Explanation

So here's the deal. As Leslie said, I moonlight at the office of a Cuban dentist whose mom, Pilar, works the front desk. So pretty much every Cuban expatriate in town gets their dental work done here--I think mostly because they like to sit and chat with Pilar about Cuba, Fidel, etc. So anyway, I finished an eval on one of Pilar's Cuban friends and was writing up the chart. I had to go up to the front to get something, and Pilar has this huge smile on her face and practically yells--"Fidel se murio! Now I can go back to Havana and urinate on his grave!" Yeah, not a picture I wanted in my head either, but I thought I'd pass it on for effect. Anyway, one of her friends had just heard that the Cuban government was going to make an announcement yesterday afternoon that Castro had died. Bear in mind that most Cubans think he died a while back, but that the government has been hiding it, for obvious reasons. So Pilar called her brother in Miami who maintains close contact with friends and relatives in Cuba and he told her that Miami was in a complete frenzy. By the way, her brother was a political prisoner for something like 7 years before Castro got tired of him and put him on a plane to Miami. So her brother also said that all telephone lines going into Cuba had been blocked and that no one could communicate with anyone inside. Looking back, it was probably because every Cuban in the U.S. was trying to call at the same time. So, to make a long story short, it's back to the status quo with no one really knowing if he's dead or alive. The Cuban government of course is saying the rumors were started by the anti-Castro contingent in Miami and that Fidel is very much alive, but they have offered no proof to back that up. Anyway, check our this blog--it's the most popular Cuban blog around and has some interesting posts. The latest one about Hugo Chavez is interesting and very telling, in my opinion. Or read this, or if you're looking for something a little more light hearted and can stomach a little more questionable content, go here. So I guess, Ginger was right . . .