If you expected something other than this to happen you probably think Shaggy, Scooby and the gang are going to discover a real ghost instead of some guy in a mask.

Five Cuban soccer players went missing Tuesday night after the under-23 team played a key match against the United States, a team official said Wednesday.

[...]

The five men, including a goalie and team captain who helped Cuba tie the United States 1-1 Tuesday, are expected to be in Miami by this weekend, said Marcos Ommati, a spokesman with professional soccer team Miami FC.

He said he had not spoken with the players and did not know their whereabouts, but said he had spoken with someone who told him to expect the players.

Gaius at Blue Crab Boulevard summed it up this way:

If Cuba is the paradise our leftists like to declare it, why does this sort of thing keep happening?

Felipe Perez Roque —

Raul, who some outside commentators have said might introduce some liberal reforms, “is also Fidel.”

How sad that that is true.

The powers in Cuba did exactly what they were expected to do, replace one old dictator with a slightly younger dictator.

Cuba’s parliament named Raul Castro president on Sunday, ending nearly 50 years of rule by his brother Fidel but leaving the island’s communist system unshaken.

And as for changes, don’t expect any.

In another sign that major change was not afoot, Raul Castro, 76, proposed he would consult with the ailing 81-year-old Fidel on all major decisions of state, and parliament approved the proposal.

[...]

In a surprise move, an old guard revolutionary leader was named No. 2. Jose Ramon Machado, who fought alongside the Castro brothers in the Sierra Maestra during the late 1950s, was named to the slot that Raul Castro had previously held. He is 77.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke out for change, however unlikely it is to come.

“We urge the Cuban government to begin a process of peaceful, democratic change by releasing all political prisoners, respecting human rights, and creating a clear pathway towards free and fair elections,” Rice said in a statement.

[...]

“The Cuban people, facing the legacy of five decades of tyranny, merit our solidarity and support as they seek to construct a brighter future.”

Fidel Castro “retiring” as Cuba’s dictator in chief isn’t the end of the story. Nothing has changed, and chances are better than even that they won’t in the immediate future.

Next up is the official naming of the successor.

Cuba’s rubber-stamp National Assembly will meet on Sunday to name retiring Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s successor, and few people are placing bets on anyone other than his brother Raul Castro.

[...]

The National Assembly’s 614 legislative deputies, elected last month, will convene on Sunday morning to approve a list of the 31 members of the Council of State, Cuba’s top executive body headed by the president or head of state, a first vice president and five more second-tier vice presidents.

In theory, the presidency could go to a younger leader, such as Vice President Carlos Lage, the architect of limited reforms that opened Cuba to foreign investment and tourism and allowed small private entrepreneurs to emerge in the 1990s crisis following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

But Cuba watchers see that as too bold a move and expect Lage, 56, to become deputy leader of the country as first vice president with a hands-on role in day-to-day governing.

I have no doubt that this is probably the way things will play out. However, Scott Ott has insider information on a (slightly) different direction that could be taken.

As Cuban President Fidel Castro announced today he would end his half-century of totalitarian rule, sources close to Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama tried to tamp down speculation that they were on “the short list” of potential replacements for the ailing Communist dictator.

[...]

“A Clinton-Obama ticket,” said one unnamed Cuba scholar, “combines the power and the glory that was Fidel Castro, with the unshakable commitment to collectivism, controlled economies, and virulent resistance to the United States as a superpower.”

Heh.

Henry “Conductor” Gomez, writing at Babalu Blog, says it is the one word of Spanish that you need to know — Cambio.

In the wake of today’s news there’s been a lot of speculation about “succession” and “transition” but the one word that Cubans dream of is “Cambio” which means change.
[...]
Dissidents and students want change and they are becoming less afraid to demand it. Right now while the international spotlight is on Cuba we need to support these people in their quest for meaningful and positive change.

It seems like every second or third post that’s come across the feed reader has the news of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro as it’s subject. Here is a small roundup.

