Carlos Lage and Felipe Perez Roque have resigned their remaining government and party posts; both were members of the National Assembly and the Council of State, and Lage was a vice president of the Council of State, which meant he was in the line of succession to the presidency.
Their resignation letters were published in Cuban media; Lage’s is here, Perez Roque’s is here. MSNBC reports that Fernando Remirez, international relations chief at the Communist party central committee, has left his job too.
I understand that according to Fifo they were caught stealing honey; y'know, like the frozen strawberries from The Caine Munity:
ReplyDelete"Ah, but the strawberries! That's, that's where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes, but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt, and with, with geometric logic, that, that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox did exist."
oops, meant "mutiny"
ReplyDeletenot sorry to see lage go, maybe the new person will support raul's flexibility a bit more. talk to real cubans close to the scene and lage got way too much credit for special period reforms, and in fact may have done more harm than good. roque, again so close to fidel maybe there was no choice. too early to tell what it all means except raul putting his stamp on things as he always said he would.
ReplyDeleteyeah, right, any more "flexible" and Raul would snap in two...
ReplyDeleteThis is not about Raul or Fidel. It is about the actions of Lage and Roque. The smell of the US or its foreign lackeys is all over this story. Trying to cut deals behind the backs of the Revolution is not advised.
ReplyDeleteNow we see some who will try to justify Fidel no matter what. If Fidel said it, it must be true, he must be right! As usual. I don't think they were trying to cut any deals behind anyone's back. It was just the fear that these two men were seen as probable successors to the bunch of old generals running Cuba now which awakened their paranoia. Now that Obama is said to be reviewing Cuban policy, they want to make sure they stand solidly united, more conservative than ever. In addition, with so many old generals in govt. now and Fidel saying that "the honey of power" is for those who "sacrificed" themselves, the door to the new generations is closing. Unless they are their blood relatives. Like Fidel's Fidelito and Raúl's military son. Cuba is going backwards.
ReplyDeletePhil,
ReplyDeleteCan we get your analysis on this?
My analysis? I'm enjoying the speculation, and I was thinking of writing something along the lines of "what we don't know" about it all.
ReplyDeleteAs usual Leftside will grovel and apologize for any of Fidel's and Raul's actions no matter how topsy-turvy and irrational they may seem to everyone else. If either Lage or Perez Roque were conspiring with the USA to betray the revolution, then my behind is a diamond.
ReplyDeleteAnd if these two people were traitors and had undignified behavior, let us remember that they were chosen and slected by Fidel himself to those positions. In the case of Perez Roque,, he was touted as "the best interpreter of Fidel's way of thinking".
These two were two lackeys that have served their master faithfully and stoically through thick and thin, only to be rewarded with dismissal and false accusations of illegal behavior and collusion with the enemy. Is the same old story all over again. Aldana, Robaina, Valenciaga, among coutless others throughout the last 50 years, all had served the Revolution while they were useful and when they raised their heads and became a threat, their heads got chopped off like so many before them.
Castro I is a paranoid old man that sees conspiracies and enemies everywhere. And like a thief and conspirator he is, hebehaves like one by trusting no one. Everyone is out to get them. No wonder both Castro brothers are faithful admirers of Stalin. They even share his monumental paranoia about everyone.
One has to read between the lines in his reflexion to see his vanity and megalomania about the honey of power. He has been king bee for so long and now at the end of his life he refuses to share any power with anyone within the beehive.
"This is my own private farm, I fought for it, I gained with my sacrifices, and no one is going to share anything of power with me"
They are the same old rambling words and rantings from an old paranoic and sick old man with Alzheimers and delusions of grandeur. The best thing that could happen in Cuba for the Cuban people is for both of these two monsters to die within hours of each other. The sooner the better.
this last post has ten times the insight and understanding of Cuba than that entire cliche-ridden schlock of the "Lugar" report...
ReplyDeleteThe confusion of the right-wing Cuban-American population is on full display over this issue. Hardliners are caught between contradictory notions of believing Fidel retains absolute power and the reality that those who were sacked were those considered the most loyal to Fidel. The obvious answer is right in front of us - that these 2 men erred seriously in some secret dealings (indirectly I'd imagine) with the "external enemy." But this can not be believed by the Miami hardliners because everything that comes out of Havana and Fidel's mouth must be a lie. So they make up this convuluted notion that Roque and Lage somehow represented a threat that had to be removed, not because of any unseemly behavior, but because they "raised their head." Perhaps Anon 1:24 can tell us how exactly does one raise one's head and become a threat without any unauthorized dealings with external enemies? Do people really think Roque was a threat to Fidel, Raul and the Revolution simply be being himself?? After all, Roque was far from the most popular Cuban leader - unless one believes that being a syncophat to Fidel is the key to popularity on the Cuban street. Contradictions, contradictions.
ReplyDeletewhat confusion leftcrank? All your delusional lines have to end up leading to some sort of U.S. conspiracy. All Lage or Roque had to do was to get caught even hinting about life beyond the Castros to be sacked. It has been that way since the beginning of the Revolution. Stop insulting everyone's intelligence with your apologies.
ReplyDeleteLeftside,
ReplyDeletemaybe you have an insight into what were the crimes Perez Roque and Lage were accused of, so please tell us. Since you seem to be so much in tune with Fidel's thinking, what was so undignified about their conduct that merit them being sacked so fast, because in the case of Perez Roque, he an already scheduled trip to Japan in 2 weeks before he was removed.
So maybe you, in your infinite revolutionary socialist wisdom, can enlighten us, who are mere Miami Maffia mortals, about the crimes of these two Castro I syncophants who for their entire adult life did nothing but grovel at the feet of their master and parroted all of his thoughts and all they got as a reward for their abyect behavior, was unceremoniously being sacked from the and removed from the inner circle.
When you serve the Devil you cannot expect any reward from him but evil. You play with fire you will get burn.
Perez Roque and Lage, like countless of Stalin cronies in the old Soviet Union, got what they deserved. A swift kick in the ass for being such lickspittle characters. Nothing more and nothing less. It is obvious that Castro's paranoia is out of control and has reached unheard of before proportions. He is so sick with paranoia, he does even trust his own shadow.
My advice to you Leftside, is to enjoy a visit to Cuba while the tyranny there is still in power. You may not get that chance to do your revolutionary turism if you wait much longer.
The fact that Roque had a trip scheduled only further supports my argument that something happened. Something uncovered in the last couple weeks, something rather dramatic, at least from the position of the Cuban political leadership. Until we know the exact circumstances all the rest is speculation.
ReplyDeleteThe opposite position argued above implies there was a calculated plot to get rid of Roque and Lage. They were considered threats to be removed, for the sake of Fidel and/or Raul's paranoia. Anything that occured was just a pretext. This sort of argument was used about every other person removed from leadership positions over the years. Those removed were always martyrs who did nothing wrong but become too much of a threat to the Castros. Problem is, now we know what folks like Robaina did (corrupt himself).
Cabinet officials in the US get sacked for not doing their taxes right...
Leftside,
ReplyDelete"Cabinet officials in the US get sacked for not doing their taxes right."
Wrong.Wrong.
They become secretary of the treasure under Obama.