Fidel Castro Resigns

[swivel]

The king is dead, the king is dead.

Long live the king!

Fidel Castro has resigned as commander-in-chief. It is expected that his brother, Raul (age 76), will be taking over.

It is not clear that this will change anything. Until Fidel dies, there will be internal pressure to maintain the status quo in honor of the guy. U.S. policy is unlikely to change, either. So, the grand experiment in communism continues to rot right off of our coast, all to assuage the ego of a homicidal maniac.

[gprime]

I can't believe that this is the first place I heard about this. I guess it shows just how early on in my browse list this site is. Thanks for giving us the head's up Swivel.

[swivel]

I can't believe that this is the first place I heard about this. I guess it shows just how early on in my browse list this site is. Thanks for giving us the head's up Swivel.

No problem. I'm just glad that I was able to spend so much time in Cuba before the changes. I can't wait to go back over the next 20-30 years and see the progress. Whenever I think of the friends I made there, my heart just hurts for them. A more beautiful populace never was subjected to a more irrational torture.

[The Diabolical Mr. Lieman]

No problem. I'm just glad that I was able to spend so much time in Cuba before the changes. I can't wait to go back over the next 20-30 years and see the progress. Whenever I think of the friends I made there, my heart just hurts for them. A more beautiful populace never was subjected to a more irrational torture.

Saw the news this morning. Agree, not sure how much it really changes, but still.




SHIT.




He's done. And Jimmy Carter can finally bust a nut. That useless man, that.

Spent lots of time over there? Awesome?

Mind sometime telling us all some stories?

[swivel]

Mind sometime telling us all some stories?

Hmmm. Well, my first day in Havana was interesting. I was with another friend, and we were very obviously American. We went to a cigar factory to get some fresh-rolled smokes, and I was being very paranoid, glancing about all the time, and my friend, Douglas, kept making fun of me.

"That dude is following us, Doug", I said.

"Shut the fuck up", was his response.

So, we took a little tour of one of the factories, and got some cigars, and as we step out on the street again, I notice over my burning match the same dude across the street. Looking right at me.

"Doug. Seriously, there is the same guy. We are being followed."

That's when this other dude came up to us. "Americans?", he asks.

"Si", I said.

And the dude starts beaming. "Come, come", he says. "Come to my home, I give you the best cigars you ever smoke. Come".

Well, this is just the sort of adventure that Doug and I liked to get into. Meeting locals, eating meals in their homes, getting off the beaten path... so we agreed to go along with the guy. We set out, and as I turn the corner I just can't help looking back over my shoulder to see our shadow crossing the street after us.

So begins the march across Havana. Our guide kept telling us that it wasn't much further, but we walked for miles. And the guy behind us stayed the same distance, he knew I was looking back at him, and being that bold had me quite nervous. Even more nerve-wracking was the fact that I was wearing a "wire".

You see, I had this MiniDisc player on that trip, and a microphone that I would clip on the inside of my collar. This would let me put my hand in my pocket and key on a recording, catching local conversations from Nova Scotia to Columbia and Panama. It never seemed a big deal, until now. Because during our entire walk, whenever we weren't in a crowd, our guide kept telling us how much he hated Fidel. How the whole country did, but they were all scared. And here I was, an America, recording him. It was pretty intense. And I still didn't know what our tail wanted from us.

As we made our way through China Town, we started talking about the hookers. These girls were coming up to Doug and I, tugging on our shirts, asking us if we liked them. Our guide said that they made more money than the Cuban surgeons, and parents promoted them doing this, so they could afford to make ends meet. It was disgusting. And it was in China Town that I told our guide we were being followed.

He said, "Yes", and then he stopped in the middle of the sidewalk (the first time the guy had let the pace up for half an hour of speed-walking), he turns right around, and starts waving to the guy behind us. I almost shit my pants. Part of me had been thinking that the two dudes were working together, and they were going to rob us once we got to the guys house. Doug later confessed the same theory, and we were both poised to "fight or flight" at any moment.

Our follower didn't wave back. He just stood there, staring at us, same exact distance. Our guide grinned at us and turned back to the task of hiking half across the goddamn island.

"Who is he?", Doug asks.

"Police", our guide says. "He makes sure nothing happens to you".

So he tells us what percentage of Cubans work for the government, military, or police. It is basically a police-state. And accordingly very safe. These guys tail tourists to make sure nothing happens to them, especially Americans. Finding this out, Douglas and I went from feeling very edgy, to never having another care during that trip. I did have some other touchy moments on the South side of the island, but from then out, I felt like I could see the police all over the bigger cities.

[The Diabolical Mr. Lieman]

AWESOME.



I'm jealous.

Cop, huh? Damn, that must've been intense, and yeah, when the dude waved at the guy, I would've been all over the notion that I was about to get jacked.

Interesting, about the hookers making more than surgeons. Anything to do with the health care system they have in place I wonder? :D

[swivel]

AWESOME.



I'm jealous.

Cop, huh? Damn, that must've been intense, and yeah, when the dude waved at the guy, I would've been all over the notion that I was about to get jacked.

Interesting, about the hookers making more than surgeons. Anything to do with the health care system they have in place I wonder? :D

No. They just all make about the same amount of money. The only way to prosper is to do illegal shit. But that is what happens with any planned economy, it just creates a "secret economy" to compensate.

