Castro's First Live Media Event Since Feb: Calls Into Chavez's "Alo, Presidente!" TV Program

Well im going to Havana in Dec.

Great people and they have more
fun in the evening than most of the rat
racers I know.

Even those who hate Fidel Castro admit he is/was a powerful speaker. Why, then, do we never hear a single word he has to say?

It is censorship.

You can find some of his speeches translated into various languages, including English, at the link below (just press the ingles--English--link):

http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/

I looked for videotaped speeches available for viewing on the internet but found nothing. All I have is a cassette labeled =Mandela en Cuba= that contains a speech Castro gave July 26, 1991. Just to provide a small sample, below is my own (admittedly imperfect) translation of a passage from it. Nelson Mandela was visiting Cuba that day and Castro discussed apartheid:


=The real truth is that the west supported apartheid and supplied it with technology, countless billions in investments, countless weapons, and political support. Imperialism did not break ties with apartheid. Imperialism did not blockade apartheid. Imperialism maintained and maintains excellent relations with apartheid. They had to blockade Cuba, where the last vestiges of apartheid; that is, racial discrimination, disappeared a long time ago. They had to blockade Cuba to punish it for its revolution, as a punishment for its social justice. They never did this to apartheid.

=Against apartheid they took a few half-hearted economic measures that had no effect at all. There are those who--according to what Mandela himself was telling me--asked him why he was friends with Cuba and, as he said here, why he had relations with the South African Communist Party--as if the specter of communism were still prowling the earth. Why did he have relations with this small country that has always been so loyal to the cause of the South African people in their struggle against apartheid? This shows the logic of the reactionaries and imperialists.=


Castro has always had a lot to say, but most in the USA have never had a chance to hear a word of it.

If you are interested in the truth about Venezuela, DON'T MISS the lively documentary at the link below:


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5832390545689805144

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, 1 hr 15 min


Irish videographers happened to be filming in Venezuela at the time of the CIA-sponsored 2002 coup d'etat against president Hugo Chavez. They caught the whole thing on tape!

Find out why Chavez is so loved by the people of Venezuela.
.

The subject of Castro is a difficult one.
It is no question that he raised Cuba from the dead. From mafia-ran country little whore of a country ala Haiti, to a proudly independent example of socialism and independence. At the same time Castro did suspend most ( not all)democratic freedoms. I would consider him a n enlightened dictator ala the one that Voltaire dreamed about.
While this was entirely appropriate during the years of Cold war tensions, now it is simply a Castro dynasty.
Hopefully Chavez with his GREAT programs benefiting the poor does not fall into the same trap of believing that he's the one one who can move the socialist revolution forward.
He MUST work even harder to establish proper institutions that legitimize the rule of the people and limit the influence of capitalist corruption. and THEN he should step aside when his term tuns out.

KBAR:
Don't expect much from someone who uses who name of a knife as a screen name.

Goodness, some do go on in different tangents.

Fidel Castro is a dictator. Let me repeat that : Fidel Castro is a dictator who has been in power without allowing free elections for 50 years. OK, is it sinking in?

Fidel Castro is a caudillo dictator who does not allow free speech, free elections, dissent, freedom of movement, free press, private ownership, open education, etc. FREE CHOICE of any sort.

Who is to defend him but fellow dictators in the making and a mass of ignorant fools who not knowing the truth/facts and accurate history , defend the indefendable.

Lots of flies at Walter Reed. Last in Bush has not fixed Walter Reed despite all the publicity. Bush plans to just close Walter Reed and dump the vets on the street.

Everywhere he would go in Latin America huge crowds would greet Castro yelling, "Fi-del! Fi-del! Fi-del!" Another common one: "Fidel, amigo! El pueblo esta contigo!" (Fidel, friend! The people are with you!)

Up here in the USA, we don't really have heroes like Fidel and Chavez. Our system isn't conducive to them. In our system, scum rises. In other words, the worst of the worst are in top government positions.

In the USA, the national religion is capitalism. True humanitarians (counterparts of Fidel and Chavez) are likely to end up in prison here.
.

Fidel Castro is slowly evolving and leaving his revolutionary stage behind.Fidel has recently gotten into disco and has even been seen sporting a white sportcoat and a black shirt like his new idol Travolta.Also Fidel is really into the Bee Gees and loves to sing along with "Stayin Alive" as he learns "the Bump"! Whats next for groove meister Castro,certainly not a hot cocoa before an early bedtime but maybe some of the other,lighter colored cocoa to help him shake shake shake his booty all night long!

Imagine Shrub doing a call-in show "Hello President Chimp". Bush could not even make it work if he had Rush Limbaugh's call screeners.

Chavez is Kewl.

Setting up their next coke deal.

keelerbee babels:
"You can thank the "courageous" JFK for letting the Cuban nationals die on those Cuban Beaches."


I guess he wasn't interested in sacrificing American soldiers lives for the Dulles brothers and United Fruit company.

In answer to KBAR's babel:

So lift the embargo, fool.


(Oh ya, the people want to be freed back to the oligarchs that put Batista into power.

Don't forget son, I'm old enough to have seen Cuba before Castro. It was sickening. Now go and have a coffee with your jerk-off Batista friends down by the beach and dream of what could have been if you hadn't sold out to the United Fruit company.)

ok, Here's a caption for that nice picture of those two Democrat/commies (Hugo/Fidel). "Hugo, call Bill Clinton. I can't find Monica's phone number."

Now we have some true role models in our Hemisphere.
Unfortunately the repugs will probably sense the change and start pushing single payer healthcare while the dems will worry about offending the 'middle' 8%.