Let's Recap

When Fidel took that fall on the stage several years ago I had seen this sort of thing before. My father, who was several years older than Fidel, had broken his leg too. The broken leg was the start of a downward spiral in their health that would ultimately lead to the cause of death for my father and the changing of the guard in Cuba with disrespect to Fidel.

The broken leg took both Fidel and my father out of their routines. Do not underestimate the damage that this does to one's health. Having been in a coma myself for just two weeks at the young age of twenty-six I know a thing or two about recovery. It is just like a horse that's down. If you can't get him up and walking around you might as well get the pistol. It is tough learning how to walk, use the toilet and feed yourself all over again even in the prime of your life. I think I did it then because I was so indignant that I could not do these menial tasks that I'd been doing for myself for a couple decades. Somehow I came back - perhaps even stronger than before and way wiser too. But not dad. He never really got back up like before. He no longer could take his half hour walks. He doddered around his apartment while suffering one undignified intrusion into his health after another. It was about a four or five year process and my father was in much better health than Fidel. Basically, dad was real cheap and led an austere life where he prided himself for being able to eat for less than $5 a day back in 1980. It has not been announced yet the nagging maladies suffered by Fidel. Hopefully jock itch is one for example. But surely he has experienced as many or more annoying medical problems than my dad. That rich lifestyle of Fidel logically would complicate matters for him health wise. Fidel put on that act of being like some sort of everyday man leading a simple life but if that were true he would look thin like my father. But fat boy was forking in hams as fast as he could chew.

So when dad's time came, cousin Andrew had just taken him into the hospital for another annoying medical problem. He suffered a massive stroke and was essentially dead then and there but me being the executor meant I needed to verify this. So I flew to Florida with my brother Pat and sister Candy and saw dad being kept alive by machine. Clearly his brain was not functional. He scolded me many times in the approaching years up to his death. "Boy!" He always called be boy. Not Tom or Tommy or Tomas - boy. He liked Tarzan movies too but I can't say if there's a connection. But he said, "I'm telling you if something happens, no machines!"

When his time came it was even in the hospital when his massive stroke happened - perhaps Fidel too during his surgery. Humberto Fontova agrees with me that Fidel had a stroke. That is why they announced so quickly the change in power. After the stroke Fidel's days of scheming were over. But he's Fidel so the doctors intervened to save Fidel and in doing so merely preserved his corpse to satisfy the needs of the guys at the top. For them this was a stroke of bad luck which has set off a series of plagues on the regime and unfortunately the Cuban people ever since. Bad weather, an oil refinery exploded and burned, an earthquake, a dengue fever outbreak, etc. So the regime for the last couple years has pretended like Fidel is still at the helm and he's going to turn these plagues around. Now the regime has finally mustered the guts to say Raul is in charge but of what? Fidel must be a babbling fool at this point who might not be allowed to see anyone outside of the inner circle - even non Spanish speakers. This was part of the ruse. The junta would show Fidel babbling with no audio on the video to some well known dignitary who spoke no Spanish. So while Fidel might have been talking about his favorite doggies his interpreter would clean up his meaning to one that would not make the dignitary look disturbed for the camera. For the most part this worked, at least tricking the main stream media anyway who fell for it hook line and sinker. But I don't think the Cuban people anywhere were going for it. Police states are too predictable. The Cuban people smelled the rats right off.

So here we are today. What's next? Perhaps the regime will milk a few more months in power with Fidel's funeral. They'll play lots of anti Yankee music and show reruns of the glory days before all the loot was used up. I suspect Raul will die suddenly from a heart attack - maybe while trying to orate at the lecture literally scared to death of public speaking. A word smith he ain't. Now wouldn't that cause a panic if Raul dropped dead eulogizing at big brother's funeral? Now there's a future we can all look forward to. Well, perhaps not Raul. We all know how he hates public speaking.

Bon chance Raul...