Blogs

The Jawa Report:

In December 2007, a Cuban television news anchor read a letter reportedly written by Fidel Castro promising he would not “cling to office” or be an impediment to rising young leaders.”Impediment” he calls it. Castro rose to overlordship of Cuba largely through imprisoning and murdering any “rising young leaders” who got in his way.

Captain’s Quarters:

Raul Castro will almost certainly take over the family business. If Fidel died, the machinery of the Cuban state might have decided to take another direction, but Fidel remains alive and a threat. No one in the Cuban government will cross the Castros as long as Fidel lives, retired or not. Therefore, the government direction and policy won’t change a bit, and the US will face the same issues it always has with Fidel’s rule. Cuba will simply be more of the same.

Blue Crab Boulevard:

Some will want to use this non-change as a reason to ease up on Cuba – that would be the wrong move. Until the jails are emptied and the Cuban people are really free, there is no reason to make any accommodations with Castro’s hand picked successor. None at all.

American Thinker (Rick Moran):

It is a mystery to most of us who are rational why this man captured the souls of so many leftists in America and elsewhere all these years. Like most liberals, the guy could talk your ears off without saying much of anything. And perhaps Castro gave them a safe outlet for their anti-American feelings.

Whatever the reason, historians 100 years from now will look back and marvel at the left’s utter moral bankruptcy and stupidity in placing Castro on such a pedestal.

Gina Cobb:

For now, however, Communism remains in Cuba — the same failed social, economic and political system that continues to bring misery to people in Cuba and wherever it has been tried on earth.

For a system of government that is supposed to be egalitarian, Communism puts far too much power in the hands of the one or the few. It seems nice in theory, but it’s tyrranical and cruel when put into practice.

Of course the blog to go to for information and reaction is Babalu Blog. As of this writing they have at least a dozen posts. To get a real sense of what this news means to the Cubans in America, take time to read the posts and the comments there.

News Reports

AFP:

The United States said Tuesday it had no plans to lift the decades-old embargo on Cuba “anytime soon” even after its longtime nemesis Fidel Castro resigned as president.

By quitting with little fanfare, the ailing 81-year-old Castro may have marked an anti-climactic end to an era that began in the Cold War, but he has left a deep thorn in Washington’s side that may prove hard to remove.

Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte indicated as much when, asked by reporters if Washington planned to lift sanctions, he stated: “I don’t imagine that happening anytime soon.”

The Hill:

Capitol Hill greeted the news of Fidel Castro’s resignation Tuesday with muted cautiousness, with several members warning that the long-expected ascension of Castro’s brother Raul is no cause to celebrate.

“Just because the dictator is now named Raul instead of Fidel, it doesn’t mean that the regime’s repressive rule will automatically change,” said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), a child of Cuban immigrants and member of the Cuba Democracy Caucus and Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

AP:

Republican John McCain underscored that “freedom for the Cuban people is not yet at hand” despite Castro’s resignation.

“We must press the Cuban regime to release all political prisoners unconditionally, to legalize all political parties, labor unions and free media, and to schedule internationally monitored elections,” the Arizona senator said in a statement.

“Cuba’s transition to democracy is inevitable; it is a matter of when not if. With the resignation of Fidel Castro, the Cuban people have an opportunity to move forward and continue pushing for the moment that they will truly be free. America can and should help hasten the sparking of freedom in Cuba. The Cuban people have waited long enough.”

Fox News:

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Miami-area Republican who was born in Havana, called for Castro’s indictment and said his resignation was irrelevant because his regime had already “done great harm to the suffering Cuban people.”

“It matters nothing at all whether Fidel, Raul or any other thug is named head of anything in Cuba,” she said. “What the people want is freedom to vote in multiparty elections that are internationally supervised and freedom to express their dissent from the oppressive regime. The Communist machinery is enslaving them so it doesn’t matter who the thug of the moment will be.”

