Fidel Castro health watch

Here we go again...

Headline reads: Rumor has it Castro is dead — once again

On Friday, the rumors heated up again for the third week in a row: Fidel Castro's death would be announced, first at 2 p.m., then at 4, then at 5.

For the past year, since the Cuban government said Castro had ceded power to brother Raul after intestinal surgery, rumors that Castro is on the brink of meeting his maker keep boiling over and dying down.

Friday, teary callers told Ninoska Perez, of Radio Mambi, they were sure this was it, and Perez, as usual, reminded, "The moment will come, but this is not the moment."

Via Seattle Times.

More coddling of "good" terrorists

Something else under the radar of the MSM.

I've written before about the case of Robert Ferro, a case which has received zero national attention despite the fact that Ferro was caught with the largest cache of weapons ever seized in the United States (more than 1,500 firearms inclulding 35 machine guns!), the fact that Ferro is a man who had served two years in prison for the possession of five pounds of C-4 plastic explosive, and despite the fact that he claimed his arsenal was to be used in an attack on Cuba. Evidently that last fact was the critical one.

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Fidel Castro health watch

I'm a bit behind the curve on this due to my so called life.

Fidel Castro is neither dead nor dying. In fact...

The Cuban president, Fidel Castro, will be in "perfect shape" to stand for parliament again in a year's time, the head of the country's national assembly has said.

"I would nominate him," said Ricardo Alarcon told reporters yesterday. "I'm sure he will be in perfect shape to continue handling his responsibilities."

A personal note. I've had intestinal surgery and it takes one hell of a long time to recover. And I'm much younger than Castro. The human body doesn't like to be invaded and, I would guess aside from heart or brain surgery, there's no more violent invasion of the body than an operation on the intestines.

Hell, my stomach now looks like a road map and I have two navels.

Meanwhile, Bushco is collectively crying because Castro isn't on his last legs.

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U.S. speeds visas for Cuban doctors in other countries

Somehow this seems like supreme hypocrisy, that we'll accept Cuban trained doctors, but still belittle Fidel Castro's rule, but I can't put my finger on it. Or did I?

Hundreds of Cuban doctors and other medical personnel who defected in other countries have applied for fast-track entry into the United States under a 6-month-old special program, U.S. officials said.

More than 100 already have arrived in the United States under the program, and hundreds more are hiding in places such as Bolivia and Venezuela, awaiting U.S. background checks to ensure that they're medical professionals, not rights abusers or Cuban government agents.

After a slow start, the program, intended for Cuban medical personnel who defect while they're working abroad, has received so many applicants that Cuban-American activists are scrambling to assist the new arrivals. There are reports that Cuban authorities are visiting family members of doctors stationed abroad to warn them of reprisals if their relatives flee.

"It's a hugely successful program," said Emilio Gonzalez, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of the Department of Homeland Security. "The word is getting out, and obviously we get an increased number every week."

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Fidel Castro health watch

Today he's on the mend: Chavez.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said that Cuba’s Fidel Castro has visibly improved, describing how the ailing Cuban leader has gained weight and is walking around and studying.

“A notable improvement,” Chavez said yesterday, describing Castro’s condition when the two met recently in Havana.

“He has gained several kilograms, and I think he is walking about more than me, analysing, studying,” Chavez said at a news conference in Caracas.

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Fidel Castro health watch

Today he's alive.

Fidel Castro has appeared on Cuban state television for the first time in three months.

The Cuban president was shown telling Hugo Chavez, his Venezuelan counterpart, that his recovery was "far from being a lost battle".

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