DID CASTRO INHERITED A BIG FORTUNE FROM HIS FATHER ?????
Definitely no. He made his fortune the hard way: He stole it from the =
Cuban people!
Just a few years after Fidel Castro took power in Cuba, Ram=F3n Grau San =
Mart=EDn, a former Cuban president with a reputation for wit and =
corruption, made a comment to a friend.
REMARKS:
DOCTOR GRAU SAN MARTIN, NEVER LEFT CUBA AFTER KASSTRO*S TOOK OVER THE =
COUNTRY. AND THERE IS NOT A SINGLE EVIDENCE HE ERICHED HIMSELF FROM HIS =
POSITION AS PRESIDENT.
These "honest kids," said Grau referring to Castro and his associates, =
"will manage with their honesty to accomplish what we, the " corrupt =
politicians", never were able to do:
destroy this country."
In retrospective, it seems that Grau was right, but just in one count. =
Castro and his cronies have destroyed Cuba, but they have proved to be =
more corrupt than all of the old **beep** politicians. Closely following =
the steps of his unscrupulous father, who made his fortune by stealing =
sugar cane from other plantantions and moving fences under the cover of =
the night, Fidel surrounded himself with a circle of cronies as corrupt =
as himself and, very early in his political career, began an accelerated =
process of stealing other people's money and property and blackmailing =
merchants in Havana.
Castro, who allegedly earns a modest salary in Cuban pesos as Cuban =
President, and has no other sources of income, has amassed an incredible =
personal fortune close to 1.4 billion.
That is the information appeared in Forbes magazine. The July 28, 1997, =
issue of Forbes lists Fidel Castro as one of the richest people in the =
world, with a net worth of $1.4 billion. Forbes' estimate of the funds =
that Castro actually controls may be low, however; it merely assigns to =
him 10 percent of an estimate of Cuba's gross domestic product. In fact, =
in addition to controlling the Cuban economy, Castro possesses and =
personally controls international bank accounts and large amounts of =
gold and commodities, and has done so virtually from the start of the =
Revolution.
Castro claims that he doesn't care for money, but has a stash of cash =
totalling more than a billion dollars hidden away in banks, mostly in =
Z=FCrich. He has a private fleet of yachts and luxury Mercedes cars, and =
keeps stately homes in each of Cuba's 14 provinces.=20
While the Cuban people contends with housing shortages, he reserves =
hundreds of houses in Havana's Jaimanitas beach section for the use of =
his security guards and aides. While Castro demands austerity from the =
people, he and his close associates order and send home foreign luxury =
items and use government satellite dishes to tune in to U.S. televised =
movies and sport events.
Until very recently Castro managed himself to push forward his image as =
a socialist Mr. Clean contrasting with the image of widespread =
corruption in Latin American and during Cuba's previous history. Now it =
seems that Mr. Clean has dirty hands. When Forbes published its estimate =
of Castro's personal fortune, some foreign observes believed that the =
revelation placed him in a difficult **beep** before the Cuban people, =
because it tarnished his image as a sworn enemy of capitalism, =
constantly asking the Cuban people for sacrifices and austerity in the =
name of socialism. But that is not the case. Perhaps Castro fooled some =
of his admirers in the U.S., but he never fooled the Cuban people. From =
the very beginning they changed the name of the political system Castro =
imposed in Cuba from socialismo to sociolismo. (from "socio," Cuban =
slang for "buddy" or "crony"), a tropical version of crony capitalism.
In an effort to create in Cuba an egalitarian society, Castro seized =
country clubs, beach resorts, hotels, and other recreational facilities =
and made them available to the lower classes of the Cuban population. It =
also deprived the upper classes of most of their properties. Homes of =
the wealthy were used as housing for students, large tracts of land were =
divided and distributed among poor farmers. But it seems that these =
times are not only gone, but that there is a noticeable trend to =
concentrate wealth in Castro's and a few of his cronies' hands.
-------------
For an interesting analysis of how Castro destroyed the Cuban economy =
see Peter Brimelow, "The Cost of Castro," Forbes, March 23, 1998, 80; on =
how Castro's own mismanagement, not external agents like the U.S. =
embargo, has destroyed Cuba's economy see Modesto Maidique, "Fidel's =
Plantation," The Stanford Magazine, Winter 1983, 27-32.
Mentions to "sociolismo" in General del Pino Speaks: An Insight into =
Elite Corruption and Military Dissention in Castro's Cuba. Washington, =
D.C.:The Cuban American National Foundation, 1987, 20
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
=20
There is a difference between leading a coalition of many nations,
and submitting to the objections of a few.
America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our =
people.
George Bush
Address Sate of the Nation
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