Peter Goodspeed, National Post
Published: Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Fidel Castro has been out of the public eye for more than two
years.ReutersFidel Castro has been out of the public eye for more than
two years.
For months, Miami has been awash in rumours Fidel Castro is on his
deathbed. But gossip assumed the trappings of gospel a week ago on
Sunday when Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan President, declared Cuba's
"Maximum Leader" may never appear in public again.
"We know that the Fidel who used to walk down streets and through towns
at dawn, looking like a warrior, wearing his uniform and embracing his
people, will not return," Mr. Chavez told his radio and television show.
"He will remain in our memories."
In Russia, the newspaper Gazeta reported Mr. Chavez's speech under the
headline, "Chavez buries Castro alive."
In Miami, expatriate Cubans gleefully began cataloging evidence of Mr.
Castro's demise. The 82-year-old former president has been out of public
view for 25 months, since he underwent three major intestinal
operations. The last picture of him--meeting Hu Jintao, the Chinese
President -- was released on Nov. 18. A visit with Dmitri Medvedev, the
Russian President, 10 days later, went unrecorded, as did a meeting with
Argentina's President on Dec. 10.
Since then, Mr. Castro failed to meet visiting presidents from Ecuador
and Panama. Far more surprising, he was nowhere to be seen during the
Jan. 1 celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.
At the very least, Cubans expected Mr. Castro to appear on television to
mark the golden anniversary of his coming to power. Instead, his office
released an uncharacteristically short statement that read simply: "Upon
the celebration in the next few hours of the 50th anniversary of the
Triumph, I congratulate our heroic people."
Mr. Castro usually treats Cubans to five-hour speeches. During his long
recuperation, he quit giving speeches and made only occasional
appearances on edited videos. Still, throughout 2008, he managed to
produce nine newspaper columns a month in which he reminisced on his
career and the victories of communism in Cuba. But those columns stopped
without explanation on Dec. 15, a full two weeks before the 50th
anniversary, when everyone expected Mr. Castro to wallow in nostalgia.
Instead, there has been only silence. Last Wednesday, the South Florida
Spanish-language newspaper Diario Las Americas reported Mr. Castro had
fallen into a coma and was on a respirator and Andy Gomez, a University
of Miami Cuba expert, said he has been told by high-level Washington
sources "Castro is gravely ill."
The same day, the Cuban government-controlled newspaper Granma ran a
short news story noting extra police will be placed on major roads in
coming days to prevent car accidents.
Mr. Gomez says the Cuban government is calling up special forces to
increase protection for top officials.
Lately, Granma and other government publications have begun running
reprints of Mr. Castro's speeches.
A Spanish newspaper, El Pais, claims the increased security and military
movements come after Mr. Castro suffered a "possible heart attack."
If Mr. Castro has died, his passing presents U. S. president-elect
Barack Obama with a unique opportunity to transform U.S. foreign policy
by either making new diplomatic overtures toward Cuba or by moving to
lift the 47-year-old U. S. economic embargo on Cuba.
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=1196378
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