Can you believe it has been five months since the world last saw images of Fidel Castro? How did we live without him? Well fear not, yesterday via Cuban state television, the world was treated to the visage of Castro, chatting it up with bff Venezuela’ Hugo Chavez. No chatting could actually be heard in the video, as it was silent (they might have been planning a surprise party), but Chavez said that the pair talked for over three hours about the global energy and food crises. Pero pobre Fidel looks like a man of his 81 years, scraggly beard and all.
You can see the Cuban television report here.
Via / The Guardian (UK)
7:57 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities|history · Comments Off
12 May 2008
Apparently brat pack star Emilio Estevez was born today,May 12, 1962.
on May 12, 2002, Jimmy Carter became the first U.S. president to visit Castro controlled Cuba.
Click after the jump to see what other famous Latino was born today.
8:22 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Cuba|Politics · Comments Off
25 Feb 2008
Yesterday, in a not so surprising move, the Cuban National Assembly named Fidel Castro’s brother, Raúl, president. The unanimous decision has been interpreted by many as a continuation of brother Fidel Castro’s policies and in fact in his acceptance speech, Raul promised to finish big bro’s work. Any hopes of new leaders were squashed when 77-year-old revolutionary leader, Jose Ramon Machado, was named Vice-President.
Via / NYT, Washington Post
3:57 pm By Maegan La Mala · Celebrities|Cuba|Politics · Comments Off
21 Feb 2008
Cuban-born actor Andy Garcia shares the sentiments of many in the exile community that Fidel’s resignation and Raul Castro’s new government might spell more of the same for Cuba, though he says he’s “hopeful” this is a step in the right direction. Reports Mexico’s Milenio:
“In 1959, Fidel Castro assumed power in Cuba with the promise that he would restore the Constitution of 1940, elections and democracy.49 years later, like the majority of Cubans, I am still waiting for those promises to be fulfilled,” said the actor and director in a statement released through his publicist. “I can only hope that a day without Fidel Castro in power be one day closer to a free and democratic Cuba.”
Garcia also said that in spite of appearances, he laments that Raul Castro and brother Fidel “are cut from the same cloth”.
Via / Milenio
7:33 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Cuba|Politics · 1 Comment
19 Feb 2008
He ain’t dead yet- so the Miami fiestas may be subdued, but there will be fiestas none the less I’m sure as ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro finally admitted what most already knew, that he will not return to lead the country as president or commander-in-chief. This ends a 49 year run as leader of the Caribbean island nation, a position he took in a historic and controversial armed revolution.
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.
11:14 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities|Cuba|Fashion|Magazines|Politics · Comments Off
27 Dec 2007
So much for supermodel Naomi Campbell not being political. After visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, seems the lefty Latin American bug has bit her (that or the hair iron has fried her brain). She is allegedly in Cuba as I write this, interviewing President Fidel Castro for the UK version of GQ. Rumor has it that she is also planning on going back to Venezuela to do an official interview with Hugo Chavez.
Via / NY Post
Image Via / A Socialite’s Life
11:39 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Cuba|Politics · Comments Off
26 Dec 2007
There is so much speculation about Fidel Castro and his health that it all is fodder worthy enough for a supermarket checkout tabloid and we’ve written about it so much here at VL that if we had a Time magazine like Person of the Year he could be it (along with Chavez). The latest to come out of Cuba via its interim President, Fidel’s baby bro, Raul, is that Fidel is exercising two hours a day (that’s about two hours more than me) and may be prepping to run in an election.
The health of Cuban President Fidel Castro is good enough for him to be a candidate in next month’s parliamentary elections, his brother Raul has said.
Does this mean that Fidel will show up in public or is this just another rumor that will come and go like the rest of them?
Via / BBC
8:14 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia|Cuba|Politics · Comments Off
18 Dec 2007
While many old-timers pack up their bags and retire to Miami, the (still) Cuban president Fidel Castro, in a letter read on Cuban tv last night, gave fodder to the rumors that he is out of active politics.
“My elemental duty is not to cling to positions, or even less to obstruct the path of younger people, but to share experiences and ideas whose modest worth comes from the exceptional era in which I lived,” Castro wrote in the final paragraph of the lengthy letter, which mainly discussed the Bali summit on global warming.
7:44 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia|Cuba|Internet|Justice|Politics · Comments Off
14 Dec 2007
It seems as if our troops in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba may have too much free time on their hands because they have time to log on to Wikipedia and make some questionable edits. Some of those edits question Cuban president Fidel Castro’s sexuality.
Specifically, the Associated Press, the New York Daily News, and ZDNet have stories up about the changes Gitmo servicemembers have been making to Wikipedia; comments to articles about Gitmo detainees. Some of the changes on Wikipedia, per the articles:
- “Fidel Castro is an admitted transexual” (misspelling the word transsexual)
- deleted prisoner identification numbers from three detainee profiles (example: Prisoner No. 766, Canadian-born Omar Khadr. Khadr, 21, who has been held since 2002 and accused of killing a Special Forces medic in Afghanistan)
- changed the phrase “invasion of Afghanistan” to “war in Afghanistan.”
Via / Alternet
11:58 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Cuba|Politics · Comments Off
24 Oct 2007
President Bush can’t define the word sovereignty, so it comes as no surprise that he is messing in the affairs of another country, yet again. The U.S. pres is planning to issue a stern warning (much like a father would) today to Cuba, that the United States will not accept a political transition in Cuba in which power changes from one Castro brother to another, rather than to the Cuban people (meaning the Cuban people that agree with Bush policies and certain interventions by the U.S.).
VivirLatino is a daily publication published by Mamita Mala Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse Latin@ diaspora.
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