Brain Latell on Fidel's Final Words

Brian Latell, author of the very good After Fidel: The Inside Story of Castro's Regime and Cuba's Next Leader, reflects on what to expect to hear from Fidel - assuming he speaks again in public. Writing in the Latell Report of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies he declares:

But what would the man who has spoken more words on the public record than any human in history want to say? Recent rumors emanating from the island that he is experiencing a deathbed religious catharsis, possibly even repenting and recanting, seem wildly improbable. He has never during nearly forty-eight years of public life openly confessed to morally indefensible behavior or admitted to regrets about his treatment of others. All his life he has been incapable of introspection of any type in the presence of witnesses. So if he were in fact to rally and deliver another oration it would most likely resemble his two most recent ones, both of which were void of any personal or emotional content or policy initiatives.