[Tonchi]

There will not be a democratic government in Cuba, whether Castro croaks tomorrow or in 10 years, because the leftist movement is picking up steam in South America now and they need for Cuba to stay the way it is in order to act as the role model for their governmental overhauls.

Venezuela is firmly on board this waggon with Bolivia signing on the minute they elected their first indigenous President last month. Why anybody would want as a role model a country which has failed in every possible social and economic endeavor is beyond my understanding, but that is how too many of those destitute countries down there are thinking right now. Fidel will play along because when the Russian empire imploded he lost his only supporter, but now he can count on oil-rich Venezuela to underwrite his schemes. Bolivia, which is also supposed to have vast oil and mineral resources, will now nationalize them (i.e., seize) from Western companies who will not go along with their demands. As you may guess, once OIL gets into the equation.......in come the US troops with Halliburton not far behind. Cuba only conceeded a few resorts to the decadent Western tourists because there was literally no other possible source of income for the country. Now, Uncle Fidel's last miserable sugarcane fields, run by requiring men to do their "socialist duty" on a seasonal rotation, will become the final casualty of the fabulous economic revolution and the guns will come out again. Communists who have no food begin "exporting revolution." And Venezuela is eager to pay for it.

You might want to do your winter vacations on some other Caribbean island next time.