Post-Castro change in the air on Cuban island

Wednesday November 22, 2:36 AM
Post-Castro change in the air on Cuban island

ISLE OF YOUTH, Cuba (Reuters) - Jump in the back, "the Champ" said as he
revved the overheating motor of his battered, Russian-made Lada, a gift
from President Fidel Castro.

Alfredo Duvergel is a former world champion amateur boxer who now
scrapes by as a unlicensed taxi driver. Like most Cubans he cannot see
communism surviving the ailing Castro. Their fears of upheaval are mixed
with the hope of economic liberalization if not political change.

"Look what happened in the Soviet Union," he said.

"Fidel gave me this car and my house. When he dies the whole system will
die. He alone has kept the revolution going with his idealism. Others
are thieves," the retired boxer said as he drove to a prison turned
museum where Castro served 19 months as a young revolutionary in the
mid-1950s.

The Cuban leader has not appeared in public since undergoing surgery for
an undisclosed illness that forced him to hand over the reins of power
to his brother Raul in late July.

On this island of 86,000 people off Cuba's south coast, residents wonder
if the 80-year-old Castro will be too ill to appear for a military
parade in Havana on Dec. 2 marking the 50th anniversary of the day he
came ashore from Mexico with a band of rebels set on toppling a
U.S.-backed dictator.
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Video footage released on Oct. 28 shocked Cubans with images of a gaunt
and tired-looking Castro walking with difficulty. More Cubans now think
their seemingly indestructible leader may have cancer, despite official
denials.

A majority of Cubans -- struggling to make ends meet since the collapse
of the country's biggest benefactor, the Soviet Union -- hope his
designated successor Raul Castro will relax restrictions on small
private businesses.

"People want to leave because you cannot do anything without state
approval," said Alex, a food supply worker who declined to give his
surname for fear of reprisal. "I cannot make my own money. The
government is always on top of us."

He said theft from the state was widespread by employees seeking to
supplement their meager wages.

RECYCLED CLOTHES

Women sit at rows of Soviet-era sewing machines recycling old clothes at
a workshop on the main street of Nueva Gerona, Isle of Youth's capital.

Manuel Lopez, 78, sells homemade sweets on the street, unable to survive
on a monthly pension of 140 Cuban pesos ($7). Two boys play baseball on
a side street with a stick and a doll's head.

Security was tightened at the airport and ferry terminal with policemen
armed with rifles and sniffer dogs after two planes were hijacked to Key
West, Florida, in 2003.

Guards manning metal detectors offer travelers their daily snack of a
sandwich and soft drink to make money on the side.

The island's main tourist resort, the Hotel Colony, a favorite of scuba
divers, is closed due to disrepair.

Lazaro Perez, a local dissident, said economic hardship has fueled
tensions on the island, and repression has increased.

"People are complaining more loudly in the lines. I think there will be
chaos and infighting when Fidel is gone," said Perez, a communications
technician who was fired in 2001 and has not been allowed to leave the
island since July.

Boxer Duvergel praised Cuba's health, education and sports programs,
which instilled in its amateur athletes the desire to compete for their
country and not personal wealth.

"Life is not just about money," said Duvergel, who said he turned down
offers to defect in the United States that would have made him rich
after winning the silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He chose to
return to Nueva Gerona where he is still called the Champ.

Cuba's cradle-to-grave safety net has its benefits, said Idalberto, a
black market money changer who declined to give his full name as he
swigged rum from a bottle with friends in a park.

"Socialism does not work, but I'm not going anywhere. This is the only
country where you can drink, eat and not work."

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