A year later, Raul Castro, not Fidel, marks Cuba's Revolution Day
By WILL WEISSERT
Associated Press Writer
CAMAGUEY, Cuba --
Interim leader Raul Castro led tens of thousands of loyalists Thursday
in celebrations of Cuba's revolution, filling in for his ailing brother
Fidel at a key event as the provisional government took on an air of
permanence.
Cuba's 76-year-old acting president and defense minister - not his elder
brother - arrived for the Revolution Day festivities in Camaguey, a
provincial capital of narrow colonial streets and daily afternoon
downpours southeast of Havana. He was to address the crowd later.
Fidel, who turns 81 next month, has for decades given speeches lasting
hours to mark Cuba's top holiday. In 2006, he addressed crowds in two
separate cities on Revolution Day.
But he has not been seen in public since, apparently still too sick to
appear in person after announcing on July 31, 2006, that emergency
intestinal surgery was forcing him to step aside in favor of Raul.
He has begun penning essays dubbed "Reflections of the Commander in
Chief" every few days, but appears to be in little hurry to return to power.
"I am certain Fidel is recovering, but there's no problem because we
have Raul," said Candida Alvarez, a 76-year-old retiree who hung a
string of paper red, white and blue Cuban flags from the front door of
her wooden home near Camaguey's historic center.
Alvarez, who works with neighborhood communist officials to mediate
disputes between residents, said "Fidel will always be the boss, but now
Raul is the boss too."
"He's been there for a year and has gained popularity, earned the warmth
of the people," she said.
Raul Castro has said he's not fond of long speeches and is seen as a
pragmatist. He has said in past official interviews and public
appearances that he would be willing to discuss improving relations with
Washington, whose 45-year-old embargo prohibits U.S. tourists form
visiting the island and chokes off almost all trade between both countries.
"We know that what Raul says will be the guide for our revolutionary
direction," said Jesus Garcia, president of Camaguey's provincial
assembly. "What he says is up to him, but they will be important
reflections and we will be ready and listening closely."
Fireworks marking Revolution Day shook much of Camaguey Wednesday
evening and local Revolutionary Defense Committees organized late-night
parties they boasted would last until Raul Castro takes the podium
shortly after sunrise on Thursday.
Cuban flags and black-and-red flags symbolizing the July 26 Movement
that launched the revolution were plastered on almost everything
stationary, hanging in store windows and fluttering from the crumbling
balconies of pastel-colored houses.
Cuba's third largest city and the capital of a cattle-producing province
of the same name, Camaguey is hosting the yearly ceremony that marks the
July 26, 1953, attack by both Castros and a ragtag rebel band on the
Moncada army barracks in the eastern city of Santiago.
The uprising quickly degenerated into a disaster and many rebels were
shot dead during the chaotic fighting or captured and killed a short
time later by Cuban forces. But it became a rallying cry for a
subsequent revolutionary movement that gained new strength and
eventually toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista in January 1959.
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