Feb 24, 2008 1:00 PM
As the world watches and waits for signs of change in a Cuba without
Fidel Castro at the helm, few Cubans expect life to be different after a
new president is named on Sunday.
Castro, 81, announced his retirement this week after nearly five decades
of rule, citing the poor health that led him to provisionally hand power
to his brother Raul in July 2006.
Cuba's rubber-stamp National Assembly is expected to name Raul Castro as
president, ending the rule of the charismatic revolutionary who turned
Cuba into a one-party state and Soviet ally on the doorstep of the
United States.
Anti-Castro exiles and US President George W. Bush have led
international calls for democratic reform on the island since the
announcement. But in the streets of the capital Havana, the mood is more
of indifference than expectation.
"It's been the same for 50 years (and) there aren't going to be changes.
It's possible that they'll be some measures because Raul is different to
Fidel, but it won't be much," said Adela, 48, a vet, who asked not to
give her full name.
"There's a lot of disillusion, a lot of sadness. The people don't care,"
she added.
Since announcing he would step down, Castro has hit back at the foreign
calls for change.
Castro said in a newspaper article that reactions to his retirement,
including calls for "liberty" in Cuba, forced him to "open fire" again
on his ideological enemies.
"Change, change, change!'" they cried in chorus. I agree, 'change!' but
in the United States," he wrote in a column published by the Communist
Party daily Granma on Friday.
More than 70% of Cubans were born after Castro seized power as a bearded
revolutionary fighter in 1959, and many say they are sad to see him go
and relieved he will still be involved in political life to ensure a
smooth transition.
Absence
His long absence from public life since falling ill has given Cubans
time to get used to the idea that their leader would eventually be replaced.
Castro, who will retain heavy influence over Cuba as head of the
Communist Party, said he will soldier on defending his socialist views
by writing columns in the "battle of ideas." Many analysts think Raul
will be reluctant to advance reforms that dismantle his brother's vision
of an egalitarian society while he is still alive.
"Fidel represents balance ... Ever since he got sick, people have taken
it in their stride. It's true that people are calm, and also a little
sad," said taxi driver Miguel, 36, as he repaired his huge 1950s vintage
American car in the central Havana district of Vedado.
"People aren't ready for a drastic change ... We've been a bit trapped,
but change can be a mixed blessing," he added.
State-controlled media have devoted little air time to Sunday's historic
National Assembly meeting and it was business as usual in Havana's
thinly-stocked stores and street markets this week.
Cubans complain about their lack of buying power and many hunger for
more freedom to travel abroad and have Internet access.
Since taking charge 19 months ago, Raul Castro has fostered open debate
over the shortcoming of Cuba's state-run economy and some Cubans hope a
new president could address their complaints about low wages and
decrepit housing.
"Everyone talks about how a waiter earns more than a professional, that
young people don't want to study, that education is getting worse," said
the vet Adela.
"Everyone thinks (Raul) will have to respond ... after he takes power.
Many people have this hope."
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