Fidel, rich?

[ReD_ReBeL]

i was just wondering if this picture is really of Fidel Castro's house. I know the source is unreliable but you neevr know. Also when i was watching the reality show Big Brother the other day with george galloway in it, he said that he spent all night talking to fidel in the swimming pool, could he of been talking about a private pool which is shown in this sattelite image?

Fidel Castro's 'house' (http://www.therealcuba.com/Castrohouse24.jpg)

[Janus]

Fidel once sued Forbes for putting him on the list as one of the world's richest men. I have heard that Fidel lives modestly but I'm not sure of the validity of this claim.


Cuba's Fidel Castro denies he's a millionaire
By Andrew Cawthorne

HAVANA, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Cuba's revolutionary leader Fidel Castro has ridiculed ``miserable'' claims he may have made himself a multimillionaire in nearly four decades of socialist rule on the impoverished Caribbean island.

In an interview broadcast into early Tuesday morning, Castro turned indignantly on U.S. magazine Forbes, which put him 11th on a recent list of the world's richest ``Kings, Queens and Dictators'' with a personal fortune of $100 million.

``They have accused me of all sorts of things ... but never this.... What right do they have to write such lies?'' asked Castro, who was one place below Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and three behind Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on Forbes' list.

``All the judges of the world together cannot show that in nearly 40 years of revolution, any minister, high-level official, or leader of this country, has ever appropriated even one dollar from the state,'' he added.

Castro said neither he, nor any family members, or any high-level official in his government -- in power since his 1959 revolution -- held dollar accounts outside Cuba.

``We don't need an account in any place, because we are determined to die here in our trench with honour,'' the 72-year-old Castro added.

Claims that he or others had enriched themselves at the expense of the Cuban people were ``myths and legends,'' he said, adding: ``We are pretty thick-skinned from the darts, arrows and falsehoods thrown at us.''

Although criticised for years from abroad, particularly by Western nations, for his one-party political system and imprisonment of dissidents, Castro has been relatively free from serious accusations of personal corruption.

Some ordinary Cubans grumble about privileges they perceive to be enjoyed by their leaders, but few express the opinion that there is widespread corruption at top government level.

Castro's comments, which formed the first part of a six- hour meeting with 32 U.S. newspaper editors over the weekend, were broadcast on state television late Monday night and into Tuesday morning. The second and third parts are to be broadcast Tuesday night and Wednesday night.

In a lively exchange between Castro and the editors, the head of the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE), Edward Seaton, began the meeting asking him bluntly what would happen in Cuba after he had left power.

``You mean when I die?'' replied the Cuban leader.

He then stated his faith that trusted fellow leaders, like Vice-President Carlos Lage, National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon, and Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina, would continue his work without great changes.

``When I'm no longer here, nothing's going to happen,'' said Castro, adding with a grin: ``Maybe everything will be better.''

Asked by Seaton about the need for free elections in Cuba, Castro responded: ``We have a different concept of democracy.''

He also fielded questions on claims that excessive tax burdens are hampering Cuba's tiny private sector, in place since the middle of the 1990s as part of a cautious economic reform programme.

Castro said it was only fair that those making more money should pay levies accordingly on their earnings and expressed his regret that ``this modest opening has created enormous income differences'' among a people used to wealth equality.

``We would have preferred not to create these differences,'' he said.

Castro was also quizzed by Miami Herald chairman David Lawrence over his attitude to the large Cuban immigrant community living in Florida, many of whom are fiercely opposed to his government. ``They must think God is very bad because he has not struck me off the earth,'' he said.

Castro insisted U.S. stubbornness was to blame for the history of immigration problems between the two nations, which are separated by a mere 90 miles (144 kms) of sea.

Referring to one of the most sensitive events in that history, the Cuban leader repeated his government's version that the 1994 drowning of 32 Cubans on a tugboat stolen in an attempt to escape the island was an accident rather than a deliberate sinking by Cuban coastguard authorities.

03:18 10-27-98

[RedKryptonite]

Tonight on Cribs, Fidel Castro! I keed. :D Seriously though, I doubt he lives in a mud hut with a grass roof. :castro:

[Commie Rat]

As teh west pins him as a dictator the fincancil distric uses this to say that he own's cuba therefore making him stinking rich

[Severian]

How many threads have there been on this?

Miami Herald on the Castro family's lifestyle (http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/fidel/castro-family.htm)

Excerpt:

The houses of Fidel and Raúl are large but simply appointed.
Fidel and Dalia's compound in western Havana is equipped with one outdoor tennis and basketball court. It is ringed with pine trees that block off outside views, and surrounded by electronic fences that detect intruders.

All streets surrounding the compound are marked as one-way streets heading away from the house to deter sightseers, Bustamante said. Only official cars are allowed to drive the wrong way into the compound.

An acquaintance who has visited both Fidel and Raúl's homes described them as very large by Cuban standards but relatively simply appointed with Cuban-made furniture, with Raúl's home ``a bit nicer than Fidel's.''

The Castro brothers are known to have had several other houses around the island set aside for vacations or official visits to the provinces. But they handed over most of them for tourist lodgings after Soviet subsidies stopped arriving in 1991 and Cuba plunged into an economic crisis.

The Herald's bias, of course, is anticommunist and would tend to exaggerate their privileges. And some of those privileges are more like necessary security precautions.

As for the sat photo, I have no idea, but the house doesn't look very large.

[rebelworker]

one question i have about fidel is I have heard a few times that pretty much everyone who was ever close to him politically and may have threatend his power has spent time in jail.

I have also heard many times that che was sent to bolivia as a plot to get him out of fidels hair...

any takers?

[norwegian commie]

have also heard many times that che was sent to bolivia as a plot to get him out of fidels hair

this is not true. Our beloved comrade guevara wanted to spread the revolution.
Therefor he went to Bloivia to overthrow the goverment there like they did in Cuba. However there are speculations on the subject because of the tention between guevara and fidel.

it is now said that Che Guevara at that time was the only one who dared to criizise Fidel. (partially cappie propaganda but...) Anyways Che G did critizise him and some people wondered how their relationship was when Che G traveled the world as a Diplomat.

Their relation was absolutely fine, Che G said to fidel that this he must do and obey his revolutinary ideas, (the guerillia in bolivia).
And in his last letter to Fidel before his death he finished with the frase we all have close to our hearts "hasta la victoria siempre!"


one question i have about fidel is I have heard a few times that pretty much everyone who was ever close to him politically and may have threatend his power has spent time in jail.

No not as i know of.

[LA GUERRA OLVIDADA]

If that satellite image is really Fidel's house, I am impressed and somewhat relieved. That house is nothing amazing even by first world standards. From what I can tell it looks like an upper middle class house you'd find in the states.

I like how they point out a helicopter pad.. The only world leader I can think of who might not have a helicopter or even an airport close to them would be the fucking King of Bhutan who lives in the goddamn mountains in a log cabin. He is a leader of a moderately sized country, to have a helicopter so you can travel I don't consider too bad.

[Abood]

i dont know anything about the way Fidel Castro lives, but that's just a pic taken from Google Earth.. it might as well be my house!!!

[Wanted Man]

SA owned this topic. I can start up Google Earth and find a house of a similar size that belongs to the parents of a friend of mine in Aberdeen(although they have no pool).


one question i have about fidel is I have heard a few times that pretty much everyone who was ever close to him politically and may have threatend his power has spent time in jail.

I have also heard many times that che was sent to bolivia as a plot to get him out of fidels hair...

any takers?
It's simply not true. You should see the pinned topics on top of the Che forum, such claims have been refuted ad nauseam.