Fidel Castro - My days are numbered

[Judi Lynn]

Fidel Castro - My days are numbered
Jan 23 2009 WalesOnline

Ex-Cuban leader Fidel Castro said he doubted he would live to see the end of Barack Obama’s four-year US presidential term and instructed officials to start making decisions without him.

In an online column called Reflections of Comrade Fidel, Castro, 82, suggested his days were numbered, saying Cuban officials “shouldn’t feel bound by my occasional Reflections, my state of health or my death”.

He said: “I have had the rare privilege of observing events over such a long time. I receive information and meditate calmly on those events. I expect I won’t enjoy that privilege in four years, when Obama’s first presidential term has ended.”

He did not elaborate, but the lines had the ring of a farewell, and Castro suggested he was on his way out.

~snip~
The bulk of yesterday’s column was devoted to praising Mr Obama, the 11th US president since the Cuban revolution, in part for his decision to close the US prison at Guantanamo Bay.

Castro recalled his thoughts on Tuesday as he watched Mr Obama assume the “leadership of the empire”.

“The intelligent and noble face of the first black president of the US ... had transformed itself under the inspiration of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King into a living symbol of the American dream,” he wrote.

Castro praised Mr Obama as honest, writing: “No-one could doubt the sincerity of his words when he affirms that he will convert his country into a model of freedom, respect for human rights in the world and the independence of other nations.”

However, Castro suggested Mr Obama would succumb to threats greater than his own qualities.

“What will he do soon, when the immense power that he has taken in his hands is absolutely useless to overcome the unsolvable, antagonistic contradictions of the (American) system?” he said.

More:
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/latest-world-news/2009/01/23/fidel-castro-my-days-are-numbered-91466-22761075/