# Castro passes on May Day-"El Jefe"es Muerto? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 2, 2007, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444 "2007-05-02T12:05:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444/21 "2007-05-02T22:12:18Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] For English speakers learning Spanish, the idea that “being dead” is a temporary or changeable condition and so requires _estar_ is not so intuitive. But maybe El Jefe is dead-not-dead like Schrodinger’s cat. 🙂 [/QUOTE] If you have ever read Gramma, then you know that even death is a changeable condition that reacts to the needs of the government. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444/22 "2007-05-02T22:30:37Z")
I don’t know how this thread has lasted this long in GQ, so to help it along. . . Yea, all the Castro haters are looking to celebrate his death. Yea, he’s totally screwed up the country. Meanwhile, the multi-nationals are already planning on how to carve up the country. Again, the Cuban people that stayed and suffered will get fucked over. This time it will be excused as all well and good because it was “good” corporations and the rich Cubans that fled who will get the spoils. I guess when you’ve spent your whole life getting fucked over it doesn’t matter by whom. Thread moved or am I going to get spanked by the mods? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444/23 "2007-05-02T22:44:23Z")
[QUOTE=ralph124c] The old bastard didn’t show for may day-I’m sure the audience didn’t miss one of his 6-hour speech/harangues. Brother raul doesn’t look well-does this portend something? One can only hope that the end is near! [/QUOTE] …and your question _is_? Moved to MPSIMS. **samclem** GQ moderator ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Hildo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@Johnny\_Hildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Hildo)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444/24 "2007-05-02T22:48:34Z")
Either way, [Criswell](http://www.evil-pumpkin.com/jake/criswell/) was way off. Picked up his 1968 book _Criswell Predicts_ in a thrift store a while back. What did the master psychic have to say about Fidel? > [@](#): > > I predict the assassination of Fidel Castro by a woman, on August 9, 1970. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444/25 "2007-05-02T22:50:21Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] For English speakers learning Spanish, the idea that “being dead” is a temporary or changeable condition and so requires _estar_ is not so intuitive. But maybe El Jefe is dead-not-dead like Schrodinger’s cat. 🙂 [/QUOTE] AHA! The old Chevy Chase joke on SNL finally makes sense! ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444/26 "2007-05-02T22:52:12Z")
He’s not dead. He’s pining for the fjords. Sheesh… ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444/27 "2007-05-02T23:16:12Z")
[QUOTE=Spartydog] I don’t know how this thread has lasted this long in GQ, so to help it along. . . Yea, all the Castro haters are looking to celebrate his death. Yea, he’s totally screwed up the country. Meanwhile, the multi-nationals are already planning on how to carve up the country. Again, the Cuban people that stayed and suffered will get fucked over. This time it will be excused as all well and good because it was “good” corporations and the rich Cubans that fled who will get the spoils. I guess when you’ve spent your whole life getting fucked over it doesn’t matter by whom. Thread moved or am I going to get spanked by the mods? [/QUOTE] How are the multinationals going to carve up the country? You do know that lots of multinational corporations do business in Cuba, right? Just none headquartered in the US. What other countries have the multinationals carved up? Haiti? Guatemala? Honduras? Vietnam? The threat the multinationals pose to the freedom-loving people of Cuba is a bit theatrical, no? Bad multinationals, bad! The only reason anybody in the US cares is that at one time Castro, the dictator of Cuba allied himself with the Soviet Union and hosted nuclear missiles pointed at us. If Castro had died or been forced out of power long ago like most of his generation, Cuba would enjoy normal relations with the United States, like it enjoys with Canada, Mexico, Japan, Germany, and every other country in the world except the United States. However, since he hasn’t and wasn’t, our archaic anti-Castro policy hasn’t changed either. Now, in a rational world we’d have changed it. But, since Castro’s gonna die pretty soon anyway, how about we wait until Castro dies? At most a year or two or three. So, what happens after Castro dies? The multinational corporations invade the country? The United States drops the embargo, which was the only thing protecting the freedom-loving people of Cuba from the depredations of the multinational corporations? Make up your mind, is the embargo to punish Cuba or protect it? Is Saint Fidel the last hope of the Cuban people, and his death will unleash hell? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444/28 "2007-05-03T01:20:33Z")
I think Fidel is hanging on to life out of spite; he’s drawing it out just to aggravate all the old exiles in Miami. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444/29 "2007-05-03T01:27:33Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] Exactly. Since no one observed him on May Day, he remains in a state of superposition. But once he appears in public, his wave function will collapse. [/QUOTE] Schrödinger’s dictator? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444/30 "2007-05-03T02:03:02Z")
