Castro to be 'ready' for election
CNN - POSTED: 11:59 p.m. EDT, March 15, 2007
HAVANA, Cuba (AP) -- Fidel Castro will be in "perfect shape" to run for re-election to parliament next spring, the first step toward securing yet another term as Cuba's president, National Assembly head Ricardo Alarcon said Thursday.
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A lengthy process of nominating candidates for municipal elections will begin this summer, leading to several rounds of voting. Then, by March 2008, Cuba should be ready to hold parliamentary elections that are expected to include Castro, Alarcon said.
"Fidel has been and is very involved, very connected, very active in all manner of important decisions that this country makes," Alarcon said. "What's happening is, he can't do it the same way he did before because he has to dedicate a good part of his time to recuperating physically."
Switching later to deliberate but fluent English, Alarcon told journalists: "To what extent he will go back to doing things the way he did, the way he is accustomed to, it's up to him."
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Things in Cuba have remained calm and functioned normally under Raul Castro. Though Fidel has not appeared in public, he has sounded lucid and up on current events in a pair of recent telephone conversations with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Whole thing
Labels: fidel castro cuba
posted by leftside at
9:38 PM
11 Comments:
These one-party "elections" are mostly a sham. Castro has never run in an open, fair election. Even Chavez's opponents must concede that he has more legitimacy than Castro, because of the nature of their rise to power.
I look forward to the day when free, multiparty elections can be held in Cuba.
-A Human Rights Lawyer
The Human Rights Lawyer beat me to it.
Wow, breaking news: Castro will be ready for the "election." Gee, I wonder if he'll win.
I'm biting my nails in anticipation.
The Communist Party is not involved with the elections; they are totally non-partisan. People of all stripes are nominated from their towns and neighborhoods - Fidel included. There a pastors, farmers, workers, intellectuals, everything - with an array of viewpoints. This grass roots based National Assembly picks the government's ministers (Council of State, who selects a President) and can't be veto'd. With the trampling of the Legislative branch we have seen in this country (and disenfranchisement of millions), some might argue it is more democratic in this way. In our system Bush decides who to fire and who to hire and his decisions are beyond reproach on Congress - even in war.
Fidel will live forever. The rules of biology do not apply to benevolent socialists. I bet he wins the next election by a landslide. He sure is better than any leader anywhere else in the world. The greatest and best, as nowhere else in the world has a country chosen the same leader over and over with unanimous consent and showers of flower petals. Life isn't about the Cuban, it is about Fidel. It isn't really communism, it is Fidelism and it is good. No other system of government in the entire history of the world has provided its citizens with more comfort, employment, education and simple freedoms as this man Fidel has single-handedly provided to each and every Cuban. No other Cuban will ever be able to rule Cuba. If in 45 years, Fidel was the only one who could provide, he should continue for another 45. There must not be any other qualified Cuban for the job. Fidel, he really is better, superhuman, much more deserving of the presidency than any simple commoner of Cuba. Only Fidel can bring Cuba into the 20th or 21st Century. One day...
It's funny, I am reading this book "After Fidel" by our long-time top Cuba CIA chief Brian Lattel. He does his best to shed dark light on the Castro brothers through telling obscure stories. BUT he does not hesitate from admitting just about everything you sarcasticly say here..., ie. that Fidel is a one of a kind leader, that he alone is able to hold Cuba together, that the Revolution is about Fidelismo more than Communism and that he would win by 90% if there was an election.
And when he dies, Cuba will finally be free. It's just a matter of time. You, along with Stalinist apologists of old, will reap the same ridicule of history. I hope you're proud of your service to fidelism. You are one of the best apologists for crimes against humanity that I have ever seen in the blogosphere. Perhaps after the fall of communism in Cuba, you could start a blog called "A View to the North of Korea".
blah blah blah... ignore the facts and go straight to making it personal AGAIN.
Remember, it was Kruschev who condemned Stalin, and the US who worked with him. Also did you know that the Russian people, by a majority, say they wish for the return of the Soviet Union? And have you ignored the electoral shift in the region, where openly devoted Fidelistas are winning and winning, or coming within a hairs breath? I'm afraid it is Washington's neoliberalism which is been relegated to the dustbin of history.
Fidel has taken his country to the forefront of the future - environmentalism, social justice and developing his country's human potential - all under incredible odds. Cubans are at the forefront of all human endeavors. Cuba shows us we don't have to have self-built slums, that rural areas don't have to be left behind, that homelessness is not natural, that the masses can be as culturally literate as anyone, that you don't have to live behind fences, you don't have to sacrifice your ideals to make a living.... that another world is possible.
Sorry Mr. bernard, I forgot to respond to your best part:
And when he dies, Cuba will finally be free.
Today Cubans are free, because of the Revolution that allowed true independence. But if you're suggesting the Revolution will fall when Fidel does, I would love to place a thousand dollar wager on that. Seriously. I'll also bet you that when Fidel dies, which I doubt will be soon (I'll bet that too), the biggest funeral in Cuba's history will be had. Tears will be shed on the streets and the lies the right has been telling for decades will bes shattered. This should be obvious given the quiet sadness we've seen in Cuba since August (no protests, except the Blancas).
