Castro died a long time ago

Castro died a long time ago

By: Ken LaRive

Information pours out of Cuba like a sieve. The attempt to keep Fidel’s sickness and eventual death a state secret borders on the ludicrous, but that is the nature of this dying regime. It has been the topic on Capital Hill and the surrounding pubs for months now as to whether the Cuban government will survive. What a joke. What is left of the low ideas set forth by dictatorial blood baths perished long ago, and all that remains is a burned out remnant. Castro died a long time ago.

It is written on Cuban bathroom walls that brother Raul will take over leadership of the Cuban Communist Party, attempting to balance the military and intelligence system, appease the quagmire of nepotistic minister officials tied in bows of red tape, and move forward with a hidden agenda all his own. Castro is dead, and so is his regime, that is a given. What remains will be transformed by the whim of a new want-to-be dictator, and the prevailing winds that sweep the world.

The premise that Castro had in those early days, cemented by his supporters, was that a Cuban light of his design would revolutionize the rest of Latin America and third world South America, becoming a beacon for a final confrontation with U.S. so called Imperialism. Revolution was his reason for being, and economics was not his forte.

Those who will fill the vacuum that Castro left are a rag-tag group who has been waiting in the sidelines for their chance. They have had the same primary goal for decades: to keep the machine going no matter what the cost, and Cubans have paid dearly. Fidel’s aspiration to use the regime to restructure the world for his particular philosophical thought fell short long ago. Cuba has been in a vacuum for decades, where minions twiddle their cigar smelling thumbs, and grow fat by the oppression of their own kind.

The new functionaries can not claim the dreams of Fidel as their own, no matter how ambitious, or the political correctness they may use as smoke. No more similar is Josef Stalin to Leonid Brezhnev. Stalin was a visionary, though it is evident his ideology went against human nature, and as the thought disintegrated in a world where Totalitarian rule was eaten by free world radio and television, Brezhnev became a functionary to survive. Under the Brezhnev umbrella the dreams of Stalin was served up cold, and so Brezhnev could do nothing more than serve up the regime in like kind. This Communist Cuba is a dieing ember, and will go the same way. The walls that kept the masses from leaving will fall.

Sure, our President Ragan played a part of the last days of the Soviet Union. The old songs and slogans were played to lifeless crowds, where the ideals of Lenin and Stalin once reverberated goose bumps. In the end no one, not even Brezhnev, believed a word. The regime disintegrated from the inside out, as the true weakness unfolded one layer after another, like an onion. People can not be subjugated.

Likewise, the dreams of Fidel fell with the slow-sinking Soviet, as Fidel seemed never to give up hope that his original vision could still ignite, and his once strong words fell on deaf ears like a broken record.

To the very end Castro promoted the idea that it was the American embargo and the strangled relations of an imperialist American Economics that burned the life out of Cuba. He was very persuasive early on, but little to no one believes that today. Anyone could trade with Cuba, Latin America, Europe, Canada, whomever, and Cuba wasn’t even completely locked out of North America, as third parties collected their commissions. No, it was Fidel’s dreams that subdued Cuba, and his heavy hand that could not rationalize economics and free trade. Hitler and Saddam had their believers too, and the earth shook with their terrible dreams, but who will listen to Raul and his nuevo-league of bean-counters and functionaries? It has come to pass that men can no longer be held in check by instruments of power, not for long, as is the story of other Communist Regimes that have collapsed. Even their own hot air could not keep them aloft.

Forty years ago Cuba was thought to be a central stratagem of the Cold War, and there was the real possibility of a thermonuclear exchange. It was a close one, to be sure, where even the “Bay of Pigs” would have been obliterated. Times have changed, and a missile has far longer range, submarines lay in wait, and there is no safe harbor.

Cuba was once a Spanish Colony until the Spanish-American war. From then on it was dominated and occupied by U.S. economic interests until Castro’s rise to power. Its history is a simple one.

