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11/3/2009 3:34 AM

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Observer-Reporter

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For reasons that aren't at all hard to fathom, many of the world's worst despots are irresistibly drawn to "The Godfather."

Saddam Hussein is said to have watched the saga of the Corleone Mafia dynasty over and over again during his reign of terror in Iraq. And North Korea's Kim Jong-Il, who once had a favorite moviemaker kidnapped from South Korea so he could work exclusively for the Dear Leader, is also a "Godfather" enthusiast.

A story emerged in the news last week that brought the classic movie triptych to mind and, more specifically, Fredo Corleone, who betrays his brother Michael for a piece of the organized-crime pie in "The Godfather, Part II."

A newly-released memoir by Juanita Castro, the sister of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, reveals that she was, in fact, on the payroll of the CIA in the years after Castro and his band of fellow communist revolutionaries took power in Cuba (which, coincidentally enough, is depicted in "The Godfather, Part II"). Juanita apparently went by the name "Donna," and, in a spy novel-worthy touch, sent messages using a waltz and a song from the opera "Madame Butterfly."

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A longtime and outspoken opponent of her brother's regime - now overseen by another brother, Raul - Juanita Castro now calls Miami home. In another shot across Fidel's bow, she also says in her book that one of the world's last communist holdouts doesn't actually care all that much about the ideology he's so passionately espoused all these years.

"Fidel's radical conversion to communism was not made from conviction but simply because he needed power, which is the only thing he ever cared about."

Movies and dictatorial regimes may fall in and out of fashion, but sibling rivalry, it seems, is eternal. We can only hope that Juanita Castro doesn't find a horse's head in her bed.

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