Fidel Castro retires after 48 years

It only took 47 years..


Wonder how much different Raul will be? Will the US finally lift the retarded embargo so I can get my cigars through a less circuitous route?

ok how long before it becomes the next US state?

Cant we just give them southern florida instead?

I thought most people from florida thought it was just an extention of the forida keys anyway

Scogs and I discussed this about 18 months ago, I say the communist regime will not last longer than three more years, then all the exiled Cubans will flood back in with their Yankee money and Rolex watches and cell phones, and all the 50-year-old Cadillacs that are still running will be crunched.

Dunno what's worse - keeping the Pinkos or letting loose the nouveaux riches.

Are you kidding, those caddies will be worth a fortune!

Somewhere there are a bunch of 17-20 year old university communists crying into their Che t-shirts right now...

ouch

There should be no doubt now ... he is about to leave the building.

Don't worry- one still sees a Trabi every know and then. I saw one (with up-to-date license plates) just this summer in Gera.

Bush will claim the war on terror forced him to retire.

Vacation in Cuba, I can't wait!

Scogs, that means that we can take the catamaran from Cancun to Cuba next year!

next year...stuff that I was think about christmas after staying at your mums

This is a good thing and I hope that we (the U.S.) do finally lift the embargo against Cuba. If you haven't done so already, find a way to buy stock in Cuban property (land). Some major renovations are about to happen and Cuba will be the new vacation spot. Casinos, cigars, and they may even find Al Capone! (Jeraldo will be surprised)

I don't know where people get off speculating that Cuba is going to change 1 iona. Raul is in charge now!

Well, even if a foreigner could own property in Cuba (assuming there are even any property rights for private individuals) you also have the problem of eventually getting sued by pre-1959 owners of the property which was seized without compensation by Fidel. It is that massive seizure of property that keeps the embargo in place regardless of who the dicator of the country is.

I ended up in Miami's airport trying to get to Cancun in '03 and I swear, you need a passport to go to that airport. I thought I was in Cuba already. What makes you think Cuba will change with Castro's brother at the helm? It's still a communist state.

Aw! That's nice. After 47 years hard work everybody deserves to retire.

Do you think he'll be able to take a vacation in the USA now he no longer represents a threat?

Sure, let him take it in the Little Habana section of Miami.

As for hard work, I guess embezzling $5 billion from the Cuban people and foreign investors might qualify as such in some quarters.

He hasn't represented a threat since 1962 - even that was just dick waving.

On thing's for sure, if the embargo gets lifted, Europeans can say goodbye to affordable Cuban cigars!

already is to many Canadians. Direct flights 3 times a week from my home town.

So what's all the fuss about?

That cuban refugees have too much political influence in the US.

And I suppose The Corporations don't (pissin' myself laughin' here).

LP, I don't suppose you would feel too good about someone stealing your valuable property and getting away with it, would you?

Interesting to note that Castro is of Galician descent. Another dictator, Franco, was also Galician.

Hey I don't blame them, I just don't think its justification for us to have had this embargo for so long.

@Sin - I never said corporations didn't either. How does my opinion of one group having too much influence automatically become a defense of other groups? Yes I know it was initially created because corporate land was expropriated, but it has continued on for decades for other reasons.

Hey! If you're American at least you can take solice from the fact that I'd wager Mr. Castro sees 0.0000% royalties from the sale of Che T-Shirts Worldwide.

Yeah, i'm sure Che is rolling in his grave over the fact that his image has been expropriated and turned into a capitalist marketing scheme to sell tshirts.

Or bits of him are rolling about in different graves. Whatever.

It was an Irishman who made that image so popular...

the up side of this could be good if you are thinking of buying some land in Cuba

Oh I dunno Scogsie. What's the bleedin' point having your own little beach in the sun if the CIA are gonna invade it every five minutes and get their arses kicked by the locals? It's not my idea of a good holiday.

I wasnt planning on living there but some cheap land at half a cent a sqr meter and see what happens to the price...?

The previous owner now living in Florida would have his heavies remove whatever and whomever you put on it in seconds flat, no reimbursement for damages or investments.

Bit like Rimini then.

After being in Cuba last year for two weeks and witnessing the poverty, I hope the communists crumble after fidel's retirement.

Place is a total shit hole, Havana REALLY looks like it has been hit by a nuclear strike.

The Cuban government think the people are stupid, and after seeing that ridiculous outburst recently (that was secretly filmed) by a senior Cuban politician, saying things like "Cubans are not treated well outside Cuba", "will not get served in shops" etc, what a croc of shit, times are changing ! They even banned Yahoo (and many others) in Cuba, trying to cut their ties with the outside world.

Viva la democratic revolution !