It was once thought that Cuba was a geographical threat, where the Mississippi River’s transportation to the Atlantic could be blocked. If these two channels were defended, between the Straits of Florida and the Yucatan Peninsula, our European exports would be stopped. It was known that Cuba could not do this alone, and had to have the help of a super power. From the fall of the Soviets, Castro has tried to make Cuba available to others, even approaching the Chinese, but to no avail. The world has changed, and so the dreams of Fidel turned to a quagmire of outdated nightmares.

Some have thrown future linking possibilities into the air for Cuba, like Russia, North Korea, and Iran, but non have the will or the fortitude to go the distance. It is certain that being just 90 miles from our pristine Florida beaches would not be tolerated by the US, on any level. It is my understanding that the Chinese is now drilling in the international waters off the coast, free trade at work. Fact is, Cuba’s main focus these days has been the leftist movements of Venezuela and Bolivia, extending themselves on the front lines, an inspiration to other Latin American Leftists to do the same. It is a wonder, will Hugo Chavez of Venezuela or Evo Morales of Bolivia turn to Raul for further motivation? More likely Raul and his bean counters will be looking for cheep oil, a true American motivation, with probably a bit of drug money thrown in for good measure. We will almost certainly find these drugs on our streets before long, packaged in Venezuela.

Closer to home it is known that Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco has gone there a year or so ago, hoping to do business. This shows there are no boundaries to the low negativity of Louisiana political stupidity or ethics. They would do business with a country still sworn to take down our American institution. Blanco thinks they are so smart, even boasting success upon their return, but they miss the point entirely. Those who pay attention know their primary motivation is to promote themselves, without regard for the sanctions set forth by our Federal Government. In another time they would have been detained upon their return, to stand trial for treason, but they now ride Congressional loop-holes. They slap America in the face, and I hope Louisiana voters remember her and her entourage on Election Day.

Surely, Raul will be given the reins and the instruments to bring Cuba into the 21st century, as Communism without Castro is seemingly just a pipe dream. Raul Castro is reaching under the covers to the United States to lift sanctions or embargo, but only shows the narrow-minded process about to take power. The so called embargo, so long the justification to the Cuban Political small minds, is nothing more than a gesture, politically to be sure, but also a hand gesture toward the dreams of a man who could not face the reality of his own ego… A super-ego that decimated a once abundant land, mashing the common people under his yoke, powered by a booming voice and the promises of a dark dream, leaves this world worse for it.

Posted on 03/10/2005 9:58:28 AM PST by Crackingham
Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco accomplished what she set out to do during a three-day visit to Cuba this week: bolster business ties with a burgeoning market just hours away from the Gulf state. The Louisiana state delegation signed four key agreements with Alimport, the Cuban government’s chief food importer, worth $15 million — some $5 million more than Alimport’s initial proposal to the Democratic governor. The agreement included a $2 million pledge to buy 10 thousand tons of milled rice from Louisiana Rice Mill and 160 tons of powdered milk from the AnPro Trading company. Cuba also agreed to increase shipments through the Port of New Orleans.
Blanco’s trip was only the fourth by a U.S. governor to Cuba since the 1959 revolution. It came under heavy fire from some in her state’s Cuban-American community, who said it was a propaganda boost to Fidel Castro’s communist government. Upon her arrival in Havana, Blanco tackled the detractors head-on. “We think Louisiana needs to be ... in the markets of the entire world. We believe Cuba brings value and we should not ignore any value."
Prior to the accord, the Port of New Orleans already handled more cargo destined for the island than any other U.S. port, according to Gary LeGrange, President of the American Association of Port Authorities and chief of the New Orleans facility.
Pedro Alvarez, Alimport CEO, shipped his first purchase of American farm products back in 2001 through the New Orleans facility. “It’s a very important port for Cuba.”
The Louisiana trade deal falls under a Congressional exemption to the U.S. trade embargo that allows food and medicine sales to Castro’s government. Recently, Alvarez announced that Cuba now ranks 25th among food export markets for American products.Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...

Picture of Castro’s ugly mug.