Is communism now losing its grip on Cuba? The answer is yes; however, the question of how long is open to debate. Fidel has officially stepped down. It"s no longer a temporary move. Raul will be selected as the new Cuban president come this Sunday. Raul is opne to talking with the United States, but that will have to wait until January 20th, 2009, when a Democrat takes over as president of the US since Bush will not even talk with Raul.
An ailing Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba"s president Tuesday after nearly a half-century in power, saying he was retiring and will not accept a new term when the new parliament meets Sunday. "I will not aspire to nor accept - I repeat, I will not aspire to nor accept - the post of President of the Council of State and Commander in Chief," read a letter signed by Castro published early Tuesday in the online edition of the Communist Party daily Granma.
The announcement effectively ends the rule of the 81-year-old Castro after almost 50 years, positioning his 76-year-old brother Raul for permanent succession to the presidency. Fidel Castro temporarily ceded his powers to his brother on July 31, 2006, when he announced that he had undergone intestinal surgery.
I would hope that there would be some chnage in our U.S. policy regarding Cuba, but as long as George Bush is president, that doesn"t seem likely. Bush, speaking during a trip to Rwanda, urged the international community to help Cuba shift toward democracy and specifically said, "Eventually, this transition ought to lead to free and fair elections — and I mean free, and I mean fair — not these kind of staged elections that the Castro brothers try to foist off as true democracy."
Every nation has a different idea about what is fair and it is not encumbent upon America to dictate what"s fair, nor to impose our ideas on other sovereign nations. Kosovo just did things their way, not the American way.
When one examines how we select a president (can you say super delegates), one has to ask how can that be fair or democratic? How can the people vote one way and that vote be overturned by a handful of seasoned politicians?
May our State Department reach out and try to take a different approach in this season where there is a new leader in Cuba- one who is not quite as antagonistic as his older brother. The younger Castro has raised expectations among Cubans for modest economic and other reforms, stating last year that the country requires unspecified "structural changes" and acknowledging that government wages that average about US$19 a month do not satisfy basic needs.
May we take advantage of this opportunity!