Word: cuba
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
While Fidel, 67, remains Cuba's ideologue of yesteryear, Raul, 63, has emerged as today's pragmatist. After the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 cost Havana its main trading partner, Fidel has only grudgingly opened the door to dollar-toting tourists and foreign investors, begun shrinking the army and bureaucracy, and allowed Cubans a taste of private enterprise. But monthly rations barely provide enough food for two weeks. The Cuban army, in touch with grass-roots sentiment through its conscripts and ties with local militias, started telling Raul of widespread grumbling among the hungry populace...
Raul's ideas of reform are not necessarily the ones Western democracies would choose for Cuba. Basically, Havana is turning increasingly large chunks of the economy over to the military. Although it is rare to see uniformed soldiers on the street, Raul's troops are involved in every aspect of the economy, from running plants to planting food. The general has plugged military men loyal to him -- some retired, some still active -- into influential positions. Professional soldiers who once earned battle medals as mercenaries in Angola and Ethiopia are now assigned to repair city pipelines, build tourist hotels and direct...
...strange in all this for an army that was harvesting sugar back in the 1970s. "The Cuban army is not a traditional Latin American army that lives in the barracks," says National Assembly president Ricardo Alarcon. Adds a Communist Party member: "You won't see a military coup in Cuba, but more generals will be taking off their uniforms to become technocrats...
...that Raul is taking the lead on economic policy, "he is once again a serious political player," says Gillian Gunn, head of Georgetown University's Cuba Project. Raul personally replaced half the Communist Party's first secretaries in the provinces this summer with young, pro-army party men. "To the average Cuban it looks like Raul has taken over, with Fidel held for special occasions, public relations and international events," says a party member. Some political analysts in Havana even talk of Fidel becoming a figurehead and letting others carry out reforms the staunch communist finds repugnant. Of course, with...
Washington's reaction is cautious. Castro's little brother is a committed communist, not a free marketeer or democrat. The U.S. has demanded that Cuba enact political as well as economic reforms before lifting the 32-year-old trade embargo. Raul's technical fixes have so far been accompanied by increased repression of political dissidents. According to the Pentagon, a post-Castro Cuba cannot be truly capitalistic and democratic if the military is ingrained in the economy. But as other communist governments have learned, economic reforms often create a market for democracy. Raul and his generals may yet discover...