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uppityperson Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 12:51 PM
Original message
Miami plans big party when Castro dies
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/APWires/headlines/D8MV1BHG1.html
The city of Miami is planning an official celebration at the Orange Bowl whenever Cuban president Fidel Castro dies.

Discussions by a committee appointed earlier this month by the city commission to plan the event have even covered issues such as a theme to be printed on T-shirts, what musicians would perform, the cost and how long the celebration would last. Such a gathering has long been part of the city's plan for Castro's death, but firming up the specifics has been more urgent since Castro became ill last summer and turned over power to his brother, Raul.

City Commissioner Tomas Regalado, a Cuban American, came up with the idea of using the Orange Bowl, noting that the stadium was the site of a speech by President Kennedy in 1961 promising a free Cuba, and that in the 1980s it served as a camp for refugees from the Mariel boatlift from Cuba. "(Castro) represents everything bad that has happened to the people of Cuba for 48 years," Regalado told The Miami Herald for a story in Monday editions. "There is something to celebrate, regardless of what happens next."

Former state Rep. Luis Morse stressed the need for an uplifting theme for the party - one not preoccupied with a human being's passing....(more@link)


Keep it uplifting, but not too happy? Don't be precoccupied with Castro's death, but be happy?
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Captain Hilts Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 12:52 PM
Response to Original message
1. That's actually a great idea. Man. Cubans know how to party too. nt
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xultar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 12:52 PM
Response to Original message
2. Sick sad shit that a local government would plan this.
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hlthe2b Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:03 PM
Response to Reply #2
12. I could not agree more....
If private individuals behave this way, so be it... But to have local governments sponsor? Despiccable, if you ask me.
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DixieBlue Donating Member (504 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:35 PM
Response to Reply #2
31. Yup.
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TheDebbieDee Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 02:10 PM
Response to Reply #2
34. Taxpayer dollars should NOT be spent
to celebrate the death of anyone!
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Turbineguy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 04:45 PM
Response to Reply #2
40. I would hate to have local government
Edited on Mon Jan-29-07 04:45 PM by Turbineguy
spend tax dollars to celebrete the deaths of Bush and Cheney or a few other of their chums. I, of course, keep a bottle of chilled champagne handy, just in case.
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wakeme2008 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 12:56 PM
Response to Original message
3. This people are SICK...
:grr:

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mike_c Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 12:56 PM
Response to Original message
4. this is beyond unseemly-- maybe we should plan a party for when...
...Miami gets plastered with the next hurricane or disappears under the rising Atlantic Ocean.
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brentblack Donating Member (127 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:07 PM
Response to Reply #4
15. If you lived under Castro...
...maybe you would feel different.

I will not be dancing when Castro dies, but he has never done anything to me or my family.

Just because he is sort of a hero to many in the progressive movement does not mean we cannot remember that he has shown blatant disregard for human rights and freedom. The body count under his leadership is not as high as Commandante Bushit, but the stain is there none the less.

The man is not a hero. At least not to me and hundreds of thousands Cubans that risked life and limb to get out.
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uppityperson Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:11 PM
Response to Reply #15
16. I don't care, it is low class to have a city plan a party over a death
Edited on Mon Jan-29-07 01:12 PM by uppityperson
Celebrate privately, not a city run party. That is all.
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brentblack Donating Member (127 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:19 PM
Response to Reply #16
24. True....
...this should NOT be set up by the city.

The city should have no part, other than approving permits for gatherings, in this issue.

Still...got no problem with people that want to dance on his grave...
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SemperEadem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:13 PM
Response to Reply #15
20. individual citizens doing this is not the issue
the city government being involved in this is.
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ngant17 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 05:17 PM
Response to Reply #15
42. I've met lots of people who live (present tense) under Castro
Edited on Mon Jan-29-07 05:19 PM by ngant17
and they love the man, they love their country and they love their own brand of socialism.

I've met Cuban-Americans who lived in Miami and voluntarily moved back to be a part of the Revolution as soon as it happened. And they have never turned away from it since then.

I've met Cubans who were exploited and poor before the revolution, and they made exceptional contributions to the war against the Batista regime in Cuba and also positively contributed to the building of socialism.

