Word: raul
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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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...
Public anger bubbled over this summer when 32,000 Cubans fled the island in makeshift rafts. Fidel, shocked and hurt, fell silent after a few television appearances. Raul, concerned that his 180,000 troops would be called upon to put down popular protests, decided the stalemate between reformers and hard- liners had dragged on too long. Food had become a national-security issue, more important than possible political squabbles. In July, at a Communist Party meeting, Raul said, "The risks don't matter as long as there is food for the people." By late summer he had apparently persuaded Fidel...
...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...
...Raul and his generals even earn dollars for guns with an octopus-like tourism outfit called Gaviota, which runs health spas, marinas and luxury hotels. At hunting preserves formerly reserved for the army, visitors shoot duck in some of Fidel's favorite stalking grounds. Gaviota takes tourists to the outskirts of the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo and lets them spy on troop movements -- cocktails and binoculars included. TRD Caribe, the newest arm of Gaviota, is the fastest-growing chain of department stores. TRD, appropriately enough, stands for tienda recaudacion en divisas -- literally, "store to rake in the dollars...
...bring about reform. In the 1980s the army began to impose market-oriented management techniques in its own ammunition factories, offering bonuses for increased production and transferring those who did not perform. By 1991 the army had passed along its experience to 100 civilian industries. Party sources say Raul's military advisers are looking beyond quick fixes and studying a complete overhaul of the socialist system. "If you're going to implement changes, one of the safer ways to do this is to use the armed forces so you can have a modicum of control," says Phyllis Greene Walker...