Fidel Castro: Giving up the reins? A closer look may show otherwise.
December 28, 2007
Newspapers from the United States to Australia have announced that Fidel Castro may step aside as president to allow younger politicians to take his place based on a letter that Fidel wrote to the popular Cuban news television program, Mesa Redonda, to be read on the air on December 17th. In the letter he wrote, “My basic duty is not to cling to office, nor even more so, to obstruct the rise of people much younger, but to pass on experiences and ideas whose modest value arises from the exceptional era in which I lived.”[1] Though Castro, a master politician, said nothing as overt as possibly handing over the reins of power permanently, his words have been analyzed to uncover their possible implications. Castro did not expressly mention the possibility of not running for president in the upcoming general elections on Jan. 20, 2008, or who might take over if he did not assume the position, but his remark opened the door for him to officially stand down from power in the future. Although this interpretation of his statement was widely published, there were several nuances to his words and their sequence that were largely ignored by international media.
In mentioning younger leaders, Fidel Castro threw doubts on the expectation that his younger brother, Raúl, would take over for him directly after relinquishing his title. Although Raúl has served as interim president for the past 17 months, talk of a new generation of leaders has opened discussion about other government officials taking over in the event that Fidel does not run for president. Many people in Cuba recognize the aging of the current leaders who ushered in the revolution of 1959, including 81-year-old Fidel, and his brother, 76, as a threat to the continuation of the current Cuban system. They express the need for a new generation of leaders to rise up if the current system is to survive. Some likely candidates to take over for Fidel include the vice president, Carlos Lage, who is 56 years old, and Fidel’s protégé and current foreign minister, 41-year-old Felipe Perez Roque. Simply opening the possibility for younger leaders sparks dialogue on who it might be, and what policies they might change.
In proclaiming his willingness to hand over the official title of ruler, however, Fidel is still careful to highlight the value of his “experiences and ideas,” implying his continued political and ideological influence no matter who may nominally run the government. Since handing over the duties of president to his younger brother, Raúl, Fidel has played mostly an ideological role in government, rather than an administrative one. Despite sitting out on the day-to-day decisions of running the country that he used to make personally, government officials are eager to affirm that Fidel is still directing the ideology and consciousness of the party. Thus, the elderly leader’s words affirm that his influence is far from over, even if he is not formally in the position of ruler. Fidel closes his letter citing Brazilian Oscar Niemeyer, a well-known architect and communist who had recently celebrated his 100th birthday. Fidel wrote, "I think like Niemeyer that you have to be of consequence up to the end."[2] This was more than simply a statement of praise and admiration for Niemeyer’s work, but rather an affirmation that Fidel will impose his political influence on whomever may succeed him up until the end of his days. Not running for president, as Castro makes quite clear, will not mean an end to his rule.
Some finer points of his letter that were not widely reported serve to underscore Castro’s determination to maintain the current political situation, and act as thinly veiled threats to outside intervention in Cuban politics. Castro, near the end of his letter, remembers with “healthy pride”[3] the way in which he stood up to former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien’s requests to free political prisoners and change human rights legislation. The allusion to a foreign leader who tried to influence Cuban policy, and his lack of success, asserts the independence of Cuban politics. Castro wants to show that even now, neither he nor anyone else in the Cuban government can be bullied by the leading foreign powers.
Although threats to defend the island vigorously against any U.S. intervention are nothing new, the mention of Cuban tenacity and an allusion to Fidel’s enduring political influence bookmark the ailing revolutionary’s suggestion of stepping out of the political limelight permanently, serving as a warning to all outside actors to let the island’s politics develop independently. The Cuban leader calls attention to the $696 billion U.S. military spending bill for 2008, with $189 billion of it reserved for Iraq and Afghanistan. This mere mention of the high price the Bush administration is paying for its intervention in other countries is meant to be a reminder of the widespread sentiment in the United States and elsewhere that the government cannot afford another war. Fidel was warning the U.S. government, as Raúl Castro has done overtly in the past, that trying to direct Cuban policies will evoke bitter resistance, and a conflict that Cubans will fight to the end. The United States, however, cannot afford to fight for the control of Cuba.
Much attention was given to the letter that Fidel Castro wrote to Mesa Redonda for broadcast around the island. Many interpreted his allusion to stepping aside for the new generation of politicians as a sign that Fidel may soon be out of politics forever. What the bearded leader carefully implied, however, was that no matter who may take over the presidency, his influence in politics will remain. He will actively apply it until the end of his life, like the centenarian architect, Niemeyer. Furthermore, Castro hints that the Cubans will stand up to defend themselves fully against any outside influence, making any attempt to impose foreign policies on the island futile and costly. Currently, as Fidel points out, the United States can not afford to engage all the force that Cuba is willing to pit against it. The small but proud island, on the other hand, is willing to unleash all that it has to stand up to the superpower. In that way, Fidel Castro is preparing the Cuban people for an eventual relinquishing of the presidential post, but he is preparing the rest of the world, as well. His comments must have been made with an American audience in mind, since private and federal organizations around the country have already drawn up several “transition plans” of what to do with Cuba once Fidel dies and the “regime changes.” What Fidel did clearly announce, however, is that no matter who is in power, it is Cuban ideology that will guide policy.
Written by: Danielle Barav
