Breaking News !!!!

[First Lady]

Not sure if you have heard but Fidel has stood down today..... News was broken at 6pm Australian Time....

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas...stro/index.html

I haven't heard from Rob yet but I have texted him

These are going to be interesting months

The First lady

[yossie]

I was talking to crossbow about after embargo yesterday or today.

I am not sure that what will happens though, I hope NCs will be cheaper.

[SmokinAl]

» Not sure if you have heard but Fidel has stood down today..... News was

» broken at 6pm Australian Time....

Good lord. It's the end of an era. I wonder though at the timing. Rob and the boys seem to have showed up at a strangely approiate time in the hood in Havana haven't t they? Could there be more to the story? Viva El Presidente?...only time will tell...;-)

[tigger]

Interesting times ahead, and I look forward to reading of Rob's thoughts and impressions.

Don't think this will have any effect on the embargo, but it's a sign that it won't stand forever.

[anacostiakat]

» Not sure if you have heard but Fidel has stood down today..... News was

» broken at 6pm Australian Time....

»

» http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas...stro/index.html

»

» I haven't heard from Rob yet but I have texted him

»

» These are going to be interesting months

»

» The First lady

I seriously do not think this makes much difference until he exits, stage left. . .

Then I think I will watch to see if there is any actual movement from his brother.

[Loki]

Yep I saw it on the news first thing this morning. He posted his letter

on the internet ? Aren't the Cuban people restricted from using the internet ?

[brian1]

I think he is just screwing with us and enjoy all the attention of the worlds media.

[56Tweed]

I don't think there will be any immediate changes. I believe that Raul is more progressive than Fidel, but it will likely take the next (non-Castro) leader to bring any real change.

Still I'll see out a box of post-Fidel cigars. :-D

[Fatcigar]

WoW !

May be just another trick up his sleeves to sell more cigars at higher prices. Notice the timing of his announcement...just before Cigar Festival

[TexaSmoke]

This won't affect the embargo for the time being, but when it is lifted I would expect to see the prices of all cuban cigars to increase drastically since the demand would "legally" jump. Might be a bitter sweet when it happens, at least for prices, but I think it will help the people in Cuba quite a bit.

[ffopusxff]

Light one up for the end of an era:-) As said before maybe just a promotional thing with the timing of it. Didn't they say he was dead a few months ago, who knows;-)

[Guest josho2001]

» I don't think there will be any immediate changes. I believe that Raul is

» more progressive than Fidel, but it will likely take the next (non-Castro)

» leader to bring any real change.

»

» Still I'll see out a box of post-Fidel cigars. :-D

From what I've heard, that being from Cuban immigrants, Raul is almost worst then his brother, I'm not saying he's not progressive, but apparently he's a lot more violent.

The embargo will extend at least for another year though, if not a decade in my opinion.

It's really strange though to see in those comments people defending Castro and saying all the great things he's done and how happy the Cuban people are. I've never gotten that impression before.

[El Rushbo]

If this ain't a reason for a sale nothing is...

[Jimmy2]

Communist icon Castro bows out

Cuban revolutionary icon Fidel Castro announced Tuesday he was stepping aside, ending five decades of ironclad rule marked by his brash defiance of the United States.

Citing poor health, Fidel Castro, 81, said he would not retain the presidency when the national assembly meets later this week, in a message published by the online version of the Cuban Communist Party newspaper Granma.

"I neither will aspire to, nor will I accept, the position of president of the Council of State and commander-in-chief," Castro wrote, almost 19 months after undergoing intestinal surgery and handing power temporarily to his brother Raul Castro.

"It would betray my conscience to take up a responsibility that requires mobility and total commitment that I am not in physical condition to offer," he said.

Castro did not say who he thought should be his successor. Any member of his inner circle is arguably a contender, although many Cuba-watchers believe Raul Castro, who has been serving as interim president, is the leading choice.

However, the elder Castro's reference in his on-line letter to a "middle generation" suggests that younger leaders such as Vice President Carlos Lage, 56, should not be ruled out.

US President George W. Bush said Tuesday that Fidel Castro's decision to step down should begin a "democratic transition" in Cuba, eventually culminating with free and fair elections.