I personally know Cubans on the island who will defend their revolution to their last drop of blood. And I am proud that they will always be my friend.

What we might see then, in Miami, is largely a party of criminal misfits, misguided lumpen proletariat, ex-gangsters and children of same, expropriated and ex-pat former landowners from Cuba, and other dregs of the old Cuban society under Batista. I can only hope they get ripped-off and short-changed for the high-priced 'Miami-vice' style of tickets when they are ready to be sold.
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Judi Lynn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 05:25 PM
Response to Reply #42
43. So good to hear from someone who actually KNOWS something about Cuba!
As you've noticed, the loudest, angriest voices are always from people who've never been there, and have no grasp of Cuban history.

Your posts are ALWAYS worthwhile.

By the way, Ann Louise Bardach's book, Cuba Confidential, refers to the Cubans who have been coming and going between South Florida and Cuba over the years, of whom the rest of us never hear! She says some of them simply return and don't come back.
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ngant17 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 05:31 PM
Response to Reply #43
45. I was there twice
first, for the 50th anniversary of Moncada which was in 2003 and also I enjoyed the trip so much I came back to Havana the following year.

I'll look for the book by Ann Louise Bardach. I also met one Cuban who, years ago, came on the Mariel boatlift into the US, but he was disappointed in the life and he chose to return, and at this time he has re-adjusted and living a happy but simple life back in Havana again.

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Judi Lynn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 05:55 PM
Response to Reply #45
50. Very interesting to hear.
Here's the book, at Amazon:

http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/0385720521.01._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg


http://www.amazon.com/Cuba-Confidential-Vengeance-Miami-Havana/dp/0385720521

Ms. Bardach, and another New York Times reporter were the ones who wrote the widely read series on their interview with Luis Posada Carriles which generated a lot of attention.

Here's more:
Why the FBI Is Coming After Me

By Ann Louise Bardach
Sunday, November 12, 2006; Page B03

As a rule, I don't believe in conspiracy theories. They tend to be tidy and selective, whereas life seems so random and messy. But the case of Cuban militant and would-be Fidel Castro assassin Luis Posada Carriles has sorely tested my convictions.

I've been writing about Posada for nearly a decade. I interviewed him in Aruba for a series of articles in the New York Times in 1998. He was a fugitive who had escaped from Venezuela in 1985 while awaiting trial in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban passenger plane that killed all 73 people aboard-- the first deadly act of airline terrorism in the Americas. Posada has maintained his innocence, but in a rare instance of unanimity, the CIA and the FBI, as well as Venezuelan, Trinidadian and Cuban intelligence, concluded that he and fellow militant Orlando Bosch had masterminded the bombing.

Last year, I wrote an Outlook article about Posada's surprise arrival in Miami, where he filed a claim for political asylum. Not only did this move strike many as brazen, but it also seemed incomprehensible that the Bush administration, so committed to what it calls the War on Terror, could have allowed someone of Posada's notoriety to slip into the country.

Soon after, Homeland Security Department officials got around to arresting Posada and charging him with illegal entry. I assumed that the Justice Department would act on his self-admitted history of paramilitary attacks and extradite him somewhere, and that I'd just continue to cover his case. Instead, the government has dithered for a year and a half while Posada languishes in an immigration jail in Texas.
(snip/...)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/10/AR2006111001384.html



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0007 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 05:54 PM
Response to Reply #42
49. Very well said!
The sick criminal misfits that are called Patriots are a joke to the human race.
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AnOhioan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 06:19 PM
Response to Reply #42
52. Said it better than I could.....
"criminal misfits, misguided lumpen proletariat, ex-gangsters and children of same, expropriated and ex-pat former landowners from Cuba, and other dregs of the old Cuban society under Batista."


These folk need to chill out and reralize that Cubans, in general, are happy with Castro and the revolution.
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Zhade Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 09:52 PM
Response to Reply #15
65. Are you any relation to brentspeak?
You sound alike.

