August 17, 2007
Fireworks in Miami? (Updated)
I just received a phone call from a source in law enforcement. Apparently, police and other officials are being mobilized for a possible crowd control situation expected supposedly tonight.
I was not told what the cause of the crowd control situation would be, but, well, what else can it be but fidel castro dead?
This source has been reliable in the past, so let's keep our fingers crossed, but go ahead and rinse the flute glasses in the back of the cupboard. You might be needing them soon.
UPDATE: Something is definitely afoot. Unusually high numbers for a Friday night here with the majority of search engine hits with "fidel castro dead" or "fidel castro death" parameters.
UPDATE (Henry):I went out to Versailles to see if anything was going on and when I got there I found the small parking lot adjacent to the building taped off. CBS 4 had a live truck there and one of these DCL satellite trucks was there too.
Unfortunately none of the journalists there could substantiate anything. They were simply there because of the rumors. Just in case. By the time we finished dinner the CBS 4 truck was gone as well as the camera tripods that had been set up in front of the coffee window.
Apparently setting off the rumors was the change in normally scheduled programming on Cuban TV where all kinds of documentaries and archival footage of fidel have been showed. This is the kind of thing they did in the USSR when one of those commie leaders died.
Posted by Val Prieto at August 17, 2007 07:58 PM
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Comments
Que tu boca sea santa. I keep my skepticism high though so I don't get depressed if it doesn't happen.
Posted by: Eduardo ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.babalublog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at August 17, 2007 08:17 PM
Took your advise, rinsed my champagne flutes and getting ready to start cooking...I guess we won't be sleeping tonight!!!!!
Posted by: ORGULLOSADESERCUBANA at August 17, 2007 08:30 PM
When they do announce it you can bet your ass that it will be on a friday night.
Posted by: Henry "Conductor" Gomez at August 17, 2007 08:37 PM
Val called it on one of our shows. He said a Friday night.
Posted by: George L. Moneo at August 17, 2007 08:42 PM
::Sniff::: I have nobody to celebrate with here.
:(
Posted by: Claudia at August 17, 2007 08:45 PM
Val, didn't understand very well your "UPDATE" comment, the technicality of it to be precise.
Posted by: Eduardo at August 17, 2007 08:57 PM
Interesting developments... If the old fart *is* dead, Hurricane Dean will be dusting the island by Sunday-Monday... Not to sound too crazy, but a natural disaster would be great cover for MF-ing overthrow. Just one man talking...
Posted by: CubanSteel at August 17, 2007 08:58 PM
Eduardo,
High numbers means more visits to the blog than a usual Friday night. Unique visitors per hour on Fridays usually drops down to about 100. We're average over 200.
Search engine hits means people coming into the blog via a search for fidel castro dead or death or died.
Posted by: Val Prieto at August 17, 2007 09:08 PM
Thanks, Val!
Posted by: Eduardo at August 17, 2007 09:10 PM
I hope it is finally true!
Champants on ice!
Posted by: Pepon at August 17, 2007 09:15 PM
Cuban government still not saying much about Dean. Maybe it's too big for them to do anything to mitigate the disaster.
Posted by: Tomas Estrada-Palma at August 17, 2007 09:19 PM
Now that his death has been picked up by main stream media, it must be true :-)
Rob
Posted by: havanajournal at August 17, 2007 09:23 PM
Usually I'm not on the web on a Fri night, but when I saw this, I just called my darling mom in Miami ..... gave a heads up .... said elderly her "amiguitas" had been chatting about it.... she can't find the bottle she had saved for the occasion, but that's moot. Her entire building will be dancing in the street!!
Posted by: Gigi at August 17, 2007 09:42 PM
If its true, which will be the gathering place in Miami to celebrate? I live in West Palm Beach but Ill be on I-95 heading south as soon as it becomes official.
Posted by: Roberto at August 17, 2007 09:51 PM
The Cuban (daily) televised program,"Mesa Redonda" (fidel's brainchild) was cancelled tonight. Instead of the regular scheduled program they had a music special. Kinda Weird, since they've never cancelled this program before... Ever.
Boy, I which I could be a fly on the wall!
Posted by: Firefly at August 17, 2007 09:51 PM
I think they are scared to announce his death with the hurricane getting ready to ride up their ass. They are arguing amongst themselves about what to do but they are paralyzed. So they will do nothing.
Posted by: Tomas Estrada-Palma at August 17, 2007 09:56 PM
Firefly: I think I read they canceled "Mesa Redonda" and in its place they put some Venezuelan crap about oil. Not as juicy as a music special but still pretty interesting
Posted by: Eduardo at August 17, 2007 09:57 PM
Oscar Corral got busted on a Friday night near midnight soliciting prostitution. Can another big event happen tonight at about the same time?
Posted by: mrcs_Concepcion at August 17, 2007 09:57 PM
Eduardo,
That's just it. Granma had an article today announcing the embassador of Venezuela as its guest in "Mesa Redonda" to discuss Venezuela and like you said "some crap about oil." The thing is that the program was cancelled tonight without any notice.
Posted by: Firefly at August 17, 2007 10:07 PM
Well, it's 10:09 pm and nothing official yet, at least that I have found. Has anybody heard anything? What are the possibilities an announcement would be made this late in the evening? I am not at all experienced on how to effectively release news to one's advantage, so what do you guys think?
Posted by: albertodelacruz at August 17, 2007 10:11 PM
Firefly:
Thanks. You're right. I went to the Granma site and this is what they announced:
"Cubavision y el Canal Educativo estrenan hoy a las 6 de la tarde, en el espacio de la Mesa Redonda el documental El factor petroleo detras de la guerra al terrorismo"
Very, very interesting.
Posted by: Eduardo at August 17, 2007 10:31 PM
Claudia, I'm not in Miami either....sigh. Standby never looked so good! It could be a long night, food and drink are ready.
Posted by: Ziva at August 17, 2007 10:38 PM
preparen el champagne ya
http://www.noticierodigital.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=239753
Posted by: Abajofidel at August 17, 2007 10:58 PM
Who is in NYC? I would love to celebrate with others when the announcement comes.
Posted by: Alisa at August 17, 2007 11:11 PM
It is uncanny timing that today was the last part of fidel's multi-part message in granma. I refuse to get excited as the rumour mills have disappointed me far too often.
Posted by: pototo at August 17, 2007 11:35 PM
Going to bed, wake me if its true so I can live the dream.
Posted by: pototo at August 17, 2007 11:44 PM
It's 12:15 AM here (CST). Looks like some sort of movie or televnovela on Cubavision at the moment. Not sure if that means anything, but I thought I'd pass it on.
Posted by: Peshkatari at August 18, 2007 01:19 AM
Claudia, we can at least celebrate online! I have the champagne chilling. Is there anyone else in San Francisco who wants to celebrate? Wish I could jump on a plane with you, Ziva, and go to Miami, but with the hurricane coming......
Posted by: Mariana at August 18, 2007 02:33 PM
Anybody in Austin to celebrate with?
Posted by: R S at August 18, 2007 02:52 PM
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