"I believe that the change from Fidel Castro ought to begin a period of democratic transition," said Bush, who signaled no change in a half-century of tough US policies towards America's one-party neighbor.

In Washington, the US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said there were no plans to end the decades-old US trade embargo on Cuba.

Asked if Washington planned to lift sanctions, he stated: "I don't imagine that happening anytime soon."

A guerrilla revolutionary and communist idol, Castro held out against history and turned tiny Cuba into a thorn in the paw of the mighty capitalist United States.

Castro's departure was met with disbelief on the streets of Havana, where most have never known another leader.

"Damn, the commander in chief is stepping down! We knew this was going to happen one day. But now that it's a reality, it's just hitting us," said 20-year-old Dayron Clavellon upon returning home after a night out with his friends in Havana's club district.

Alba, a 67-year-old retired nurse, struggled to accept the development. Castro, she long swore to herself, "would die with his boots on."

"I never thought I'd see the day he'd give up power. It's incredible," she said.

The longest ruling leader in the Americas overthrew Fulgencio Batista to take power in 1959 and kept a tight clamp on dissent at home, imprisoning political opponents. Rights groups put the current number of political prisoners at more than 200.

Fidel Castro has said he would never retire from politics and would retain his position as head of the island's sole political party.

Out of public sight since his surgery and seen only in videos and photos, Castro has maintained his influence through columns in the Cuban media titled "Reflections of a Commander-in-chief."

"I am not saying farewell. I want only to fight as a soldier of ideas. I will continue writing under the title 'Reflections of Comrade Fidel.' I will be one more weapon in the arsenal that you can count on. Perhaps my voice will be heard," he wrote Tuesday.

Castro's message came just five days before a historic session in the National Assembly which will name the new president.

Famed for his rumpled olive fatigues, straggly beard, and the cigars he reluctantly gave up for his health, Castro dodged everything his enemies could throw at him in nearly half a century in power, including assassination plots, a US-backed invasion bid, and the US trade embargo

[David]

Looks like my dreams of getting Tupac and Biggie to sign my albums are one step closer.

[Jay Hemingway]

ive heard the news stating:

"from one tyrant to another".

i guess they say that fidel handing power over to his brother is the same thing,nothing changes.

[Hugomarink]

» This won't affect the embargo for the time being, but when it is lifted I

» would expect to see the prices of all cuban cigars to increase drastically

» since the demand would "legally" jump. Might be a bitter sweet when it

» happens, at least for prices, but I think it will help the people in Cuba

» quite a bit.

This is why it is essential to stock up now. :-D

[RTEASE]

Thoughts!!!!!!

If embargo lifted

Hows the quality of cc's gonna be?

They want to make more to supply the demand

Where's the price gonna go when all the taxes are applied?

You know democracy

Seems I'd almost like to leave things be!:-|

[Jimmy2]

Cuba supplied the whole world with cigars before the revolution and there were no problems and there were more cigar smokers back in those day's.

And I think quality would only get better and we are the most advanced country in agriculture which would only help Cuba.

Also i think there was over 900+ cigars being made back in the old days.

[TexaSmoke]

» Cuba supplied the whole world with cigars before the revolution and there

» were no problems and there were more cigar smokers back in those day's.

»

»

» And I think quality would only get better and we are the most advanced

» country in agriculture which would only help Cuba.

»

»

» Also i think there was over 900+ cigars being made back in the old days.

I agree that the quality will probably not be an issue, but I think getting them into the US will still have problem mainly due to trademarks. For example, Cohiba is currently owned by General Cigar in the US and I doubt they will allow Cuban Cohiba's the just enter the market without a fight. This might become the next big issue once the embargo is lifted, which I doubt will happen any time soon.

[Jimmy2]

I think your right with some of the brands but Cohiba was and still is a Cuban brand after the Revolution and they would lose that fight.

As the other brands the original owners were kicked out of Cuba after the revolution and lets face it they are the real owners of these brands before the revolution.

So being that I think Cuba has no rights to them but I still don't want anything to change after the embargo ends as far as the cigars.