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AlinPA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 12:57 PM
Response to Original message
5. I wonder if there will be some repatriation if he dies, people thinking things may improve?
I realize their government has not changed, but maybe they will see some hope....
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Captain Hilts Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:12 PM
Response to Reply #5
17. Raul is different from Fidel. I think there will be some repatriation.
Let's hope our govt. gets its head out of its butt vis a vis policy toward Cuba.
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Ignacio Upton Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 06:24 PM
Response to Reply #17
54. Hopefully they'll go the China route, and not the Soviet route
I want to see Raul liberalize trade and travel with the US (which can only be done if our government allows us to travel there!) OTHO, I don't want to see the Cuban government collapse suddenly like the Soviet Union, as it could easily become infested with mobsters within a few years if that happens. We don't need the mafia running the place again.
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RaleighNCDUer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 12:57 PM
Response to Original message
6. Then, afterward, they will look around and see that the world is not
suddenly transformed into a happy paradise, that nothing has really changed, and slowly come to realize they've been had by criminal asswipes for the past fifty years, who used them to enrich themselves and to hang onto undeserved political power, in the grand tradition of the criminal that Castro overthrew in the first place, and they'll say --

Is that all there is?
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uppityperson Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:01 PM
Response to Reply #6
9. The last paragraph says this, leading to more lipraising about the party
Sanchez also pointed out that, even after Castro dies, his communist government still will be in place. "The notion of a big party, I think, should be removed from all this," Sanchez said. "Although everybody will be very happy that the dictator cannot continue to oppress us himself, I think everybody is still very sad because there are still prisons full of prisoners, many people executed, and families divided."


So, if they warn that the ruling gvt is still there, and things won't change, then why party except to celebrate Castro dying? The whole thing makes me sick. I can see a bunch of yahoos planning a party like this, but a city? I really don't understand people.
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onehandle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:00 PM
Response to Original message
7. Will they celebrate again when the Dictator that replaces him dies in 50 years?
Edited on Mon Jan-29-07 01:01 PM by onehandle
I'm no fan of Castro, but I hope he lives until January 21st, 2009.

Rove is salivating at the possibility of changing Bush's legacy by taking credit for this.
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Name removed Donating Member (0 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:00 PM
Response to Original message
8. Deleted sub-thread
Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.
 
Pathwalker Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:02 PM
Response to Original message
10. And they skewered the left over Wellstone's funeral.
Assholes!
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brentspeak Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:02 PM
Response to Original message
11. As much as I despise Castro, I don't want the exile people to have any say in post-Castro Cuba
The idea of the Elian-kidnapper types returning to Cuba to boss around and manipulate the Cuban people makes me as sick to my stomach as does the thought of Castro's political prisons.
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fujiyama Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 11:51 PM
Response to Reply #11
72. As we've seen with Iraq
Democracies have to grow organically, founded by its own people.

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Taverner Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:04 PM
Response to Original message
13. I was good friends with a bunch of Miami Cubans
Totally left-wing, hated the CANF (basically Batista govt and children in exile) and Jorge Mascanosa...

But still hated Castro. Chances are if you left Cuba, where they have free health care, and enough to get by...then you really hate Castro, or your parents did.

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Captain Hilts Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:13 PM
Response to Reply #13
18. That's right. There are a lot of liberals in the Cuban community in Fla. nt
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Taverner Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:15 PM
Response to Reply #18
21. And even the Miami Cuban Republicans are jumping ship
Many are seeing the pointlesness of the embargo. Many are businessmen who want a crack at an open Cuba - which won't happen if they're in the embargo.

Remember the embargo was pushed by Cuban Sugar magnates who don't want the competition.
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ngant17 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 05:25 PM
Response to Reply #18
44. Definitely true
when Janet Reno was campaigning for governor of Florida a number of years ago, I went to one of her fund-raisers in S. Fla. I was amazed to run into a sizeable group of of Cuban-Americans with their "Cubans for Reno" badges proudly displayed on their shirts.

I suspect they might have had some minor issues with the way the Cuban revolution was handled by Fidel Castro, but very likely they would also have been largely supportive of their new society and their new independence.
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Zhade Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 09:53 PM
Response to Reply #13
66. I'm guessing the latter.
NT!

