For over 47 years, Fidel Castro has waged a silent protest against the U.S. military by simply not cashing an annual check sent religiously every year by the U.S. Treasury.

Let me explain. According to a story published this week in Los Angeles Times, the U.S. Treasury sends a check for $4,085 every year to the Cuban government to pay for the annual rent of 160 kilometers in Guantanamo Bay. But those checks have not been cashed in 47 years.

In case you were wondering, the U.S. controls Guantanamo Bay since 1903 but what not many people know is that the 103-year-old agreement limits use of the Cuban territory to “coaling and naval purposes only,” neither of which appears to cover the prison or tribunal operations.

Does this mean the current landlord can claim the land back? Mr. Castro might be now too old and tired to use the force and get Guantanamo back, but how about cashing the checks? What to do with almost $200,000? (Nothing much, actually. I guess not even enough for the annual maintenance fee of Saban’s $12 million Las Brisas estate.)

Speaking today at the White House, Mr. Bush made one of his typical “funny” remarks about Cinco de Mayo.

“Thank you for coming. Welcome to El Jardin de las Rosas [sic]. It’s a great place to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. As a matter of fact, I’ve been looking forward to celebrating this so much that we decided to have our own Cuatro de Mayo. (Laughter.)”

I’m not sure about funny, but you have to give it to Mr. Bush for making the effort of correcting his numbers. In case you don’t remember, this is what he said during the exact same celebration in May 5, 2005.

“I always look forward to Cinco de Mayo, especially because it gives me a chance to practice my Spanish. My only problem this year is I scheduled the dinner on quarto de Mayo. [sic] Next year I’m going to have to work on my math.”

Not bad for a guy with a pretty busy schedule. Now that he knows it’s “Cuatro” and not “Quarto”, maybe he’ll want to work on making his speeches less dull.

If you thought Vicente Fox was out of the picture for good, sparing Mexicans –and the rest of the world– from his infamous “foxisms,” think again: During a press conference Monday night in Los Angeles, Mexico’s former president invited Latin Americans to escape from the perfect dictatorships, quoting “Colombia’s Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas-Llosa.”

Of course most people know that 1) Mario Vargas-Llosa has never won a Nobel Prize, 2) He was born in Peru and later adopted the Spanish citizenship and 3) his famous phrase about the “perfect dictatorship” was a reference to Mexico, not Latin America. But what’s most surprising is Fox’s ability to say the wrong things, at the wrong time, and in front of the wrong crowds.

One can only admire his efforts for quoting literary figures. How can we forget that time when he quoted famed writer “José Luis Borgués?”

Other jewels from our former president:

Change will not come from above, it will come from below, from the small and medium size businesspeople.

Comes y te vas.

Said to Fidel Castro when inviting him to the Summit of Monterrey

Gracias mi rey.

Fox reply when King Juan Carlos of Spain called to congratulate him after winning the 2000 elections

Se sienten ñáñaras.

when asked by an 11-year old girl how he felt about being President.

Y yo por qué?

When asked his opinion about a legal conflict between Televisa and TV Azteca

And one of my personal favorites:

Pemex is like the Virgin of Guadalupe, they are symbols for Mexicans that must be handled with care