NationStates Jolt Archive

Fidel Castro fell leaving the stage after a televised speech. Did anyone see it? He tripped on a step and flew foward. I think he broke an elbow and his knee or something like that. Well he was on live television when it happened. And they played the clip on the Daily Show. That's how I saw it.

Couldn't help but laugh because it was so unexpected. But he's a pretty old man. That had to hurt.

No I didn't see it but I heard about it. And according to what I heard, there were people in the audience crying because of it.

How many people here would cry if Bush fell at a rally?

Communists are evidently more sympathetic people.

[/heavy sarcasm, in case you don't know me]

Yeah, saw it on Rueters (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=6577311). He broke his left knee and had a hairline fracture in his right arm. I'm not too sympathetic.

Funny thing... after he was pulled up, he took the microphone and said something like "So no rumors start spreading around, I think I just broke my left knee and maybe rupture my right arm, I dont know yet but I think that's it, as you can see I can still talk, so I will have no problem to carry on with my normal duties".

He's one tough motherfucker.

When is he gonna die...

When is he gonna die...
Empirical evidence points to Castro living until a quarter past forever. Why can't all leaders be so durable? (physically, that is. Not politically)

lol yea :D hes like 74 or somtin...

lol yea :D hes like 74 or somtin...
Close. He's actually 78.

Ha! That's gotta hurt his ego. Too bad he didn't break a hip. Thats usually the first step towards the grave. Get it? First step........ bah!

Poor fidel 8(

At least he has the best doctors in the spanish speaking american world to fix him up.

When his time does come that great man will be missed. Let us hope that time is a long way off.

poor fidel, that means he'll have to cut back his partying lifestyle

He's one tough motherfucker.Yeah... he kicks ass. Cuba would be a good country if the US was nicer to them... All hail Cuba.

Yeah... he kicks ass. Cuba would be a good country if the US was nicer to them... All hail Cuba.

Ive heard this pro-cuban propaganda all the time while in South Africa. Its dreadfully amusing.

Cuba was a hellhole long before US sanction, it was suffering brain drain (especially of those ledgendary medical specialists who are ledgendary more because of the narrowness of their specialization than exceedingly good skills, but hey,) poverty, foreign occupation, communism, and supply shortages.

Seeing as the rest of the world does more than enough trade with Cuba and the US was never really a major trading partner, the sanctions has about as much effect on the economic health of Cuba as scorpion induced fatalaties in Greenland do to the cost of pencil sharpeners.

The main reason for Cuba's poverty is, despite US rebuilding efforts, lack of infrastructure and sustainable, profitable industries. Generally, in order to make money, you have to produce a lot of things a lot of people want, and crush competitors somehow. Cubans destroyed a lot of the agriculture that was keeping them aloft about a century ago and i think that this prevented a gradual transition into the proper economic systems of today.

Stupid activists, burning farms and stuff....

Hopefully he will die soon..... which will finally end his rule and that of his cronies, which aren't all that much better than most other Latin American dictators (from the time he took power, a lot fewer Latin American dictators nowdays)

To his credit, he seems to have killed a lot fewer opponents than most Communist leaders, and he did some good things for Cuba. He apparently was a true believer, which is more than many Communist nations could say either.

But his policies essentially rented thousands of Cuban troops to the Soviet Union during the Cold War, where they fought in several wars in Africa, wars that left those parts of Africa a much worse place than necessary. And those wars killed a large number of Cubans too. Only the bankruptcy of the Soviet Union and its collapse ended that practice.

