Panel discusses possible repercussions for a Cuba post-Fidel Castro

August 16, 2006

Panel discusses possible repercussions for a Cuba post-Fidel Castro

With little known about the status of the longtime Cuban leader, many
speculations about what will happen next are surfacing.
By JP Leider

it will be business as usual in Cuba after Fidel Castro dies.

Such was the consensus of a panel discussion Monday evening at Nolte
Center to discuss Cuba and the United States in a post-Castro era.

The panel comes on the heels of the ailing leader's surgery for
intestinal bleeding two weeks ago.

Community members and students packed in to hear the panel of six
experts, professors and activists, most of whom have been to Cuba within
the past few months.

While panelists generally expressed admiration for some aspect of the
decades-old communist revolution and thought the transition would be a
smooth one, all expressed concern over the so-called "Bush Plan," a plan
published by the government delineating a transition after Fidel Castro
exits from the scene. Some panelists objected to the plan, as they
claimed it would fund so-called "counter-revolutionaries" based in
Miami, and could prove divisive to Cuba.

David Samuels, a panelist and University political science professor,
said the United States - both the government and its people - should
care about what happens in Cuba.

"If a collapse were to happen that would be disastrous for the U.S.," he
said.

Samuels said the U.S. government is preparing for a transition in Cuba
that has "already happened," referring to the handover of power to
Castro's brother Raul Castro and other members of Cuba's communist
government.

"Our government is continuing to ignore this possibility that the regime
doesn't depend on Castro's authority," he said.

Sociology professor and panelist Enid Logan said for all its social
advances, Cuba still has to come to terms with racism.

Some of the inequalities -class divisions lining up with race - have
crept back into Cuba because of the growth of the tourism industry, she
said.

Whites and lighter-skinned people have more access to tourism money than
darker-skinned Cubans, she said.

Racism might also be reinforced by the sex tourism industry, Logan said,
in which foreigners generally have predilections toward darker-skinned
women.

August Nimtz, a political science professor and panelist, said Cuba is
taking "baby steps" to address current inequalities.

"It's always important in looking at the revolutionary process to look
with a telescope and not a microscope," he said. "All revolutions carry
with them the baggage of the past."

Black nationalism often was frowned upon in the past as it was seen as
divisive, Nimtz said.

But in the past decade Castro began programs trying to draw in the
seemingly marginalized population, he said.

In addition to racism and the deepening of class divisions, the U.S.
embargo of Cuba was a much-discussed topic.

While some panelists expressed hope that the United States would lift
the embargo - ostensibly to see if Cuba would sink or swim on its own
terms - others said they didn't foresee a change in the embargo's status.

"As long as the revolution is in place, Washington will have no interest
in ending the embargo and improving relations with Cuba," Nimtz said.

Andy Exley, a computer science graduate student attending the event,
said he is concerned with the goings-on in Cuba.

"I'm glad to hear that they think there won't be civil disorder when
Castro dies because I don't wish terrible civil disorder upon anyone,
anywhere," he said. "I don't want to hear that if Castro died thousands
of people would be injured or killed."

http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2006/08/16/68721