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View Full Version : Fidel Castro gives rare speech saying he will soon die



Tyr-Ziu Saxnot
04-19-2016, 05:10 PM
https://www.yahoo.com/news/state-media-fidel-castro-attends-cuban-communist-congress-151641541.html?nhp=1

fidel castro gives rare speech saying he will soon die
[associated press]
michael weissenstein
april 19, 2016

havana (ap) — cuban revolutionary leader fidel castro delivered a valedictory speech tuesday to the communist party that he put in power a half-century ago, telling party members he will soon die and exhorting them to help his ideas survive.

“i’ll be 90 years old soon,” castro said in his most extensive public appearance in years. “soon i’ll be like all the others. The time will come for all of us, but the ideas of the cuban communists will remain as proof on this planet that if they are worked at with fervor and dignity, they can produce the material and cultural goods that human beings need, and we need to fight without a truce to obtain them.”

castro spoke as the government announced that his brother raul will retain the cuban communist party’s highest post alongside his hardline second-in-command. That announcement and fidel castro’s speech together delivered a resounding message that the island’s revolutionary generation will remain in control even as its members age and die, relations with the u.s. Are normalized, and popular dissatisfaction grows over the country’s economic performance.

Fifty-five years after fidel castro declared that cuba’s revolution was socialist and began installing a single-party system and centrally planned economy, the cuban government is battling a deep crisis of credibility.

With no memory of the revolution’s heady first decades, younger cubans complain bitterly about low state salaries of about $25 a month that leave them struggling to afford food and other staple goods. Cuba’s creaky state-run media and cultural institutions compete with flashy foreign programming shared online and on memory drives passed hand-to-hand. Emigration to the united states and other countries has soared to one of its highest points since the revolution.
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limited openings to private enterprise have stalled, and the government describes capitalism as a threat even as it appears unable to increase productivity in cuba’s inefficient, theft-plagued networks of state-run enterprises.

The ideological gulf between government and people widened last month when president barack obama became the first u.s. Leader to visit cuba in nearly 90 years and delivered a widely praised speech live on state television urging cubans to forget the history of hostility between the u.s. And cuba and move toward a new era of normal diplomatic and economic relations.

The cuban government offered little unified response until the communist party’s seventh party congress began saturday, and one high-ranking official after another warned that the u.s. Was still an enemy that wants to take control of cuba. They said obama’s trip represented an ideological “attack.”

that defensive stance was reinforced tuesday as the congress ended and the government said raul castro, 84, would remain the party’s first secretary and jose ramon machado ventura would hold the post of second secretary for at least part of a second five-year term.

Castro currently is both president and party first secretary. The decision means castro could hold a communist party position at least as powerful as the presidency even after he is presumably replaced by a younger president in 2018.

Machado ventura, 85, who fought alongside the castro brothers to overthrow dictator fulgencio batista in 1959, is known as an enforcer of communist orthodoxy and voice against some of the biggest recent economic reforms.

He often has been employed by the castros to impose order in areas seen as lacking discipline, most recently touring the country to crack down on private sellers of fruits, vegetables and other agricultural goods. While raul castro opened cuba’s faltering agricultural economy to private enterprise, the government has blamed a new class of private farmers and produce merchants for a rise in prices.

Shortly after the congress ended tuesday afternoon, government-run television showed rare images of 89-year-old fidel castro seated at the dais in havana’s convention palace, dressed in a plaid shirt and sweat top and speaking to the crowd in a strong if occasionally trembling voice. State television showed at least one delegate tearful with emotion, and the crowd greeting the revolutionary leader with shouts of “fidel!”

“this may be one of the last times i speak in this room,” fidel castro said. “we must tell our brothers in latin america and the world that the cuban people will be victorious.”

the party congress had been criticized for secrecy and a lack of discussion about substantive new reforms. Castro’s speech and his brother’s promise that more extensive public debate would come in the weeks and months after the congress appeared to have at least temporarily quelled discontent among the party ranks.

“the cuban people are followers of fidel and he’s a force that still has a lot of power,” said francisco rodríguez, a party member who had publicly criticized the secrecy of the congress. “it’s easy to love fidel now that he doesn’t have a public position. He’s a person who always had a coherent idea and that makes him an exalted figure.”



cuban revolutionary leader fidel castro delivered a valedictory speech tuesday to the communist party that he put in power a half-century ago, telling party members he will soon die and exhorting them to help his ideas survive.

^^^^^ damn sure was not soon enough!!--tyr

Gunny
04-19-2016, 06:13 PM
^^^^^ damn sure was not soon enough!!--tyr

LMAO. I was going to say some people just won't die, THEN read the title of the article. If he hasn't managed to get a system in place since the 1950s he may as well forget it. :laugh:

Tyr-Ziu Saxnot
04-19-2016, 07:28 PM
LMAO. I was going to say some people just won't die, THEN read the title of the article. If he hasn't managed to get a system in place since the 1950s he may as well forget it. :laugh:

60 YEARS, IRONCLAD CONTROL AND STILL FAILING.
YES FOLKS, ITS FAILED IN EVERY NATION THAT HAS TRIED IT.
Only succeeded in making most people under its tyrannical control equally miserable, (exceptions would be top communist leaders and their allies)..
Yet our libs think its only not been tried by the ""RIGHT PEOPLE""!!
IDIOTS-- HUMAN NATURE INSURES THAT IT CAN NEVER WORK....--TYR

Gunny
04-19-2016, 07:34 PM
60 YEARS, IRONCLAD CONTROL AND STILL FAILING.
YES FOLKS, ITS FAILED IN EVERY NATION THAT HAS TRIED IT.
Only succeeded in making most people under its tyrannical control equally miserable, (exceptions would be top communist leaders and their allies)..
Yet our libs think its only not been tried by the ""RIGHT PEOPLE""!!
IDIOTS-- HUMAN NATURE INSURES THAT IT CAN NEVER WORK....--TYR

O-blah-blah is bailing him out. You are right about communism though. Been an utter failure everywhere.

