Thousands protest Bush's trip to Brazil

Brazilian police take cover behind their shields while clashing with protesters demonstrating against the visit by U.S. President George W. Bush, scheduled to arrive later in the day for the first leg of a tour of five Latin American countries, along Sao Paulo's Paulista Avenue, March 8, 2007. (Caetano Barreira/Reuters)

This is off CNN.com:

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Police clashed Thursday with students, environmentalists and left-leaning Brazilians protesting a visit by President Bush and his push for an ethanol energy alliance with Latin America's largest nation.

Riot police fired tear gas at protesters in Sao Paulo after more than 6,000 people held a largely peaceful march, sending hundreds of demonstrators fleeing and ducking into businesses to avoid the gas.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, but some protesters said they had been beaten by officers after marching two miles through the financial heart of South America's largest city just hours before Bush was scheduled to arrive.

Clashes between police and anti-Bush protesters were also reported in Colombia, where Bush is scheduled to visit on Sunday as part of his five-nation tour to Latin America.

Bush has spoken approvingly of Brazil's ethanol program, which powers eight out of every 10 new Brazilian cars. The proposed accord is meant to help turn ethanol into an internationally traded commodity and to promote sugarcane-based ethanol production in Central America and the Caribbean.

In Sao Paulo, some carried stalks of sugarcane -- used to make ethanol -- and a banner reading: "For every liter of ethanol produced, 4 liters of fresh water are consumed, monoculture is destroying the nation's greatest asset."

And in the southern city of Porto Alegre, more than 500 people yelled "Get out, imperialist!" as they marched to a Citigroup Inc. bank branch and burned an effigy of Bush.

[....]

Graffiti reading "Get Out, Bush! Assassin!" appeared on walls near the locations Bush will drive past as he begins a Latin American tour that also includes stops in Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico.

At National University in Bogota, Colombia, 200 masked students clashed with 300 anti-riot police and shouted "Out Bush!" Police fired tear gas, and the students hurled back rocks and small homemade explosives called "potato bombs" -- aluminum foil wrapped around gunpowder. There were no immediate reports of injuries or arrests.

And in Mexico City, which Bush is scheduled to visit Tuesday, about two dozen demonstrators gathered in front of the U.S. Embassy chanting slogans against the U.S. project to construct border fences and Bush's visit.

"Why is he coming here? It makes no sense, it's unreasonable, after all he's done," said protest leader Roman Diaz Vazquez, a lawyer. "We don't like him. Why is he coming, after he ordered the construction of the border wall?"

Carmelo Ramirez Reyes showed up for the protest in a devil's mask, carrying a placard reading "My name is George Bush, killer of Mexicans."

MSNBC News has more on Bush's Latin America trip:

WASHINGTON - President Bush sought to reverse an impression of U.S. neglect as he opened a weeklong tour of Latin America on Thursday. Street protests awaited him.

President Bush's trip through Latin America. From AP Graphics.

Bush's trip was intended to promote democracy, increased trade and cooperation on alternative fuels. The president and his advisers also hoped his visit would offset the growing influence of leftist leaders, such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.

As he flew here on Air Force One, Bush's national security adviser brushed aside Chavez's provocations. "The president is going to do what he's been doing for a long time: talk about a positive agenda," said Stephen Hadley.

Bush played down the protests in interviews ahead of his trip with Latin American news organizations.

"I am proud to be going to a part of the world where people can demonstrate, where people can express their minds," he said in an interview with Univision. And he told CNN En Espanol: "The trip is to remind people that we care."

In other words, this is a political trip that was designed to hopefully bolster Bush's presidential legacy. For six years, the Bush administration had practically ignored the problems of Latin America, only now to "remind" Latin Americans that the administration really cares about their affairs. Think about the scandals and siege mentality this Bush White House has been under. The midterm elections were a disaster for President Bush and the Republicans, since the Democrats have taken control of Congress. New scandals have emerged with the horrendous conditions at Walter Reed, the political firings of eight U.S. attorneys, the Scooter Libby guilty verdict and the re-emergence of the White House involvement into the Valerie Plame scandal. And finally, we have the continued disaster in Iraq, with the congressional Democrats pushing stronger legislation for pulling the U.S. out of the war. President Bush's "legacy" is going straight into the toilet. This Latin American trip was designed to create some positive political news that the Bush White House and Republicans can spin.

