Fidel Castro announces retirement!!!

[truetrini]

Fidel Castro announces retirement
 
Fidel Castro has not been seen in public since his operation in July
Cuba's ailing leader, Fidel Castro has announced he will not return to the presidency in a letter published by official Communist Party paper, Granma.
"I neither will aspire to nor will I accept, the position of president of the Council of state and commander in chief," he wrote in the letter.

Mr Castro handed over power temporarily to his brother, Raul, in July 2006 when he underwent intestinal surgery.

The 81-year-old has ruled Cuba since leading a communist revolution in 1959.

In December, Mr Castro indicated that he could possibly step down in favour of a younger generation.

The National Assembly is scheduled to meet on 24 February to elect his successor.
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Cuba without Fidel Castro at the helm: many wondered whether communism in the Caribbean could survive without him.

There was dancing in the streets of Miami, as anti-Castro exiles wrongly assumed the end was nigh.

A year later, and outwardly little in Cuba appears to have changed after emergency surgery forced the 80-year-old Fidel to hand over power for the first time since his revolution in 1959.

It was a smooth transition, but so far stability has not led to any improvement to people's daily lives.

Low wages, food shortages and poor public transport are the complaints that dominate conversations here much more than questions of political freedom.

Practical and pragmatic

The world's longest serving defence minister, General Raul Castro has been his brother's right-hand-man since they were both guerrilla fighters in the Sierra Maestra, struggling to overthrow the US-backed dictator, Fulgencio Batista.

In those days, Raul was considered a hardline enforcer who was a dedicated communist long before Fidel.

He doesn't have Fidel's charisma, but Raul is considered the more practical and pragmatic of the two.


Cubans may celebrate, but there are food and fuel shortages

This has raised expectations that some economic reforms may be on the way.

In an hour-long keynote televised address before a 100,000 strong crowd last week, Raul acknowledged there were problems with the economy and changes were needed.

"To have more, we have to begin producing more... to reach these goals, the needed structural and conceptual changes will have to be introduced."


He also said that the country may have to turn once again to foreign investment.

Elder statesman

Many Cubans and Western observers believe this to be a signal that Chinese-style reforms are finally on the way; an opening up of the economy while maintaining political control.

As caretaker president, Raul has also offered to sit down at the negotiating table with the United States. That's been rejected and under US law, there can be no lifting of the embargo against Cuba as long as either brother is in power.

Most Western observers believe Raul is running day-to-day government. What is less clear is who is setting the political agenda.

For the moment, Fidel has taken on the role of elder statesman as he continues to recuperate from a series of stomach operations.


Fidel Castro's influence looms large behind his brother's temporary rule

Recent pictures show that he has put on weight and appears to be getting stronger.

In recent months, Fidel has increasingly made his presence felt through regular newspaper editorials, called Reflections of the Commander in Chief.

Many are attacks on his ideological nemesis, US President George W Bush. Only a few have dealt with internal politics. All are read in their entirety on nightly television news and the first collection has been published in book form.

In one of his editorials last month, he suggested that what the economy really needed was a renewed sense of revolutionary dedication.

"The standard of living can be improved by raising knowledge, self-esteem and dignity of the people. It will enough to reduce waste and the economy will grow."

Fidel Castro's hand may not be on the tiller but his presence remains immense.

Many believe that there can be no major changes in Cuba without his approval, much less against his wishes.

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[Bakes]

I juss coming to post this...


Fidel Castro Resigns Cuban Presidency
By ANITA SNOW
The Associated Press
Tuesday, February 19, 2008; 3:43 AM



HAVANA -- Ailing leader Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba's president early Tuesday after nearly a half-century in power, saying in a letter published in online official media that he would not accept a new term when the newly elected parliament meets on Sunday.

"I will not aspire nor accept _ I repeat I will not aspire or accept _ the post of President of the Council of State and Commander in Chief," read the letter signed by Castro and published quietly overnight without advance warning in the online edition of the Communist Party daily Granma.

The new National Assembly is meeting Sunday for first time since January elections to pick the governing Council of State, including the presidency Castro holds. There had been wide speculation about whether he would accept a nomination for re-election to that post or retire.

The 81-year-old Castro's overnight announcement effectively ends his rule of almost 50 years over Cuba, positioning his 76-year-old brother Raul for permanent succession to the presidency.