His death hopefully will end the Cold War left over (archaic and stupid, but that is why is there) policies of US isolation of Cuba.. eventually (I have faith in inertia in that department)

So I will not mourn his passing... although I admit he was a giant on the world stage (especially considering how relatively unimportant Cuba is to the grand scheme of things unless you are Cuban)

But remember this... he invited the Soviet Union to place missiles in Cuba in 1962 that damn near caused World War 3.... regardless of who you blame for the Cuban Missile Crisis, it wouldn't have occured if he hadn't invited the Soviets to place nuclear tipped medium ranged ballistic missiles in Cuba, and that came within a hair of triggering a US invasion, a Soviet use of tactical nuclear weapons and a cascade of events that would probably have led to the destruction of the Soviet Union as a biological entity (much less as a nation), the destruction of most of Europe and the destruction of parts of North America

Soon he will be gone (the elderly do not have a good overall survival rate with broken bones and it will lower his overall longevity. So within 5 years probably, Castro will be dead.

Hopefully Cuba will move in a positive direction afterward.

The Red Sox beat the Yankees, Castro fell down and messed himself up, and I didn't get called on in class today. If you ask me, God woke up from a short, 80 year or so nap and said, "Damn, stuff got this meesed up? Give me a week, I straighten it all out."

As for Castro being a true believer; in what? Communism? Marx would have laughed at the fatigued, bearded one if they ever met and Fidel tried to pass himself off as a communist. One of Uncle Karl's favorite things to do was chill in the library and read. Every once in a while, an ardent young revolutionary would walk up and say, "I love your writing, I'm a communist!" Marx would respond, "Oh really, then tell me what a communist is." After 15 minutes or so of rambling, Karl would cut the poor sap off and say, "If what you have said is being a communist, then I am no communist."

True communism contemplates no theory for armed rebellion in places like Cuba. Only fully developed nations could create the conditions necessary for the proleteriat to rise up and seize the means of production. Communism in Cuba is a joke. I mean, the guy sanctioned a well developed black market in American currency. C'mon.

Hopefully Cuba will move in a positive direction afterward.

Stupid Cubans, it was us who took up the duty of repelling the communists from Africa, and we won some great victories against the communist agressors.

As for the dictatorship's end, do not be so sure. His selected sucessor may be far more brutal and hardset on maintaining power, and consequently impossible to get rid of. He may make a classic "formerly communist" corrupted dictatorship out of Cuba, and begin a military reign of his nation. I can only see a downhill course for Cuba, which will create a vicious cycle of brain drain and dissent. It will take a long time until it starts to recover, like some parts of africa are doing now.

Hopefully he will die soon.....

hey, fidel is a cool guy. he used to come party with us back in college.



http://img55.exs.cx/img55/6259/fidel-and-me.jpg

Yeah he US really wanted to "help" Cuba develop right? That's why they funded Batista? Batista who was reviled by the Cuban people? And there was that clause in their constitution that meant all legislation had to go through the US parliament? That and the US basically ran the Cuban economy... In the words of... someone... (I don't remember who!) Cuba was to become just another outpost of United Fruit. Cuban people were dirt poor, had no acces to health and most were illiterate. At least now they have health and literacy. And I'm sure they'd be better off without sanctions... Not everyone measure happiness by the amount of consumer goods you can buy btw...

Yeah, great stuff...

I mean, I'm not a huge fan of Castro or anything, but I can understand where he, and other Cuban revolutionaries were coming from. And yeah, Cuba is DEFINITELY not Communist.

Stupid Cubans, it was us who took up the duty of repelling the communists from Africa, and we won some great victories against the communist agressors.

AGGRESSORS??? They were by and large fighting for the independence of their countries from white majority or colonial regime. Look at Patrice Lumumba! The CIA didn't like his policies, and the fact that he threatened Belgian business interests, and had him assassinated. Look at Angola and Mozambique. I'd say it was the intervention (backed by apartheid South Africa- great track record there) that screwed things up more, by creating unnecessary civil war and installing terrible leaders.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3943761.stmWashington has declined to wish Fidel Castro a speedy recovery, with some officials joking that they preferred to hear of a "different kind of fall". Aww, how I love my administration...

