Word: cuba
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...which indicates that the youthful outburst may not have been the spontaneous Havana Spring it was widely billed as, but rather a part of something quietly sanctioned by Cuba's interim President, Raul Castro. Since being tapped by his older brother, Fidel Castro, as the country's provisional leader in the summer of 2006 after Fidel underwent major intestinal surgery, Raul, 76, has pushed a more pragmatic, even reform-minded agenda that has encouraged limited public debate - and, just as important, worked to undermine hard-line fidelistas like Alarcon. The Avila episode was yet another sign of how firmly Raul...
Fidel's exit was hardly unexpected, and the streets of Havana today are reportedly calm. Seriously incapacitated by his stomach condition, the 81-year-old comandante, who has ruled Cuba and roiled the U.S. since taking power in 1959, has not been seen in public for a year and a half - even failing to appear at the podium last July 26 for the anniversary of the launching of his communist revolution. In December he released a letter saying he didn't want to "cling to power," which analysts like Latell called his de facto resignation. In his statement today, released...
...staff, General Alvaro Lopez Miera, 63. Raul's son-in-law, Colonel Luis Alberto Rodriguez, is being groomed to take over the broad economic and business policy duties already held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces, including enterprises like the multibillion-dollar tourist concern Gaviota, which has helped keep Cuba afloat since the demise of its longtime benefactor, the Soviet Union...
...stands to tower over diminished fidelistas like Alarcon and Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque. Perez, 42, once considered a leader of the youthful fidelista hardliners known as los Taliban, has seen his stature particularly reduced under Raul - to the point that he was compelled late last year to endorse Cuba's acceptance of an international human rights accord, something Fidel had criticized as a violation of the island's sovereignty but which Raul had decided was necessary to begin thawing relations with the U.S. and the European Union. (Lest anyone think the move means greater respect for human rights...
Raul has called on Cubans in the past year to engage in more open debate - and he has made overtures to Washington, which maintains a 46-year-old trade embargo against Cuba. But he still has a reputation from his earlier years as Fidel's political enforcer, and few expect him to pursue any meaningful political reforms now or even when Fidel eventually dies. Instead, he is widely expected to push China-style economic liberalization, the kind of pragmatic programs, like opening to foreign tourism investment, that he has orchestrated in small, subtle increments to help Cuba survive post-Cold...