Sunday, April 24, 2005

An Outcome Devoutly To Be Wished

This is interesting:

Is it just old-age stiffness, or is Fidel Castro ailing?

Steven Aftergood, an eagle-eyed analyst with the Federation of American Scientists, notes that recent reviews of Castro speeches released by the CIA's Foreign Broadcast Information Service concluded the 78-year-old Cuban dictator has problems using his right hand.

The service, which follows Castro's activities very closely, first noted that the right-handed leader had shifted to using his left hand to gesture and shuffle cards in February, and in two speeches this month clearly had difficulty moving his right arm from the shoulder to the elbow.

Here's a news photo I found of Castro from February 2005, which would go along with the above.

Actually, from a medical perspective, one might wonder if the dictator might have suffered a stroke on his right side? Or is this just the result of poor medical care from a fall in October 2004, when he broke his right arm and left leg?

It will be interesting to see what happens in Cuba when this guy dies. As one lawyer succinctly put it:
Outside of Robert Mugabe and Kim Jung Il, it is hard to think of anyone who has willfully beggared a rich land and proud people more effectively than Castro. Even those regime adherents who dream of succeeding Castro must be getting to the point where they rediscover just enough religion to pray that his passing is sooner rather than later.

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