Analysis: Castro, Sick, Bows to Brother Raul
Council on Foreign Relations
August 1, 2006
Prepared by: Michael Moran,
Robert McMahon
Cuban leader Fidel Castro has made clear his intention to hand power to Raul—his younger brother, defense minister, and heir apparent—after his death. That scenario gets a trial run over the next several weeks as Castro recovers from intestinal surgery. In a letter read on state television July 31, Castro ceded some, but not all, of his powers to his brother (BBC). Castro, nearing his eightieth birthday (Miami Herald), remains very much in control of Cuba. But analysts will carefully watch Raul's stand-in performance. The younger Castro, profiled here by Robert Windrem of NBC News, has stressed the communist party's permanence in recent public appearances.
U.S. officials and many Cuban dissidents and exiles have something different in mind. Temporary or not, news of the transfer of power sparked celebrations (Reuters) in the anti-Castro environs of Miami. Vexed by Castro's regime for forty-seven years, the White House earlier this month reaffirmed a plan to support independent civil society in Cuba, aiming for a transition to "genuine democracy." The Bush administration endorsed a call by a government agency, the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, to spend about $80 million to promote democratic succession. CFR Fellow Julia Sweig's book, "Inside the Cuban Revolution," provides vital context to the situation.
Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.
Copyright 2006 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.
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