Talk:Raúl Castro

Raul's role in the Moncada Barracks Operation

Here is an interesting article from Granma which includes a facimile from the Oriente newspaper July 30, 1953, reporting RC's capture: http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2006/agosto/vier4/33raulmon-i.html

I believe he also played an important role in Operation Carlota - the Cuban defeat of the South African invasion of Angola in 1976. I'll post a source when I find it.

And Ramses II defeated the Hittites sure!! El Jigue 8-27-06

Father

Is his father Ángel Castro y Argiz?

No not according to Díaz-Versón, Salvador 1980 One man, one battle. World Wide Pub. Co. New York ASIN B0006E1ULI. pp. 93 and 107, and a number of places on the web e.g. [1] And there is an old photograph on the web which shows his father Felipe Mirabal and Batista during his baptism ceremony. El Jigue 9-7-06

Vive Raúl!

Report states that using odd grammar crowd cheers Raul. Apparently this cheer might be interpreted to indicate that some question if Raul has or has not joined the living dead "His speech, which closed the union's 19th congress in Havana, earned him a standing ovation from the crowd of about 1,400 people, which chanted ``Vive Raúl!" [2] El Jigue 9-29-06

Hosni Mubarak is said too precede Raul Castro. Why is this not corrected.

On Raul Castro biography page, it says Hosni Mubarak preceded him. This has been on his page for months now. Can someone change it or delete it? I'm no expert and don't know how to correct this. I'm assuming someone can get in touch with wikipedia and tell them about it? Thank you very much. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.148.214.248 (talk) 20:28, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

Catholic?

Raul Castro is listed in "categories" as having converted to Catholicism. It isn't mentioned anywhere in the article nor is any relevant citation given. Considering that he is the head of an officially Marxist-Leninist state, this seems to be a rather dubious claim, and should be removed if nothing can be presented to support it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.22.46.250 (talk) 21:45, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

Travel restrictions abolished

Raul Castro has already eased travel restrictions for any Cubans who are agitating to travel abroad (see http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/17/goodbye-cuban-exit-visas.html). It is noteworthy that the new travel freedoms had been first hinted at in 2008 and again in 2011, but only now have been officially confirmed by decree.

While the new travel regulations get rid of the white card and give Cubans an opportunity to travel to other countries without excessive bureaucratic hurdles (travel restrictions will be reserved for select citizens on grounds of defense and national security), some are worried that Castro may trigger another exodus of Cubans on the scale of the 1980 Mariel boatlift and 1994 Rafters' crisis. However, this possibility is highly unlikely because Castro has expressed concerns that a new immigration crisis could trigger social instability in Latin America. Any Cubans wishing to travel abroad should not miss an opportunity to visit Disneyland in Florida or other landmarks in the US.

Barack Obama will face a tough choice on how to respond to Cuba's lifting of travel restrictions for Cuban citizens. He already made clear his intention to maintain the embargo during his 2008 presidential campaign, so it's rather naive to think that he would simply ask Congress to repeal the ban on US tourist travel to Cuba (which is codified by a 2000 law that allows sales of US agricultural and medical products to Cuba)--- he is very worried that too much tourist travel to Cuba will provide the Cuban regime with enough money to annihilate the opposition movement (so far tourist travel to China and Vietnam has done nothing to sway Chinese and Vietnamese leaders to open up their countries' one-party systems, and neither has US travel to North Korea). Given Obama's preference for a measured piecemeal approach to dealing with gradual changes in Cuba, he could pursue the followiing measures:

1. Expanding people-to-people contacts with Cuba (like allowing ferries to take Americans to Cuba)

2. Establishing a Freedom Fund for Cuba (as first suggested by President Bush)

3. Educating Cubans in the US as to indoctrinate them with knowledge of liberal democracy, free market economics, the benefits of mixed economies, et cetera

4. Re-establishing a postal service to Cuba

This is an opportunity that should not be missed by President Obama. 68.4.28.33 (talk) 02:57, 10 January 2013 (UTC)Vahe Demirjian