I'll just throw in that Fidel was originally a nationalist, and the USA's fear turned him into a red, by having to rely on the USSR...Want proof, look it up yourself :p

True communism contemplates no theory for armed rebellion in places like Cuba. Only fully developed nations could create the conditions necessary for the proleteriat to rise up and seize the means of production. Communism in Cuba is a joke.

Congratulations, you've just discovered what Leninism is.

I'll just throw in that Fidel was originally a nationalist, and the USA's fear turned him into a red, by having to rely on the USSR...Want proof, look it up yourself

I concur. Cuba was viewed as a challenge to US hegemony in Latin America- so they were isolated, threatened and octracised. Logically, they turned to the other superpower for support. This takes me back to Year 11 Modern History. Good times...

The main reason for Cuba's poverty is, despite US rebuilding efforts, lack of infrastructure and sustainable, profitable industries. Generally, in order to make money, you have to produce a lot of things a lot of people want, and crush competitors somehow. Cubans destroyed a lot of the agriculture that was keeping them aloft about a century ago and i think that this prevented a gradual transition into the proper economic systems of today.

What US rebuilding efforts? The US simply maintained status quo in Cuba, except for some money and land changing hands, most of the economy remained in the hands of a very very few. The reason that Cuba was and still is a monocultive is that Spanish landowners exploited whatever made the most profit and imported the rest. Without a very large mass of independent farmers there was never a big variety in production. There was never an agriculture "keeping them aloft".

The US kept the same social order, just introducing casinos and tourism as an industry. Before the Revolution the vast majority of Cubans were dirt poor, and although they are not wealthy now by any means, at least they aren't starving or dying of easily preventable disease. Sure, Fidel and his lot could have done a lot more to improve the conditions in Cuba and they have overstayed their welcome by a couple of decades, but things were much worse before.

I'll just throw in that Fidel was originally a nationalist, and the USA's fear turned him into a red, by having to rely on the USSR...Want proof, look it up yourself :p


Yeah man. Also, Mussolini (sic?) started his career as a communist and was nicknamed the "antipatriot" for a while

Poor guy. He's one of those people who you know is supposed to be some kind of villian, but you can't help but admire his style.

I saw the clip- He was walking off stage and towards the audience, and he flew forward and fell flat on his face like a couple feet away from the first row. And suddenly everyone within ten feet sprinted toward him to help him up. Itt was quite something.

Yeah man. Also, Mussolini (sic?) started his career as a communist and was nicknamed the "antipatriot" for a while

Yup, wrote a paper on him :)

Yeah man. Also, Mussolini (sic?) started his career as a communist and was nicknamed the "antipatriot" for a while
An Hitler started his career as an agent for the socialist bavarian government in the extreme right DAP party - he later remained there and turned it into the NSDAP party.

No I didn't see it but I heard about it. And according to what I heard, there were people in the audience crying because of it.

How many people here would cry if Bush fell at a rally?

Communists are evidently more sympathetic people.

[/heavy sarcasm, in case you don't know me]

Be fair. For a dictator, Castro's not bad. If you picked one out of a hat, you could do worse.

Be fair. For a dictator, Castro's not bad. If you picked one out of a hat, you could do worse.
Amen to that... but I think you could do better, too. I mean, if you're picking out of a hat, you could get someone truly great... someone with something more than charisma. Someone with, dare I say it, a divine presence.... someone with a Nation on NS named after a 19th century writer who had a big, poofy beard and whose work would be used to justify revolutions aplenty in the 20th century...... ;)

Amen to that... but I think you could do better, too. I mean, if you're picking out of a hat, you could get someone truly great... someone with something more than charisma. Someone with, dare I say it, a divine presence.... someone with a Nation on NS named after a 19th century writer who had a big, poofy beard and whose work would be used to justify revolutions aplenty in the 20th century...... ;)

Oscar Wilde never had a beard.

