I've always had thought about Castro, have never formed a strong opinion, but always wondered if my thoughts were valid; ayone care to enighten me and many others?

When I was in high school, Castro was winning the war, or The Cuban Revollution. He won and the also ditcator Batista was gone. I thought Castro was a hero for overthrowing a corrupt government. Shortly after taking control, Castro asked our government for aid and assistance to help Cubu in becoming a partner of the free world countries. What his real intentions were then I do not really know.

I do know, our government turned our back on him and not only offered no technical assistance, or any aid, we pretty much treated Castro as an enemy of the free world. Castro had pissed off a lot of big money people here in the states, including the heads of the Mafia and rich tycoons in big business.

The Soviet Union jumped on it and offered their help; Castro embrassed communism and the rest is history, and even today our president talks as if Castro is an evil person. Is he?

Hell, we have helped Communist China until they now own us. American tycoons are kissing their asses along with many of our politicians. It's like Animal Farm.

Why didn't we applaud Castro and help him? If it turned out he was actually a SOB, just using us, then cut him off. But we'll never know. We do know we have another enemy, who just may have been a friend. I wonder?
Kem Patrick

evelyn/kem, ho chi minh was in the same boat as castro, asking the us for help against french colonialism. why didn't we help either one of them? for fear of their example of states trying to get out of the orbit of international imperialism. they expected the us, w/its revolutionary tradition, to help, but did not realize that post ww2 the us is the bulwark and vanguard of int'l imperialism. where else could they turn? the ussr. so they became "communists."

Evelyn: One thing to say on Castro's behalf is that his island has good medical. There's no question he sees himself as the great patriarch, a father figure who then gives himself the right to limit human activity. However, the guy runs a tight ship! I loved when he FLIRTED with Barbara Walters during an interview years back.
Given the direction of US politics and its history of covert adventures to procure other nations' resources, I like figures that stand up to the US "style of commerce." Chavez also comes to mind.
A lot of people have never lived outside the U.S. but once you have, your perspective opens dramatically. I spent nine years in Puerto Rico and another nine in South Florida and have a number of Cuban friends. These are extremely sharp people. Many came to Miami and packed their entire families into households until each member was able to get a job and his/her own home. The commerce-oriented Cubans resent Castro for what they feel they gave up; but a lot of people also love him.
When Ellian Gonzalez (remember him and the media circus surrounding his international custody battle?) floated into offshore Florida waters, I thought he'd be better off growing up in Cuba. Why? For starters, in South Florida if his family didn't have money, he'd have a pretty good shot at becoming a gang member, or otherwise flirting with heavy drugs. LOTS of Latino kids fall into that trap. I hope he writes an autobiography one day as his life definitely has an interesting destiny around it.

Evelyn:

To gain enough info to decide about Castro (Fidel to his friends) needs more than a talk board. It takes a library or book store.

The Cuban Revolution is not standing still. The economy grew more than 20% in the past two years, which changes many things. So the most recent references need to be mixed with the best early ones. One is by Ignacio Ramonet, Spanish-born editor of Le Monde diplomatique, whose "Cien Horas con Fidel" will be available, and can be pre-ordered, in October from Amazon.com in translation as "Fidel Castro: My Life."

The best classic bio is Tad Szulc's "Fidel Castro: A Critical Biography."

Fidel's own recent writings are published on the website of the party daily newspaper "Granma."

To motivate you, some things you might not know about Cuba:

Cuba surpasses the United States on the following indices of the U.N. Human Development figures: adult literacy, infant mortality, life expectancy, and under-five mortality.

There have been more than 3,000 casualties in Cuba from attacks by U.S.-based terrorists. More than 600 assassination attempts against Fidel, by the same groups, have been discovered and thwarted. The terrorist who bombed a civilian airliner in 1976 was pardoned by Bush the First. See this article:
http://www.counterpunch.org/pertierra04112006.html

Cuban doctors have restored the sight of 700,000 people around the world, free. The goal is five million.

