Snapped Shot

Hugo Chavez sure seems to enjoy slinging these letters around. It sure doesn't seem to be a good way of dispelling the notion that he's a Cuban Communist Stoolie, though...

It's as if the Cuban government exists for no reason other than to counter our constant speculation about Fidel Castro's demise. Not a day after questions were raised in the comments thread just referenced, the Cubans have released this high-resolution photograph of, well, I'll just call him "Fidel"—to "prove" to us that he's still "with" us.


It is nice to know that they're still in the business of "quashing" rumours. It's not like Cuba has any real needs to tend to, right?

Facial recognition experts, do your worst:

Is Fidel Castro back in good enough shape for the public spotlight again? Or have they just finished training his body double well enough to go out and start meeting people?


For more on the history of the Traditional Dictatorial Use of Body Doubles, be sure to see good old Wikipedia.

Wow, it looks like he really is still alive, though from the looks of it, he probably doesn't have long to live. (Of course, this could still be a "body double," not that dictators ever use those...)

Is this another sign of Fidel Castro's demise?


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:


What can I say? The man is the apogee of fashion.

Surprise, surprise! Fidel Castro has popped up on fellow dictator Hugo Chavez's (who else?) radio show. Does this mean he's genuinely still not dead? Or is Hugo just dancing for the cameras yet again?

And, of course, who would forget the newest megalomaniac People's Representative to come to power in South America, who is clearly in agreement with the press as to who the world's biggest dictators are:


Clearly, Hugo seems to share a few speechwriters with the Democratic National Committee... It is interesting to note that during Hugo's recent photo op with Fidel, we didn't see any pictures come across the news wire of him actually arriving in Cuba, which is usually a staple of dictatorial travel. Could there really be something to the notion that the photos and video they showed are rebroadcasts of last year's get-together? Stranger things have happened, that's for sure...

One way or another, Fidel's toast. No doubt about it!