Prometheus 6

Waiting, and waiting, for Fidel
Is all this suspense over Castro's demise just playing into a joke by the Cuban dictator?
By Tim Cavanaugh
TIM CAVANAUGH is assistant editor of the editorial pages.
February 3, 2007

HERE'S A prediction you can take straight to the bank: One day, Fidel Castro will die. Until that time, the watch over the Cuban dictator's long-expiring body continues.

This week, it heated up, even without new evidence from el jefe's doctors. On Monday, Miami City Commissioner Tomas Regalado suggested that the Orange Bowl be made available, on Castro's death, as a venue for "helping a community celebrate." Meanwhile, a news conference about security at the Super Bowl in Miami got hung up on how the Magic City might react if Castro died during the big game.

Together, these stories produced the singular notion that the Super Bowl would be doubling as a venue for a celebration of the old revolutionary's death. By Tuesday, the proposed fiesta was talk-show fodder, and the city began downsizing, or at least re-characterizing, its Castro death contingency plan.

Inevitably, Castro got the last laugh. Late Tuesday, Cuban state television released footage of the president-for-life looking slightly stronger than he had during his last appearance.

Two things are notable in this hiccup of Castro eschatology: It was not motivated by any actual news, and this is not unusual. So flammable is the Duraflame of the Castro deathwatch that it can ignite spontaneously, at any time. A rumor circulating in late December, for example, held that the ailing leader was already dead and that the Cuban government was merely waiting to make the announcement on New Year's Day as a tie-in with the anniversary of the revolution (which we know from our readings in Cuban history — or from "The Godfather II" — occurred Jan. 1, 1959). Google "Castro is dead" and you'll get more than 62,000 results, going back many years. And whatever you do, don't open the "Castro is dead" spam; it contains a nasty virus.