Dissident Blogger Fidel

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez gets more press than Fidel these days.

On Newspapers, Internet Sites, Blogs, TV, Radio, everywhere you go- it’s Yoani says this and Yoani says that. Yoani, Yoani, Yoani…

All the attention given to Yoani must have made a certain dictator, currently out on FMLA, green with envy-or is green from liver failure? No Matter.

The former darling of the international press was being ignored, so even he jumped on the Yoani bandwagon in hopes of regaining some of his lost notoriety. He decided to attack Yoani and managed to make Yoani even more famous even as he made himself more infamous.

Compañero Fidel’s approach to blogging had been to comment on international affairs and world events from his own unique perspective on the pages of his newspapers, Granma and Juventud Rebelde. His sermonic rants not only attacked the hegemony of individual freedom and choice originating in the “Empire” directly due North, but exalted the virtues of the collective misery he brought to Cuba and fought so hard to keep in place. Fidel, no fool, ignored the calls from his little half brother Raul to debate and come up with possible solutions to Cuba’s collective mess published in the same pages. The obvious solution, was, is and always will be not for up for discussion.

Maybe, rather than read the foreign press looking for blogging material, Fidel decided to read his own propaganda sheet, the one he force-feeds to the "masses." In it he found that concessions had been made, deals reached, egalitarianism breached, Fidelismo challenged.

And so Fidel, in the ultimate “if you can’t beat them, join them” move seems to have become, like Yoani, a dissident blogger.

He has taken his act to the internet-where the regular Juan Q. Publico on the Cuban street can’t read his musings-and has started to critisize his brother’s policies.

His first dissenting blog entry on Cubadebate was to trash the European Union for its hypocrital symbolic sanction lifting-just like the rest of the dissidents and dissident bloggers. His brother’s “government” had worked hard to ensure Spain’s cooperation and representation in Brussels. Fidel totally undermined his brother’s policies and publically humiliated Raul and the Spanish with his “diatribe.”

That got everyone’s attention. While he had their attention, Fidel went on to inform the world- that there was no rift in the Cuban Communist Party-of which he’s still Chairman. In this entry, what he’s saying is that it’s the party that rules, not Raul, and that no dissent is allowed-unless he’s doing it. He even threatened to stop blogging and watching sports on TV and devote that time to “other matters”. That’s a threat.

Today I read that the Chinese Communist Party’s head enforcer, He Guoqiang, who is visiting Cuba, had met with Fidel. The AP quotes Fidel as praising the Chinese style socialism:

Castro "underscored the advances of the Chinese people and the importance of socialism with Chinese characteristics" during a two-hour meeting with Politburo member He Guoqiang, according to Cuba's International Press Center.

That means that socialism with “Chinese characteristics” is not pure, egalitarian Marxist socialism. It’s not Fidelismo-and therefore not suitable for Cuba. It also means that Fidel is against any policies that recognize market mechanisms to regulate wages, production, supply and demand, dissenting from the small changes that Raul has tried to implement to save the crumbling revolution.

I look forward to read Fidel’s dissents on Cubadebate…unless they throw him in the cell next to Biscet for "peligrosidad."

Chairman Fidel In Charge

I go away for a few days….

And there’s my half dead blogging nemesis, El Compañero Fidel, blogging me under the table.

It seems he’s gotten his second or third or fourth wind. He was always full of wind, that one.

No sooner had the ink dried on the EU resolution lifting the symbolic sanctions-the Euros are all about symbolism - that Fidel was out there calling the Euros a bunch of enormous hypocrites. Finally! a truth escapes his lips- but for the wrong reasons.

The deal that Spain’s socialist government had worked so hard to broker for the last two years was skewered by the tyrant, because the land of Volvos and the crowded and obnoxious Ikea stores forced the Spaniards to include some annoying language about human rights-probably yet another symbolic gesture, but still annoying.

"From Cuba, in the name of human rights, they demand impunity for those that try to deliver... the homeland and the people to imperialism,"

What cads! The Euros symbolically demand that the regime do not harass, beat, imprison or otherwise silence those who think differently with impunity- while they sip mojitos and screw Cuban teenagers- symbolically, euphemistically and in the flesh.

Anyway, before his brother had a chance to celebrate and embrace the victory in Europe where Spain was able to convince the rest of the EU members to give Raul their symbolic seal of approval, Fidel was already raining on his little brother’s parade.

All Raul’s regime was able to get out was this little blurb before still Chairman Fidel put a big damper on the festivities:

"If it has happened (as described in the news), I think that, yes, it's a step in the right direction," Perez Roque told Reuters

"We've seen the news, but we'll take our time in evaluating the issue, knowing the official decisions and, in the appropriate moment, we will react in an official way," he said.

