According to the BBC,
“When he fell, some of those among the audience of 30,000 broke into tears, a Reuters correspondent reports.”
I remember my visit to Albania shortly after the collapse of the tyranny there. Alma Kazazi, the professor who had invited me to come and lecture at the University of Tirana, told me that “when Enver Hoxha died, we all cried, even those of us who are the most anti-communist now.” The cult of personality that psychopaths such as Castro (the darling of so much of Hollywood) build around themselves is remarkable. I hope that many of those who cried over Fidel’s little fall today will look back with the same astonishment as Alma showed when she told me about her reaction to the death of Hoxha.
It’s interesting that the evil old killer and tyrant is never referred to as a “dictator; he is “Cuba’s 78-year-old leader” and “the Cuban revolutionary leader” (BBC), “the 78-year-old leader” (CNN), “Cuban President” and “the 78-year-old communist leader” (AP), “Der 78-jÃ?Â??Ã?Â?Ã?¤hrige kubanische Staats- und Parteichef” (Tagesschau), “Le prÃ?Â??Ã?Â?Ã?©sident cubain” (Le Nouvel Observateur), etc., etc.
P.S. For some reason I have attracted a group of quite twisted readers who revel in hateful gay-baiting. The first comment on this post is a truly a nauseating example, the sort one would expect from a Justin Raimondo, whose argumentative skills are so feeble that he thinks that cleverest way to attack someone is to suggest that whatever he’s done or accomplished, it’s all about having a sleazy sex life. Such people spend so much time in the gutter that they think everyone else lives there, too.
I went to Albania in 1990 not to arrange a date with Hacim Thaci, the leader of the truly criminal Kosovo Liberation Front (the UÃ?Â??Ã?Â??K, which was based in Kosovo, which was in Yugoslavia, not Albania, anyway), but to arrange translation into Albanian of textbooks for university education (especially Paul Heyne’s excellent book “The Economic Way of Thinking”), to arrange translation of works by Milton Friedman, F. A. Hayek, and other classical liberal thinkers, to seek out people who would be interested in libertarianism and to assist them, and in general to try to help people to develop the institutions of a free society.
Regarding Antaeus’s reference to that “toothless old Fidel,” he wasn’t so toothless when he sent planes to strafe rickety boats of refugees and armed ships to ram them and drown the adults and children who were trying to escape his compulsory “Paradise.” Thousands of people have been killed by his secret police and thousands and thousands of others have been arrested, beaten, and generally denied something to which every human being is entitled: freedom.
Finally, the commentator thinks that George Bush has a “cult of personality”, so it’s ok for Fidel Castro to have one. (But really, does anybody think that Bush or Kerry or Clinton or Dole or the like have cults of personality?) And George Bush fell down! So therefore his government is just like Fidel Castro’s. See, he fell down, too!
What were you doing in Albania, Tom? You didn’t meet with that hot, young killer, Hacim Thaci, did you? Anyway, what is with the shrill denunciations of toothless old Fidel? He crushed the mob but oppressed poor Reinaldo, so I say he’s just 1 for 1.
Meanwhile, could the Holy Fool in the Oval Office be surpassed in his cultivation of a cult of personality? Incidentally, he’s been known to take a few falls, too!
What’s this about? I mean this in the most sensitive way possible – but, why do americans lack the ability to be introspective? YOUR government ain’t so sweet either. There are far, far worse dictators (and i agree, he is bad) about than castro – he just hasn’t got american support, so he’s unpopular with the right. (by the way, ever read about cuba before castro?)(Look at Cuba’s neighbours, should they head down THAT road?)
More importantly, do you really want to see him (or anyone) executed? What for? What in the world could that achieve? A deterant? Not likley. There’s a short piece by George Orwell on an execution he witnessed in India (‘A Hanging’). Just read it and see what you think.
Nice bit of nationalist rhetoric, Marcus. Do you think that no Costa Ricans, Guatemalans, Germans, Venezuelans, or Koreans are critical of Castro? Really. Be honest with yourself.
Castro gets a pass all the time. He’s executed over 10,000 political opponents, ordered killings of people who just wanted to get out of his prison, tried to invade other countries (sending guerillas around Latin America and mercenaries to Africa).
Should he be executed? Would you execute some common serial killer who’d killed for their opinions over 10,000 people? It’s a shame that he’s probably going to die in bed. That’s true of many dictators, like Mao, Pol Pot, and others. Justice should be seen to be done. Even if you’re opposed to death penalty in normal cases (I am), cases of dictators who run prison camps, slave labor, and who kill children as they try to escape (deliberately sinking little boats full of people) should be treated differently.