Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Fidel Relinquishes the "Presidency" of Cuba

As we had predicted, Fidel Castro has declined to "aspire" to the presidency which has been awarded unanimously to him since 1976 at the annual meeting of his rubber-stamp "people's assembly." He is going to relinquish that office which he once disdained and made disdainful by bestowing it on the lowest and most docile of his lickspittles; but assumed eventually himself because it would raise him, protocal-wise, at least, to the status of democratically-elected presidents at world summits and guarantee him a 21-gun salute when visiting foreign countries. Such was the practical use of the title "president" to him. Of course, he could have taken any other that title that pleased him from pasha to majarahah; absolute power was always in his hands. How he chose to express it, that is, how he packaged himself, was always his choice. Now he has chosen no longer to represent himself as "president." Whatever he has been since his physical and mental decline, Castro will continue to be. The Communist system embodies him now as much as the rotting carcass in which his fetid soul resides. Nothing has changed for him or Cuba. Nevertheless, he will be praised and congratulated for his decision by friends and enemies alike. Much will be made of Castro's "retirement" by the world media: "the end of an era" and such. Of course, nothing has ended least of all the crucible borne by the Cuban people for nearly 50 years. Not even Castro himself has ended.

I hope sincerely that my countrymen in Miami will not be fooled by this empty gesture and celebrate this event as some kind of opening or hopeful sign. It is not. When a hole is finally dug in the ground for him, celebrate then, although that will not mean the end of Communist tyranny either, at least it will mean the end of the tyrant.

17 comments:

Fantomas said...

y quien eres tu para decirle a la gente de Miami que no salga a celebrar a las calles , a orinarse en las esquinas , a gritar, a comer lechon , tomar cerveza, hacer fiesta

quien eres tu para decirles a ellos que no hagan eso

no me jodas Manuel..la vida es corta a gozar se ha dicho

que comienzen los fireworks y que cante Gloria

Anonymous said...

So, none of us couldn't sleep.
Fantomas, these are nothing but tricks, tricks, and more tricks. Look at my article...
But if people will take this as something to celebrate, without thinking on what it really means, they will not have anybody else to blame the next time they find that somebody hoodwinked them.
The only celebration should take place when Cuba is free.

Manuel A.Tellechea said...

fantomas:

So go ahead and celebrate. Maybe next week Castro will decline to become the Great Khan and you can celebrate again. Remember while you are celebrating, however, that the Cuban people are still suffering on the island and that nothing has changed.

Ms Calabaza said...

So I wake up turn on the TV news and see the old bastard in his Adidas outfit again with the Breaking News crawl under him and my heart jumps and I rush to put up the volume. . . The story is the old geezer has "resigned", geeeeeez. . . only the good die young.

Now some guy is standing in front of Versailles in Little Havana waiting for some story on the "crazy right-wing Cubans", yada yada yada, always the same old story. I agree with MaT, let's not give the media more ammunition.

Anonymous said...

Fantomas: The people who may do that today in Miami are delusional at best. Have all the thugs that rule Cuba stepped down (and out)?Is Cuba free this morning? Si, la vida hay que gozarla, pero por otras razones.

Mamey

Anonymous said...

C'mon people is pretty obvious...Is pretty difficult to dictated a country when you are slurring your words,Memory problems, Speech problems, Failure to complete words on and on and on...Please,you really don't have to be an expert to foresee that. But don't break out the champagne just yet.Maybe I should be taking this more seriously, but God help me, I can't. .... I figured there'd be some media insanity over this,BULLSHIT!!!!

Sharpshooter said...

I see no reason to celebrate about anything. Nothing has changed except what was obvious from the start: that the Tyrant is very ill and that he cannot rule from his old position of power. It took him long enough to relinquish his position as number One. Now all we have is the old Kastro recycled and in a new package with a diffrent first name bu the same old thing. Nothing more and nothing less. Nothing will change until all the top old communists have died and new election are held in Cuba, but free elections with several parties taking part in them. Free elections supervised by independent observers from all over the world. Until then, I will save my celebrations for another day, not now. This is a farce.

Fantomas said...

Agustin Dijo

This is a farce

aunque asi sea Hubert Matos lo acaba de decir hace 5 minutos, ellos querian mantener vivo a fidel hasta nov 08 pero les ha salido el tiro por la culata. Es inminente el anuncio de la muerte de fidel en los proximos dias o semanas. Si su estado es de tal gravedad NO veremos ninguna foto de fidel con el #2 del Vaticano

Se nos va fidel para siempre pronto prontito fariñas ve enfriando tu champagna ya yo tengo una caja comprada de Segura Viudas

Anonymous said...

there has not been the celebrating that people have been fearing on these posts. all of us have too much experience for that. we celebrate when fuckface is in the ground. then we celebrate we Cuba is free.

Anonymous said...

Council on Foreign Relations is quoting you, (CFR.org).

http://www.cfr.org/publication/15528

Anonymous said...

From the LA Times: "At Versailles, the popular Cuban coffee shop on Little Havana's Calle Ocho, reaction early this morning was marked by excited journalists outnumbering the Cuban exiles they sought to interview."

nonee moose said...

MAT, let's not forget to cover that hole we will dig.

Vana said...

My sister called me at work hysterical, Fidel resigned she said, I know said I, so what? what has changed? what will soon change?
Not a damn thing, as Manuel so aptly put it, the rotting carcass is still there, his brother is still there, I see no cause for celebration. Not yet.

Anonymous said...

The real tragedy of Cuba is the hatred that you cling to for your raizon d'etre. I have lived in Latin America for over 40 years, but hung up my Green Beret as a young man. I'm 62 and retired, un gringo con mis cicatrizes ... un lobo del mar, igual que su Comandante.

Now I see 62% of the population in Latin America living on less than $2.00 a day while Miami Cubans enjoy the splendors on this side of the Straits. I hate to inform you but America is more that Miami, it's more than the United States; it's 21 countries, 525 million people and it includes Cuba. Take your anger and reach out to really help someone. If your don't, you'll find yourself with your best suit on, your buttons all shined, and no place to go but hell. You are just Johnny One Note, a broken record that is getting very, very old.

Manuel A.Tellechea said...

Jock:

Are there really people in this country named "Jock?" I mean, outside of Harvard Yard and under the age of 80?

Well, Jock, I will not question what caused you to leave your country and spend 40 years somewhere in Latin America. I bet, though, that you didn't spend those 40 years in Cuba. If you had you wouldn't entertain such arcane illusions about Castro's Cuba.

I think most Cubans on the island
would be very happy to receive those $2.00 per day that you deride. It would be four times as much as the average Cuban worker is paid by Castro's monopolistic conglomerate.

As for helping others, Cuban exiles, whose remittances keep their countrymen on the island from starving, need no encouragement to charity from you.

Go back to watching the regatta, Jock. The real world has passed you by.

machetico said...

Fierce fights and high aesthetics at:

http://tromponmetabiotico.blogspot.com/

Welcome anyone!

Anonymous said...

Not all Cuban-American celebrated. Some of us know better.