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Sox standout Lowell: Castro killed my kin
Boston Herald ^ | 08/02/06 | Jeff Horrigan

Posted on 08/02/2006 12:43:22 AM PDT by raccoonradio

Charging Fidel Castro with the deaths of his relatives, Cuban-American Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell declared last night: “I hope he does die.”

“Castro killed members of my family,” Lowell told the Herald before last night’s game against the Cleveland Indians at Fenway.

Some news reports have suggested the Cuban dictator, nearly 80, is gravely ill after undergoing surgery for intestinal bleeding, even as Cuban news media say he is recovering. He has handed power to his brother, Raul Castro.

Lowell, 32, recounted the trauma the Castro regime has caused his family.

“My dad had to pack up his suitcase at 10 years old with his three brothers, who had nothing. And my mother was 11 years old and my grandfather, who’d been a dentist for 15 or 20 years, had to go back to school to be (politically) re-educated,” Lowell said.

“My cousins were political prisoners. My father-in-law was a political prisoner for 15 years because, at 19, they asked him if he agreed with communism and he said, ‘No,’ so they sentenced him to death. That’s not the way to live. I know it’s terrible to say, but I think of all of that and I hope he (Castro) passes away.

“I don’t care if he dies,” Lowell said. “There are so many people who have died because of him and there’s been so much wrongdoing and so many human rights violations that I hope he does die. That sounds bad, but it’s the truth.”

Lowell’s parents managed to leave Cuba and settled in Puerto Rico, where he was born in 1974. Even so, Cuba’s plight has always been a part of his life. “It’s a shame, but that country has been taken hostage for 40 years. It’s time for it to have a chance at being democratic,” Lowell said.

Lowell’s elation mirrored that of many Cuban-Americans upon hearing about Castro’s condition. As the son of Cuban defectors and a member of a family that has been directly affected by Castro’s autocratic rule, he said that he understands why celebrations are ongoing in places such as Miami.

“Reports are that Eighth Street is as crazy as when the Marlins won the World Series, and that was crazy,” Lowell said. “I think if I was watching the media and I saw that in, say, Jamaica, that they’re celebrating someone’s illness, I’d think it was kind of weird. But what you have to understand, and what hits home with me, is what my family has been through.”

Lowell said he has been receiving periodic updates from his father, Carl, in Miami, but no one knows for sure how accurate they are.

“The fact that he has turned over power, the speculation is he’s already dead,” Lowell said. “That wouldn’t surprise me because everything is so secret there.”

He said he is hopeful that tyranny will cease or lessen under Castro’s brother, Raul, but he’s not entirely optimistic. Once you have change, any change, something usually happens,” Lowell said. “(Raul Castro) is the head of the military and no cookie of a guy, but there’s always hope.”


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Sports
KEYWORDS: bostonherald; cuba; cubanamericans; dictators; fidelcastro; floridamarlins; mikelowell; redsox

1 posted on 08/02/2006 12:43:25 AM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: raccoonradio
Mike Lowell

2 posted on 08/02/2006 12:43:55 AM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: raccoonradio
Glad you provided the picture. In the UK I read 'bassman for Red Sox' - and knowing about Cuban music thought the played base for a band called Red Sox.

Ah, cultural context is all.
3 posted on 08/02/2006 12:51:28 AM PDT by vimto (Blighty Awaken!)
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To: vimto
"In the UK I read 'bassman for Red Sox' - and knowing about Cuban music thought the played base for a band called Red Sox."

You mean Englishman don't know who the Boston Red Sox are?

You've probably heard of the New York Yankees thought huh?

Bet you don't know who the Evil Empire is! ;-D

4 posted on 08/02/2006 3:51:44 AM PDT by #1CTYankee (That's right, I have no proof. So what of it??)
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To: raccoonradio

Lowell is a class act to speak this gently. Were I in his shoes, what I had to say wouldn't be printable.


5 posted on 08/02/2006 4:02:11 AM PDT by Vigilanteman
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To: big'ol_freeper

Pingy


6 posted on 08/02/2006 4:07:32 AM PDT by Lil'freeper (You do not have the plug-in required to view this tagline.)
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To: #1CTYankee

Well it didn't have 'Boston' on the front or I might have made an educated guess. NY Yankees - I've heard of them!

Me? Ah the joys of cricket!





7 posted on 08/02/2006 4:07:54 AM PDT by vimto (Blighty Awaken!)
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To: raccoonradio

More reason to like him, a really class guy. I wonder if anyone who reads the Globe will ever find out about this, or if like a flower born to blush unseen he wastes his perfume on the desert air.


8 posted on 08/02/2006 4:19:55 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (NYT Headline: 'Protocols of the Learned Elders of CBS: Fake But Accurate, Experts Say.')
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To: raccoonradio
I agree with Lowell. It would be best for everyone, Castro included, if his vile existence came to an end.

Very moment Catro lives he heaps up more coals on his own head.

9 posted on 08/02/2006 4:23:09 AM PDT by wideawake ("The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten." - Calvin Coolidge)
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To: vimto
"NY Yankees - I've heard of them!"

The evil empire are what Red Sox fans call the New York Yankees.

10 posted on 08/02/2006 6:41:55 AM PDT by #1CTYankee (That's right, I have no proof. So what of it??(Jason Varitek's out and it's Bush's Fault)
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To: #1CTYankee

I think I worked out that I was being invited into a bear trap!

Over here it's
Manchester United or Manchester City
Liverpool or Everton
Celtic or Rangers
Cardiff or Swansea
with no middle ground...
and so on....


11 posted on 08/02/2006 6:47:53 AM PDT by vimto (Blighty Awaken!)
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To: wideawake

And if Castro does die, I'm sure another famed Red Sox player of Cuban ancestry, Luis Tiant, will "light up a victory cigar"


12 posted on 08/02/2006 6:48:00 AM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: vimto

Tit for Tat. ;-D


13 posted on 08/02/2006 9:01:43 AM PDT by #1CTYankee (That's right, I have no proof. So what of it??(Jason Varitek's out and it's Bush's Fault)
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To: raccoonradio

Uh, Mike, please send these comments to your two Castro-loving Senators, good ole Teddy and President Kerry.

And don't forget Chris Dodd as well - he loves Castro!


14 posted on 08/02/2006 11:34:10 AM PDT by GianniV
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To: raccoonradio

Lowell's making a great contribution to the Sox this year. Regardless of that, I stand with him against Castro.


15 posted on 08/02/2006 11:59:27 AM PDT by NutCrackerBoy
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