Over the decades, the fiery guerrilla leader reshaped Cuba into a communist state 90 miles from U.S. shores and survived assassination attempts, a CIA-backed invasion and a missile crisis that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. Since his rise to power on New Year's Day 1959, Castro resisted attempts by 10 U.S. administrations to topple him, including the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961.

The United States' discovery of nuclear-armed missiles on the island led to a showdown of the world's then-superpowers before the Soviet Union agreed to remove them.

Monarchs excepted, Castro was the world's longest ruling head of state.

His ironclad rule ensured Cuba remained among the world's last few remaining communist countries, long after the breakup of the Soviet Union and collapse of communism across Eastern Europe.

Castro's designated successor was his brother Raul, five years younger and No. 2 in Cuba's power structure as defense minister. Raul Castro had been in his brother's rebel movements since 1953.

Castro had already temporarily ceded his powers to his brother on July 31, 2006, when he announced that he had undergone intestinal surgery.

More than a year after falling ill, the elder Castro still had not been seen in public, appearing only sporadically in official photographs and videotapes and publishing dense essays about mostly international themes as his younger brother began to consolidate his rule.

But the United States, bent on blocking Fidel Castro's plans for his younger brother to succeed him, built a detailed plan in 2005 for American assistance to ensure a democratic transition on the island of 11.2 million people after his death.

Castro and other Cuban officials long insisted "there will be no transition" and that the island's socialist political and economic systems will live on long after he is gone.

Castro's supporters admired his ability to provide a high level of health care and education for citizens while remaining fully independent of the United States.

But his detractors called him a dictator whose totalitarian government systematically denied individual freedoms and civil liberties such as speech, movement and assembly.

[pecan]

allyuh doh sleep?

[Andre]

but he still have he adidas endorsement!

[WestCoast]

gracias mucho Fidel y Che de los camaradas



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdChTg_hyyg

aye Fidel, tell Raul to hook up with Canada
 
 

[warmonga]

yeah man big Fidel everytime all de time ..
War..

[Dutty]

but he still have he adidas endorsement!

  

[chinee boi]

but he still have he adidas endorsement!

[Bakes]

allyuh doh sleep?

"The heights by great men reached and kept, were not obtained by sudden flight. But they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night..."

- Longfellow

[ZANDOLIE]

Big big man

[WestCoast]

allyuh doh sleep?

"The heights by great men reached and kept, were not obtained by sudden flight. But they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night..."

- Longfellow

what says you Nuts Man

[Dutty]

allyuh doh sleep?

"The heights by great men reached and kept, were not obtained by sudden flight. But they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night..."

- Longfellow

what says you Nuts Man

Toiling in 2008 means surfin for porn from 1:30 in de mornin.

[ZANDOLIE]

Dat is why man have two hands

[pecan]

Dat is why man have two hands

an two monitors

[Dutty]

Dat is why man have two hands

an two monitors

...and one sticky keyboard

[kounty]

allyuh doh sleep?

"The heights by great men reached and kept, were not obtained by sudden flight. But they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night..."

- Longfellow  Beenie 

anybody know how the system work in cuba?....and also China?  how do these people get on the assemblies (which pick the president and make the decisions)?  there are nominations? elections at the community level?

you all think cuba might move to a socialist model like venezuela?

[Bakes]

allyuh doh sleep?

"The heights by great men reached and kept, were not obtained by sudden flight. But they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night..."

- Longfellow  Beenie 

anybody know how the system work in cuba?....and also China?  how do these people get on the assemblies (which pick the president and make the decisions)?  there are nominations? elections at the community level?

you all think cuba might move to a socialist model like venezuela?

How you backward so...Chavez been moving to make Venezuela de next Cuba, not de other way arung, lol



Dutty, speak fuh yuhsel dred...lol, toil mean sumting else tuh mankind perfessers

[pecan]

allyuh doh sleep?

"The heights by great men reached and kept, were not obtained by sudden flight. But they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night..."

- Longfellow

what says you Nuts Man

I would rather wake up early to toil than stay up late to toil.

one's relationship to one's bed is often paradoxical; one is reluctant to go to it at night, and reluctant to leave it in the morning.  But do people who get out of bed at an early hour have an advantage over those who were toiling upward in the night?

dat is de question.

what did Castro do?

