Hope he lives another 20 years.  Heh.

Or at least until we get an administration that will do everything it can to plunge Cuba into darkness after Castro dies the same way psychotically anti-communist elements in the US government fucked up other Latin American governments during the cold war. These Neo-cons are cold-war remnants and are salivating at the chance to turn Cuba into a right-wing dictatorship.

Our relationship with Cuba should be no different then our relationship with China. And honestly, we should just leave the damn country alone and let it's people peacefully change governments if that's what they want.

I tell you, I am very scared for the people of Cuba. The Bush administration will likely take the slightest pretext to interfere, possibly send in the military, to repatriot and reassign confsicated land to HEIRS of the old owners, disenfranchising people who have lived and worked it for a half-century. He;ll guarantee that the baseline survival comforts people have enjoyed such as healthcare and a decent hurricne evacuation plan will be stripped and that the average person will live in the kind of squalor we see in Haiti while a handful of people will pillage whatever resources remain. In fact, Haiti might be a good model to use for the Bush administration's picture of what Cuba should become. I'm sure they will look at Cuba as another source of cheap labor for corporations.

I agree; I hope Castro holds on until these people are gone - for the sake of the people of Cuba. And it's all such a shame. If we hadn't been so hard-headed and opened up dialogue with Cuba, we'd have more positive influence and this situation wouldn't exist. Of course, we know the Bush administration doesn't really give a squat about "democracy" despite all its fine words.