Perez Hilton: Is Fidel Castro dead? (Updated 2:26 a.m.)

Jimmy2 · August 20, 2007

Published Friday, August 17, 2007 9:07 PM by Chris Boutet

There's an strangely ominous post on celebrity news site PerezHilton tonight wondering aloud if Cuban dictator Fidel Castro has died. We know, we know, how many times have you heard that one. Believe us, we know better than to take this sort of thing too seriously here at Posted, but admittedly, Mr. Hilton has piqued our interest — as one intrepid night reporter noted, "He's never wrong!" (Well, at least when it comes to celebrities, anyhow.) Here's what he wrote:

Is Castro Dead???

We are hearing very loud rumblings that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro has died, though it could be just a flare-up of the health rumors that have dogged the tyrant recently.

No official confirmation yet, but we will be following this story closely.

Because we're just so darn dedicated here at the Post, we have a call out to Mr. Hilton now. Hopefully we'll learn something as to where this rumour originated. Will update with quotes shortly.

UPDATE 9:50 p.m.: Post reporter Katie Rook spoke with Mr. Hilton and files these quotes:

"I've been hearing rumblings for days coming from Miami and now finally, I am hearing even louder rumblings. Take that for what it is. Hopefully, there will be some announcement either way: a confirmation or a denial."

"I am working every angle. I work hard and hard work gets good results."

"I've been hearing a lot of things coming from Miami for a couple of days now and then today, I just got some new information that is leading me to believe that he is [dead.] But, you know, it may just be rumours. He had his birthday on Monday, so maybe it's just a new flare-up of rumours."

"Hopefully, we can get an answer either way because Castro hasn't been seen out in public in a year. The Cuban government has been very HUSH HUSH about his health. He could have been dead for months now, really."

Mr. Hilton, whose celebrity gossip site receives about 6 million to 7 million hits daily, says it would be "awesome" if Castro was dead and he was one of the first media outlets to report it.

"It would be awesome because I am Cuban. I have a real connection to this story. My family had to flee his dictorial, totalitarian, oppressive, communist, evil regime."

The 26-year-old blogger, whose real name is Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr., was born in Miami and lives in Los Angeles. We reached him in Washington, D.C.

UPDATE 2:26 a.m.: Just got back from the bar, and it looks like this rumour has got some legs tonight, though it remains largely unsubstantiated. Best thing I could find in the way of an update for this situation comes from Miami-based blog Babalu, which offers this illuminating post:

I just received a phone call from a source in law enforcement. Apparently, police and other officials are being mobilized for a possible crowd control situation expected supposedly tonight.

I was not told what the cause of the crowd control situation would be, but, well, what else can it be but fidel castro dead?

This source has been reliable in the past, so let's keep our fingers crossed, but go ahead and rinse the flute glasses in the back of the cupboard. You might be needing them soon.

UPDATE: Something is definitely afoot. Unusually high numbers for a Friday night here with the majority of search engine hits with "fidel castro dead" or "fidel castro death" parameters.

UPDATE (Henry):I went out to Versailles to see if anything was going on and when I got there I found the small parking lot adjacent to the building taped off. CBS 4 had a live truck there and one of these DCL satellite trucks was there too.

Unfortunately none of the journalists there could substantiate anything. They were simply there because of the rumors. Just in case. By the time we finished dinner the CBS 4 truck was gone as well as the camera tripods that had been set up in front of the coffee window.

Apparently setting off the rumors was the change in normally scheduled programming on Cuban TV where all kinds of documentaries and archival footage of fidel have been showed. This is the kind of thing they did in the USSR when one of those commie leaders died.