[Bakes]

I would rather wake up early to toil than stay up late to toil.

one's relationship to one's bed is often paradoxical; one is reluctant to go to it at night, and reluctant to leave it in the morning.  But do people who get out of bed at an early hour have an advantage over those who were toiling upward in the night?

dat is de question.

what did Castro do?

The advantage is to the individual...depends on when one is at one's productive peak.


As for Castro...all he did was screw the Cuban people for almost half a century...not bad, but I'd settle for 30 mins with a couple Cuban mamitas and call it even.

[Dutty]

As for Castro...all he did was screw the Cuban people for almost half a century...not bad,

um noop,, that would be the helms-burtons act and every previous yanqui prez from kennedy to bush 41

yuh cyah get silk from ah sow

[ZANDOLIE]

BWDMC....Dutty which movie clip is dat in yuh avatar 

[Dutty]

me eh know some euro B movie

de amt ah chit ppl does send me daily,,it always have ah gem to keep. The man jugglin da 9 smood smood

[Bakes]

As for Castro...all he did was screw the Cuban people for almost half a century...not bad,

um noop,, that would be the helms-burtons act and every previous yanqui prez from kennedy to bush 41

yuh cyah get silk from ah sow

Please...when was the Helms-Burton act passed?

How long has the Cuban people been ketching ass?

How long as freedom of speech, human rights and dissident voices been trampled on in Cuba?

I rest my case.

Next.

[Dutty]

I rest my case.

Next.

da case eh airtight....helms burtons just make legal what kennedy nixon et al was doin for decades...it went from cold war to bad mind
I cyah understand how he 'screwin' people yet dey could get free education into any profession of choice.
if yuh put ah economic blockade round ah people AND tell everybody else "doh do business wit dem or we eh go do none wit you"...is de leader fault times hard?

china was screwin dey people too.....trade start....now look how tings workin
Ghaddafi people goin back home in droves...money flowin...blockade done

In a benevolent dictatorship it eh go be perfect...yuh work wit what yuh have

[WestCoast]

I rest my case.
Next.

da case eh airtight....helms burtons just make legal what kennedy nixon et al was doin for decades...it went from cold war to bad mind
I cyah understand how he 'screwin' people yet dey could get free education into any profession of choice.
if yuh put ah economic blockade round ah people AND tell everybody else "doh do business wit dem or we eh go do none wit you"...is de leader fault times hard?
china was screwin dey people too.....trade start....now look how tings workin
Ghaddafi people goin back home in droves...money flowin...blockade done
In a benevolent dictatorship it eh go be perfect...yuh work wit what yuh have

hear nuh Dutty, as my El Salvadorin pardna says,
them Cubans expelled all kinds of USA firms from Cuba, so those Companies lost MAJOR green Backs, and THAT is stuck in the craw of Americans ALL this time.

[pecan]

there is Fidel's version and the US version and de troot is somewhere in between

de have  alot of ppl in Miami who doh like Fidel and it have a lot a ppl in Cuba who like him

[WestCoast]

there is Fidel's version and the US version and de troot is somewhere in between

de have  alot of ppl in Miami who doh like Fidel and it have a lot a ppl in Cuba who like him

when I look at the capitalist system I see many people who are in debt beyond their means, health care for the rich, education for a certain few of the population....so maybe socialism at times has some benefits.

[Dutty]

there is Fidel's version and the US version and de troot is somewhere in between

de have  alot of ppl in Miami who doh like Fidel and it have a lot a ppl in Cuba who like him

well yeah...de ones that doh like him in miami was who was tight and profiting with dem casinos and resorts owned by mafia,,,, dem come from money and lose they land
Fidel come from rich folks too, man coulda rest on he laurels and enjoy life...but he see de same kinda jim crow vibes plaguing the country just like in the u.s.

