The Freedom Exchange Online

Is Castro finally stepping down? Or is he falling down? On Monday, the 80-year-old Castro issued an official announcement that he had acute intestinal bleeding and had to undergo a “complicated surgical operation”. Really. I have heard any medical procedure in Cuba was a “complicated surgical operation”.

Even more surprising to most was when Castro turned the presidency over to his 75-year-old brother Raul Castro. I thought Raul Castro was the lead actor in the Addams Family remake but after some intense investigative journalism it turns out I was wrong. In fact Raul is responsible for much of what Cuba is today - a totalitarian, repressive regime.
It was Raul who first attended the 1953 socialist youth conference in Vienna. And it was Raul who enlisted the famous Latin American guerrilla fighter Che Guevara. And it was the younger Castro who talked the Soviets into deploying medium missiles in Cuba, which culminated in the 1962 October missile crisis. As defense minister Raul has defeated American forces on several occasions including the Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961.
Over the years Raul Castro has built the Cuban military into a profitable enterprise that is responsible for almost two thirds of the countries convertible revenue. There has never been an attempted coup and only one senior officer has defected. Unlike his brother Fidel, Raul has never been one to engender loyalty in his followers, instead Raul has used terror, torture and execution to impose his will upon the Cuban people.
Those of you who are dancing in the streets at Fidel Castro’s ‘acute intestinal bleeding’ may need to pause. I have read the reports of Raul being more amenable and softer on the west while embracing some economic reforms. And I ain’t buying it. The man wants to emulate the Chinese model of communism, where you are a favored trade partner of the US and can still enslave your citizens.
I remember several years ago when we invaded Iraq. I was never clear exactly why we went but some of the reasons I heard were to remove the evil dictator Saddam Hussein, free the Iraqi people, and bring democracy to Iraq. At the time I thought why not invade Cuba? We could take out the evil dictator Fidel Castro, free the Cuban people and bring democracy to Cuba. And our soldiers could come home for the weekend. Looking back now it makes even more sense