[QUOTE=Diceman] I’m sure Cuban-Americans are heartened by Fidel’s non-appearance 😉 When the old goat finally croaks, Miami is going to see a street party of historic proportions. [/QUOTE] By this point, it should be obvious even to them that Castro’s death will not immediately lead to any change in the system of government. Cuba has already **had** an orderly succession of power. Still, the hard-liners seem to have a hard time learning – see [here.](http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070514/castro) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444/31 "2007-05-03T02:20:53Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] Exactly. Since no one observed him on May Day, he remains in a state of superposition. But once he appears in public, his wave function will collapse. It’s problably why he decided not to appear. [/QUOTE] :mad: I hate quantum mechanics. They never show up on time, they overcharge, and when they’re done the Higgs boson is still making that damned **noise**. . . ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444/32 "2007-05-03T03:58:34Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny Hildo] Either way, [Criswell](http://www.evil-pumpkin.com/jake/criswell/) was way off. Picked up his 1968 book _Criswell Predicts_ in a thrift store a while back. What did the master psychic have to say about Fidel? > [@](#): > > I predict the assassination of Fidel Castro by a woman, on August 9, 1970. :smack: [/QUOTE] Wow, that was hours before my birth day. Hmmm… Yeah, that was a bit off. I suspect Fidel won’t die until the last of the original Cuban exiles dies. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444/33 "2007-05-03T10:02:55Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] For English speakers learning Spanish, the idea that “being dead” is a temporary or changeable condition and so requires _estar_ is not so intuitive. But maybe El Jefe is dead-not-dead like Schrodinger’s cat. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Well, what’s definitely a temporary condition whether you believe in second comings or not is being alive. Since being dead is the opposite of being alive, the same verb is used for both. After all, estar guapa is not the same as ser guapa. But the temporariness of estar fea is the same as that of estar guapa 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444/34 "2007-05-03T10:09:46Z")
**Duke** , el Generalísimo thought he had everything “atado y bien atado” (tied down). Yet pretty much the first thing his succesor did was grab a guy who’d come up through the ranks of Falange and who was “a total blueshirt” (absolute Falange; his also-blue-shirt wife was a distant relative of Dad’s and, Dad’s side of the family being a different political side, they tell this detail with relish) and tell him to “turn me this into a democracy.” So I’m still keeping a hand on the popcorn bucket until the movie’s over, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444/35 "2007-05-03T11:51:09Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] **Duke** , el Generalísimo thought he had everything “atado y bien atado” (tied down). Yet pretty much the first thing his succesor did was grab a guy who’d come up through the ranks of Falange and who was “a total blueshirt” (absolute Falange; his also-blue-shirt wife was a distant relative of Dad’s and, Dad’s side of the family being a different political side, they tell this detail with relish) and tell him to “turn me this into a democracy.” So I’m still keeping a hand on the popcorn bucket until the movie’s over, eh? [/QUOTE] I’m thinking that something similar might happen with Cuba. It won’t surprise me in the least if Raul Castro dies within a month or two of Fidel, most likely from a bad case of lead poisoning. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444/36 "2007-05-03T12:19:57Z")
El Jefe is dead? I guess I can’t be [Punk in Drublic](http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:09fpxqw5ldfe~T1) anymore. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444/37 "2007-05-03T13:48:58Z")
You know, I live in Florida, but I don’t want to be the guy who, after Fidel dies, has to tell all the exiles and (mostly) their children and grandchildren, that they _still_ don’t get to reclaim all the money and property their families got to steal under Batista, even after all that voting for Republicans (and a few Democrats, too). I mean, Castro + Communism - Guevara = a bad combination, it’s true. But who here wants to make the case that Fulgencio + Meyer Lansky & the Mafia + United Fruit = Caribbean Utopia? **ralph124c** hopes the end is near. Most people need to have some idea of what they’re hoping _for_ first. Those who are vague on the concept, well, I guess they are the stuff out of which revolutions are made. I can’t see any sane man enjoying the coming transition. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444/38 "2007-05-03T14:23:47Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] Well, what’s definitely a temporary condition whether you believe in second comings or not is being alive. Since being dead is the opposite of being alive, the same verb is used for both. After all, estar guapa is not the same as ser guapa. But the temporariness of estar fea is the same as that of estar guapa 😃 [/QUOTE] Oh, I understand the logic of it, such as it is. It just requires some getting used to for an English speaker. And then we could get into _estar vivo_ (to be alive) vs _ser vivo_ (to be an alert person); and _estar muerto_ (to die) vs _ser muerto_ (to be killed). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444/39 "2007-05-03T14:27:57Z")
I know, thought I’d explain it for our English speakers. Should have said it in the post but as usual my mouth goes faster than my brain. Well, my fingers go faster than my brain, whatever. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444/40 "2007-05-03T15:57:47Z")
I thought you were using “passes” in that afraid-to-say-“dies” way some English speakers do, and that he had died. Oops. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-passes-on-may-day-el-jefe-es-muerto/402444.md?page=3)