Word: cuba
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...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 have left the nation of Cuba often teetering on the brink of collapse. Castro came to power in 1959, ousting the country’s former dictator, Fulgencio Batista. Leading a revolution against the oligarchy that had developed as a result of Batista’s economic policies, Castro initially denied both being a communist...
...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, a suburb of Havana. "Fidel is an old person; he should rest...
...departure is ramping up debate over whether the U.S. should free itself of torrid Cuban-exile politics, dismantle its 46-year-old trade embargo against Cuba and establish the kind of diplomatic relations Washington has with other ironfisted regimes, like those in China and Saudi Arabia. The Bush Administration has steadfastly refused to even consider ending the embargo, a policy that may sway elections in Florida but has failed utterly to dislodge the regime in Havana. If the U.S. hopes to get more results, the President who takes office next January will need to change course and engage Cuba, allowing...
...some cautious hope. Compared with the flamboyantly inflexible Fidel, the beardless and bespectacled Raúl is an earthier, more pragmatic figure, who has nudged his country's ossified economy toward capitalism and encouraged some discussion about liberalizing its repressive politics. That's quite a turnaround for Raúl, who has been Cuba's military chief since Fidel took power in 1959 and was known as his brother's political enforcer, a ruthless ideological hard-liner. But after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba's economic benefactor, it was Raúl who persuaded Fidel to permit private agricultural markets and open...
...have the power to fix that dysfunction. Fidel's full-blown retirement "really does free Raúl to do a lot more than he could in the provisional role," says Brian Latell, a Cuba expert at the University of Miami and author of After Fidel. "Now I think we'll see significant changes, not just in style but in policy." Bernardo Benes, a Miami banker and prominent Cuban exile who played soccer with Raúl at the University of Havana and was an emissary to Cuba for Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, agrees: "I do expect him to free himself from...