He hasn’t been seen publicly in over a year, ceding power to his brother Raul in July of 2006. Now it has been officially announced that Fidel Castro is stepping aside permanently.

An ailing Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba’s president Tuesday after nearly a half-century in power, saying he will not accept a new term when the new parliament meets Sunday.

“I will not aspire to nor accept — I repeat, I will not aspire to nor accept — the post of President of the Council of State and Commander in Chief,” read a letter signed by Castro published early Tuesday in the online edition of the Communist Party daily Granma.

President Bush is on TV from Rwanda talking about the situation. I caught just a part, where he made a statement saying that many in the international community will call for stability, but that instead we should hope for free and fair elections and the beginnings of institutions that can bring about democracy.

More later.

Not Osama

Not President “Tom”

This evening it’s F. “Bernie” Castro, and it looks like he’s wearing the same bionic track suit he was wearing over a year ago. AP has the story. Val is watching at Babalu Blog.

Actually, this seems to be the basic need of the human heart in nearly every great crisis – a good hot cup of coffee. ~ Alexander King

Blue Crab Boulevard (Gaius) Bad Idea — “Whether the legislators agree with the policy or not, American policy toward Cuba has been pretty much the same since John Kennedy occupied the White House. It is not their place to circumvent that policy in this manner. If they want to change the policy, there is a well established method for doing so. It is called “passing a bill” and it is not rocket surgery.” [Heh. I love that last part. Jim]

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) A Conspiracy To Defraud — “It’s become obvious that Nifong has gone out of control on this case, and someone will have to step in and stop him from doing any more harm to either the defendants or the community of Durham. Nifong has shamed himself, his department, and the state of North Carolina. At the least, he should lose his ability to practice law ever again.”

Babalu Blog has this breaking story:

Reports from Cuba are that Cuban TV is showing the flag at half-mast and showing old footage from the start of the revolution.

Be sure to read the updates and the comments.

I had planned to post more today. I should have had the time. It just didn’t work out that way.

Of course the big news is the cease-fire in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. To discribe this as fragile would be overstating reality.

Also in the Mid East is the story of the two FOX-TV journalists kidnapped in Gaza. Our prayers go out for their safe and quick return.

Cuban Television is showing video of Fidel Castro meeting in his sick room with Hugo Chavez.

There are others as well. I guess there’s always tomorrow.

Coffee, according to the women of Denmark, is to the body what the Word of the Lord is to the soul. ~ Isak Dinesen

Blue Crab Boulevard Sanity? — “More Muslims have been saved from death in the past decade by the Western governments than by the Muslim governments. More Muslims have been killed by the Islamists than by the Western governments in the past decade. The Islamists are a sick, sick group of people. Muslims have to stand against this threat or be brought to their level.”

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) BBC: Lebanon Refuses To Disarm Hezbollah — “I guess that crying on television and writing op-eds about the desperate hope for peace cannot motivate Fuad Siniora and his Cabinet to take the concrete action that would deliver it. The BBC reports that the Siniora government has rejected the UN demand to disarm Hezbollah, and the terrorist group has blocked the deployment of the Lebanese Army to the south:”

The Strata-Sphere (A.J. Strata) The Al Qaeda Youth Program — “Just like Hitler had the Nazi Youth Program to indoctrinate children into his warped world view, the Islamo-Fascists have the same mind washing program in their religious systems. What is frightening is that they have used the openness of the West’s civil society to establish Al Qaeda Youth Programs in our very midst.”

Michelle Malkin (Val Prieto) [Val, of Babalu Blog, is guest blogging while Michelle is on vacation. Jim] Harlem Residents In Support of Slavery — “Make no bones about it: Cuba is an island of slaves. What else does one call a place where the people eat what one man feeds them; work at what one man decides that they work on; march when one man tells them to march; say what one man tells them to say and think only what one man tells them to think. What else do you call a place where the people are kept from progressing as individuals, where the people are kept away from information, where people are isolated from the rest of the world?”