But it appears that the positive news of President Bush's Latin American trip might just be overshadowed by a growing protest movement against the Bush White House. Keep your eyes on this one. For they are protesting against President Bush in Brazil even before Bush has arrived there. If we start seeing protest movements numbering 10-to-20 thousand or more, while Bush is visiting, then no amount of positive White House spin will be able to counter the even bigger story of the protest movement.

U.S. officials believe Castro has terminal cancer

Cuban President Fidel Castro, seen on Oct. 28, is believed to have cancer of the stomach, colon or pancreas. Diario Juventud Rebelde via AFP-Getty Images file

This is off MSNBC News:

WASHINGTON - The government believes Fidel Castro’s health is deteriorating and that the Cuban dictator is unlikely to live through 2007.

That dire view was reinforced last week when Cuba’s foreign minister backed away from his prediction the ailing Castro would return to power by early December. “It’s a subject on which I don’t want to speculate,” Felipe Perez Roque told The Associated Press in Havana.

U.S. government officials say there is still some mystery about Castro’s diagnosis, his treatment and how he is responding. But these officials believe the 80-year-old leader has cancer of the stomach, colon or pancreas.

He was seen weakened and thinner in official state photos released late last month, and it is considered unlikely that he will return to power or survive through the end of next year, said the U.S. government and defense officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the politically sensitive topic.

With chemotherapy, Castro may live up to 18 months, said the defense official. Without it, expected survival would drop to three months to eight months.

American officials will not talk publicly about how they glean clues to Castro’s health. But U.S. spy agencies include physicians who study pictures, video, public statements and other information coming out of Cuba.

A planned celebration of Castro’s 80th birthday next month is expected to draw international attention. The Cuban leader had planned to attend the public event, which already had been postponed once from his Aug. 13 birthday.

I will say that I'm even amazed that Fidel Castro has survived so long in power. Castro overthrew Fulgencio Batista's regime in 1959 in the Cuban revolution, and has held power in Cuba ever since then. It has always been a big question of what will happen to Cuba once Castro dies in office--and here I'm not really talking about a succession plan, since I'm pretty sure Castro's younger brother Raul will assume power in the government. This could become an opening for improving relations between Cuba and the United States--that is, if both President Bush and Raul Castro put aside their own hard-lined differences to explore such negotiations.

U.S. prepares for showdown in Cuba

What the frack is this? From Yahoo News:

WASHINGTON - The White House and Congress, caught unaware by
Fidel Castro's illness, prepared Wednesday for a possible showdown in Cuba as lawmakers drafted legislation that would pay millions of dollars to dissidents who fight for democratic change.

"The message will be: The United States stands with you," Sen. Bill Nelson (news, bio, voting record), D-Fla., one of the authors, said in an interview. "Be ready to assert your independence."

There was no sign of upheaval in Cuba Wednesday, two days after Castro stunned U.S. officials and many of his own countrymen with the news that he had temporarily ceded power to his brother, Raul, in order to undergo surgery.

The handover was a surprise to the White House and Congress, one senator said.

Okay, I can understand how the U.S. was caught completely unaware of Castro's temporarily handing power to his brother Raul while he underwent surgery. But what is this talk of providing government aid to Cuban dissidents? What is the Bush administration planning--another Bay of Pigs? Continuing with the Yahoo story:

For now, administration officials and members of Congress were focused on offering dissidents cash for fighting for Democratic change.

Legislation sponsored by Nelson, fellow Floridian Mel Martinez, Majority Leader Bill Frist and others would authorize as much as $80 million over two years--and pay half that almost immediately--to dissidents and non-governmental organizations on the island.