And that was that.

Then in his next blog entry which he made on Cuba Debate-a debate site where Cuban issues are "debated"-and where ordinary Cubans who have no internet access can’t read much less debate, Chairman Blogger announced to the world that there was NO rift in the Cuban Communist Party:

"I am not now, nor will I ever be at the head of any group or faction. Therefore, it can't follow that there is infighting in the party,"

That means he’s still in charge of the party and there will be no factions, infighting or dissent allowed.

In today’s reflection, where he denies that he his anti European reflection was a diatribe (as described by El Diario de Las Americas), he speaks of watching a lot of sporting events on TV and that perhaps he will “dedicate this time to other activities.”

Watch out Raúl, Chairman Fidel is feeling better... or then again...

Silent Lucidity

If you read the by-lines on the new Fidel video stories, it’s easy to see what the message that the regime was trying to deliver since the international press is more than happy and willing to serve as the regime's P.R. firm and advertising agencies. But that’s nothing new. That’s why we’re here.

The message was that Fidel was Vigorous, Lucid and engaged, no, not engaged to Hugo Chavez, engaged in world events and well enough to be outside in Cuba’s oppressive June tropical heat , wearing the now iconic Adidas warm-up suit.

That warm-up suit! It’s his new super-villain outfit. He’s almost always wearing that one. He’s also got a dark Wilson blue one too, but the Adidas suit is his new look. If you look at all the pictures and videos released of the tyrant, it’s hard to tell which was taken when because of the suit. I mean they could have all been taken the same day.

But we know that isn’t the case because previously…on The Vigorous and The Lucid Soap Opera…they always made sure to include, and very tackily obvious, by the way, a reference to date or current event as proof-proof of life, if you will- that the images weren’t pre recorded at an earlier time. We always got to see the tyrant in his retiree costume either with a newspaper or talking about a specific current event usually with Chavez wearing his junior dictator wannabe costume.

If it wasn’t for those painfully obvious proof of life moments, you would never know when those meetings took place since both super-villains always wear the same costumes.

Anyway, they have strayed from the script on this one and have decided to make this Fidel appearance a silent film. That’s probably because Fidel had such important and indispensible strategic advice for his protégé that it would have been and intelligence bonanza for the Empire if the words had been audible.

In that spirit, I asked a friend who claims she can reads lips to watch the video and try and make out what Fidel was saying. The look on her face was hilarious. She couldn’t make out what he was saying AT ALL. She said between her poor Spanish, the beard, all the gesticulating and the slow and labored way in which the tyrant now speaks it made it almost impossible to make out any words. (She probably just told me she was able to read lips to impress me, but really, all she had to do was pat her head and rub her tummy in a circle at the same time-I’m easily impressed.) She told me that she thinks she made out the words revolution and cow. ?!?!?

So there you have it. The crack team of experts at my disposal have authenticated the latest Fidel video as a silent movie shot at unknown time and location. Fidel in all his silent lucidity…

And since it’s Friday…….a little Silent Lucidity......

Mr. "Vigorous"

Best looking ghost I've ever seen...

Cuban TV shows Fidel Castro chatting with Chavez

HAVANA (AP) —

The 81-year-old Castro looks thinner, and his hair and beard are much whiter in the video images, which did not include any audio. But he nevertheless looks vigorous and animated as he talks with his younger brother, President Raul Castro, and Chavez.

Motor Mouth Reves It Up...

Hugo is saying that his mentor, Fidel, is “alive and well”

Then again, Hugo also said that Castro used to roam the Cuban countryside at night (maybe while dreaming?) and was at one point “almost” jogging, (away from the angel of death?), so you really have to take what the Venezuelan President says with, well, a bag of salt. He also claimed that he was not involved with the Columbian FARC terrorists, but there are some hard-drives that beg to differ with Chavez.

Chavez is an interesting guy who should really wave listened to some free regal advice he was once given and shut up.

When he announced he was going to visit Fidel for what could be the last time, given reports that the Cuban tyrant has undergone yet another intestinal surgery and is in “delicate” condition, he made sure to over explain his visit by making it very clear that it was just a “working” visit.

Now, when Chavez was asked about the visit with Castro, he automatically makes it sound like someone who just went to visit a very sick friend rather than for a "working" visit:

"Fidel is sitting there, alive and well, thinking, writing and dictating important strategies for Cuba and our Latin America,"

(Heaven help us)

What else did Raúl ask you to say, Hugo?

"Raul, he's holding the reins,"

And how about that Cuban revolution which has just made a giant u-turn on the freeway of Marxism and decided that egalitarianism-equal pay- is incovenient? You know the very same revolution that just last week was described by a party official to be in danger of self destruction if it didn’t adress its many problems.

