Fidel Castro's Columns Are Getting Really Strange and Really Short

Fidel Castro is not known for his brevity. He once gave a speech that last for more than seven hours, and his written works never exactly skimped on their word counts either. Until recently. Castro's column, Reflections of Fidel, which is carried in virtually all official newspapers in Cuba, have gotten strangely short recently. And the few words that he has turned in for publication barely make any sense.

Literally, this is Castro's full column published on Sunday entitled "Nutrition and healthful employment":

THE conditions have been created for the country to begin massively producing Moringa Oleífera and mulberry, which are sustainable resources [for the production of] meat, eggs, milk and silk fiber which can be woven by artisans, providing well-remunerated employment as an added benefit, regardless of age or gender.

What the hell is that about?

And Here's his column from yesterday entitled, "Nicolás Guillén":

Cheers Guevara!

Or better yet, from the American depths:
Wait for us. We'll go with you.
We want to die to live as you have died,
To live as you live,
Che Comandante, amigo.

Beautiful final lines by Cuba's National Poet.

A column published on June 11th is longer, but that's only because Castro quotes at length from two articles from The Nation and the BBC, and barely comments on them. Fidel Castro: news aggregator.

Perhaps the strangest one is entitled, "What are the Fc?"

Fidel does not actually identify what the Fc are. Instead he writes the following:

These are a method whereby I try to convey the modest knowledge acquired throughout long years which I consider to be useful to the Cuban officials responsible for the production of foodstuffs that are essential for the life of our people, a task that I gladly share with Talía González, an old friend from the times of the campaign to free Elián González.

Fidel isn't expected to churn out regular columns, and he goes months at a time without releasing any. Though, he's published seven in the past ten days alone, and none of them seem to make any damn sense.

"Every day his comments are getting smaller. Like someone who is fading out," Miami political consultant Gus Garcia tells the AP. "I keep thinking the whole philosophy now is from a gentleman who is no longer in touch with reality."

That assumes Castro ever really was in touch with reality.

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