Fidel Castro... QUITS?

this is HUUUGE!!!!! hopefully whoever takes his place isn't a shithead, and hopefully communism will be replaced there.
 
Its not like fidel has been running it for the past few years anyway. His brothers has been acting as president and now will be the official president and he is no better.
 
screw that, I wanna raise an army and go down there and conquer it for myself. Come on, how hard could it be?
 
his brother has traditionally taken less of a hard line stance on things than fidel. raul is a bit more open to suggestion from minority opinions, but i think that a true democratic transition is far away.

this has been a pretty busy week as far as world governments go, first kosovo becomes independant, then the serbs in kosovo vow to remain part of serbia, and now castro is out, and it's only tuesday.

by friday, i feel it is totally feasable that the iraq conflict will end peacefully, the gaza strip will become a harmonious place for all faiths to live in harmony, and hugo chavez will gift the us a large supply of oil to help ease our slide into recession.
 
we're studying eastern europe right now in geography, and my professor last thursday said "I predict that within the next 5 years, kosovo will seperate from serbia."

then it happened that weekend. good timing.
 
If anything, this is bad news, his brother is even worse. you should read stories on cnn about that guy. fuckin crazy. the ban on cuba wont be lifted anytime soon
 
well once the recession is stopped because of chavez' gift of oil, president mccain can re-instate the draft and force world peace with occupation of any countries with differing viewpoints.
 
Hmm.. I've heard hes a bit more progressive than Fidel...

I've heard he is trying to implement reforms that would fix the nation's economical issues (The people get a monthly income of about.. oh.. 19 USD a month?)
 
Well his Bro is not as Charismatic as Fidel. But he is really just as bad. Hopefuly they will get a democracy, but most likely that wont happen for a LONG time. But hey you never know.
 
pretty sure that is scheduled for NEXT week. it's alright though, i thought that too. i think the world schedules got printed wrong...
 
yeah, it was fidel, raul, and dr. che as the strategists behind the revolution. they were exiled in mexico and america when they planned it.

 
yeah thats what im sayin, rauls gonna be in charge who has the exact same ideals as fidel so its not that big of a change
 
it won't be a significant change in the short term, but the leaders of the revolution are getting old, and within a generation or so could all be gone. that is when a big change may happen.

however, things like this tend to be magnified in a region under such political scrutiny, it will be interesting to see what happens.
 
It's going to remain a military dictatorship for a while.. for sure..

but you never know. Soon enough.. Cuba could turn into quite a showpiece if Democracy is allowed in the next 10-20 years.

By then Raul will be either 86 or 96.. and probably not competent enough to run the country any more than his ailing brother is now..

The problem is, a lot of the Cuban people are fine with the communism part... they all have healthcare, and even though they spend a good amount of their income on food, they at least have that as well. They just dont like the DICTATORSHIP part.. where they are unable to explore their lives outside of that of Cuba, and Cuban culture.

If you ever get a chance, watch For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story

It has Andy Garcia in it. Super good film. Helps you sorta understand some of what the Cuban people are exposed to.
 
Don't hold your breaths. Raul isn't going to try any real reforms until is brother is actually dead. Even though Fidel has "stepped down" he'll still have a lot of say in the communist party and how the Cuban government acts.
 
true, and it's not only fidel. most of the government structure that helped fidel into power, and helped keep him in power, are still in place.

sometimes it seems that the public perception of cuba is that fidel has been the sole reason they have been governed the way they were, but that isnt true.

fidel will still be a player, not only behind the scenes, but in the public forum. his "reflections" articles he pens for the state run newspaper (the same platform he used to announce his resignation) will still be regularly coming.
 
I am of the opinion that once Fidel dies and American business is allowed back into Cuba, the communist regime will begin to dissolve. Before communism told hold, Havana was one of the most progressive cities in the western hemisphere. It also has a deep water port, ideal for large shipping and cruse liners. Cuba could potentially be very prosperous if capitalism can take hold.
 
i agree with that, but i can't shake the notion that there will be a few remaining members of the "old guard" hanging on to castro's doctorines, delaying the push to capitalism at least a little bit.

it will be very interesting to see what happens in the future. there has also been talk about what will become of the homes/land/possessions that were absorbed into the republic after the revolution.

in the example i heard, a family owned a villa before they fled/were forced to leave the country, but in their absence, the property has obviously been used by other familes in the meanwhile.

when capitalism returns, who will have the rightful claim to the properties siezed, the original owners or those using the property for the past 50+ years?
 
Very true. The transition will take a generation or two. I'm optomistic we'll see capitalism become successful in Cuba in our lifetimes.
 
His brother favors democracy actually, but Fidel will still be on the leadership ladder somewhere so who knows?
 
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