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peacetalksforall Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:05 PM
Response to Original message
14. A total lack of class .
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HiFructosePronSyrup Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:13 PM
Response to Original message
19. Kind of ghoulish.
Don't get me wrong. I was happy as a clam when Reagan died. But I didn't through a party over it.

:P
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saigon68 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:16 PM
Response to Reply #19
22. My neighbor was glad when Joe McCarthy died.
He even went to the funeral to make sure the "Bastard" was dead
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HiFructosePronSyrup Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:17 PM
Response to Reply #22
23. Heh.
Did he take a hammer and a wooden stake?
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saigon68 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:21 PM
Response to Reply #23
26. Joe was still pickled apparently
But his illegitimate offspring, the CHIMPANZEE, is still around
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monmouth Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:20 PM
Response to Reply #19
25. Don't be surprised if Chavez moves right in on Cuba to take over. Way
too many visits with Fidel, some public, most private...
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HiFructosePronSyrup Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:22 PM
Response to Reply #25
27. LOL.
Yeah, then he's going to invade South Vietnam.
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RaleighNCDUer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:27 PM
Response to Reply #25
28. Was there supposed to be a
:sarcasm:

tag on that? The most ridiculous comment on this thread.
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ngant17 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 05:39 PM
Response to Reply #25
46. that would be nice
but Venezuela needs him more than Cuba!
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ngant17 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-30-07 05:57 AM
Response to Reply #19
74. I think Reagan's mind actually died somewhere in the 1930s or 1940s
and after that he was more or less a shell of a human being.
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yellowcanine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:33 PM
Response to Original message
29. Just about everyone has a party thrown for them when they die. It's called a funeral. It might be
hard to tell the difference. The anti-Castro folks could be shooting themselves in the foot with this one. By holding a big celebration on the occasion of Castro's death, they are actually acknowledging how important he was. Fine line there, imo.
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flordehinojos Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:34 PM
Response to Original message
30. desgraciados. ...there they go again!
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MrPrax Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:42 PM
Response to Original message
32. "Rejoicing in the streets of Miami"
"Rejoicing in the streets of Jenin Miami"

"... Elsewhere in the West Bank Miami and in Gaza Southern Florida, thousands of Palestinians Americans applauded the devastating blows death of Castro, cheering openly in the streets and distributing celebratory candy to passersby. Some shouted that they hoped Tel Aviv Havana would be next or vowed to complete what they believe Osama bin Laden George W. Bush has started..."

Salon

Um...while thousands of Palestinians really DIDN'T dance in the streets at an officially sponsored 'street party' and while the elected head of the Palestinians, Yessir Arafat DID comdemned the attacks and apologized for the behaivour of some

...there will be NO DOUBTS about what will take place in Miami and Snopes won't need a page explaining it...

Those consistent western values hard at work...

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951-Riverside Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 01:49 PM
Response to Original message
33. I take it post-party they will be packing their shit and heading back to Cuba. n/t
;)
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Vogon_Glory Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 02:24 PM
Response to Original message
35. From Private Individuals, It's Expected Behavior
That private individuals in Miami would celebrate Fidel Castro's death is to be expected. It's human nature, and there's plenty of precedent for other exiles from other regimes to celebrate a dictator's death.

The Portuguese community in Providence rejoiced when the old right-wing dictatorship fell in 1975. Why should DU'ers be surprised that Miami exiles would be pleased when Castro dies?

As for the local governments joining in the celebration, they're fools to do so. I may not be a member of the Fidel Castro fan club, but I realize that he was a towering figure in Cuban history, and is recognized as such by people living on the island, regardless of what the exiles want to think. Like it or not, Castro seems to be in the process of being transformed into myth as well as being a historical figure. Wise people tread carefully around myths.
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Name removed Donating Member (0 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 02:26 PM
Response to Original message
36. Deleted message
Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.
 
Name removed Donating Member (0 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 02:51 PM
Response to Original message
37. Deleted message
Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.
 
