Nicholas M Ong

For those of you who have no clue who this guy is (is he in history books already?), here’s a little history lesson for you on Fidel Castro. Even I’m not too familiar with him (I was just 9 months old) but this much I know.

• Considered an enemy of U.S. when he led an armed revolution against a U.S. supported dictator in 1959.
• Subsequently survived a convert U.S. led Bay of the Pigs assassination and invasion attempt in 1961.
• Target of the DEA even in this decade.

Of course there are some that look up to him as one SOB that stood up against the U.S. Make a guess who would fall into that category? Castro survived the 1961 covert invasion by U.S. forces which could have possibly led to the third world war in just 15 years after World War II.

Barely a year later, the first nuclear war almost erupted during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 between the United States of America, Soviet Union and Cuba. It was dubbed as ‘The Cold War got Hot’. Oppressor of a rouge state or not, Castro survive 49 years of enmity by the U.S. If not for poor health, He’d probably still be President at 81.

I hope the Bush administration and the next one doesn’t take another 49 years to find Osama bin Laden. According to Al Gore as depicted in the An Inconvenient Truth, Ground Zero and much of Manhattan would be under water. Then again, The Great Global Warming Swindle disputes that. So, what the heck…

Castro Stepping Down as Cuba’s Leader

By REUTERS

Published: February 19, 2008

Filed at 3:13 a.m. ET

Alejandro Ernesto/European Pressphoto Agency

Fidel Castro in 2006 in his last public appearance in the eastern province of Holguin, Cuba.

HAVANA, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro said on Tuesday that he will not return to lead the country as president, retiring as head of state 49 years after he seized power in an armed revolution.

Castro, 81, said in a statement to the country that he would not seek a new presidential term when the National Assembly meets on Feb. 24.

“To my dear compatriots, who gave me the immense honor in recent days of electing me a member of parliament … I communicate to you that I will not aspire to or accept — I repeat not aspire to or accept — the positions of President of Council of State and Commander in Chief,” Castro said in the statement published on the Web site of the Communist Party’s Granma newspaper.

The National Assembly or legislature is expected to nominate his brother and designated successor Raul Castro, 76, as president in place of Castro, who has not appeared in public for almost 19 months after being stricken by an undisclosed illness.

His retirement drew the curtain on a political career that spanned the Cold War and survived U.S. enmity, CIA assassination attempts and the demise of Soviet Communism.

A charismatic leader famous for his long speeches delivered in his green military fatigues, Castro is admired in the Third World for standing up to the United States but considered by his opponents a tyrant who suppressed freedom.

His illness and departure from Cuba’s helm have raised doubts about the future of the Western Hemisphere’s only communist state.

The bearded leader who took power in an armed uprising against a U.S.-backed dictator in 1959 had temporarily ceded power to his younger brother after he underwent emergency surgery to stop intestinal bleeding in mid-2006.

Castro has only been seen in pictures since then, looking gaunt and frail, though his health improved enough a year ago to allow him to keep in the public mind writing reams of articles published by Cuba’s state press.

Castro could remain politically influential as first secretary of the ruling Communist Party and elder statesman.

Raul Castro, Cuba’s long-standing defense minister, has run the country since July 31, 2006 as acting president. He has raised expectations of economic reforms to improve the daily lot of Cubans, but has yet to deliver.

Castro Stepping Down as Cuba’s Leader - New York Times