Snapped Shot · Always Watching the All-Seeing Eye

Unhappy May Day

By Brian C. Ledbetter · Tuesday, May 1. 2007 11:04

Guess who was a no-show at Cuba's annual May Day parade this year? From REUTERS' chief propagandist-on-site, Claudia Daut:

Raul Castro (R), head of Cuba's armed forces and brother of Cuba's President Fidel Castro, and minister of communications Ramiro Valdez wave to the crowd during the May Day parade in Revolution Square in Havana, May 1, 2007. REUTERS/Claudia Daut (CUBA)

Of course, Fidel's got a good 12 hours before the day's up, so who knows what might happen. Until he does show, though, you just know that there's a fresh, plus-sized waterfall of tears over in Caracas right about now...

As a bonus, I'll be doing my best to archive all of the Unhappy May Day celebrations beyond the fold! If Castro is a no-show, as I suspect he'll be, does that mean we can count him once again amongst the dead? Continue reading »

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Defined tags for this entry: AFP, AP, REUTERS, adalberto roque, castro, claudia daut, enric marti, fredo amariles, greg bull, ismael francisco, javier galeano, jose tito merino, rodriguo arangua

Daily Dictator

By Brian C. Ledbetter · Monday, March 5. 2007 10:56

Is this another sign of Fidel Castro's demise?

Alejandro Castro, son of the Cuban President Fidel Castro, smokes a cigar during the final dinner of the Festival IX Cuban Cigars Festival in Havana. Communist Cuba's annual dabble in the free market brought in 700,000 dollars for five lots of cigar-filled humidors -- though for the first time none were signed by Fidel Castro.(AFP/Adalberto Roque)

Update: Haha, I just noticed Roger Williams' little piece on Qaddafi -- Roger tells us via the comments in the Saturday edition that he much prefers the "Faux-Military" side of Moamar's closet to the pan-Arab one. While it's definitely more "dictatorial," I still prefer his more flamboyant outfits myself: