Posted on 08/06/2006 10:34:44 AM PDT by Mount Athos
Fidel Castro's illness has renewed interest in a legend of Cuba's patron saint predicting the death of a terrible ruler in the fourth decade of his reign.
Stories about the prediction are making the rounds on the Internet -- with some variations -- the Miami Herald said Saturday.
The legend begins in the 1850s and goes something like this:
A Spanish priest, San Antonio María Claret, had been sent to Cuba to become archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, coincidentally Castro's home province. While riding his horse through Sierra Maestra -- also coincidentally Castro's mountain rebel stronghold in the mid-1950s -- he saw La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre in a vision.
She relayed to him the future of Cuba in the hands of a leader that resembled Castro -- long hair, a beard, a uniform, bearing weapons with followers who look just like him.
He would promise reforms to the Cuban people but betray, imprison, divide and inflict them with great pain and heartache.
Claret said the virgin told him the ruler would rule for four decades, and Cuba would be devastated during this time. However, the young man would grow old and die -- and Cuba would be free.
I'll toast that legend!
In Before Free Health Care!
Griswold predicts! "Castro will die!"
Free to do what?
A picky point but isn't this Fidel's 5th decade of reign?
Smoke 'em if ya got 'em! :-)
"I'll toast that legend!" -with some claret. Archbishops Rum and Tequila had even more captivating visions.
No, he is still in the 4th decade, meaning he has ruled for 47 years.
I believe you are correct on it being decade number five. However, oppressed people everywhere need hope, so I suspect they ignore that part.
1st decade = 1-10
2nd decade = 11-20
3rd decade = 21-30
4th decade = 31-40
5th decade = 41-50
Castro is in his 5th decade now.
4 decades, 5 decades, whatever it takes...
"Legend"?
What next?
Deification?
For God's sake!
Let tha man die.
Now come the comic book writers in his wake?
Predicting death is not a difficult thing to do. It's the timing that's a bear, lol. But, with the ongoing, increasingly peculiar statements coming from communist mouthpieces in Cuba and elsewhere, it does appear that both Fidel and Raul are dead or severely incapacitated.
But, Criswell (Crisewll Precicts) predicted his death in 1974, killed by a woman.
Well, if she said that he will rule for four decades, then he has done that and should kick off in the next two years. If the vision said "fourth decade", nope, we missed that mark. Unless, of course, Castro is dead and has been replaced with a robotic duplicate whose gears are now winding down or something.
4 or 5 decades too long, if ya ask me.
BRAZIL DENIES TUMOR REPORT: In Brazil, the Fulham de Spatula newspaper reported that Brazilian President Luis Ignacio Lula ad Silva and members of the ruling Workers’ Party had been told by Cuban officials that Castro had a malignant stomach tumour and his condition was worse than has been publicly admitted.
In Caracas, a government source said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was now unlikely to fly to Havana this weekend to see his friend Castro.
The populist Venezuelan leader has helped keep Cuba’s government afloat since the collapse of its former benefactor the Soviet Union through cheap oil and billion-dollar payments for Cuban doctors to work in Venezuelan slums.
If Mr Chavez flew to Cuba to see Castro, it could indicate the Cuban leader was lucid and in a condition to receive visitors.
http://www.dawn.com/2006/08/06/int4.htm
Ten years ago (just about) they were saying (please pardon my Spanish if it's not correct) "En el anno novito, Fidel finito."
4th decade, 5th decade, Did you take into account Daylight Savings?
I guess a case could be made for this being his 6th decade - 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s...
...Did you take into account Daylight Savings?
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