Gee, I wonder, does the embargo have anything to do with that?

well I am sad to see him go. He is the world's longest serving leader tying us back to an era of ideological conflict we have largely left behind. And while he certainly does not have an unblemished record, he has turned Cuba into a succesful modern socialist state with arguably the best healthcare system in the world and while nobody is rich, there are also no penniless poor. And he has achieved that against all the odds over the last 20 years with a worldwide blockade coordinated by the USA aimed at starngling the nation economically. It is truly remarkable he has achieved so much against such odds.

This is great news he resigned. This probably means Cuba is one step closer to allowing huge cruise ships filled with gluttonous American passengers to dock in Cuba. I'm looking forward to the day when I can cruise to Cuba, I'm getting bored of cruising to Jamaica and some of the other Caribbean islands.

well I am sad to see him go. He was one of South America´s longest serving leader tying us back to an era of ideological conflict we have largely left behind. And while he certainly does not have an unblemished record, he turned Chile into a succesful modern capitalist state with arguably the South America´s best pension system and lowest inflation and while there are rich, there are also not the poverty seen in some South America failed state. And he achieved that against all prevailing wind in South America that believed in dumb socialism and against the pesky medling of the USSR. It is truly remarkable he has achieved so much against such odds.

Stanford notes how left and right will always justify their own to different standards... human liberty at a price just depends on what you are trying to achieve...

I can't believe you would equate a fascistic murdering Frankoesque monster like Pinochet with a revolutionary but otherwise fairly benign leader like Castro ...

@Bell the cat,

You obviously do not get the purpose of the paragraph...it was attempting to get you to reflect which it obviously failed to do...

I do not give a shit about Pínochet...that does not include justifying him or his policies...I will leave that to the Chilean people also I will do the same with Castro i.e. do not give a shit... nor do I believe any of the propoganda that is pumped out by the Left or Right on how wonderful or bad Cuba is...I have not got a fcuking clue (sitting in Munich) whether it is truly a Socialist Paradise or a Communist hell...

BUT I do not note that they were BOTH dictators who abuse human rights...on that basis I condem them both because I truly believe in democracy (i.e. let the people decide what they want!) and human rights...

Stanford believes the Right and Left are truly as bad as each other... wedded to systems and not people´s dignity nor freedoms...

* If you have got time - go read Amensty International Reports on Cuba... but your prejudices most probs mean the human rights abuses are a prices worth paying to create a socialist paradise; as you said he is a relatively benign dictator (moreover a revolutionary benign dictatorship) after all...Is that a bit like a murderer but not a mass murderer???!!!

well I am glad to see him stay. He is one of Africa´s longest serving leader tying us back to an era of ideological conflict we have largely left behind. And while he certainly does not have an unblemished record, he has returned Zimbawe economy to black ownership and while many are poor at least blacks are in control. And he has achieved that against all the odds over the last 20 years with the pesky meddling of neo-colonial whites around the world especially the British. It is truly remarkable he has achieved so much against such odds.

Stanford being mischievious

Actually stanford, if you're bothering to read you might as well read the reports on the rest of the nations on the list. Are eg. waterboarding and other torture methodologies infringing human rights one wonders, or is it ok for some to be abominable but not for others? Glass houses? Stones? Sound of tinkling glass? Who knows?

What a pile of rubbish propaganda. Have you actually been to Cuba? Considering the rest of the world is doing business with the Cuba, how can you possibly make a case for this mythical "worldwide blockade coordinated by the USA"? No one can force one country trade with another, and the US sells food and medicine for cash to Cuba (nothing on credit because multibillionaire Castro had a very bad habit of stiffing his creditors)

thing is I first revised my opinion of Cuba when a Canadian client tried (and failed due to the US blockade) licensing in pioneering cancer treatments developed there. I had assumed the place was bereft of IP but actually it has some of th most advanced biotechnological research going on in the whole world. But the US blockade prevents these valuable therapies for cancer from being marketed outside of Cuba which is a crying shame. It made me readdress all that I had been propagandised about Cuba.

I doubt I will ever hear anything similarly uplifting about Pinochet's Cuba other than it was a market economy that Thatcher liked, which is hardly a recommendation to an old lefty like me.

actually I doubt that's true. My Canadian client who tried to do business with Cuba was menaced by US spooks and almost put out of business by them until he gave up. VERY, very sinister.

@Sin,

Either I am mad as a hatter but were did I say I was for waterboarding or support the Bush regime line on torturing. Go back and read my post I said I am for hunan rights so naturally believe that the American Government has made a big mistake with it´s attempt at condoning and committing human rights abuses.

Can I ask you a question...why did you respond the way you did.. this is no attack but what in your thought process made you assume or want to point that out to me...

Stanford interested in the binary thinking that goes for debate on TT.

The USA claims that it will refuse to allow companies that trade with Cuba to do business in the USA. In my industry at least, that amounts to a worldwide ban.