And also please tell me exactly what "crimes against humanity" Fidel has committed? Outside of the first year or so of wartime, there has been few, if any, questionable state executions, let alone ANY of the murder, torture, rape and presecution that CAH represents. CAH is what is happening in Darfur right now - and in Iraq (not by the US, but OUR government caused it all to happen). You are the apologist for crimes JSB. You voted for them.
Leftside:
I have often wondered, after seeing the many comments you have posted on anti-communism blogs, what it is that drives you to spend so much of your time reading and commenting on these supposedly "biased and untruthful" sites.
After a few minutes of analysis, I believe I have been able to figure out what exactly it is that draws you so strongly to us imperialists.
You see, deep down inside, you are an imperialist, capitalist pig. You enjoy the freedoms and perks of America's capitalist society and for some unknown reasons (perhaps some type of childhood traumatic experience) you feel guilty about it.
Enjoy the freedom, my imperialist comrade -- eat and drink at the table of capitalism guilty-free. You earned (or better said, it was earned for you) your right to enjoy broadband Internet, air-conditioning, cheap gas, free speech, and 137 different types of breakfast cereal. Why should you suffer, it is no fault of yours you were born in a free country that allows all its citizens the right to better themselves socially and economically. Let go of the guilt: it can only take the sweet taste of freedom and make it bitter. As you read this comment on your 19" LCD screen displaying 8 million colors, in your comfortable chair situated in your centrally heated, or cooled home, remember that many men and women died for your right to do what you are doing now. It's okay, they wanted you to be able to enjoy this.
You may be wondering how I can be so sure that you are a closeted capitalist. Well, it only takes a minute of retrospection to make it obvious that you are. You see, if you weren't really a capitalist at heart, there is no way you would be able to, in good conscience, be able to continue enjoying all the freedoms you enjoy now. You would not feel right having your own blog and posting comments on every Tom, Dick and Harry's blog that posts an anti-communist comment or article. A true communist would give up his/her "luxuries," such as a/c, heat, food, computer, and give it to the government to help them redistribute the "wealth," and better run the lives of their subjects.
If you were a true communist, socialist, or whatever you want to call it, you would be appalled to live in a capitalist society such as the one you live in now. You would have packed your bags a long time ago and moved to Cuba where the wonderful programs you espouse on your posts and comments are put into action. Obviously, the fact that you have chosen to remain in a corrupt, imperialistic and capitalist society, sucking at the teet of its hard-earned freedoms and individual rights, clearly indicates that you enjoy capitalism and couldn't live your life the way you do now without it. So give up the guilt and start living!
Otherwise, do yourself, and in turn all of us, a favor and move to Cuba with your friend fidel and raul. There you can experience the wonders and miracles of a censored one-party dictatorship where you may not be able to post anymore comments on your blog, but you'll have all the food (as long as you can live on 800-1000 calories a day) you can eat, and your healthcare (as long as you bring your own sheets, pillows, medicine, etc.)will be completely taken care of.
Signed Your Capitalist Comrade
Alberto DLC
You've cracked me Alberto... I want to be just like you and your friends. I want to talk about freedom all day, then ban comments from those you don't agree with. I want to talk about human rights and democracy, but ignore the war crimes and civil liberties taken by our President. I want to avoid the messy details of debate and cut straight to the personal attacks and "love it or leave it" mentality. It's very sophisticated.
By the way, I checked the one FACT you dared come here with (calorie intake). Turns out the FAO's latest data on food security and nutrition in Cuba shows the island scores above most other countries in the region (Chile, Colombia, Brazil, etc.) in total calories per day and appears to be the LOWEST the region in percentage malnutritioned (less than 2.5%).
But go ahead and keep believing your fantasies about Cuba.
Leftside:
I, in no way, shape, or form, intended a personal attack on you. On the contrary, I wanted to welcome you into the fold. I wanted to offer you the key to the door of the capitalist closet you have been hiding in all these years. Step out, comrade; let the imperialist sun shine down on you!
I understand it is not easy; all those years of saying and believing in something that completely flies in the face of how and where you live, is difficult to reconcile. But I am here today to tell you that you no longer have to allow the shackles of misconceived notions hold you down. I, and I am sure all of my other capitalist comrades, will welcome you with open arms.
The more you argue the more obvious you make it that deep down, in your heart of hearts, you are a capitalist! Come on now; if you were a true communist/socialist, you would never be able to continue living in a country with such a bourgeois government and leader that has trampled the rights of terrorists and killers; especially when there is a socialist paradise just 90 miles south of Florida beckoning to you. No, you stay put right here in the heart of the imperialist monster. That can only mean one thing -- you love it here!
One last thing, it is really not a question of a “love it or leave it” mentality. Obviously, you stay in the USA because you love it and the principles it stands for: freedom and capitalism. Why would you leave a country that gives you so much? Now, if the USA were to oppress you and censor your free speech, I would assume you would exhibit no less than what the over one million Cuban immigrants exhibited: The balls to pick-up and leave their homeland, leaving behind family and property, when their government oppressed them.
Giving you the benefit of the doubt -- that you posses no less bravery than the Cuban immigrants that left the dictatorship possessed -- I would have to assume that you will not leave the USA and move to Cuba because you actually love capitalism. My only other choice would be to assume that you are… well, we all know what that would be.
Signed Your Capitalist Comrade
Alberto DLC
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