Kathianne
04-19-2016, 07:38 PM
Obama, it's like everything he touches turns to ....

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2016/04/19/cuba-officials-call-obama-visit-attack-raul-castro-labels-us-as-enemy/?intcmp=hplnws


Cuba officials call Obama's visit an ‘attack,’ Raul Castro labels U.S. as 'enemy'<time itemprop="datePublished" pubdate="" datetime="2016-04-19T10:53-04:00" style="font-size: 12px; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-style: italic; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background: 0px 0px;">Published April 19, 2016 </time>Fox News Latino (http://latino.foxnews.com/index.html)





Weeks after President Barack Obama’s historic trip to Cuba, officials from the Communist island have ramped up their attacks on the U.S.


On Monday, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez called Obama's visit "an attack on the foundation of our history, our culture and our symbols."


"Obama came here to dazzle the non-state sector, as if he wasn't the representative of big corporations but the defender of hot dog vendors, of small businesses in the United States, which he isn't," Rodriguez said.


The foreign minister’s response came days after Cuba President Raul Castro said that the United States is "the enemy" and warned Cubans to be vigilant about the United States' efforts to undermine the Communist revolution, according to Reuters. (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-usa-idUSKCN0XF2A0)

...

Gunny
04-19-2016, 08:00 PM
Obama, it's like everything he touches turns to ....

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2016/04/19/cuba-officials-call-obama-visit-attack-raul-castro-labels-us-as-enemy/?intcmp=hplnws

Unlike some others that think he doesn't know what he's doing, I think just the opposite. He's turning everything to sh*t on purpose in my book. He has picked every scab he can find.

Elessar
04-19-2016, 08:21 PM
^^^^^ damn sure was not soon enough!!--tyr

Damn deluded to the end...People suppressed there for over
70 years.

Why was the massive release of people from Cuba allowed
in the 1980's if his regime was so solid?

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/castro-announces-mariel-boatlift

Obama caved into this ideology.

Elessar
04-19-2016, 08:24 PM
Obama, it's like everything he touches turns to ....



He had no business being there as a representative of OUR Nation.!!

Gunny
04-19-2016, 09:01 PM
He had no business being there as a representative of OUR Nation.!!

I wouldn't let him represent Radio Shack. Which is bad, for me. I've been ambivalent through every President since Johnson ( a tad young to remember JFK) except Carter. My buddy and I actually called the White House to speak to Carter after the Hostage Crisis started. And yes, we had a 12 pack. :laugh:

This guy? I just finally blew a gasket. I can't take him anymore. He comes on my TV I'm looking for Smurfs. The sad thing is, I feel the same way about each and every person running for President now. I just told the GF I needed to go get another gun because if I have to listen to ANY of them for 4 years, the TV's going to be a casualty. Especially if they're tv whores like O-blah-blah. In 56 years I haven't seen one person that whores on the tv like him.

And I honestly think that's his whole point with his anti=American decisions. He's just a 2 years old acting out for attention and doesn't care what he has to do to get it.

Abbey Marie
04-20-2016, 01:20 PM
The cuban government offered little unified response until the communist party’s seventh party congress began saturday, and one high-ranking official after another warned that the U. S. was still an enemy that wants to take control of cuba. They said obama’s trip represented an ideological “attack.”


:laugh: Another foreign relations triumph by our current White House resident.

DLT
04-20-2016, 01:25 PM
^^^^^ damn sure was not soon enough!!--tyr

Fidel is living proof of that old saying about the good dying young. He has lived waaaay past his allotted years according to Karmic Rules 101. All I have to say is....I wouldn't want to be in his shoes (or hooves) when he does die. I much suspect that he'll be in really notorious company while he turns on his spit in Hell. Right next to Saddam, Hitler, Stalin, and a few hundred other despots. Oh, and no doubt...Teddy "Hic" Kennedy will be front and center in that spit row too...lol.

DLT
04-20-2016, 01:28 PM
Damn deluded to the end...People suppressed there for over
70 years.

Why was the massive release of people from Cuba allowed
in the 1980's if his regime was so solid?

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/castro-announces-mariel-boatlift

Obama caved into this ideology.

Why does ANY communist nation have to force its people to stay? Because they turn the nation into hellhole/cesspools. It's a constant in the universe. And yet, willfully ignorant people still push and protest FOR communism in still free nations (See: Bernie Sanders For President supporters).

That is one reason why I'm not so sure that a "wall" is a good answer for our border control issues. Might some day be used to keep formerly free people IN. Just enforce the damned current border enforcement laws (for a refreshing change).

Elessar
04-20-2016, 03:41 PM
There was only one communistic country that was remotely successful, as I recall.
But it was small and landlocked in the USSR at the time. Albania.
All others are proven failures.

Black Diamond
04-20-2016, 03:43 PM
There was only one communistic country that was remotely successful, as I recall.
But it was small and landlocked in the USSR at the time. Albania.
All others are proven failures.

I don't think Albania allowed Americans in. They were very isolated.