Fidel Castro resigns

Yeah, the functional value of the embargo is long gone. The Castro reign is not going away. At this point, the only value of it is political.

 

Frankly, I'm not sure why the Cuban-American community still supports it either. The only ones really feeling the pain from the embargo are the Cuban people outside the Govt circle, who presumably consist of direct and distant relatives. Che's dead, Castro's done, and the current Govt leaders have figured out how to live just fine with it. What is the purpose of continuing that dinosaur policy?

 

When the embargo drops, how long before MLB puts a team in Havana?

 

That'd be one hell of a baseball weekend.

I was in Cuba back in the late 70's as a peace representative of the United Workers Party of Canada for a winter holiday.

Managed to get to a baseball game at the Havana Stadium. Too much fun.

 

isn't it called Fidel Castro Stadium?

 

Cuba's all but unbeatable at the Feed.

 

The Feed?
Classic.
I used to talk to the old NYC baseball beat guys about how they used to go to Havana during spring-training back in the Batista days. Once you got over the ewww factor of 60-year olds talking about drunken orgies, you understood that the place was a great road trip.

 

Probably but Jesus, it's almost 30 years ago.

 

My vote is for Fidel Castro Field At US Cellular Stadium.

 

Estadio Latinamericano.

 

Well, here are the fact as I know them:

1) The embargo has failed, and now it's in place only out of posturing.

2) Someone needs to stand up to the Cuban-Americans in Florida and tell them so.

3) Castro has done some terrible things, but he has also done some good things, like his investments in healthcare. I've been to fifteen or twenty countries in the Caribbean and Central America, and few of them have felt as developed or as safe as Cuba felt. I know that's come at a cost. But it's not like visiting the embassy at Saigon.

4) Havana is a fantastic place to visit, to drink, to swim, to eat, to dance, to smoke. I love it there. I would go there at least once a year if I could.

5) When the embargo does end, and it will, and American frat boys can flood in by the planeload, Havana will be all fucked up and wrecked and I'll have to find somewhere new to go. Some people will make a lot of money, though. I'd like to buy a building in Old Havana that's in ruins now and sell it to the Olive Garden in five years.

That's about it.

 

BTW, Jones, that was one helluva piece on Havana in the new Esquire.

Congrats.