Fidel Castro's Role in Cuba is Chiefly Offstage as He Turns 87
Fidel Castro's Role in Cuba is Chiefly Offstage as He Turns 87
Fidel Castro transitioned from policy making to "a symbolic role as the protector of the revolution's integrity" in order to mitigate public unease, comments AS/COA's Christopher Sabatini.
(Reuters) - Fidel Castro turns 87 on Tuesday, largely out of sight but not out of mind, as Cuba struggles to move on from his half-century rule and as many of his policies are reconsidered under the leadership of his younger brother Raul.
The birthday of one of Latin America's most iconic revolutionary figures has been a low key celebration in recent years. A choral concert in his honor at the Jose Marti national monument in Havana on Monday evening was the only official event planned.
Castro goes about his daily activities out of the public eye, and how much influence the retired commandante still wields is unknown. He emerges every once in a while to reassure his followers that he is very much around, frustrating those who wish he was not....
SMOOTHING THE TRANSITION
Castro writes that he spends much time trying to increase Cuba's agricultural production and promoting alternative animal forage plants grown at Los Naranjos.
"Fidel is Fidel and he continues experimenting in the countryside," said a farmer in central Camaguey who asked that he not be identified.
Raul Castro, 82, has governed the Caribbean island since his brother became ill.
He is presiding over a sweeping plan to move the bankrupt Soviet-style economy in a less paternalistic and more market-friendly direction, like those of Vietnam and China. He has loosened regulations on travel and the buying and selling of personal property and broadened other personal freedoms, while preserving Cuba's one-party communist system....
Christopher Sabatini, senior director of policy at the Americas Society and Council of the Americas, said Fidel Castro had transitioned from policy making to "a symbolic role as the protector of the revolution's integrity," in order to allay public unease, which inevitably accompanies both a leadership and economic transition in a country like Cuba.
"There is a need for continuity with change and that is his new role," Sabatini said....
