Raul Prepares His Retirement

Raul Prepares His Retirement / Juan Juan Almeida
Posted on July 16, 2013

We are living in a world where, dangerously, what's important for the
work of many is just to show results. Perhaps for that reason, for
nostalgia, convenience, desire, hope, belief, deception or passion; we
make the mistake of looking to Havana and distorting the reality,
imagining the Cuban government as a bankrupt controlling consortium.

Sorry, but much to my regret, impartially, things don't appear the same.
The government was reorganized, continuing to take well-aimed steps
toward their new legitimacy, and the ruling elite gathers strength
obscuring people who have proven to be loyal and capable of obeying
every order, including confessing to homicides not committed.

So things go. Last May, by presidential decision, the first secretaries
of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) in the provinces of Matanzas and
Artemisa were relieved of their posts, curiously both provinces located
in the west of the country. Then, as recently as last week, the same
changes were made against the party bosses in Guantánamo and Holguín,
located in the south and north.

It's reasonable to think that because the circus elite is aging and with
the intent to make their mark on eternity, they seek certain changes to
show a much more heterogeneous composition of the deputies who have the
opportunity to approach with a much more integrated focus the search for
solutions to the current problems in different sectors of our national life.

I think not, and I feel disillusioned, their only goal is to reconquer
spaces, regions and areas. The General, corresponding to his background,
applies military strategy. It was no accident that the National Defense
Commission of the Cuban Parliament (led by its president Brigadier
General Juan Rafael Ruiz Pérez) in session this July 5, ordered the
participants to immediately execute a new set of measures to strengthen
and expand the power, already excessive, possessed by State Security and
the National Police. It's the same as imposing citizen peace at the
stroke of a major, the whip and the barracks.

And to round it off, the recently concluded seventh plenum of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, trumpeted the
appointment of 11 new members, while removing from its ranks leaders
who, although it seemed new to many, had already been removed from
office in September 2012.

It's worth noting the case of Misael Enamorado who, being "enamored,"
had his head in the clouds and not recognizing the laws of gravity
instead of falling, rose, taking on new functions putting him closer to
the euro, the dollar and the sun.

Different but at the same time similar, he succeeds the former president
of the National Assembly, Dr. Ricardo Alarcón; who instead of being
awarded a well-earned place as an air traffic controller, is reassigned
as adviser to the President to deal with — in what appears to be a
parallel government — everything concerning relations between Cuba and
the United States.

I don't know about you, but to me all this, more than any commentary
coming from the other side, forces me to think that the
Commander-in-Chief is paving the way he announced last February, in a
very hurried way, to allow him to exercise his "right" to retire from
the Government, completely monopolize power, and dictate the decisions
of the State from behind the scenes.

15 July 2013

Source: "Raul Prepares His Retirement / Juan Juan Almeida | Translating
Cuba" -
http://translatingcuba.com/raul-prepares-his-retirement-juan-juan-almeida/