Gusano,

There is something startling this morning from Cuba that merits some comments.

What can you 'read into' the startling fact that Granma has pubished most of Bush's speech for it's readers to see. Knowing that Granma is the 'voice' of only two (one?) in Cuba?

LaConchita,

Do you know if they published the speech on all the versions of Granma? International and Internal?

Lori,

I got my information from Cubanet.org, where it says in part:

"La Habana, 25 oct (EFE).- El diario Granma, órgano oficial del Partido Comunista de Cuba, dedicó hoy de manera inusual un amplio espacio a reproducir el discurso que el presidente de EE.UU., George W. Bush, dio el miércoles en Washington para anunciar nuevas medidas hacia la isla."

The question is whether or not they published the speechi n its entirety and if not, which section or parts thereof did they omit.

I think the speech threw the powers that be for a loop and they were in damage control mode. I havent read the Granma article, but Im sure its chock full of spin.

however, I think this may be a case whereby they shot themselves in the foot by publishing the speech. Cubans are experts at reading between the lines.

Lori and LaConchita,

According to McClatchy newspaper reports, excerpts of Bush's speech amounting to about half of the speech were published in Granma's Thursday edition (the paper edition distributed in Cuba), and about 15 minutes of the speech were also broadcast on Cuban TV.

Somthing tells me the parts where he spoke to the Cuban people directly, officials, police, civilians and dissidents were omitted. But one can hope for miracles...

They omitted the part with the names of the dissidents, but they did broadcast and published Bush's messages to the Cuban people and to the armed forces

Thanks George

It's becoming increasingly obvious that Tricky Ricky doesn't have a "rabbi" in the top levels of the government anymore. He had repeatedly made statements that contradict the position of others in the regime since fidel took ill. I think he's just out there drifting in the wind.

Well, Henry, if Alarcon gets the pink slip, there's always a place for him as a university professor...like at FIU.

If I were Alarcon me asilo rapidito... He would make so much money here revealing all secrets...

Instant millionaire , haza, Maria E, radio mambi, CNN, univision would pay top dollars for him to talk, books, movies, etc...even Larry king

Wait, lawmaker? Who does he think he's kidding? He hasn't "made" any law in Cuba in his whole abjectly servile life. He's only been a glorified rubber stamp. What a waste of a human being!

you missed the last line which is even funnier...

"Revolutionaries never retire," he said.

That isn't true, of course: George Washington retired. It would be more accurate to say that dictators and thugs never retire--at least not voluntarily.