"This (Cuban) revolution is marching on to a drumbeat ... it's more alive than ever,"

Very good, Hugo….but then instead of heading the free regal advice and shutting up, he keeps talking and offers up this gem:

"In the end, we're one and the same revolution,"(Cuba and Venezuela).

There you have it. An admission from the Venezuelan democrat himself that it’s his intention to turn Venezuela in a totalitarian police state just like Cuba since that is the only thing the Cuban “revolution” ever really accomplished.

Thanks for clearing that up, Hugo. I keep trying to convince folks that your 21st Century Socialism and 20th century Stalinism were clones, and now I have you doing it for me.

Rage

I don’t mean to come here and rant, but you have to understand, there are things I read that just make me want to scream.

Like today. I get an e-mail alert, then two, then three, than four: Cuban official says equal pay may not work.

Basically, it’s an article about an article in Granma where some “communist” bastard admits that egalitarianism, when it comes to salaries, doesn’t work or as he says it’s “not convenient”

Not convenient.

This system that they so non-chalantly call an “inconvenience” is communism, since egalitarianism, where everyone doesn’t own anything and has the same material goods as everyone else, is the cornerstone of communism.

Needless to say, this wretched system goes against human nature so the authorities have to force everyone to participate and partake in being equally miserable and un-free.

Fidel Castro and his merry band of thugs decided that they were going to institute this system in Cuba about fifty years ago, at gunpoint, for everyone’s own good, especially theirs.

It has been a disaster, plunging my country into slavery, poverty and misery-all in the name of Marx’s blessed egalitarianism. And all the while utopian idiots world-wide pretending that the Cuban experiment resembled Lennon’s “Imagine” more than Lennin’s executions and state fabricated famine.

So it’s incredibly insulting that after fifty years of destroying a country city by city, street by street, home by home, person by person, by forcing and enforcing this unworkable and brutal system, they have decided it’s “not convenient”

How’s that for cynicism?

Oops we were wrong! Sorry for the inconvenience!

Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet With Butterfly Wings

The world is a vampire, sent to drain

Secret destroyers, hold you up to the flames

And what do I get for my pain?

Betrayed desires, and a piece of the game

Even though I know - I suppose I’ll show

All my cool and cold-like old job

Despite all my rage

I’m still just a rat in a cage

I’m still just a rat in a cage

Then someone will say what is lost can never be saved

Despite all my rage I’m still just a rat in a cage

Now I’m naked, nothing but an animal

But can you fake it, for just one more show?

And what do you want, I want to change

And what have you got when you feel the same

Tell me I’m the only one

Tell me there’s no other one

Jesus was an only son

Tell me I’m the chosen one

Jesus was an only son for you

Despite all my rage I’m still just a rat in a cage

Then someone will say what is lost can never be saved

Despite all my rage I’m still just a rat in a cage

And I still believe that I cannot be saved

EU Sanctions?

Next week, the European Union is going to be reviewing whether to remove the sanctions they imposed on the regime in 2003 when under the cover of the United State’s invasion of Iraq, Fidel put 75 freedom minded Cubans in jail in what is now called the “Black Spring”.

The current Spanish government has taken it upon itself to work on behalf of the Castro regime to get the European Union to drop the sanctions in favor of what Spain calls “critical dialogue” which means they pretend to criticize the regime, while the regime pretends to listen and pretends to make changes and they both line their pockets with Euros.

The EU, however, has to unanimously vote to drop the sanctions. Fortunately, the Czechs and the Poles, who know full well what its like to suffer through a totalitarian dictatorship, will probably not choose to look the other way and be complicit in the continued enslavement of the Cuban people.

Needles to say, the Cuban dissidents are not happy with the possibility of the EU dropping the sanctions:

"What the (Cuban) government wants is for the opposition to be ignored so it can continue its human rights violations without even a single rebuke from the European Union," Agenda for Transition leaders Martha Beatriz Roque and Vladimiro Roca wrote in a letter.

The new dissident group said that any process to normalize relations between the EU and Cuba "must take into account the Cuban people, to whom the dissidents belong.

"Otherwise, it would mean punishing all of civilian society and especially those of us who are fighting for democracy."

Mission Impossible...

... This Revolution Will Self Destruct in...

Perfect Comeback

Senator O "se llena la boca de decir" that a McCain presidency would be akin to a Bush 43 3rd term.

For the most Liberal of Senators in the Senate, it's no compliment to compare his opponent the beleaguered 43rd President.

It's also an attempt to tie Bush's ever falling popularity around McCain's neck.

Fair enough.

