From: Yoshie F. Fidel is a great man, perhaps the ablest socialist leader in history,and certainly the most charming, but no man -- not even the best --should have held so many offices himself, and for so long.
-clip- On the other hand, I don't want Chavez to emulate Fidel on being the head of state for ever (though that would be the only way a majority of Americans would get to remember his name and pronounce it correctly). ^^^^ CB: In an ideal world without imperialist ,militarist threat, ah yes. However, Cuba is not out from under US threat even after all these years. The U.S. has its concentration camp at Guantanamo to send a menacing message to Cuba. There is no choice for Cuba but to remain organized _militantly_, which requires centralization. This is the story of all socialist countries so far. Cuba seemingly has been able to make the contradiction of combining this militancy and military organization with democracy more than others. Maybe Venezuela can solve the contradiction even more. It's the contradiction of democratic centralism.
