Fidel Castro’s scornful words lashing out at President George W. Bush and the U.S. government are classic “Fidel.” “The most genuine representative of the system of terror that has been imposed upon the world by the technological, economic and political superiority of the most potent power in the world is, without question, George W. Bush,” he writes in a letter published in Cuba’s official newspaper, Granma.

In the letter, Castro is reacting to the decision by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone to release his arch enemy Luis Posada Carriles on bond, blaming Bush for the release of a man he calls a “monster.”

Posada Carriles, a former CIA operative who participated in the Bay of Pigs, has been held in the U.S. for two years on charges of entering the country illegally. He came here from Panama, where he had been jailed for possession of weapons, then pardoned by former President Mireya Moscoso.

He is wanted in both Cuba and Venezuela, where he is accused of masterminding the bombing of a Cuban airliner in 1976 that killed 73 people, but an immigration judge refused to extradite him, saying he would surely be tortured. To many of Castro’s foes, Posada is considered a hero of sorts, but elsewhere he is seen as a terrorist. The CIA claims to have terminated its relationship with Carriles decades ago.

Whether he’ll be allowed to run around free in the U.S. in the middle of a war on terror is yet to be seen. For now, his release has been blocked by an appellate court. But the real story here is not Posada’s future, but Fidel Castro’s comeback. The scathing letter on the possible release of Posada is the third document signed by Castro since he fell ill eight months ago and temporarily handed power over to his younger brother, Raul, and other high-ranking Cuban officials.

The celebrations in Miami’s Little Havana began immediately after the news that Castro had undergone emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006. Cuban exiles thought it was the moment they had been waiting for, for more than 46 years. Some started packing their bags, preparing to return to their homeland.

Castro’s condition and the cause of the operation were state secrets, which led to speculation that the Cuban dictator had terminal cancer or that he was already dead and that the communist government was getting ready to take control in case the masses came out to celebrate — or protest — in the streets of Havana. The U.S. government met with Cuban exile leaders and mapped out their vision for a new and democratic Cuba. The news media prepared massive coverage of Castro’s imminent demise.

He turned 80 at the hospital. He missed his own birthday celebration, as well as important national holidays and political events in which he normally would have been at the helm. The only signs of Castro for months were pictures of him looking thin and frail in red pajamas in conversations with his friend and protégé, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. More recently, he was pictured outdoors with Colombian Nobel Prize author Gabriel Garcia Marquez. A few weeks ago, he made a phone call to Chavez during Chavez’s weekly radio show. Then came the letters. The first two criticized Bush for promoting ethanol as an alternative to oil with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, then the third letter chastised Bush for the potential release of Posada Carriles.

It is widely believed now that Castro’s ailment is diverticulitis. Cuban officials have been saying that Castro’s health is improving. He is on top of the country’s official business, they claim. He’s even gaining weight, says his foreign minister, Felipe Perez Roque. But perhaps the biggest sign that Fidel Castro is making a comeback is that good ol’ anti-Yankee rhetoric in his letters, which for decades has made him a champion of anti-American forces around the world. Cuban exiles might have to hold on to their bags and wait a little longer before they can see the end of Castro’s communist regime and return to their beloved homeland.

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(Maria Elena Salinas is the author of “I AM MY FATHER’S DAUGHTER: LIVING A LIFE WITHOUT SECRETS.” Reach her at www
.mariaesalinas.com)
© 2007 by Maria Elena Salinas
Distributed by King Features Syndicate