kooba

I mentioned the other week that I've kind of got a thing for Cuba. And honestly, who doesn't? I think it's pretty tough to call yourself a humanist and not have some sense of admiration for what's been done down there in such a short time. And even if you're not, and you don't, you can surely admit that Fidel and Cuba at least fill a role the likes of which we're never likely to see again. It's iconic. It's like Brando died all over again.

Anyway, I was reading an article just the other week about the possible changes that Cuba might have to endure now that Raul's in command, including big box stores, convention centers and Pfizer plants. Just like Puerto Rico. It takes a little something away, I think. Puerto Rico is a great example of what capitalism does to people with nothing to offer but cheap labor and a view. The death of romance, as I understand it.

Today, I stumbled upon an article all set to appear in the March 3rd issue of the New Yorker, which gives a little bit of an overview of Fidel's rise and decline. Kind of like an obit for a presidency:

And that it should end so ingloriously! No fighting to the last man at the battlements, no martyr’s surrender to an assassin’s bullet, only a creaking, shuffling exit through the ward’s doors, hospital gown flapping. We are less than a year away from the half-century marker of a most astonishing marathon, but even this artist of endurance must bow to fate and acknowledge that it’s time to go. Vámonos, Fidel: no one is standing in the way.

[From The New Yorker]