When fidel take over, he tell de yankee "ok batista gorne, ah nationalise allyuh business but I willin to work with yuh" de yankee tell him "hol yuh ass"
no problem, de russians offer trade...he take it
The only reason helms sponsor dat bill, is because businessmen in de 90's was talkin about startin trade wit cuba....all dem tobacco growers in north carolina tell helms, "dis state go suffer if we hadda compete with cuban tobacco here breds"

The united states doh do nuttn without a cost benefit analysis attached to it...much like de iraq war dey does hadda sell it to they citizens under 'human rights' and 'dictator' and 'freedom for ppl' etc etc, ..but it eh have no profit fuh dem...dem eh studyin dat
So it does go, a country have to look out for it's interests

I givin de man he props Castro was one of the first world leaders to officially recognize mandela and the ANC...plus he send troops angola to handle dem oppresors...he eh perfect and unlike other dictators he eh have no massive mansions and string of bentleys and swiss accounts

plus like rat say he manage to keep he endorsement

[truetrini]

I rest my case.
Next.

da case eh airtight....helms burtons just make legal what kennedy nixon et al was doin for decades...it went from cold war to bad mind
I cyah understand how he 'screwin' people yet dey could get free education into any profession of choice.
if yuh put ah economic blockade round ah people AND tell everybody else "doh do business wit dem or we eh go do none wit you"...is de leader fault times hard?
china was screwin dey people too.....trade start....now look how tings workin
Ghaddafi people goin back home in droves...money flowin...blockade done
In a benevolent dictatorship it eh go be perfect...yuh work wit what yuh have

hear nuh Dutty, as my El Salvadorin pardna says,
them Cubans expelled all kinds of USA firms from Cuba, so those Companies lost MAJOR green Backs, and THAT is stuck in the craw of Americans ALL this time.

yuh ever heard of puerto Rico/

Steups.  Cuban people stiffled and suffering no arse.  they cat travel. they getting 1 dollars a month pay for government jobs, the transport system fall down long time.

I agree that the US embargo eh help dem, but yuh have tuh blame de man who does talk for 4 hours straight in speech  and what de arse is ah benelovent  dictatorship?


if yuh is ah dick-tater, yuh is ah dick-tater.

WestCoast have ah axe tuh grind with de US, like dey turn dong yuh green card or what?

steups.

De Us soevil and so bad, thousands ha Cuban does rick dey lives to come here each year.  And if d doors were open it would have ah mad rush ah cubans rushing here   ah wonde rif it is becaasue ah de benevolence?

And doh talk about all de jaied dissidents...bad talk dem and yuh in jail,,,benevolent indeed eh Dutty?

Ana Quirot have Fidelia as she middle name, what happened to her when she was washing clothes? steups.

why all dem Cuban atheletes does defect so?  becasue ah de benevolence?

man dem cyar comapre to here in de US...life here is paradise compared to stinking ass way Cuba being run.

In Cuba people fraid tuh use dey last name when talking to reporters...why boy/

is because de wicked yankees hate dem...dais why

[Dutty]

it have all kinda dictator....bad like saddam and stalin,pol pot roundin up hundreds of people and killin dem just to set an example

me eh go make no exscuse de man is not ah elected official, therefore he is ah dictator,but he eh no brutal bloodshed fellah
Yeah freedoms does get stifle....but you gettin orn like dat doh happen in de states.
The united states torturin man,,lef and right holdin ppl without trial for years and lecturin ppl about why they shoudnt do that?

and ah done tell yuh arready...the reason the athletes or anybody does want to defect...is de same reason trinis hatians or any other athletes does want to defect....is pure economics
if anyting athletes does get better treatment.
I see for myself high jumpers drivin big benz etc in havana..
..but they know it have money to be made in de states even if yuh marginally talented PLUS is instant citizenship (hence the risking of life).....how much trini it have livin abroad?...most simply wanted ah better life ent?

It's a catch 22..the embargo have times REAL hard.....so dey leave because times REAL hard...it have long lines at spanish and portuguese embassies just like we own on marli st.


"In Cuba people fraid tuh use dey last name when talking to reporters...why boy"

Breds, whey allyuh does get dese tings from?....what reporter? what story?...is ah yankee reporter doin ah hatchet job on castro?....I wouldnt use my name neither

In de states and canada some people dosent want dey name or face published neither if yuh speaking to reporters

as mentioned the place is not perfect,,name a country that is...when NAFTA and CAFTA get ram through anybody was studyin the will of the people...that wiretapping phone ting in yuh country dat was democratic?.....obviously the u.s. have a better life than 'stinkin ass' cuba,,but it have a better life than trini too
.but all dat propoganda allyuh does read bout e.g people hada show papers to police when walkin on the street etc is crap