Word: communist
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...unconditionally. But in Cuba, your education comes at a severe price: forced labor in escuelas del campo (countryside schools), to which junior high students are sent for work ranging from picking tomatoes to cutting sugar cane. Entrance into Cuba’s universities is conditional on involvement with the Communist Party. Cuban students cannot express dissenting opinions for fear of being identified as “counter-revolutionaries,” effectively precluding them from pursuing professional careers...
...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...
...expects Raul, himself once known as a communist hard-liner, to be Mikhail Gorbachev. But the less charismatic Raul is considered more pragmatic than his brother, and had been making perestroika-style noises since taking over as interim President after Fidel underwent major intestinal surgery 18 months ago. As a result, now that Raul has full presidential powers, many Cuba watchers had expected younger faces to emerge - widely anticipating, for example, that Raul's reform-minded economy czar, Carlos Lage, who in relative Cuban terms is a positively teen-aged 56, would become First Vice President. Lage instead remained...
...Raul may also be delaying deeper reform until a Communist Party congress can be held in Cuba late this year or early in 2009. Fidel still holds his post as head of the party, and Sunday's results were a reminder that its power clearly rivals - if not exceeds - that of Raul's position as head of state. If Raul and his allies can wrest that clout from the Fidelistas, change in Cuba is expected to have more breathing space. Until then, it stands to look more like an old man who needs a canister of oxygen...
...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, many in the international community have reflected on the brutal tyranny of Fidel, and the way in which his problematic policies...