State Department clueless on Cuba

Going by what U.S. officials have said about Castro, it's clear that they have no idea what the status of his health is, or they made public what they hoped it would be. It's also clear they don't know to what extent Castro is in control. They're now being a little bit more cautious, and not writing him off completely.

Stepping back from previous assertions that Fidel Castro was near death, U.S. officials say that the image of an increasingly revitalized Castro is impeding the island's day-to-day leadership from making major changes.

Thomas Shannon, the top U.S. diplomat for Latin America and the Caribbean, told The Miami Herald in an interview Wednesday that Cuba was in a period of ''suspended animation'' as Castro exerted a ''controlling political presence'' on the island.

While Shannon did not directly contradict previous statements from U.S. officials that suggested Castro was close to death, he suggested that the Bush administration is more cautious in its assessment of whether Castro will return, and in what capacity.

Castro is going to be a defining figure in Cuban politics until he dies. Like Franco, he could be on a deathbed for months, not making any sense, and shitting himself through an artificial anus, and he will still be in control. The State Dept. has apparently reached this realization not very long ago.

As a Cuban-American--nay, as a human being--I wish him a terrible, yet prompt death, so I can take my nonexistent tumbadora down to Eighth St. and dance it up Ricky Ricardo style, but that's too easy, and by now, I've learned not to underestimate Castro. Even on his deathbed, he's not going to make things easy.

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