Rolihlahla (Nelson) Mandela credits Cuba with a leading role in the liberation of South Africa. Your library might have the speech he made in Havana "How Far We Slaves Have Come."

The United Nations has condemned the blockade against Cuba 167 to 3.

At the U.N. Cubans circulated a memo leaked to them from the U.S. Interests Section in which they are complaining that they're trying hard to follow their orders and find some persecuted human rights advocates but they are having no luck, as the applicants present little evidence of human rights activities or of persecution. Some of the groups are selling letters of recommendation to people who want to emigrate.

They suggest the CIA might help them out, as they know these groups better.

There is one other thing that is very interesting about Cuba: they get by on very little fossil fuel -- possibly the least in the world; certainly the least in the world for their relatively high standard of living.

They used to get all their oil from the Soviet Union. When that fell, their supply was cut 90% overnight. They began a crash program of energy independence, hiring Permaculture experts from around the world to help them switch from petroleum-based industrial farming to organic farming. During this "Special Period," the average adult lost 30 pounds and women were asked to refrain from having any children. But no one died of starvation, and today, Cuba is the finest example of a sustainable-energy society that actually works.

Now imagine what would happen if the US were to lose 90% of its petroleum overnight. A few would get filthy rich, and many would starve to death.

Far from being a pariah nation, Cuba is a shining example of how the world must look in the next 50 years, as petroleum comes winding down. Sure, Cuba is not without problems, but there is much to learn there.

http://www.communitysolution.org/poc.html

May Fidel live at least until 01/20/09 so he can bid his 10th US president bon voyage! Actually Fidel wouldn't be nearly so beloved throughout the world (especially Latin America) had it not been for the constant US persecution of him and Cuba.

There is a saying going around Latin America, "After Fidel who? Hugo Chavez that's who!" Only time will tell if American bumbling will similarly help Chavez reach the same type of legendary status.

Secret services are secret because they are always criminal. There is no such thing as an espionage agency or security agency which is in compliance with the law, because they are devised to operate without regard to law.

The Repugs need to keep up enough anti-Castro activity to keep the Little Havanans voting for them & running drugs & guns for various criminal enterprises; that's how they control the Florida vote. WIthout the great bearded Satan, the faithful would lose their ardor.

I love Fred Thompson's slip-up when he identified Cuban refugees as a pool for potential terrorists. But Hillary's opportunistic attack on Thompson's accidental candor shows -- as if we didn't know already -- that she's no friend of the left.

Little reported on Cuba's energy revolution: they are replacing old appliances with energy-efficient new ones. They have already replaced light bulbs throughout the island with fluorescents and distributed several hundred thousand new refrigerators, fans, air conditioners, pressure cookers and steamers.

Imagine the picture: this huge truck works its way down the street like a garbage truck. Men unload new refrigerators and take them into the houses, coming back out with old ones which they take away to recover recyclables.

They are not free -- they are charged at cost to be paid in interest-free payments over 10 years. If you can't afford one, there are tribunals where you can go to make your case for subsidy or lower payments.

BTW, the conversion of agriculture created some unexpected heroes.

Suddenly ancient long-retired farmers became stars -- they remembered how to train oxen to plow.

I finally figured out where to find the stats -- search Fidel's speeches! In addition to the fridge replacements:

240 308 conventional pressure cookers, the traditional non-electric type, which are very useful because they save energy.
233 297 rice cookers
228 017 electric pressure cookers, which the people call "the Queen"; a multipurpose cooker, of miraculous energy-saving effects.
227 567 electric hot plates
96 455 water heaters, and within some days we will be receiving around 137 000 more.
43 532 fans and 1 757 television sets were replaced with new units
The gaskets for 85 986 fridges and 8 380 thermostats were replaced
646 160 incandescent bulbs (627 593 in the residential and 18 567 in the state sector) were replaced with energy-saving bulbs. Some specific cases which may still be pending are currently under review, mainly those houses which were close at the time of the inspection.
Other articles which do not consume electricity and contribute to energy-saving measures were also distributed:

236 141 gaskets for pressure cookers
318 744 gaskets for coffee makers
84 074 fuses for pressure cookers
The following numbers of makeshift appliances, previously used in the households visited, have been collected:

43 532 fans
8 556 makeshift cookers
1 192 hot plates
4 000 water heaters
A total of 57 289 makeshift and electricity-guzzling appliances have been collected throughout the province.

