Word: castros
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There was no surprise, Sunday, when Cuba's parliament elected Raul Castro, 76, to succeed his ailing, 81-year-old brother, Fidel, as President. But pundits who had expected an infusion of youth into Cuba's Paleolithic hierarchy were roundly disappointed. The six vice presidential posts, for example, were taken by a group of men whose average age is 70 - including 77-year-old, hard-line communist ideologue Jose Ramon Machado as First Vice President...
...Raul's Sunday strategy was clearly meant to tamp down reform expectations -which the younger Castro, who has nudged Cuba's moribund economy toward capitalism and encouraged more open debate about its totalitarian politics, may have felt were rising too quickly for him to meet in the wake of Fidel's exit. "Raul has to proceed cautiously," concedes Brian Latell, a Cuba expert at the University of Miami and author of After Fidel. "In the past 18 months he has elevated popular expectations. Now he has to manage them...
Cuban dictator Fidel Castro’s announcement this week that he no longer aspires to nor plans to seek the position of President at the Cuban National Assembly next week has elicited myriad reactions from the international community. Infamous for his cruel tactics and abysmal human rights record, Castro, now 81 years old, has stood for nearly fifty years at the helm of one of the most staunchly communist countries in the world (all while he battled with serious health problems over the past 18 months). As his brother Raúl prepares to officially take the reins next month...
...health care plans. Though both would make health care more affordable, Clinton would insist upon a requirement that every American have coverage; Obama would not, though he contends that lowering the cost would make nearly everyone decide to do it. Clinton said she would not sit down with Raul Castro until he had shown clear signs of political reform in Cuba; Obama said he would insist upon preparations, not preconditions. That distinction is hardly likely to sway many people in either Texas or Ohio...
...Raúl Castro a reformer or a reactionary? Now that Fidel, 81, has officially resigned as President, leaving Raúl, 76, to most likely be named his successor, that question has gained greater significance than ever--in Havana, Miami and Washington. The elder Castro's exit barely registered in those cities; a half-century after he arrived on the world stage with a bang, Fidel left with a whimper. There was no overwhelming sense of sorrow in Cuba nor exultation across the Straits of Florida. There was only a collective shrug. "It's O.K.," said Yanelis, a young Cuban woman in Marianao...