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August 01, 2006
A dispassionate report on the Maximum Leader
A friend sent me this article by the Associated Press, noting that it was a piece of "left-wing pap." I decided to insert a few clarifying clauses throughout, in the interest of accuracy.
Fidel Castro, [the dictator who has governed Cuba for more than 45 years with an iron hand since he]
whotook control of Cuba in 1959, rebuffed repeated U.S. attempts to oust him and survived communism's demise almost everywhere else, temporarily relinquished his presidential powers to his brother Raul on Monday night because of surgery.The Cuban leader said he had suffered gastrointestinal bleeding, [denying it was related to the half-century of torture and executions carried out at his order, the destruction of the Cuban economy, the wide-spread discrimination against homosexuals and AIDS sufferers and the late night visitations by the ghosts of his victims, claiming instead that his illness was] apparently due to stress from recent public appearances in Argentina and Cuba, according to a letter read live on television by his secretary, Carlos Valenciaga.
Castro said he was temporarily relinquishing the presidency to his younger brother and successor Raul, the defense minister, but said the move was of "a provisional character." There was no immediate appearance or statement by Raul Castro.
It was the first time in his decades-long tenure that Castro has given up power, [having avoided bourgeois trappings of democracy like term limits, competing political parties and free elections,] though he has been sidelined briefly in the recent past with occasional health problems.
The elder Castro asked that [syncophantic] celebrations scheduled for his 80th birthday on Aug. 13 be postponed until Dec. 2, the 50th anniversary of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces.
Castro said he would also temporarily delegate his duties as first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba to [his brother] Raul, who turned 75 in June and who has been taking on a more public profile in recent weeks[, as the dictator implements his plans for a feudal, 21st-Century version of a dynastic transition, keeping the reins of power firmly in the hands of a trusted blood relative].
In power since the triumph of the Cuban revolution [Is it really appropriate for the use of the word triumph? The AP really gives away the game here, as the sentence works without the word, and seems to clearly indicate that this piece was authored by the Ministry of Propaganda. -- Mike] 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. [How did this paragraph slip by the censors? -- Mike]
In Old Havana, waiters at a popular cafe were momentarily stunned as they watched the news. But they quickly got back to work and put on brave faces[, well aware that members of the Secret Police were closely monitoring their conversations with the Yankee reporters].
"He'll get better, without a doubt," said Agustin Lopez, 40. "There are really good doctors here, and he's extremely strong. ]It's not as if he's been eating the same lousy food as the rest of us for fifty damn years! Look at me! I'm only 40 and I look like an old man! Hey! Take your filthy hands off me! Help! Cuba Libre! Cuba Libre!"
In the nearby Plaza Vieja, Cuban musicians continued to play for customers -- primarily foreign tourists -- sitting at outdoor cafes, [as Cubans have neither the money nor the leisure time to indulge in decadent Capitalist pastimes like watching the poor caper and prance like trained monkeys for their perverted entertainment]. Signs on the plaza's colonial buildings put up during a recent Cuban holiday said, "Live on Fidel, for 80 more years [of equality and social justice; all Cubans are equally miserable, poor and fearful of your Secret Police]."
"We're really sad, and pretty shocked," said Ines Cesar, a retired 58- year-old metal worker who had gathered with neighbors to discuss the news. "But everyone's relaxed too: I think he'll be fine." [She glanced at her government handlers. "Was that okay, Comrade?" The stern-faced escort nodded curtly.]
When asked about how she felt having Raul Castro at the helm of the nation, Cesar paused and [seemed to struggle for a moment, then sighed and] said one word: "normal."
