CheMateo
Showstopper  
Posts 809
Registered 1-9-2008 Location Charming, Ca. Member Is Offline Mood: Ponce De Leon
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| posted on 11-26-2016 at 10:55 AM |
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Fidel Castro Has Died
Wow, politically speaking, it is the end of an era. Castro has finally passed away. The cat outlasted 10, almost 11 Presidencies.
Even though Castro's health was in a state of decline since 06, beginning with that nasty fall, it always sort of felt like Castro would live
forever.
Fidel's brother, Raul, has said he would resign in 2018. So it will be an interesting couple of years as Raul resigns, the transition of power,
and Trump's Administration assumes power. Perhaps a freezing of relationships will resume. I was hoping the embargo would just finally end.
Fidel has been a very intriguing and polarizing figure. One of the most important from Latin America in the 20th century. The CIA attempts to kill and
discredit him are hilarious. Like the seashell bomb they devised. They were hoping Fidel would pick up the seashell and put it to his ear after going
for a swim. Then ba-boom! Or the spray they would use on his slippers to cause his whiskers to fall out.
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Flash
The Great One
Posts 3464
Registered 4-22-2005 Location Ontario, Canada Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 11-28-2016 at 08:07 AM |
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It's funny that you mention him outlasting like 10-11 US presidents, as I think my kind of go-to memory of Castro is a political cartoon from a
ways back where it was basically a bunch of presidential taking heads all the saying the same tired mantra of ousting Castro.
Castro will probably always be a polarizing figure; on one hand a revolutionary war hero and stabilizing influence on his country for 50-60 years, on
the other were a litany of human rights abuses that will as much, if not maybe more, define his legacy.
I was in Cuba in 2012 and it was a bit of an eye opener; on one hand you have a very educated population with an opposing view to their history as the
mini-bad of Western history, but on the other I saw a country that was very impoverished... even Havana seemed to be in some form or another of
disrepair... like the whole country has been slowly breaking down since the late 1950's, and all the tourism dollars just aren't enough to
keep it going. The industry was also a bit different.. well, not really, but you can see the results of silly embargoes like the Helms-Burton act as
Chinese industry was everywhere.
Cuba has been changing for the last 10 years or so to a bit more of an open market, so I don't know that the passing of the Castro's (Raul
from office, and Fidel from his mortal coil) will cause any kind of tumultuous uprising or drastic changes, but for better or worse it is the end of
an era.
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denverpunk
The Rowdy One
Posts 2617
Registered 6-27-2007 Location Mile-Hi Member Is Offline Mood: Stoked
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| posted on 11-28-2016 at 04:43 PM |
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Oh, definitely for the better. I'm hardly a raging capitalist, but I've heard many stories from people visiting Havana feeling like
they're in a time warp, and his human rights violations are beyond abominable. I read an article about him last night that basically said many
Cubans (the ones who stayed) judge him with a weird morality - they knew he was kind of a monster, but never condemned him for his crimes because it
was "for the good of the country". Fear of persecution is clearly a factor in that, but still. It just shows what a cult of personality can do to a
country, and hopefully that doesn't happen to us.
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Flash
The Great One
Posts 3464
Registered 4-22-2005 Location Ontario, Canada Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 12-1-2016 at 04:05 AM |
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Just clarify I don't mean for better or worse that a controversial figure like Castro is gone, but more big guys leave big holes when they go...
and it's not always a happy occasion as various factions vie to fill that hole and it's not always peacefully... Gaddafi was questionable,
but he kept things in check... ditto for Hussein... Not defending, but sometimes it's better the devil you know.
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