Someone said something about the US sanctions not making much difference and that´s very true. Remember folks, US is capitalists, if it is for the money, they will make business even with China... oh, wait, you ALREADY do business with China that is a communist dictatorship JUST LIKE Cuba, the difference is that China is rich and Cuba is poor, so making Cuba an example by starving it is a much better business then doing it to all the communists countries out there.
Remembering that the US also make money from dictatorships like Iran and Israel.
Politics have little to do with it, the thing is that Cuba have nothing to offer, so it isn´t really a problem to make an example out of it.

(sorry the bad english)

Be fair. For a dictator, Castro's not bad. If you picked one out of a hat, you could do worse.
I'm not sure what I meant by my post (this happens when I'm up posting way too late), but I do like Castro and Cuba. I think they're quite unfairly treated by our country, and the people bear the brunt of that unfairness - not the regime we supposedly hate.

I love how he's an "evil tyrant" and the people love him.

We have an elected official and people hate him :p


And like someone else said, Castro has style. There's been much, much worst then him. And hey, he's taking his old age gracefully at least :p

Fidel Castro fell leaving the stage after a televised speech. Did anyone see it? He tripped on a step and flew foward. I think he broke an elbow and his knee or something like that. Well he was on live television when it happened. And they played the clip on the Daily Show. That's how I saw it.

Couldn't help but laugh because it was so unexpected. But he's a pretty old man. That had to hurt.
Good, I hope he gets an infection, it spreads to his lunatic mind, and he dies in great pain.

Good, I hope he gets an infection, it spreads to his lunatic mind, and he dies in great pain.

My left testicle could make a better post then that.

My left testicle could make a better post then that.
Well, since you are obviously posting with it, go ahead.

Boom!
http://www.europa.com/~john/cannon.jpg
***Fires the Big Ignore cannon at the small person.***

Someone said something about the US sanctions not making much difference and that´s very true. Remember folks, US is capitalists, if it is for the money, they will make business even with China... oh, wait, you ALREADY do business with China that is a communist dictatorship JUST LIKE Cuba, the difference is that China is rich and Cuba is poor, so making Cuba an example by starving it is a much better business then doing it to all the communists countries out there.
Remembering that the US also make money from dictatorships like Iran and Israel.
Politics have little to do with it, the thing is that Cuba have nothing to offer, so it isn´t really a problem to make an example out of it.

(sorry the bad english)

I hate to bring this up but you cannot really call either Iran or Israel a dictatorship.... both routinely have elections, where the voters do get to chose candidates from different parties with diffrent beliefs. Now Iran does have the problem of the Ayotollahs VETOING the elections sometimes, or at least the candidates, but one day they will not be allowed to do that anymore (and the Iranians are going to be the ones that make that happen).

Well, China isn't really all that rich either, but compared to Cuba, they are living in Bevelry Hills while Cuba lives in LA South Central

The sanctions against Cuba continue because Florida is a key state in the election process in the US, and it has LOTS of expat Cubans and their descendents who really hate Castro.

Until he dies, the sanctions will continue.

Well, since you are obviously posting with it, go ahead.

Boom!
http://www.europa.com/~john/cannon.jpg
***Fires the Big Ignore cannon at the small person.***

...Since when did the right wing get their own version of Chess?

I'm pro Castro, and pro Cuba,(though I would PREFER that Cuba became democratic) just to get my bias up front:) However, I do find myself wondering what is going to happen to Cuba when Fidel actually does die. Fall or no fall, it is inevitable as taxes:)

Fidel has ruled that country with an incredible cult of personality. He is larger than life, an almost mythical persona. Anyone 'put' in his place after he dies will fail to live up to such a presence. I don't think Castro is going to hand-pick the next dictator. He's too much of a control freak to let someone else have a go at it, even after his death. I honestly think Castro will surprise us all and open Cuba up to elections. Based on what? Whimsy perhaps. I have no proof, just a feeling that he would enjoy our confusion over his actions. Castro is not going to believe anyone is fit to continue the job he has made his life's work, and the only alternative to that is to let the people themselves take over his position. I'm sure, like a parent, he is hoping his people will not give themselves over to excess (or become another Puerto Rico), but at some point he's just going to have to let them try it on their own.