Over nearly five decades, hundreds of thousands of Cubans have [inexplicably] fled Castro's [Socialist Paradise, where everyone has free universal healthcare, free education up to and including graduate school, the opportunity to drive classic American cars of the 1950s, and live the Communist dream],
rulemany of them settling just across the Florida Straits in Miami.The announcement drew cheering in the streets in Miami. People waved Cuban flags on Little Havana's Calle Ocho, shouting "Cuba, Cuba, Cuba," hoping that the end is near for the man most of them consider to be a ruthless dictator[, although not this reporter, or any other fair-minded fellow traveller who sees how the Cuban people have prospered when freed from the shackles of Capitalist oppression]. There were hugs, cheers and dancing as drivers honked their horns. Many of them fled the communist island or have parents and grandparents who did.
White House spokesman Peter Watkins said: "We are monitoring the situation. We can't speculate on Castro's health, but we continue to work for the day of Cuba's freedom." The State Department declined to comment Monday night.
Castro rose to power after an armed revolution he led drove out [the democratically-elected]
then-President Fulgencio Batista.The United States was the first country to recognize Castro, but his radical economic reforms and rapid trials [and executions] of Batista supporters quickly unsettled U.S. leaders.
Washington eventually slapped a trade embargo on the island and severed diplomatic ties. Castro seized American property and businesses and turned to the Soviet Union for military and economic assistance.
On April 16, 1961, Castro declared his revolution to be socialist. The following day, he humiliated the United States [and crushed the hopes of freedom-loving Cuban exiles] by capturing more than 1,100 exile soldiers in the Bay of Pigs invasion.
The world neared nuclear conflict on Oct. 22, 1962, when President John F. Kennedy announced there were Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. After a tense week of diplomacy, Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev removed them.
Meanwhile, Cuban revolutionaries opened 10,000 new schools, erased illiteracy, and built a universal health care system[, all while crushing freedom and the hopes and dreams of millions of Cubans who found themselves worse off then they had been during the administration of Pres. Batista]. Castro backed revolutionary movements in Latin America and Africa[, spreading death and destruction as he sent his soldiers abroad to support communist insurgents around the world].
But former liberties were whittled away as labor unions lost the right to strike, independent newspapers were shut down and religious institutions were harassed. [Whoa! Where'd this line come from? -- Mike]
Castro continually resisted U.S. demands for multiparty elections and an open economy despite American laws tightening the embargo in 1992 and 1996.
He characterized a U.S. plan for American aid in a post-Castro era as a thinly disguised attempt at regime change and insisted his socialist system would survive long after his death.
Fidel Castro Ruz was born in eastern Cuba, where his Spanish immigrant father ran a prosperous plantation. His official birthday is Aug. 13, although some say he was born a year later.
Talk of Castro's mortality was long taboo on the island, [where any discussion of the tyrannical dictator put the participants at risk of a midnight visit to the Cuban Gulag, and a brief stay in front of a firing squad,] but that ended June 23, 2001, when he fainted during a[n interminable, eight-hour] speech in the sun. Although Castro quickly returned to the stage, many Cubans understood for the first time that their leader would one day die [, because, in the opinion of the Associated Press, those peons think their leaders are immortal, despite the years of much-vaunted free Cuban education].
Castro shattered a kneecap and broke an arm when he fell after a speech on Oct. 20, 2004, but typically laughed off rumors about his health, most recently a 2005 report that he had Parkinson's disease.
"They have tried to kill me off so many times [because they know they'll never be free, never have a say in the future of Cuba, until they bury me and my Communist regime]," Castro said in a November 2005 speech about the Parkinson's report, adding he felt "better than ever."
But the Cuban president also said he would not insist on remaining in power if he ever became too [dead]
sickto lead: "I'll call the (Communist) Party and tell them I don't feel I'm in condition ... that please, someone take over the command [, as there is not and never has been a process in place for the Cuban People to have a say in who runs this place . . . because it's MINE, damn you!]"
___Associated Press writer Vanessa Arrington in Havana [typed up the press release provided by the Ministry of Propaganda]
contributed to this report.
As journalism, that was some fine propaganda.
Posted by Mike Lief at August 1, 2006 08:11 AM
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