One of the first things I learned there is that American dollars are worth WAY MORE than the local currency. You didn't want to try to convert, and use local money, you just wanted to carry huge wads of small bills. I felt like I was in a strip-joint.

If you sat at a nice restaurant, the menu would tell you how much the food was in local currency. You could pull the waiter over and ask, "How much in American?", while pointing at the item you wanted. The answer never ceased to shock the fuck out of me. We had steak dinners that rank up there with the best meals I have ever had, and left a $10 bill for the entire meal. We would tip a few dollars, max, because we quickly learned that to tip more than that was obscene.

In a small village near Hemmingway Marina we played some soccer with some local kids. Afterwards, one of them rushed home and came back with two warm, local sodas. I gave him an American dollar, and shit you not, I am crying right now thinking about how pathetic it was to see him look at both sides of that bill. We were like heroes to those kids. They had no English at all, we just kicked ball around and gave thumbs-up, and yes's and no's, and my limited Spanish. But I could tell how badly those kids wanted to know everything about the United States.

Douglas and I were very sad on our ride back to the marina that day. I felt like we owed those kids something. That we needed to get everyone off that damn island. I often felt that the entire country was a sinking ship, and the brave Cubans who set off for America were like wharf rats who knew this.

I was very much anti-Communist before I spent time in Cuba and Columbia. But afterwards, my intellectual disdain combined with a moral disgust, and now I can not tolerate any pro-Communism talk. That system is pure, fucking evil.

[The Diabolical Mr. Lieman]

Wow.

Its different hearing this on the news, and hearing about this from someone who was there, just describing a child looking at a dollar bill as if it were a national treasure. Just wow.

So I have to ask, and not because Im being silly...seriously...did you try some of the hookers? Whats the disease ratio over there I wonder?

Im thinking if the money is like that, I might drop a twenty and sample some goods, I dunno.

[swivel]

Wow.

Its different hearing this on the news, and hearing about this from someone who was there, just describing a child looking at a dollar bill as if it were a national treasure. Just wow.

So I have to ask, and not because Im being silly...seriously...did you try some of the hookers? Whats the disease ratio over there I wonder?

Im thinking if the money is like that, I might drop a twenty and sample some goods, I dunno.

I've never been with a hooker. I'm not a very sexual person, anyway. I was back when I was much younger, but at the age of 23, I decided to quit having sex, and didn't until I met my current wife. I was in Cuba three times during this phase of my life, so it wasn't an option anyway.

Besides, you would have to be a pedophile to get with these girls. They can only really whore themselves out up to the age of 18. That's when the government takes over the rest of their lives, and they don't have the freedom to choose what they do.

Several of the taxis we got in over there had a young girl riding in the passenger seat. The driver would drop us off at the yacht and ask if we wanted "company". According to the Cuban bartender at Hemingway Marina, the girl was most likely the daughter of the taxi driver. Dwell on that shit for awhile.

Twice I gave the driver his fare and gave a dollar to the girl. One of these times, we were actually riding in a Ford Model 'T', but it had a diesel engine in it. The cars over there were a sad spectacle. A physical, constant reminder of a place that peaked long ago, and has seen nothing but rot, rust, and decay since.

[The Diabolical Mr. Lieman]

I've never been with a hooker. I'm not a very sexual person, anyway. I was back when I was much younger, but at the age of 23, I decided to quit having sex, and didn't until I met my current wife. I was in Cuba three times during this phase of my life, so it wasn't an option anyway.

Besides, you would have to be a pedophile to get with these girls. They can only really whore themselves out up to the age of 18. That's when the government takes over the rest of their lives, and they don't have the freedom to choose what they do.

Several of the taxis we got in over there had a young girl riding in the passenger seat. The driver would drop us off at the yacht and ask if we wanted "company". According to the Cuban bartender at Hemingway Marina, the girl was most likely the daughter of the taxi driver. Dwell on that shit for awhile.

Twice I gave the driver his fare and gave a dollar to the girl. One of these times, we were actually riding in a Ford Model 'T', but it had a diesel engine in it. The cars over there were a sad spectacle. A physical, constant reminder of a place that peaked long ago, and has seen nothing but rot, rust, and decay since.


Holy shit. I mean....ugh. Never. Fucking. Mind.

[swivel]

Holy shit. I mean....ugh. Never. Fucking. Mind.

Besides, a 12-year-old Thai girl is so much hotter than a 12-year-old Cuban. And cheap!

[The Diabolical Mr. Lieman]

Besides, a 12-year-old Thai girl is so much hotter than a 12-year-old Cuban. And cheap!

:D But not as hot as a 12 year old Thai BOY!

[swivel]

:D But not as hot as a 12 year old Thai BOY!

Touche! We should go on vacation together. Share some of the "expenses".

[ells9824]

Fidel Castro has resigned as commander-in-chief.

Pffffft what a quitter.

[swivel]

Pffffft what a quitter.

Well, I hate the evil fucker, but I have to say, he held out longer than any other Communist leader. I chalk that up to being an island that is just 40 miles off of our coast. This did two things: it isolated the people from easy escape, and at the same time, kept the entire country under the same protective umbrella that Mexico and Canada enjoy.

My favorite T-Shirt has a pic of Che with a circle around his beret-wearing mug, and a slash right through it. It says: "Commies Aren't Cool".

I get jeers when I wear it.