Fidel Castro – News Stories About Fidel Castro - Page 8

Nov 20, 2007 7:44 PM CST

Cuban Vote Signals Future of Castro

He could resign by leaving name off ballot next year

(Newser) - National parliamentary elections—which could mark a formal end to Fidel Castro's rule—will be held on Jan. 20, the AP reports. The ailing Castro must be re-elected to Cuba's National Assembly to regain his position as president. If he withholds his name from the ballot, "he is effectively...

Secret Poll: Cubans Want Vote

Nov 19, 2007 11:26 AM CST

Secret Poll: Cubans Want Vote

Three-quarters would like say in Castro succession

(Newser) - Three-quarters of Cubans surveyed in an unorthodox poll want to vote on Fidel Castro’s successor, 79% say the current government can't fix the country’s problems, and 83% want changes in the economic system, USA Today reports. The 600 respondents weren’t told they were being polled—and the...

RIP Che, but
Not in His
Tomb in Cuba

Oct 31, 2007 3:11 PM CDT

RIP Che, but Not in His Tomb in Cuba

Guevara burial site not nearly as advertised, New Republic reports

(Newser) - Thousands came to Che Guevara's Cuban mausoleum in July to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the revolutionary’s death—but they were paying respects at the wrong resting place. A French journalist claims that Fidel Castro’s government never actually found the Argentine’s body—as was triumphantly announced 10...

Revolutionary Roots: Che's Hair for Sale

Oct 25, 2007 7:40 PM CDT

Revolutionary Roots: Che's Hair for Sale

Rumors say Chavez of Venezeula is interested 'mystery buyer'

(Newser) - A scrapbook including photos of Che Guevara's corpse, hand-written letters from comrades-in-arms, and a lock of the revolutionary's hair snipped after he was shot to death are on a Dallas auction block with a starting price of $100,000. The collection belongs to a former CIA operative who helped track,...

Bush to Urge Cubans to Rise Up

Oct 24, 2007 4:14 AM CDT

Bush to Urge Cubans to Rise Up

Calls power transition from Fidel to brother unacceptable

(Newser) - President Bush is expected to make a landmark speech on Cuba today, calling the transfer of power from Fidel Castro to his brother Raul unacceptable to the United States. The president will also address the Cuban people, urging them to resist "the force of a dying regime," reports...

Cuba Celebrates Che

Oct 8, 2007 5:16 PM CDT

Cuba Celebrates Che

Casto, too weak to attend, calls comrade 'a flower yanked prematurely from its stem'

(Newser) - About 10,000 Cubans gathered today to honor Che Guevara, the man who helped Fidel Castro take power in the 1959 communist revolution. Calling Che "a flower yanked prematurely from its stem," Castro, too weak to attend, praised the icon in a message read to the crowd. The...

Castro Returns to Airwaves, Alive and Alert

Sep 22, 2007 6:32 AM CDT

Castro Returns to Airwaves, Alive and Alert

Scoffs at death rumors, cites oil prices, in first video in 3 months

(Newser) - "Here I am," Fidel Castro declared in a video aired yesterday on Cuban television, rebutting persistent rumors that he had died after one of his recent surgeries. Wearing the track suit that's become his uniform since his illness last July, Castro went to great lengths to prove that...

Castro's Hat Is Suddenly Hot Fashion Item

Sep 21, 2007 7:56 PM CDT

Castro's Hat Is Suddenly Hot Fashion Item

Tourists and apolitical youth snatch up caps in apolitical fad

(Newser) - The trademark Castro hat is selling like hotcakes in Havana, bought by tourists and Cubans alike, although in neither case as a symbol of socialist support. Although the cap may often feature an image of Che Guevara, Cuban youths have been decorating it with tags from western clothing multinationals like...

US Official: Embargo Kept Cuba From Meddling

Sep 20, 2007 6:05 PM CDT

US Official: Embargo Kept Cuba From Meddling

Policy starved Castro's military of funds

(Newser) - The decades-old US trade embargo against Cuba has been "an absolute and resounding success," the Cuban-born US commerce secretary said today. Carlos Gutierrez told a Latin America conference that the policy has stopped the island's communist government from orchestrating military attacks. But the embargo, in place since 1962,...

Castro: We Saved Reagan's Life

Sep 13, 2007 9:06 AM CDT

Castro: We Saved Reagan's Life

Dictator claims Cuba foiled an assassination attempt

(Newser) - Fidel Castro says Cuba helped the US avert an assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan in 1984. An essay attributed to the ailing dictator says a Cuban posted to the UN tipped off an American official to the plot, which involved a presidential visit to North Carolina, the Telegraph reports. How...

