Monday, October 30, 2006

Castro speaks

The cleverly titled book gossip blog Galleycat tells us that a Fidel Castro autobiography of sorts will be coming soon, although whether it comes to the US is still in question. It's an "as told to" memoir, written "with" a prolific Spanish left-wing journalist named Ignacio Ramonet, who also founded an organization called Media Watch Global, dedicated to monitoring the effects of corporate ownership of the media.

It would be difficult to imagine a self-written book emerging while Castro is still in power and in questionable health. So this is as good as we're likely to get. Any early reports from the Spanish-speaking world about the content are welcome. The UK publishers promise thoughts on Che Guevara, the death penalty, and homosexuality (?).

Bloomberg has an article today written from Caracas about Cuba's recent economic boom -- 12 percent growth -- and the boost it has received from Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, who has been sending the island nation discounted oil and other goodies denied by the US and other Western governments. This raises questions about who will hold sway over Cuba, internationally and domestically, when Castro finally cedes power or dies. The piece provides a questionable but intriguing claim about Castro's current place in the Latin American community:

One would have to go back to the 1960s to find a time when Castro had so much sympathy in the region, says Colombian Senator Gustavo Petro, 46, a former guerrilla leader who's known both Castro and Chavez for years.

Posted by Evan Hughes at 04:10 PM

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