Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Speculation & Succession


Oh, the flurry of speculation about whether or not Fidel Castro is dead now that Cuba has announced the handing over of temporary power to his brother Raul! And then there's the flurry of speculation about how Cuba will change with Fidel out of power or dead. Will the Miami exiles return en masse and reclaim their posh homes and sugar cane plantations? Will capitalism overnight quash decades of the red menace that festered in the backyard of the U.S.?

I don't think Castro is dead, and while I'm pretty sure there's lots of talk in Havana today about the (temporary or not?) hand-off, I also don't think it's the shocker for Cubans there that the U.S. government would like it to be. During rallies on Havana's Plaza de la Revolucion the crowd for years has alternated between chants of "Fidel! Fidel! Fidel!" with "Raul! Raul! Raul!"...that's some seriously strategic succession planning.

3 comments:

nightgrapefruit said...

Did Sharon ever die? Or are they still keeping him on life support.

A friend who used to do graphics for the nightly news once told me she had made a "Reagan Dies" banner just in case he slipped away. No clue on whether or not they used it.

kimberly kinchen said...

The Beeb's Sharon profile still has him on life support.

I've heard that would-be obits are kept up-to-date for anyone who is anyone. And there is even an annual obit writer's conference. The dead and dying are popular and interesting.

nightgrapefruit said...

Like Jude Law in Closer.