Placebo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 03:09 PM
Response to Original message
38. That's a party I'd love to be a part of!
:toast: :party: :toast:
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Judi Lynn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 03:10 PM
Response to Original message
39. A "LTTE" in a Caribbean paper: Cuba is not a backward society
Edited on Mon Jan-29-07 03:11 PM by Judi Lynn
Cuba is not a backward society
Monday, January 29, 2007

Dear Sir:


It never ceases to amaze me just how close minded and narrow people can be. There definitely is a need to respond to the negative and often incorrect ‘facts’ many Caymanians have about Cuba. Cuba is a vast country of much beauty and immense resources. The Cuban people are vibrant and cultured; healthy and well educated too. Do people really think that Cuba would benefit if Americans started landing the second their great leader, Fidel Castro passes?

Quite frankly, Cubans are far better off than the vast majority of people in this world, and certainly far better off than us in the Caribbean. Cuba has greater economic potential than any island nation in the Caribbean, supplemented by the largest and most highly educated workforce.

Cuba has managed to maintain the most diversified and stable economy in the region. What makes Cuba’s economic reality even more interesting is that it is also the region’s fastest growing and ranks high on world charts of economic growth. While other island nations struggle to stabilize and diversify shattered economies, Cuba has managed to build an economy that has quickly become the darling of the region. Nations like St Kitts and Nevis, Haiti, and Jamaica are all floundering economically and could learn from Cuba.

Cuba’s booming economy requires a large, well educated workforce in order to survive. Not only does Cuba possess such a workforce, but they actually have many more workers than their own needs dictate. Cuban professionals are considered the most efficient, talented, and reliable in the region, and Cuba has one of the highest literacy rates in the world. Many Cubans can speak two, three, or even four languages. Can Cayman boast anything close to this? Certainly not. And Cuba does not hoard its good fortune and talent as the rest of us do! Cuban doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers, accountants, social workers, and athletes can be found in every Caribbean country, rich or poor.
(snip/...)

http://www.caymannetnews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000109/010967.htm
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Megahurtz Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 05:05 PM
Response to Original message
41. As If This Place is So Fucking Great?
They must treat immigrants better than people who were born here, because I just can't see it.:grr:
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Vidar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 05:41 PM
Response to Original message
47. I wish these gusamos a fond reunion with their heroes, the ghosts
of Batista & Meyer Lansky.
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Judi Lynn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 06:08 PM
Response to Reply #47
51. And, to a slightly lesser degree, Lucky Luciano. Creepy bunch, weren't they?
Edited on Mon Jan-29-07 06:09 PM by Judi Lynn
It was benficial for Batista that he allowed the Cuban people to help pay for the Mafia casinos, and personally enriched himself daily from their profits. Nice work if you can get it, criminally speaking.
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Captain Hilts Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 10:29 PM
Response to Reply #47
68. People that oppose Castro inherently support Batista? Live and learn. nt
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Judi Lynn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 05:49 PM
Response to Original message
48. They'd better live it up. They'll be upstream without a paddle, with no one to hate.
Pathetic, worthless ####s.
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Payback Time Donating Member (62 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 06:37 PM
Response to Reply #48
56. You Guys Have it Wrong
I lived in Miami almost 30 years before I moved to New Orleans where I live now. I had many Cuban friends. The Cubans are wonderful people as you may know - loyal, faithful, true, hardworking, cultured descendants of European Spaniards, as well as Africans.

I am a Democrat with liberal leanings -- many Cubans were Republicans - Be that as it may, and as disappointing as it was that they stuck with Bush (more the first than second time), I didn't allow politics to come between us.

Andy Garcia had it right in his film, "The Lost City." Yes, there was corruption and rich, landed gentry in Cuban, as well as mafia, but the revolutionaries took land from everyone, whether corrupt or good, hardworking people who had earned their dough. And that wasn't enough, Castro was so paranoid as to jail and kill many who were not with him. He may have built some good infrastructure into his country since then, and we may admire how some of it is managed now, but human beings have long memories. When their land is stolen from them and their friends and relatives jailed for little or no reason, I understand why they would turn against Fidel so vehimently.

