Posted: Thursday, July 26, 2007 8:21 AM
Categories: Havana, Cuba
By Mary Murray, NBC News Producer
When all is said and done, Cubans are very practical people.
Living for decades under a centralized island economy with limited
international trading opportunities has taught people real survival
skills. Cubans learn to make do without some basic commodities and find
creative solutions to life's everyday challenges.
But that pragmatism has not always extended to how people view Fidel Castro.
If anyone had suggested last July that their 80-year-old president would
still be convalescing a year after emergency intestinal surgery that
almost killed him, lots of Cubans wouldn't have bought it.
This was the David who has stood up to the Goliath of the north, in the
view of his supporters.
If 10 American presidents and 200 CIA plots couldn't kill him, how could
a little intestinal bleed and infection?
All the talk
For a good part of 2006, Castro's health dominated the national
conversation. It was the buzz at every bus stop and barber shop.
For months, most Cubans were convinced he'd be back on his feet before long.
They even ignored Castro's personal and candid health updates published
in the government press, warning people that he "might lose the battle."
Back then, as he tried to prepare people for his death, folks just plain
believed that he would rebound and rebound swiftly.
"Fidel," chanted his supporters, "won't let us down. He'll be back by
the new year."
"Castro," chided his detractors, "won't be able to stay out of the
limelight for more than a few weeks."
No matter the camp, I remembered thinking just how people seemed to be
ignoring one small detail – the guy was up there in years.
Perhaps people were just afraid to imagine the end of Castro's roughly
five decades of power, I thought. Maybe they had a fear of the unknown.
Whatever the motivation, here was a nation in denial.
Managing expectations
Western diplomats in Havana quietly worried that Castro's prolonged
absence from the national stage would spark a power vacuum and in-fighting.
Longtime observers feared that the nation would take to the streets,
rejecting the peaceful transfer of power to his brother Raul and a small
hand-picked collective.
Instead, at this very complicated juncture, the regime seems to have
successfully managed expectations.
Raul established a business-as-usual atmosphere by capitalizing on his
reputation as a good manager who relies on outside input. Letting other
people take center stage, he has insisted that his big brother would
recuperate and come back.
The message was simple – no power struggle was ensuing here.
In fact, this was so successful that even members of his ruling
Communist Party now see the transfer of power to Raul as permanent.
Change?
Although, there is still much debate on Havana's streets about what the
transition of power may or may not bring.
"Fidel will come back but in a different role," said Liliana Rodriguez,
a graduate student. "Other people will be in control. He'll help set
policy."
Juan Cabrera, a pensioner who teaches history at a Havana night school
program for teen drop-outs, believes Castro is enjoying retirement. "The
succession has been good for my country. No surprise endings."
But lots of Cubans, including Cabrera's youngest son, disagree by
strongly rejecting the status quo. Juan Manuel, who works as a gypsy cab
driver, turned in his Young Communist membership back in 1993 after
Soviet aid dried up and triggered the collapse of the Cuban economy.
"I just want one thing: Change, change, and more change," said the
36-year old Cabrera.
That translates into reforming the economy to raise the standard of
living – the one thing all Cubans pretty much agree on.
Free social services and food subsidies aside, the multiple-income
average family here earns the equivalent of between $60 and $75 a month.
State employees clamor for higher wages while many dream of starting
their own business. People think they have a better shot at this with
Raul Castro at the helm.
Yet, Raul's reputation as a reformer may be more fiction than fact. Some
associates have described the 76-year-old Castro as even less flexible
than Fidel when it comes to supporting free market measures. In
addition, chances of seeing Raul undertake any major reform dim further
when you consider that his power at the moment is merely custodial.
No longer asking
Still, the island seems to have hit a turning point: the myth no longer
rules the perception of the man.
As one government official observed, "It took a better part of a year,
but people here finally accept that Fidel may never be strong enough to
put on his military uniform and resume his official duties."
That's an ironic turn of events – given the fact that the regime
continues to classify Castro's health information as a state secret. So,
the public still does not know even the name of the illness that
sidelined their president.
But, perhaps, even more ironic – people have stopped asking.
Proving, when all is said and done, Cubans are very practical people.
http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/07/26/291822.aspx
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