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro temporarily turned over the Cuban presidency to his brother Raul (who is also the defense minister) after he had been operated to repair a “sharp intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding…
2 Ryan Bonneville Says:
August 1st, 2006 at 7:24 am
It’s very hard not to wish him personal harm, Mark. By any metric, the man is a monster. Times like these are trying for those of us who like to think that everyone deserves some basic level of regard. It would be far easier to point out exactly how little sleep I would lose if Castro didn’t see the sun set tonight.
3 ME Says:
August 1st, 2006 at 8:18 am
Castro has said he has no wealth… he gets put on that list every year with no hard evidence of his money and has challenged anyone to find a bank account with his name on it. I actually beleive him… I mean, he’s never going to leave cuba, he gets everything he needs from the state, living in luxury, etc… no need to stash a billion dollars away. Maybe they just count all the wealth in Cuba as belonging to Castro or something…. anyone know anything about this?
4 megapotamus Says:
August 1st, 2006 at 3:11 pm
Abajo Fidel!

And death to tyrants, generally.
5 Ryan Bonneville Says:
August 1st, 2006 at 9:19 pm
Sic Semper Et Cetera.