Cuba, News Briefs

Fidel Castro Is Dead, Says Unfounded And Likely False Twitter Rumor

January 3, 2012 By Staff

Former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro has passed away, according to an unverified rumor that spread like a forest fire through the social media site Twitter Monday evening.

The rumor is almost certainly unfounded.

Several of the tweets that seem to have instigated the rumor cited a publication called “Cuba Press” as the source of the unconfirmed report.

If such a publication exists, it doesn’t care to publish to the Web. Internet searches turned up nothing.

Spanish newspaper 20 Minutos interpreted Cuba Press as a reference to “The Cuba Free Press Project.” But Cuba Free Press Project’s director Juan Granado insisted that his site is not called Cuba Press and never published any story about Fidel Castro’s supposed death.

“We have not written such a note. We don’t have any news on the subject,” Granado said in a telephone interview.

Cuba Press and #CubaPressFacts became trending topics in Spain and, by the early hours of Tuesday morning, the butt of jokes.

“Cuba Press confirms that I am dead tired,” wrote @pablomita.

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/pablomita/status/154109842074779648″]

Cuban state media, which has delved into digital publication and distribution through Facebook and Twitter in recent years, remained silent on the subject.

Journalists who commented on the rumor expressed skepticism.

Joaquín López-Dóriga of Noticieros Televisa tried to confirm the rumor and concluded the storm of speculation was based on false reports.

“They ask me about the death of Fidel Castro and I respond: It didn’t happen. I don’t have any confirmation. No serious media confirm it,” he tweeted

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/lopezdoriga1/status/153991155523125248″]

Journalist Tracey Eaton, who specializes in covering Cuba, got in touch with an unnamed Cuban official who declined to comment, but seemed dismissive. “Twitter lends itself to that. We don’t have anything to say,” the source told Eaton.

Damien Cave of The New York Times wrote:

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/damiencave/status/154030037295828992″]

While it remains unclear who started the rumor or why, Internet security firms Websense and Naked Security say it may be a ploy to spread a computer virus, according to Mexican news portal Sin Embargo.

The security firms say that those behind such a scheme spread fake news through email that contains a virus.

A similar rumor of Castro’s death that surfaced on Twitter in August originated as an email containing malware, according to The Miami Herald.

Whether or not the virus theory holds true, many of the tweets appearing under hashtags and searches related to Fidel Castro and Cuba Press contain spam that links to pornography — so click with caution.

False rumors of Fidel Castro’s death have spread periodically since he fell ill in 2006 and his brother Raúl became acting head of state.

This time around, the rumor coincided with two important anniversaries for Fidel Castro. His movement succeeded in overthrowing Fulgencio Batista on Jan. 1, 1959 and on Jan 2, 1961, the Roman Catholic Church excommunicated Castro for embracing communism.

5 Comments

[…] is teeming with rumors that Cuba's undead dictator, Fidel Castro, is dead and has finally taken residence at his special place in hell. Unfortunately, none of these rumors […]

[…] latest rumor, which spread via Twitter in recent days, coincided with two important anniversaries fo…. His revolutionary movement overthrew dictator Fulgencio Batista on Jan. 1, 1959, and on Jan 2, […]

john el-amin says:

Alive or having passed away, Fidel Castro will always be a hero to billions of freedom loving people on this earth.

To horror of all horrors Dick cheney is still alive, along with those blood drinking, baby killing monsters -the racists from the US military, Industrial ,Congressional complex who have plauged humanity for over 300 years.

Fidel will live forever in the hearts and minds of the good people on this Earth !!!

john el-amin says:

I live in South carolina, where my ancestors were forced to suffer under slavery for 300 years, afetr being raped, murdered, brutalized and stripped from their homeland, by these so-called “civilized” christians.

Here , in South Carolina, the Confederate flag, the symbol of racism, flies over the State Capitol grounds and these people in the ruling Republican Party proclaim to be a decent, freedom-loving God fearing people, who wallow proudly in the filth and evil of their past connection with African slavery.

Fidel stood against racism and bravely defied the status quo of Americans who suffer under the ” B’wana complex”,
that only english speaking white men are fit to rule .

I will wear my Fidel, button, cap and tee-shirt- commerotating the sacrifices of the fallen fighters of the Cuban revolution and will forever be grateful to those men and women who still to this day stand bravely and honorably against yankee imperial racism !!

El loco says:

Can’t believe people bs how can people love him with all the people he has killed and tortured

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