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pintoca
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The guy is obviously one of the biggest murderes and torturers alive today... The fact that people are celebrating his possible death (though at this point is only sickness) is not unusual, but still. I can imagine all the voodoo dolls....
Castro opponents dancing in streets of Little Havana
Tuesday, August 1, 2006 Posted: 1345 GMT (2145 HKT)
HIALEAH, Florida (AP) -- When Gladys Morales heard that Fidel Castro had temporarily given up power, she woke her 70-year-old mother to celebrate with other Cuban exiles dancing in Hialeah's streets.
The women, who came to the United States from Cuba in 1970, cheered Castro's illness in this heavily Cuban-American city northwest of Miami as if the communist leader many consider a ruthless dictator were already dead -- which many hoped was true.
"The first thing I thought of when I heard about Fidel is that I only wish my Luis was here to see this," Mirta Morales said of her late husband, who died in April 2004. "He would have been here with us, laughing and celebrating with his people." (Watch Miami's Cuban exiles celebrate Castro's illness -- 1:30)
Castro said in a statement read on Cuban television Monday night that he had suffered intestinal bleeding, apparently due to stress from recent public appearances in Argentina and Cuba. He gave up power to his brother Raul. (Full story)
South Florida's Cuban-American community of about 650,000 is the largest segment of Florida's fast-growing Hispanic community and its influence is felt across the state.
"My first reaction was disbelief. My second reaction was hope," said Armando Tellez, who sat on the hood of his red truck watching as hundreds of cars clogged the streets of Hialeah. "This is a singular event in Cuba's history because there has never been anything that has given the people so much hope."
Smoking, banging, cheering
Among the cigar-smoking, pot-banging, cheering crowds waving Cuban flags late Monday and early Tuesday was a group dressed as migrants wearing life jackets, pretending to paddle a cardboard boat down Little Havana's Calle Ocho in Miami -- recalling the desperate journey many exiles have taken across the Florida Straits.
"This is a celebration of people of hope returning to their home country, something that is 40-something years in the making," said Joe Martinez, chairman of Miami-Dade County commissioners, who was born in Cuba.
The transition of power in Havana would reshape Cuban-American politics, said Dario Moreno, a political science professor at Florida International University.
"In Miami, this is a political earthquake," Moreno said. "The Cuban Americans are going to be pressuring their political officials. There's going to be a lot of pressure on Cuban American elected officials to deliver."
White House spokesman Peter Watkins said the administration was monitoring the situation. "We can't speculate on Castro's health, but we continue to work for the day of Cuba's freedom," Watkins said.
Coast Guard officials said they were on standby, awaiting further orders. U.S. officials have long had plans in place to head off any possible mass exodus from Cuba by sea in case that the government suddenly opened the island's borders as occurred in 1980 and 1995.
The Cuban population in Florida is hardly unified, with hard-line exiles urging a tough stance against Castro and a younger generation of Cubans who were born in the United States -- or raised here most of their lives -- more likely to support engagement with Cuba.
In Hialeah, 34-year-old Orlando Pino steered his bicycle with one hand and waved a Cuban flag with the other. He said he wants to return to Cuba when Castro dies.
"There's a lot of people in Cuba who are home crying," said Pino, who arrived in the Miami area two years on a religious visa. "There's a lot of confusion over there because many people loved him.
"It's all a process for the Cuban people to wake up from their sleep. It's a lot of time under one person and they have become accustomed to that, good or bad."
Miami-Dade College sociology professor Juan Clark, who specializes in Cuban affairs, said he was surprised that the announcement of Castro's illness was done so publicly.
Clark noted that when Castro had a well-publicized tumble in 2004, shattering a kneecap and breaking an arm, he did not delegate power to his brother.
Castro opponents dancing in streets of Little Havana
Tuesday, August 1, 2006 Posted: 1345 GMT (2145 HKT)
HIALEAH, Florida (AP) -- When Gladys Morales heard that Fidel Castro had temporarily given up power, she woke her 70-year-old mother to celebrate with other Cuban exiles dancing in Hialeah's streets.
The women, who came to the United States from Cuba in 1970, cheered Castro's illness in this heavily Cuban-American city northwest of Miami as if the communist leader many consider a ruthless dictator were already dead -- which many hoped was true.
"The first thing I thought of when I heard about Fidel is that I only wish my Luis was here to see this," Mirta Morales said of her late husband, who died in April 2004. "He would have been here with us, laughing and celebrating with his people." (Watch Miami's Cuban exiles celebrate Castro's illness -- 1:30)
Castro said in a statement read on Cuban television Monday night that he had suffered intestinal bleeding, apparently due to stress from recent public appearances in Argentina and Cuba. He gave up power to his brother Raul. (Full story)
South Florida's Cuban-American community of about 650,000 is the largest segment of Florida's fast-growing Hispanic community and its influence is felt across the state.
"My first reaction was disbelief. My second reaction was hope," said Armando Tellez, who sat on the hood of his red truck watching as hundreds of cars clogged the streets of Hialeah. "This is a singular event in Cuba's history because there has never been anything that has given the people so much hope."
Smoking, banging, cheering
Among the cigar-smoking, pot-banging, cheering crowds waving Cuban flags late Monday and early Tuesday was a group dressed as migrants wearing life jackets, pretending to paddle a cardboard boat down Little Havana's Calle Ocho in Miami -- recalling the desperate journey many exiles have taken across the Florida Straits.
"This is a celebration of people of hope returning to their home country, something that is 40-something years in the making," said Joe Martinez, chairman of Miami-Dade County commissioners, who was born in Cuba.
The transition of power in Havana would reshape Cuban-American politics, said Dario Moreno, a political science professor at Florida International University.
"In Miami, this is a political earthquake," Moreno said. "The Cuban Americans are going to be pressuring their political officials. There's going to be a lot of pressure on Cuban American elected officials to deliver."
White House spokesman Peter Watkins said the administration was monitoring the situation. "We can't speculate on Castro's health, but we continue to work for the day of Cuba's freedom," Watkins said.
Coast Guard officials said they were on standby, awaiting further orders. U.S. officials have long had plans in place to head off any possible mass exodus from Cuba by sea in case that the government suddenly opened the island's borders as occurred in 1980 and 1995.
The Cuban population in Florida is hardly unified, with hard-line exiles urging a tough stance against Castro and a younger generation of Cubans who were born in the United States -- or raised here most of their lives -- more likely to support engagement with Cuba.
In Hialeah, 34-year-old Orlando Pino steered his bicycle with one hand and waved a Cuban flag with the other. He said he wants to return to Cuba when Castro dies.
"There's a lot of people in Cuba who are home crying," said Pino, who arrived in the Miami area two years on a religious visa. "There's a lot of confusion over there because many people loved him.
"It's all a process for the Cuban people to wake up from their sleep. It's a lot of time under one person and they have become accustomed to that, good or bad."
Miami-Dade College sociology professor Juan Clark, who specializes in Cuban affairs, said he was surprised that the announcement of Castro's illness was done so publicly.
Clark noted that when Castro had a well-publicized tumble in 2004, shattering a kneecap and breaking an arm, he did not delegate power to his brother.
