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CASTRO Se Acabo, Amigo
Fidel Castro is dying. Words many have waited 48 years to hear. Wild fires sweep through Miami. Congas beat down 8th street at 3 in the morning. Hysterical dancing. Mucho Cerveza. People kneeling in the streets. Praying for his death. Petitions to Mother Mary. Let him die, now. Down in Little Havana’s ‘Calle Ocho’ crowds gather hoping to hear news of that last sigh. The city leadership gets together.Delirious. “El Comandante” may be no more. City Commissioner, Tomas Regalado comes up with what he thinks is a glorious idea. A ‘Volunteer Committee’ is formed. The Orange Bowl, site of President Kennedy’s 1961 speech promising to free Cuba, will be the official venue for public celebration. Die Fidel, Die. Music, dancing, themed T-shirts and poetry readings are planned. Wonder how Jose Marti would have reacted to all this? These are official directives, from the Commissioners office! Amazing. Fidel Castro is not dead, not yet. Newspapers and television stations talk of “waves of dizzying anticipation’’.The “maximum leader,” minimized by death. At Versailles Restaurant, focal point of Cuban Culture, toasts are raised. Rumors whisper that Fidel Castro has died. “Castro, muy muerto.” WQBA radio at night. A familiar voice. Alina Fernandez, Fidel Castro’s daughter. She escaped Cuba in 1993 disguised as a Spanish tourist. She weighs in too. Castro is dying. His 48 years in power, finito. People weep in anticipation.
And then, the old man appears on Cuban television. He’s still standing, talking to Hugo Chavez. Dios Mio!
What is it the Cubans are cheering for? Castros death is a small part of the equation. The bigger picture is…..The anticipation that Cuba will be free after “El Comandante” dies. That Raul Castro will be different. The Cubans in Miami have a surprise coming.
The transition of power that will sustain what has been going on in Cuba for 48 years has already been complete. Finito. It is a done deal, amigo. Raul Castro has been running the socialist idea in Cuba with a ruthless dictatorial machete since 1959. Raul is not the idiot drooling brother, dragged from the basement, put on the throne. To suddenly rule since Fidel fell ill. Fidel is the popular and charismatic face. Raul is the fists, spine and machete. He’s a junk yard dog. A ‘go for the jugular’ beast. Historians know this. He is also a communist hardliner who has a great track record when it comes to organization and implementation. Why has somebody not told the Cubans down in Miami? But they should know. They are Cubans. They are aware of their history, one assumes.
It was Raul who arranged for Nikita Khrushchev to have the Soviet Union missiles deployed in Cuba. It was Raul who seen the brilliance of Ernesto “Che” Guevara in Mexico City. He inducted the Argentinean doctor into the Cuban ranks. And now, it is Raul who has been sliding through the back door to make deals with China and Venezuela. So why are they cheering in Miami? What are they cheering for? So Castro dies. Good riddance. But that is all that will happen. A great state funeral and then Raul will do what he’s always been doing. Rule. Unfortunately, for him, this time he will have to be upfront. He’s a back door kind of guy, this Castro. Cuba is not going to change. Vice President Carlos Lage has already stated, “Socialism in Cuba is irreversible, because of our efforts yesterday and today, we make it irreversible. In Cuba there will be no succession, there will be continuity.” Did anybody in Miami hear that? Raul Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez have already sworn blood brotherhood. It’s an open alliance against America. “The Empire.” They have laid down the gauntlet. Will America invade after Castro dies? Will the CIA perform a covert operation? Will they try and assassinate Raul Castro? Been there, tried that. Did not work. Bay of Pigs. Exploding cigars. Poison. Remember. Since 1959, a reported 600 assassination attempts have been tried on both Fidel and Raul. Did not work then, will not work now. Hugo Chavez is in the house waving his socialistic oil flag. He wants to be Fidel Castro. In Venezuela. The stage has been set. Politically, it makes no difference right now if Fidel Castro dies tomorrow. He has let go of the reins and Raul Castro now whips the burros. If there was a hint that Raul Castro might turn the other cheek towards even a semblance of democracy one could understand the celebrations in Miami. But the truth is, he will stay the course. For the United States government, Castro’s dying might be a bigger problem that they thought. In the past, all they had to deal with was a raving and ranting Fidel who depended on the Soviet Union and China. Now they have Raul, fuelled by mucho dinero Hugo Chavez. Right there at our back door. Suddenly the amoeba has split. “Dios Mio, amigo! Look, now they are two!” So why exactly are the Cubans thumping bongos down in Miami? Stop playing; it’s three in the morning, hombre. Se Acabo. Adios.
Comment by Frank Winters
Posted on February 12, 2007 at 6:26 pm
Our government in The united States needs to learn once and for all that “the enemy of my enemy” is not necessarily my friend.
We backed Castro because he was against Batista. We backed Saddam because he was fighting Iran. We backed the Taliban because they fought the Russians.
We need a better way to pick our friends.
How about this — how about a government that picks allies based on shared values and mutual interests? Wouldn’t that be nice?
I remember sitting in a Greenwich Village night club in around 1960 or 61 and hearing the club owner decry our habit of sending ‘chocolate covered tanks’ to Castro. By then the jig was up and our leaders had realized the mistake. We looked very foolish.
Then the next year - 1961 — came the Bay of Pigs invasion. “Nixon proposed it. Eisenhower planned it. Kennedy approved it. The CIA carried it out.” (from the website historyofcuba.com) We thought we would undo our error with a well planned invasion but it failed when we did not provide the promised air support. We looked foolish.
All this led us to the brink of nuclear war with the Cuban ally Russia (they also believed the enemy of my enemy is my friend) the next year during the Cuban missile crisis.
See why its a good idea to choose your friend carefully?
Now we are at war in Iraq against people who may have learned that we are not trust-worthy. We seem to be willing to befriend any one who will help us for a brief time, no matter what an SOB the individual or regime is or how he treats the people under his control.
Cuban history might have been brighter if the Us had had greater wisdom and/or resolve.
Now we have a President who is trying to fix the issue of American resolve; pity he doesn’t have greater wisdom.