Castro'S Final Hour

Rating:
Summary: Some people would love to have Batista still in power
Review: "Castro's Final Hour" - The Secret Story Behind the Coming Downfall of Communist Cuba is written by the Miami Herald foreign correspondent Andres Oppenheimer.

This is an excellent book, a good overview over Cuba and the political situation there. This book touches on many interesting topics, Cuba's history, politics, drug trafficking, and money laundering to mention a few. This book taught me a whole lot of things. (I read first Che's biography, and followed up with this one. It certainly helped me a lot to have Che's biography as a base when reading this book). The fact that the book is nearly ten years old is not so important. The situation hasn't changed much, unfortunately. ...

Oppenheimer shows extensive knowledge about Cuba's history and culture. The research undertaken to write this book is no less than impressive. Especially when considering the fact that Castro is rather paranoid when it comes to criticism. How Oppenheimer got the Cubans to talk I don't know... But the fact that he is a fluent Spanish speaker definitely helped him while researching for this book.

I truly enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about the political situation in Cuba.

An interesting read!

Rating:
Summary: Interesting on certain accounts, but ....
Review: Castro's Final Hour was a wonderful, illuminating expose of the results of totalitarian mismanagement. Any American who values democracy, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly should be appalled by Castro's regime. The book also reveals the irony of a regime that demonized the United States and kicked them out of their country now blaming their poverty on the fact that America doesn't want to come back. Great book.

Rating:
Summary: History's Longest Hour
Review: I read this book when it first appeared and was impressed by the wealth of first-hand information Mr. Oppenheimer had been able to amass. I remember quite vividly thinking at the time that Castro had managed to hang on to his personal fiefdom for over thrity years (at that point), and that given his ruthless nature, his absolute control over every aspect of Cuban society, and the long experience of the islanders in acquiesing to domination and deprivation, it was risky to predict his demise (at least on economic grounds).

The system Castro constructed is a marvel of state control. There is really nothing else in the world quite like it, although the North Korean regime gets similar results using more consistently brutal and heavy-handed methods. In retrospect, it seems odd that while Mr. Oppenheimer was able to explain a great deal about how the system works, he came to the conclusion that it would soon fail anyway.

So to sum up the book: Good research, lots of data and anecdotes, very well written, faulty conclusion. It seems that the world, and the luckless Cuban people, are stuck with the old caudillo until he dies.

Rating:
Summary: History's Longest Hour
Review: I read this book when it first appeared and was impressed by the wealth of first-hand information Mr. Oppenheimer had been able to amass. I remember quite vividly thinking at the time that Castro had managed to hang on to his personal fiefdom for over thrity years (at that point), and that given his ruthless nature, his absolute control over every aspect of Cuban society, and the long experience of the islanders in acquiesing to domination and deprivation, it was risky to predict his demise (at least on economic grounds).

The system Castro constructed is a marvel of state control. There is really nothing else in the world quite like it, although the North Korean regime gets similar results using more consistently brutal and heavy-handed methods. In retrospect, it seems odd that while Mr. Oppenheimer was able to explain a great deal about how the system works, he came to the conclusion that it would soon fail anyway.

So to sum up the book: Good research, lots of data and anecdotes, very well written, faulty conclusion. It seems that the world, and the luckless Cuban people, are stuck with the old caudillo until he dies.

Rating:
Summary: a sobering look at life in contemporary Cuba
Review: I read this book with great reluctance and skepticism. It was recommended to me a cousin who had recently emigrated to Mexico from Cuba, where I read it in Spanish on the eve of my own trip to the island to visit family (this trip took place Nov 97). While many of the hardships of the Special Period in Time of Peace -- Castrospeak for the crisis that followed the collapse of the Soviet block -- have eased, this book is an honest, unflinching portrait. It accurately describes Cuba as a nation struggling to keep what is best in the revolution while moving past what is worst, primarily through the words of its own people and key events not widely reported in the US. It makes it clear that the US embargo not only worsens the lives of ordinary Cubans, but provides Fidel with a catch-all excuse for not dealing with internal economic problem. After reading this book it is easy to see the US embargo as the most bass-ackwards US foreign policy move of the last 20 years -- virtually guaranteeing that Fidel remain in power with his ultimately empty anti-imperialist rhetoric. The details of how Fidel is turning the nation into Europe's and Canada's bargain brothel are heartbreaking.

This book is a must for supporters of the Cuban revolution because it forces us to confront the realities Cubans face in their daily lives, without the rose-colored glasses of socialist idealism.

Rating:
Summary: Some people would love to have Batista still in power
Review: Just four words: "FANATICAL HATRED OF FIDEL".

Yes, there are A LOT of things to criticize about the communist government in the island. However, when one looks at the landscape left by center-right governments in the rest of Central America... the corruption, the iliteracy, the "open markets without any local development" policies that destroyed industries from Dominican Republic to Haiti, Cuba by comparison can be criticized only on "lack of freedom of speech", on all other accounts, they win by knock-out on all the important counts specially health care and education.

That such a small island was able to survive decades of economic sanctions and blockade, it's something to admire.

People like Andres Oppenheimer would love to have Batista still in power, applying his "open wide markets" doctrine, that left the rest of central america empoverished.

Rating:
Summary: I guess we're in the 13th hour
Review: Oppenheimer owes us an updated version of his book explaining why 1992 in fact was not Castro's final hour. The economy has recovered at a rate of around 6% a year since the early nineties. I think Oppenheimer's title betrays a hell of a lot of journalistic hubris.

Rating:
Summary: Good Journalistic Detective Work by Andres Oppenheimer
Review: The fact Andres Oppenheimer was able to gain candid interviews with top Cuban officials is amazing. I first read this book in 1992 when everyone thought the Castro regime would collapse by the end of the year, this was the reason I suspect so many top officials granted interviews, believing the regime was doomed. What has always amazed me about this book is Castro commited a cardinal sin in Latin America by executing an Army General. No dictator that has ever ruled in Latin America would dream of doing such a thing fearing a Military Coup. The fact Generals Ochoa & De Laguardia were executed and there was no uprising in the armed forces shows what is the real power that keeps the regime in power. The DGI and other state spy organizations backed by a nationwide network of informants. It will be interesting to finally learn what the whole Ochoa affair was really about. The Soviets tried to " Pinochet " Mr. Castro with old 1940's Communist Party stalwart Dr. Escalante in 1969, could they have been trying again using General Ochoa?. I think so. Another thing this book shows is what I sense is the spineless behavior of many in the top echelons of the new Cuban political/economic elite. These people schemed and conninved there way to top positions and once they saw the ship starting to sink they began to tell Mr. Oppenheimer tales of The Soviet Union being a country for seals not people and how Russians were all drunks etc. And how they all dreamed of visiting New York. All these people probably got free superb 7 year University educations on the Soviet/Russian people's tab that cost $100,000 when many people in the former USSR were themselves living in Third World Poverty. One thing I never liked about this book is Mr.Oppenheimer makes many assumptions, and makes theories about why this or that happened or why this person probably did that, then tries to present these theories, no matter how probable, as facts. A bit dated today but still a good book on modern Cuba with nice pictures.