Also bought in recent years: one million bicycles.

Wow, what a lesson, not surprised. Thank you all for the comments. I wonder if I can go there to see an eye doctor, I lost the sight of one eye in Vietnam, and have problems now with the other. Ever notise my speling? I understand from the newest book written by Lee Iacooca, that we can go there, but cannot buy anything.

Iacooca visited with Fidel and liked him. He attempted to get the President to open up a dialog with Castro, but was rebuffed. He did get a coulple of free cigars though.

What a damn shame, we cannot get along. When we were children we played a game called, King Of The Hill.___ Some men never grow up.

Have you figured it out yet? The United States Government would much rather have an enemy that a friend. Enemies are much more profitable than fiends.

What you write may be accurate for some bongofury.

It ain't goona fly unless you are both rich and powerful, have influence and credibility. The United States is bankrupt, just haven't declared it yet. We now have little influence with any other powerful nations; and as for credibility? Shit! Bullies always eventually end up with their teeth knocked out, unless they have a few like minded friends hanging around to back them up.

We dont have any real friends and the day is coming when we'd better hope we have brought all of our troops and military might home.

Evelyn:

When my twin boys were two, one of them climbed up a big pyramid of sand dumped on a construction site, stood at the top and chanted "I'm the king of the castle." The other one was galvanized into action, attacked the sand pile and was soon standing alongside his brother.

"Me, too!" he cried. "I'm a king too."

Ahhh Casandra, love that story. I hope your sons always stand together___and they likely will.

It is unfortunate that the kings of our little world cannot stand together in peace as your sons did.

Castro was communist from the get go, he even shaped Che Guevara into a commie. So it wasnt after the US turned their back on him. Che met Castro in Mexico and was fascinated by his politics and communism, he ended up leaving with Castro to join the revolution that night.

And Cuba has the lowest infant mortality rate in the world, has among the best health care. He even passed a no smoking ban in public places years ago, when he himself quit the cigar smoking.

So health and public welfare are top priorities for this man.

Iman.hammad. You are probably right, maybe he was, so is China, but we sure did open negotiations with them and I never heard of us attempting to kill their leaders. We turned our back on Castro and Cuba from day one and it was not because he was a communitst.

I don't think Castro was ever a Communist, and isn't now.

The U.S. wasn't his only political problem. He also had to keep the Soviet Union's support for his Communist Party of Cuba, which was a meld of Castro's movement, the old Communist Party, the Revolutionary Directorate and the Ortodoxos. The "Old Communists" were quite prepared to try to take this party over, and Castro needed the S.U. to confront them with a stop sign.

In the 60s, everybody read a little Marx, liked some of it, and called themselves Marxist, but the parts of Marx they liked are not the parts that are different from other socialist theorists.

The single most important Marxist-Leninist idea was the notion that there could be only one revolutionary class, the urban proletariat. Peasants were necessarily counter-revolutionary.

Obviously, neither Castro nor Che believed this for a minute.

What the corporate rulers fear most about Cuba is its educational revolution. Cuba's National Literacy Campaign of 1961 cut illiteracy from 24% to 4% (UN figures affirm this), and the continuation program made it possible for the newly literate to attain a ninth grade education and beyond. An educated populace will not allow itself to be exploited. National literacy campaigns have gone well now for Venezuela and Bolivia. Education is a human right, not a commodity. Cuba's socialism will outlive Castro because there are many young leaders who were elected to local, provincial, and national assemblies without the corrupting influence of big money donations. In Cuba it's possible for the poorest person on the block to be elected. Cuba is neither heaven nor hell, but its people are educated and determined to keep their self determination.