Tough old bugger:)

ive read that other countries have invested in cuba, including luxury vacation resorts.

have any of y'all taken a vacation in cuba? or maybe you know someone who has? how did you like it?

while i dont wish him dead, i am impatient for the day he does die so the US can stop this stupid vendetta against him and we can get back to a reasonable relationship with cuba again. i hope to visit as soon as it is fully legal for me to do so.

But his policies essentially rented thousands of Cuban troops to the Soviet Union during the Cold War, where they fought in several wars in Africa, wars that left those parts of Africa a much worse place than necessary. .
no im pretty sure that was caused by the americans funding all the evil dictators to put down the commie funded rbels

I'm pro Castro, and pro Cuba,(though I would PREFER that Cuba became democratic) just to get my bias up front:) However, I do find myself wondering what is going to happen to Cuba when Fidel actually does die. Fall or no fall, it is inevitable as taxes:)

His flaming little brother will take over, turn it into an island paradise with theatres playing nothing but musicals and cigars dyed flesh colored.

Fidel Castro fell leaving the stage after a televised speech. Did anyone see it? He tripped on a step and flew foward. I think he broke an elbow and his knee or something like that. Well he was on live television when it happened. And they played the clip on the Daily Show. That's how I saw it.

Couldn't help but laugh because it was so unexpected. But he's a pretty old man. That had to hurt.


It looked to me like he tripped on the tattered remenants of his concience.

hey, fidel is a cool guy. he used to come party with us back in college.



http://img55.exs.cx/img55/6259/fidel-and-me.jpg

ahhh yes, TIO FIDEL used to come visit us every year for easter. it was more difficult in 1963 the year after the cuban missle crisis but he didnt let us down.
http://www.zianet.com/tvs/fidelfam.jpg

im the little 6 year old girl in the front. man, he was the BEST at hiding easter candy!

Considering all we've done to make things miserable for Cuba, Fidel's done quite well. Besides, even the Fidel-haters out there can agree he's no Kim Jong-ill. Not by a friggin longshot. He's at least on par with most other latin-american countries on terms of civil rights.

Fidel Castro fell leaving the stage after a televised speech. Did anyone see it? He tripped on a step and flew foward. I think he broke an elbow and his knee or something like that. Well he was on live television when it happened. And they played the clip on the Daily Show. That's how I saw it.

Couldn't help but laugh because it was so unexpected. But he's a pretty old man. That had to hurt.

My heart is breaking for the man. I hope he gets better soon! (Said sarcasticly)

i go to the trouble of posting a pic of me and tio fidel and no one is gonna LOOK at it?

lets try again

BUMP

Yup I almost felt sorry for the old guy...

Who all the pro-castro nations really are.
Cuba is not a democratic socialist paradise like they believe,
read my posts, better yet read La Yuma s posts.

Lol, that's the best news I've heard in months! :D

Too bad the old bastard didn't break a hip or die. Fidel is a horrible dictator. if he is so good to his people, then I want someone to explain why thousands of Cubans each year risk their lives to flea to the US.

The embargo has little effect on Cuba as he trades with the rest of North America and the EU, but his economy is still down the tubes.

I want to know something, why do people here defend Fidel and think Cuba is a paradise. If it is so great, move there and see how much you enjoy the Standard of Living and the lack of basic rights like free speech.

As for the Administration's comments, it is good to see that they don't with sadistic bastards like Castro well.

nations of nation states
open your eyes to the
dictatorship, Cuba is not a
democratic socialist paradise
it is a dictatorship, you would not have
the right to own home computers,
or participate on a forum like nation states
and state your economic, political and social views.
The list is to long to mention on this thread,
please read my posts and la yuma s posts and learn
what a real dictatorship is like.