Castro's Health Mystery Watch

No one seems to know what is going on. A statement was released yesterday saying that Castro made it through the health crisis okay. Oh boy am I relieved [ed: that's sarcasm folks]. Actually, no one knows what the deal is because no one in the Cuban government is really talking about matters, and no one has seen either Fidel or his brother Raul. We've only gotten a press release, and unless we see Fidel walking and talking, no one knows anything, least of all those journalists who have flocked to Cuba for the sun and fun. Val at Babalublog has more. So does Fausta.

Rumors will continue floating around that Fidel has joined the ranks of Che, Stalin, and Mao in Hell, but they're still just rumors. Meanwhile, the fawning over Castro's legacy by the media is sickening.

He was a ruthless totalitarian dictator who killed those who opposed him and had no problem putting dissenters in prison for the slightest transgression. The blood of thousands is on his hands. Tens of thousands of people risked their lives to escape Cuba and many never reached the shores of the US, dying in the perilous crossing.

Castro has brought nothing but pain and misery to Cuba, and yet there are those who think that Cuba is a socialist paradise on earth. As I noted yesterday, the universal health care system may be universal, but it's godawful and not a place where anyone would want to get sick. However, if you're a tourist or a connected crony, you'd get better health care because some folks are better than others. You can bet that Castro wasn't using the commoners' facilities and instead got himself the best doctors he could find, and they may not even be Cuban. No one knows.

Time Magazine wonders if Raul would be a reformer. There's no reason to believe any of this. For such a socialist paradise, isn't anyone curious that there are no others available who can lead other than Fidel's brother? You mean to tell me that the socialist paradise can't thrive without the dictator transferring his power to his brother? That's not very egalitarian is it.

Then again, nothing about Cuba is egalitarian. The haves - those connected to Castro and the Party have access to better health care, services, and even food. The have-nots? They make do with whatever Cuba's economic ministers haven't screwed up and ruined in their economic 'wisdom,' including health care and food/agricultural products.

UPDATE:
Isn't anyone the slightest bit curious how Castro could come out of an intensive surgery and yet fashion such a lucid political statement? As Val notes, folks coming out of a surgical procedure are going to feel the effects of the anesthesia for a period of time. Any doctors want to comment on this? I wouldn't put it past the Cubans that someone got a speechwriter to draft something up and pass it off as a statement from Castro himself.

Why are the Cuban communists so concerned about trying to reassure Cubans that everything will be okay? Is Castro the beginning and the end of the Cuban government? Power resides in the people after all, or so they say - although that's never been put up to an unrigged poll where there are multiple parties and multiple candidates.

Red Sox 3B Mike Lowell doesn't have any kind words for Castro. He hopes Castro dies. Why is he so bitter? Simple. Castro killed members of Lowell's family.

“My cousins were political prisoners. My father-in-law was a political prisoner for 15 years because, at 19, they asked him if he agreed with communism and he said, ‘No,’ so they sentenced him to death. That’s not the way to live. I know it’s terrible to say, but I think of all of that and I hope he (Castro) passes away.

“I don’t care if he dies,” Lowell said. “There are so many people who have died because of him and there’s been so much wrongdoing and so many human rights violations that I hope he does die. That sounds bad, but it’s the truth.”

That sentiment is echoed by many here in the US and elsewhere who have actually lived under Castro and did everything imaginable to flee Cuba. Good on Mike.

UPDATE:
Tigerhawk notes that Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has been chumming with Castro over the past couple of years and throwing hundreds of millions of petrodollars Cuba's way. He thinks that Chavez is trying to buy his way into de facto control of Cuba. Definitely plausible. Cuba also happens to sit on quite a bit of petroleum and natural gas, that Castro hasn't exactly exploited, so if Chavez can get his grubby hands on that, he'd further expand his influence on the global energy markets.

Gateway Pundit also comments on the stupidity of the Castro says he's fine after surgery. Or is that stable condition after dying. All those dictators (Gen. Franco, Arafat, etc.) whose health status is always stable after dying can get confusing after a while.

Did you know that North Jersey has the largest concentration of Cubans outside Cuba and Miami? I didn't until earlier today (as mentioned on the media reports in the NYC metro area). The Bergen Record has a good roundup of reaction from the Cuban-American community there. There's a lot of caution among those who hope that Castro has achieved room temperature (although in NYC that could still mean he's alive based on today's weather), but I'd put the mood as cautious optimism. This tyrant caused so much misery to so many people in Latin America.

The Cuban people deserve so much better than what they've had for so long.

Val Prieto is on a roll. Just keep scrolling.