Opinion: Castro death watch watch
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Replies to my OpEd on the Castro death watch:
Sir,Blaming Castro for the obsession tht you, your leaders and the so called mainstream Americans have for him for over forty years is very amusing. It is not Castro who is obsessing about Americans daily; it is Americans who have been obssesing about him and have been indulging in attempts to kill him and starve the people of that country ( a crime against humanity that warrants sanctions and punishment) for the past forty years! I wonder whether your act blaming target of your obssession on the target itself is to avod thinking about as well as to deflect public’ attention from the presence of a dictator in our own backyard, namely the current occupant/of the White House who can be easily accused of war crimes and found guilty, who calls himself a decider and a decision maker and who considers himself above law and the remaining two branches of government and who regards himself next only to so called God as far as authority is concerned. I wish you were bold enough to call for the impeachment of our own native born dictator rather than waste valuable newsprint on blaming the target of your obsession for your obession! Bhagirathi Bhagirathi Subrahmanyam *** Dear Mr. Cavanaugh, I read with interest your humorous and on-point piece about the Fidel Castro ‘croakathon.’ I thought I’d forward to you my own perspective as a (non-related) Castro. I just posted this on my blog a few days ago. It’s the top post so no worries about having to plow through an L.A. Times subscriber’s personal ramblings. Just click the link and you’ll see it. Regards, Christine Castro Christine Castro *** The western corporate press has never been known for its objectively, trustworthy sources or respect for the privacy of public personalities, and this has been confirmed once again by their dismal performance regarding the state of Fidel Castro’s health. Radio Havana Cuba
Meanwhile, Fidel’s brother Raul has allowed what Cuban writer Ena Lucia Portela calls ‘the closest thing to freedom of expression I have seen in this country in my entire life.’ The government last week permitted a group of intellectuals to meet in a closed-door conference about the ‘Gray Quinquennium.’ To the extent Raul can generate excitement at all, he may do so through such modest, incremental reforms.
Or he may just add a fifth star to his epaulets. The path of reform is by nature dangerous to the system the Castro brothers are committed to maintaining. Ramon Saul Sanchez, occasional hunger striker and leader of the Democracy Movement, is getting warmed up for a perestroika-style unraveling of the island’s closed society. ‘I’m not optimistic about Raul’s will in opening some form of perestroika,’ he told me the other day, ‘but I am optimistic about circumstances forcing his hand. You’ll probably see some economic reforms to allow small farmers to market products and allow very small businesses to open their doors. If Fidel’s dead and more people are allowed into Cuba, and the U.S. lifts its ban on travel, you may see more people demanding their rights and the government bending to those forces. Raul probably will allow some opening to take place, which will end that system.’