Castro's Final Hour (Paperback)

by Andres Oppenheimer (Author) "It was near dawn, July 13, 1989..." (more)
Key Phrases: free farmers markets, honor tribunal, protocol house, Fidel Castro, Soviet Union, Tony De La Guardia (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Miami Herald foreign correspondent Oppenheimer presents a revelatory close-up of Cuba following the Soviet Union's withdrawal of subsidies. Photos.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This exciting, highly readable behind-the-scenes account of Castro's Cuba, based on the author's five trips to the island from 1989-91 and involving 500 interviews, explores events that led to the 1989 trial and execution of General Arnaldo Ochoa Sanchez. Oppenheimer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Miami Herald, skillfully presents this complex case as a means of assessing the larger context of the Cuban revolution, the inflexibility of its leadership, and the paranoia of Fidel and Raul Castro. In addition to demonstrating Fidel's knowledge of Cuban involvement in drug trafficking, the author illustrates how high-ranking officers in Cuba's expeditionary forces used often unsavory business deals to finance government foreign policy and military goals. Highly recommended for all collections.
- Roderic A. Camp, Latin American Ctr., Tulane Univ., New Orleans, La.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; Updated edition (October 29, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671872990
• ISBN-13: 978-0671872991
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #887,079 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars History's Longest Hour, June 6, 2004

By	Jim Stegall (Monroe, NC United States) - See all my reviews

I read this book when it first appeared and was impressed by the wealth of first-hand information Mr. Oppenheimer had been able to amass. I remember quite vividly thinking at the time that Castro had managed to hang on to his personal fiefdom for over thrity years (at that point), and that given his ruthless nature, his absolute control over every aspect of Cuban society, and the long experience of the islanders in acquiesing to domination and deprivation, it was risky to predict his demise (at least on economic grounds).

The system Castro constructed is a marvel of state control. There is really nothing else in the world quite like it, although the North Korean regime gets similar results using more consistently brutal and heavy-handed methods. In retrospect, it seems odd that while Mr. Oppenheimer was able to explain a great deal about how the system works, he came to the conclusion that it would soon fail anyway.

So to sum up the book: Good research, lots of data and anecdotes, very well written, faulty conclusion. It seems that the world, and the luckless Cuban people, are stuck with the old caudillo until he dies.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than the Embargo, May 27, 1999

By A Customer

How can anyone belittle this well thoughtout and researched book? One can continue placing "all" the blame on the Embargo but there were two major blunders that had a more devastating impact on Cuba: The immediate removal (1956) of the professional class ( businessmen and merchants) by confiscating their assets and properties and transferring them into the hands of inexperienced, incapable and largely inept bureaucrats. 2. The economically naive and foolish reliance on a Soviet "subsidized" trade agreement ( 5 years plans that went on for years)and the total failure to forsee and prepare for it's inevitable collapse. When the Soviets, because of their own economic problems, began to demand payment in hard currencies (dollar) instead of the long practised "barter system" the game was over.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The reality of a country that is nowhere bound, August 16, 1999

By A Customer

Its sad that this island lives day by day without any future agenda in mind. There is no such thing in Cuba as communism, they broke the mold a long time ago.It should be called "Castrism".You ask any cuban citizen where will they be 5 years from know and they look puzzle.The citizens on this island have given up on life and hope, its like a bad dream that they hope will end one day.What happened in 59 shall never happen again.