Fidel is dying.
The economy is being opened up.
Havana and Washington are having secret talks.
Whatever you might be hearing lately surrounding the illness of Fidel Castro and the ensuing "tradition," give it a second, third or fourth thought before you believe it, or act on it.
So writes former Assistant Secretary State Otto Reich in this morning's Miami Herald.
Like everything related to the Castro regime, official statements on the illness and transfer of power to Raúl cannot be accepted at face value. While they may be genuine, they may also not be. That is not to say that the illness is faked. But until Fidel's doctors release the results of a biopsy, or otherwise prove that he has a malignant tumor, for example, then the illness, as the transfer of power, may prove to be transient. It would not be the first effort by the Cuban government to use Fidel's failing health to create conflict within the Cuban-American community and between it and our government.
The real money quote, however, comes at the end.
What a failed dictatorship does to amuse itself in its final hours does not matter except when it affects U.S. foreign policy or domestic politics. We should not allow ourselves to be manipulated by a revolution that, regardless of Fidel Castro's health, died long ago.
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