Recommended by a presidential commission three weeks ago, the legislation says those eligible for the money would include political prisoners, workers' rights organizations, independent libraries, journalists, doctors and economists.

The problem I have with this government aid being given to dissidents is that we don't where this aid is going. If this aid is going towards providing humanitarian food or medical supplies to the Cuban people, then I have no problem with that. But if this aid is going towards arming these dissidents for the day when Castro does actually die in office and allow these dissidents to launch their own guerrilla war against the post-Castro government, then I have a real problem with the U.S. again meddling in Cuban affairs with disastrous results. The best thing for the Bush administration and the U.S. government to do is to wait Fidel Castro out. And then wait Raul Castro's term out. Both men are of advanced age, and it is possible that within ten years, they will both be dead. So within ten years, you could have a post-Castro government in Cuba. It may not be the government that the Cuban dissidents are dreaming of, but it is certainly a government that the U.S. could initiate negotiations with.

Castro cedes power to brother

Cuban President Fidel Castro, speaks in this September 9, 2002 file photo in Havana, Cuba. Fidel Castro temporarily relinquished his presidential powers to his brother Raul on Monday night, July 31, 2006 and told Cubans that he had undergone surgery. (AP Photo/Cristobal Herrera, file)

Well, this is a surprise. This is from CNN.Com:

HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -- Fidel Castro has temporarily handed over power to his brother Raul due to intestinal surgery, Cuban television reported, the first time the communist leader has ceded control of the island nation in 47 years.

Castro's secretary, Carlos Valenciaga, read a letter Monday night that he said was from the president announcing the news. In it, the Cuban leader said that stress had forced him into surgery and that he would be in bed for several weeks after the operation.

Castro, who has led Cuba since the 1959 revolution, turns 80 on August 13.

Raul Castro, 75, is the first vice president of the country and designated successor to his brother. He also assumes control over the armed forces and leadership of the Communist Party, according to the statement.

The news sparked celebration across the Straits of Florida in Miami, home to Cuban-American exiles for more than four decades since Fidel Castro's rise to power.

So Fidel Castro has given power to his younger brother Raul, while he goes into surgery. And the Cuban-American community in Miami goes into an orgasmic rhapsody at the news:

The area's Cuban-American community of about 650,000 is the largest part of Florida's fast-growing Hispanic population, with its influence felt across the state, according to the AP. (Full story)

"My first reaction was disbelief. My second reaction was hope," the AP quoted Armando Tellez as he watched hundreds of cars clogging the streets of Hialeah, a Miami suburb. "This is a singular event in Cuba's history because there has never been anything that has given the people so much hope."

Among the cheering crowds waving Cuban flags late Monday and early Tuesday was a group dressed as migrants with life jackets, pretending to paddle a cardboard boat down Little Havana's Calle Ocho -- recalling the desperate journey many exiles have taken over the sea, the AP reported.

As the revelry pushed into the early hours, Miami's roads were gridlocked with honking cars, prompting fears of headaches for the morning rush-hour commute.

If Fidel Castro dies after this surgery, not only would it be an enormous shock to the people of Cuba, but also to the world. However, nothing is going to change regarding the Cuban government, since Fidel's brother Raul will have maintained power of the government. US-Cuban relations will remain the same for the past fifty years or so--and that's NOT! I certainly don't see the Bush administration reaching its hand out to Raul Castro for a resumption of diplomatic relations with Cuba.

The real scary situation would be for Fidel Castro to die, and then Raul Castro to die a short time after before Raul could work out a plan for a post-Fidel government. Even worst, the death of Raul Castro before he could pick his own successor could send Cuba into anarchy and chaos, as possible rival factions fight each other for power. And since we have a neoconservative Bush regime here that loves the destabilization of countries, I can't imagine what this Bush administration could do to further destabilize the Cuban government after the deaths of Fidel, Raul, or both.