Castro Casts
Lot With Clinton-Obama

Aug 28, 2007 3:27 PM CDT

Castro Casts Lot With Clinton-Obama

Ailing dictator reminisces on presidents past

(Newser) - One week after both Democratic hopefuls called for democracy in Cuba, Fidel Castro has called a Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama ticket “apparently unbeatable.” A Granma editorial attributed to the ailing revolutionary—who is rumored to be dead—says the US opposition he’s faced over the years is fodder...

Castro Surfaces—Or Does He?

Aug 27, 2007 11:06 AM CDT

Castro Surfaces—Or Does He?

Dictator's byline doesn't put lid on rumors of his death

(Newser) - A newspaper article purportedly written by Fidel Castro and published yesterday did little to quash rumors that the Cuban dictator's health is failing and even that he's dead. Castro hasn't been seen in public in over a year, and his brother Raul is in effective control of the government, but...

Raul Castro Assumes Spotlight

Jul 26, 2007 3:25 PM CDT

Raul Castro Assumes Spotlight

Dictator's brother fills in at annual rite, rapping US, Bush

(Newser) - Fidel Castro did not give his usual sermon at Cuba's annual Revolution Day celebration today; instead, his brother Raul took center stage. The no-longer-quite-so-interim leader, who assumed power a year ago because of his brother's health problems, told a cheering crowd that he's willing to negotiate with the US after...

8 Yanks Graduate
From Cuban Med School

Jul 26, 2007 6:52 AM CDT

8 Yanks Graduate From Cuban Med School

Free tuition, humanitarian approach drew minority students

(Newser) - Cuba's Latin American School of Medicine graduated its first batch of American students this week, helping raise the eight-year-old school's profile. There are 90 more already enrolled in the free program, which comes with an exemption to the ban on travel to Cuba for Americans. Students are selected by the...

Cubans Ignore Static on Illegal TV

Jul 12, 2007 7:54 AM CDT

Cubans Ignore Static on Illegal TV

Even committed commies crave US satellite shows despite Castro ban

(Newser) - Cubans are turning to black-market satellite TV to watch soap operas, US news and music videos, and even the Chicago White Sox—in defiance of a national ban on the programs, the Christian Science Monitor reports. "If there is censorship, there is business," said one provider who faces...

Bush’s Biofuels Beat Castro’s Cautions

Jul 9, 2007 7:33 PM CDT

Bush’s Biofuels Beat Castro’s Cautions

Slate ’s William Saletan makes the poor man’s case for ethanol

(Newser) - The feud between biofuel booster George Bush and naysayer Fidel Castro is reviewed by Slate’s William Saletan—who says in the end Bush's position is the more progressive one. In fact he calls the erstwhile compassionate conservative a “revolutionary.” Castro argues that biofuel will take food out...

For Rudy, It Aways Comes Back to 9/11

Jun 28, 2007 1:58 PM CDT

For Rudy, It Aways Comes Back to 9/11

The pros and cons of having terror as your touchstone

(Newser) - The Los Angeles Times tracks Rudy Giuliani's rhetoric on the stump, and marvels at the way he manages to bring just about any topic around to the threat of terror. Fourteen seconds into in a speech in Des Moines called "Restoring Fiscal Discipline and Cutting Wasteful Washington Spending" the...

Castro Says He's on the Mend

May 24, 2007 7:36 AM CDT

Castro Says He's on the Mend

Recovered from 'very grave' condition, he's busy 'reflecting and writing'

(Newser) - Fidel Castro says he's on a steady road to recovery, finally off IVs and holding his weight, almost a year after a series of operations on his digestive system. In a statement emailed to reporters today, the 80-year-old Cuban president didn't mention if or when he might return to office.

Castro Skips
May Day Parade

May 1, 2007 3:16 PM CDT

Castro Skips May Day Parade

Ailing Dictator was widely expected to make a triumphant comeback

(Newser) - Fidel Castro was a no-show at today's May Day parade in Havana, disappointing Cubans expecting a triumphant comeback appearance. Hundreds of thousands in Revolution Square got only brother Raul, who's been in power since Fidel was stricken by an abdominal ailment nine months ago.

Gitmo Tagged for Cuban Refugees

Mar 6, 2007 11:01 AM CST

Gitmo Tagged for Cuban Refugees

Navy plans to prevent post-Castro Cuban exodus

(Newser) - Anticipating that Fidel Castro's death will prompt thousands of Cubans to attempt to join their expatriate countrymen in South Florida, U.S. authorities are making space for them—in Cuba. The Miami Herald reports that the DOD has budgeted $18 million to expand its base at Guantanamo Bay to handle...