>>What would be the advantage of deferring announcement of Fidel's death? It seems likely just from what has been announced, not to mention his age (he turned 80 yesterday), that he may be at death's door. What would motivate the acting Cuban government to claim he's on one side of the door when he's on the other? I'm all for a good conspiracy theory but don't see the motivation in this case.
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>It takes a lot of preparation for the day after. Speeches need to be written, verified and double-checked, a proper day with no other major event stealing the show, the incredible logistics of pulling up a paraoh's funeral etc etc... so having him frozen for a week or three is just a detail. Or maybe he's just tube-fed and they don't want any image of that leaked.
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>Maybe they're just trying to match Tito's funeral, which was the greatest show of 1980 - really good and smartly done, something to remember. Though I think Castro won't be able to gather such a representative sampling of world's rulers as Tito did.


Tito also shows up, as a young man, in "Setting Free the Bears". Please PM or email me your mailing address so I can send you the book. You may find inaccuracies in it but I don't think it will bore you.