Remember the adage of not judging someone until you walk a mile in their shoes. None of you went through this experience so I consider most comment made here shallow and not borne of experience (as are many comments by people on blogs). I daresay that if the government took your home and jailed your father because you didn't agree with it, you would hate them equally.

In addition, my Miami friends HAD TO send money and medicine to Cuba BEFORE the current embargo. People really don't have enough to live on, at least they didn't in the last 15 years - possibly it is better now, but I really wonder about that.

Lastly, I met a Cuban gentleman this week who is a praticing attorney here now (I would think this is a very difficult thing for an immigrant to achieve and takes hard work, something Miami Cubans are known for - Miami would not be what it is now without the Cubans). His father was Assistant Secretary of Education to the government BEFORE Batista. It was a democratic, capitalistic society. Unfortunately, capitalistic societies have a privileged class but corruption is found everywhere. Yes, the Cuban revolution purged the society - but since when is murder and robbery ok?
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killbotfactory Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 07:30 PM
Response to Reply #56
59. Before the Embargo?
The Embargo was started in 1963, then strengthened in 1992. Right after the Soviet Union collapsed, and Cuba lost a lot of financial aid. I suppose the idea was to try and crush them economically in their moment of weakness. But, anyway, It's been going on longer than 15 years.

And before Batista, there was democracy as well as many problems. Fidel was even running for an election to the Cuban parliament when Batista led his coup in 1952. One of the many problems of Pre-Revolution Cuba were massive poverty, leading to de facto graveyards along rural roads where peasants would die waiting for medical care, to death squads run by Batista, to the mafia basically running everything. Batista's actions made revolution inevitable.
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Captain Hilts Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 10:31 PM
Response to Reply #56
69. Right. Opposing Castro doesn't mean liking Batista. It's about Castro. nt
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killbotfactory Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 06:20 PM
Response to Original message
53. Is the mafia invited?
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Dean Martin Donating Member (426 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 07:19 PM
Response to Reply #53
57. Castro ran the mafia out, that's why our gov't hates him
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PittPoliSci Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 06:30 PM
Response to Original message
55. how tasteful.
Celebrating the death of anyone, wow. I applaud you Miami.
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superconnected Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 07:21 PM
Response to Reply #55
58. Well if dumb dumb died and seattle celebrated I'd be happy
but then dumb dumb is a mass murderer.
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mitchum Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 09:35 PM
Response to Original message
60. What? The MIAMI CRYBABIES are gonna quit crying for a party?
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damntexdem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 09:40 PM
Response to Original message
61. Really? I thought they were saving the party favors for when ...
global warming drowns Miami.
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killbotfactory Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 09:42 PM
Response to Reply #61
62. No, they are saving their cocaine for that...
who am I kidding? They aren't saving their cocaine.
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Judi Lynn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 09:49 PM
Response to Original message
63. They should celebrate what they've done for Miami, by golly.
This seems a good time to post the words of the late, great little Napoleon godfather of the original "exile" community, a man who went in the Bay of Pigs invasion but STAYED IN THE BOAT, and became a mega-millionaire in Miami, and ruled the Cuban community with an iron-fist, who advised Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush, as well as Bill Clinton, and who imagined he was going to be the next president of Cuba:
7/1/94 7/31/94 The Miami Herald reprints an interview with Jorge Mas Canosa from the Spanish newspaper El Pais. Mas Canosa was asked by El Pais whether he believed Americans would take over Cuba if Fidel Castro fell. The Herald quoted Mas Canosa as saying, in part, "They haven't even been able to take over Miami! If we have kicked them out of here, how could they possibly take over our own country?" (MH, 7/28/94; WP, 7/28/94)
(snip)
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:xQqmOHDYWkoJ:cuban-exile.com/doc_126-150/doc0146b.html+Jorge+Mas+Canosa+%22El+Pais%22+%22They+haven%27t+even+been+able+to+take+over+Miami%22&hl=en

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Zhade Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 09:51 PM
Response to Original message
64. Nice to see propaganda celebrating death is so lauded here.
Tells me a lot about the mindset of many here.