But, McCain tonight gave it right back to the rookie Senator from Illinois by saying:

Sen. Obama says that I'm running for a Bush's third terms. It seems to me he's running for Jimmy Carter's second.

Ouch!

Lusting in the heart, Malaise and killer swamp rabbits part deux!

Irked

Che Guevara was born 80 years ago either this month or last month. His birthday is celebrated June 14th, but rumor has it he was born on May 14th and they made him a month younger on his birth certificate to make an honest woman out of his mother.

Since it’s the Argentine's 80th birthday this year, we are being treated to Che fest: Websites, movies and even an American Presidential candidate with Che-Essence.

Che, like Savior Faire, is everywhere, selling everything from vodka, to cars, to t-shirts - a free market system success story being exploited by the very system he destested.

This irony, though, profitable to Castro, Inc. is “irking” his progeny in Cuba. They are sick of their dad’s likeness being used “to make enemies from different classes.” His daughter, Aleida says “It's embarrassing," Maybe they are upset because they’re not receiving any royalties from their billboard of a dead dad.

I find it revolting that the image of a murdering despot like Che is mass-marketed to the unsuspecting masses, but I was there and I saw what he did.

Camilo Guevara, Che’s Cuban son who was named after Camilo Cienfuegos, has not seen Hollywood’s renditions of his father’s life. (Guevara other Cuba children are Aleida and Ceila who was named after Celia Sanchez-a Cuban revolutionary and Fidel Castro mistress)
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"I think Hollywood making its version of his life is positive, as long as they are objective and faithful to real life," Camilo Guevara wrote.
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Should Camilo Guevara ever find out he truth about their father’s life, they may a little more than irked and embarrassed, they might be repulsed. Especially when they find out that Uncle Fidel sent their dad to the Bolivian jungle without support and warning the communist supporters of the guerrillas not to give Guevara not even “one aspirin” in support.

How Does It Feel?

Ahh today we find that some folks went down to Cuba and asked the Cubans how it felt to live behind the Palm Tree Curtain. They were surprised to learn, apparently, that Cubans are like the rest of humans on the planet. And most of them are worried about where their kid’s next meal is going to come from. Imagine that. In a country where food is rationed and they are paid $15-$20 people are worried about their economic woes!

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"Less than 10 percent listed lack of political freedom as the main problem facing the country" Well Fidel's plan of starving Cuba's citizen and keeping them destitude and isolated has had a 90% success rate. That's good and to think I like to boast that Fidel's been at failure at most everything he's ever tried.

I wonder how many Cubans responded to the survey by saying that their biggest worry was the lack of toilet paper. That’s what I would have said when they asked me : "How does it feel?"

A rare study conducted surreptitiously in Cuba found that more than half of
those interviewed considered their economic woes to be their chief concern

Once upon a time you dressed so fine

You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?

People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"

You thought they were all kiddin' you

You used to laugh about

Everybody that was hangin' out

Now you don't talk so loud

Now you don't seem so proud

About having to be scrounging for your next meal.

How does it feel

How does it feel

To be without a home

Like a complete unknown

Like a rolling stone?

Since taking office, Raúl Castro has rolled out a variety of changes, lifting longstanding restrictions on the sale of cellphones and consumer items, access to tourist hotels and renting cars, among other things. The survey did not specifically ask Cubans about those changes.

You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely

But you know you only used to get juiced in it

And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street

And now you find out you're gonna have to get used to it

You said you'd never compromise

With the mystery tramp, but now you realize

He's not selling any alibis

As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes

And ask him do you want to make a deal?

How does it feel

How does it feel

To be on your own

With no direction home

Like a complete unknown

Like a rolling stone?

As for the government’s ability to turn things around, Cubans were skeptical, with 70 percent of those interviewed saying they did not believe that the authorities would resolve the country’s biggest problem in the next few years.

You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns

When they all come down and did tricks for you

You never understood that it ain't no good

You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you

You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat

Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat

Ain't it hard when you discover that

He really wasn't where it's at

After he took from you everything he could steal.

How does it feel

How does it feel

To be on your own

With no direction home

Like a complete unknown

Like a rolling stone?

The study to be published Thursday found that young people were much more critical of Raúl Castro’s government than their parents and grandparents were. Nearly 70 percent of Cubans 18 to 29 said that if given a chance they would support a democratic system with multiparty elections, freedom of speech and freedom of expression. Among those 60 or older, support for such a change dropped to 44 percent.

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people

They're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made

Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things

But you'd better lift your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it babe

You used to be so amused

At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used

Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse

When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose

You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.

How does it feel

How does it feel

To be on your own

With no direction

a complete unknown

Like a rolling stone?

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How does it Feel?