No more Castro?

In 1959 (I was 9 years old, do the math) I received a strange gift from my aunt. It was a glossy magazine, inside the magazine was an arm band emblazoned  with "Julio 26". Being a typical 9 year old I had no idea what it was. I later found out that it was part of a public relations campaign on behalf of the recently victorious Castro led revolution in Cuba.  I seem to remember that at first Castro was looked upon favorably by some here in the States. The Batista regime was had the most support from the criminal element. Cuba had become a virtual Mafia Disney Land under his rule, damn few tears were shed at his demise. When Castro announced he was a Marxist there was a chorus of "I told you so"s to go along with a equally vociferous group that couldn't bring themselves to believe it. 

There have been reports that Castro is about to retire. It's just one more situation that I am having trouble wrapping my head around. The World without Castro? Castro has been a pain in the ass for every president since Eisenhower. No other leader I can think of has done more to make the U.S. look impotent. A little tin horn commie dictator 90 miles off of our coast flipping us the bird . I wonder how many times in the last nearly 50 years has that little nuisance has come close to being bombed and strafed out of existence? About how long would it take a F-16 on full afterburner to get to Havana? How often did Castro think about that? 

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of any flavor of socialism. But It doesn't take a genius to see that the our government's handling of Cuba has been less than inspiring. Our policies have done nothing but make life more difficult for the average Cuban. It also has spawned a whole lot of anti-American sentiment. Or policies have definitely empowered the likes of Hugo Chavez.   

If it turns out that Castro is stepping down I hope that the current administration or the next will use this opportunity to implement a more rational policy in regard to our Caribbean neighbor. After all, our supplies of cahibas, mojitos and cuba libres have to be running low by now.

Sign me:

Not very optimistic in Dayton

Emoose out