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Say_What Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 09:56 PM
Response to Original message
67. Only in GUSANOville, the same place that has streets named for terrorists n/t
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Judi Lynn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 10:44 PM
Response to Original message
70. Miami has another funeral to address: Watergate conspirator bought the farm.
Jan 29, 2007 12:07 pm US/Eastern

Miami Memorial Held For E. Howard Hunt
(CBS4) MIAMI A Miami memorial service is scheduled Monday for Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt.

Hunt died January 24th in Miami at age 88.

A former Navy and C-I-A officer, Hunt was jailed for helping plan the June 17th, 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington.

The scandal and ensuing cover-up led to the collapse of Richard Nixon's presidency.

While working for the C-I-A, Hunt recruited four of the five burglars.
(snip/...)

http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_029121011.html

Watergate Burglars



Five men were arrested on June 17, 1972, after they were discovered in Democratic National
Committee headquarters inside the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.They were caught
attempting to steal documents and wiretap the telephones. The burglars are shown here,left
to right:James McCord,Jr.,Roman Gonzalez, Frank Sturgis, Eugenio Martinez, and Bernard Baker.

UPI/CORBIS-BETTMANN

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Bonus Miami celebrity, Wayne Cochran, who made the song "Goin' Back to Miami" "famous!"




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Judi Lynn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 11:21 PM
Response to Original message
71. Miami cops keep watch on Castro's health too
Miami cops keep watch on Castro's health too
Security measures in place if ill Cuban dictator dies

By Brian Hamilton
Tribune staff reporter

January 29, 2007

MIAMI -- The newspaper headline Monday was not exactly discreet, but then again, that was the point, given the views many hold about ailing Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

"When Castro dies, party's on."

But what happens if the party starts in the middle of the Super Bowl?

Sentiment about Castro runs deeply and passionately in South Florida. In the event of his death, there will be a widespread public reaction that will require police attention.

So during a news conference to discuss Super Bowl security on Monday, a reporter asked what would happen if Castro died during the game.

"I think we're very prepared to deal with that," said Robert Parker, director of the Miami-Dade Police Department.

"We have not only discussed plans pertaining to a change in Cuban government, but we've rehearsed it."
(snip/...)

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/cs-070129superbits,1,2926415.story?coll=cs-home-headlines

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




Former C.A.N.F. spokesperson,, now with Cuban Liberty Council, Ninoska Perez Castellon
What is the FBI going to do now?

JOSE Antonio Llama, former director of the Cuban-American National Foundation (CANF), is considering bringing fraud charges against several of his colleagues whom he is accusing of having seized funds of close to $1.5 million earmarked for a terrorist plot against Cuba, according to Miami sources.
JOSE Antonio Llama, former director of the Cuban-American National Foundation (CANF), is considering bringing fraud charges against several of his colleagues whom he is accusing of having seized funds of close to $1.5 million earmarked for a terrorist plot against Cuba, according to Miami sources.

The finance-terror scandal was uncovered by Radio Miami in its “El Duende” feature and explained by journalist Reynaldo Taladrid in last Monday’s (June 19) edition of Cuban TV’s Roundtable program.

The Miami Herald confirmed Llama’s exposé on Thursday 22 in an article that expands on the details of a conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism which had the participation of the deceased CANF president, Jorge Mas Canosa and various directors of the renowned Cuban-American lobby.

“Toñín” Llama admitted to the Herald that he and other members of that organization’s hierarchy created a paramilitary wing to commit acts of destabilization in Cuba and eliminate President Fidel Castro.
(snip)

Alfredo Mesa, executive director of the CANF, described Llama’s charge as “an attempt at extortion and defamation,” while Ninoska Pérez Castellón, director and spokesperson for the Cuban Liberty Council (CÑLC), a breakaway group, stated that the case was “in the hands of lawyers.”
(snip/...)
http://colorado.indymedia.org/newswire/display/13914/index.php
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anitar1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-29-07 11:54 PM
Response to Original message
73. Rich people celebrate ? n/t
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Nihil Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-30-07 09:14 AM
Response to Original message
75. Hope Castro holds on for a bit longer ...
... that way he'll get to laugh at Miami when it gets totalled
by the next hurricane ...

:toast: :eyes:
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