Having witnessed so many crises, I fear someone will throw the Castro regime another lifeline, though in this case it can only come from Washington, Fidel Castro’s chosen enemy since the summer of 1958.
14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 9 June 2024 — Cuba’s totalitarian government has experienced many serious crises. So many that it often seemed it was on its last leg. Invariably, however, some like-minded ally threw it a lifeline, like the rope that sailors throw to someone who is about to drown.
Though the former Soviet Union supported the regime for more than thirty years, the Castro brothers had no qualms accepting help from several Spanish governments, including those of the right-wing dictator Francisco Franco as well as the leaders of Spain’s Socialist Worker’s Party, Felipe Gonzalez and Pedro Sanchez. At a time when Cubans were going deaf from the sound of firing squads, however, the former individual — like many others — “heard nothing” during his frequent trips to the island.
Other European and Latin American nations have stepped in to solve the Castros’ money problems, though we should note that, in the course of providing aid to the spendthrift Fidel Castro, only the Venezuelan autocrats Hugo Chavez and Nicolás Maduro managed to bankrupt their own country.
The supreme leader used to give every guerrilla commander being trained in Cuba a Rolex watch, which was purchased with funds donated by his sponsors
Stories abound of just how wasteful the elder of the two brothers could be. For example, the supreme leader used to give every guerrilla commander being trained in Cuba — the idea being they would overthrow the very democracies that were courting him — a Rolex watch, which was purchased with funds donated by the dictatorship’s sponsors.
Another individual who helped pay the bills — both political and economic — is