Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Uncle Fidel Resigns




Not much of a shocker here.



We all knew he was in ill health. But what surprised me was that this news took a backseat to other news of the day this morning. Granted, the communist threat is a passing thought nowadays compared to what it was say in the 1950s through the 1980s but it probably deserved a little more coverage locally. In Ohio, the presidental candidates are heavily campaigning for the Democratic nomination which truthfully is a bigger story here in 2008. If this were the 1984 election year, Fidel's demise would be at the forefront.

His brother Raul, temporary president of Cuba since July 31, 2006 could well become the permanent President.



The other possibility would be Carlos Laga, Cuba's Vice President.

Its amazing that most of the younger generation has no knowledge of a world with an iron curtain. A world before the fall of the Berlin Wall. A college freshman this fall was not born when the wall fell. Maybe this is just a function of me getting older and feeling like my parents' felt back in the 70s and 80s as they grew into adulthood and ensuing out-of-touch life that surfaces when you become a parent.

You heard it hear first. Within 10 years, Cuba's communist government will be dissolved similar to what happened in the Soviet Union in 1990. Let us just let it happen naturally without military intervention.