Fidel Castro laughs at thought of guayabera-wearing Obama
The former Cuban leader
Fidel Castro appears to have discovered a new career as political commentator.
After taking aim at the Republican primaries and questioning the pope’s job description, the 85-year-old ex-Cuban dictator now has issue with President Barack Obama’s wardrobe.
Castro – who relinquished power to his brother, Raul, in 2008 – lambasted Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in his most recent editorial for state media, Agence France-Press reported.
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The North American leaders are blocking Cuba from attending the Organization of American States summit this weekend in Colombia.
What Castro found especially amusing was news that a Colombian designer is outfitting summit attendees with the Cuban-inspired tropical shirt called a guayabera, AFP said.
“What’s curious, dear readers, is that Cuba is forbidden from attending this meeting, but not the guayaberas. Who can stop laughing?" Castro said, according to AFP.
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However, Castro took specific hubris with Harper and Canada’s policy toward the Falkland Islands and both its domestic and foreign mining interests, The Globe and Mail said.
He chided Canadian companies that go where “tax revenues are minimal and there are very few environmental and social commitments,” according to the Globe.
It almost seems as if Castro is personally offended by Harper's policies.
Castro had long admired Pierre Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister from 1968 to 1979, and again from 1980 to ’84.
Thousands of Canadians vacation in Cuba every winter, and Canada imposes no American-style sanctions on the communist island.
For that, Castro called Trudeau – who visited Cuba in the 1970s – a “brilliant and courageous politician,” the Globe said. Castro traveled to Canada to attend Trudeau's state funeral in 2000.
Castro also wades into Canada’s diminishing environmental record, saying the US is responsible for encouraging Canada’s controversial oilsands project.
Castro writes in his Sunday article the oilsands are “causing irreparable damage to the environment of this beautiful and vast country,” The Toronto Sun said.
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