the opinionist

As per my early (5am) morning routine - courtesy the new year’s resolution - I wander, feet shuffling and bleary-eyed to the kitchen to light the kettle for a nice wakey-wakey ‘cuppa tea’. This morning my sleep-induced fatigue failed me miserably - but luckily my terrific sense of smell saved the day! I set fire to my robe on the gas range and felt obliged to roll around the kitchen floor to put out the rapidly spreading flames. One heck of a way to start the day!

The quick morning read of Drudge’s ‘Castro near death‘ headline story, my wincing glances at the smoldering remains of my robe and a soothing sip of breakfast tea made me think. As Fidel embarks on his celestial journey to the Pearly-Gates - how is old St. Pete going to explain to Fidel that the sulfurous pits of Hell might be a better fit? Will the ‘Saintly one’ present the newly-departed with a review of his resume? Complete with teacher-style red ticks on the major problem areas? Which maleficent subject matter will force the Cuban despot to tumble into a hotter netherworld?

When Hollywood filmmakers ponder a fitting movie script - to lament the death of a man embraced by so many Left-coast elitists - perhaps they too should ponder his legacy:

Castro’s early murderous days in Bogotá, Columbia, with the suspected murders of university rivals and an uprising in 1948 that saw thousands slaughtered.

Castro and the early days of the great Cuban Revolution that saw all opposition to Fidel and his brother Raul executed by firing squad at ‘el paredón’ - ‘the Wall’. Politicians, journalists, intellectuals and American citizens met their bloody fate at the hands of Fidel and his sick brother.

Castro’s prisons, of which there are over 300 on an island roughly the size of Pennsylvania, hold political prisoners, dissidents, human-rights workers, journalists and independent librarians - all labeled ‘prisoners of conscience’ by Amnesty International.
Described as ‘Cubas Gulags’ in a Washington Times article - these prisoners did nothing more than raise a petition for a free and open Cuba.
When the ‘Self-Righteous Fraternity’ demand a hearty Liberal comparison to the U.S. ‘Gulag’ Guantanamo - it might be appropriate to mention that, unlike Cuba’s notorious prisions, ‘Gitmo’ allows for access by the International Red Cross and - according to a senior Belgian security officer, the “Inmates at (the) Guantanamo Bay prison are treated better than in Belgian jails”.

Castro’s international record hardly adds to the wholesome image. The Cuban military played useful thug-associate for the Soviet Union’s African adventures including Angola and Ethiopia. Adventures that included Castro’s trademark torture rooms and the murder of hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent citizens and those that dare tackle the socialist agenda.

Castro’s alleged involvement in the assassination of President John F Kennedy refuses to curtail the attentions of a truly ‘Who’s Who’ of Hollywood empty-heads with remarkably reverent comments from these fickle and stunningly-shallow folks including (and there are so many!) :

- Jack Nicholson - “He (Castro) is a genius. We spoke about everything …” [Variety Magazine]

- Steven Spielberg - “I feel so much at home here. I hope to come back many times in the future …” [BBC news]

- Oliver Stone - “We should look to him as one of the Earth’s wisest people, one of the people we should consult …” [CBSNews]

Castro’s greed at the cost of his nation’s welfare is greatly emphasized by his estimated $500m personal fortune supposedly stashed in Swiss bank accounts. When combined with the reported reselling, for personal gain, of oil donated to Cuba by Venezuelan socialist, Hugo Chávez (90,000 barrels a day) … Fidel comes across as a genuine Robin Hood.

So when the news networks finally receive confirmation that “Cuba’s Elvis” [Dan Rather’s famous quote) Fidel Castro has left this mortal coil; kicked the bucket; passed on … perhaps they’ll give Fidel the same fair treatment as I’m sure Saint Peter might allow. Show us his resume, confirm his career highlights, and then wave him goodbye.

Posted on January 16th, 2007 under Chávez, Cuba, Fidel Castro, Gitmo, Gulag, Hell, JFK, Venezuela •  Email This Post • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback