Poor nations look beyond Castro

Posted on Thu, Sep. 14, 2006

Poor nations look beyond Castro
AILING CUBAN LEADER MAY MISS SUMMIT
By Anita Snow
Associated Press

HAVANA - When Cuba last hosted the Non-aligned Movement summit, the Cold
War still divided the world and Fidel Castro was a strapping 53-year-old
inspiring armed movements in poor countries the world over.

The Cuban-inspired Sandinista rebels had just triumphed in Nicaragua,
the Shah of Iran had just fallen, the United States still controlled the
Panama Canal, and wars of liberation from colonial powers raged in Africa.

To the leaders who gathered in Havana in August 1979, Castro was the
symbol of their struggle for self-determination and freedom from U.S.
domination.

This time around, it's not even clear that Castro will show up. Now 80
and convalescing from intestinal surgery, he said he hopes to meet with
some foreign dignitaries, but no public appearances are on the schedule.

As Cubans contemplate life without the only ruler most of them have ever
known, the nations coming together this week to map out the developing
world's agenda must also learn to fight on without the bearded guerrilla
leader.

This time, instead of rifles and rockets against colonial oppressors,
they are using pens, syringes and energy deals against the enemies of
illiteracy, disease and poverty.

``The Cuban people have accepted his illness with great maturity,'' said
Wayne Smith, the former top U.S. diplomat in Havana. ``Now the rest of
the world, and especially the developing world, needs to get used to
Cuba being ruled by someone else.''

Smith said Castro, who temporarily ceded power in July to his
75-year-old brother while he recovers from surgery, will probably make
at least a symbolic appearance.

``He will be there sufficiently in spirit, and to some extent in the
flesh, enough to reassure the leaders,'' said Smith, who represented the
United States as an observer at the 1979 summit and showed up in Havana
on a nostalgic visit this week.

Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcón noted that most of the
foreign leaders haven't arrived yet, and he wouldn't rule out an
appearance by Castro then.

``Fidel is not lounging in bed,'' Alarcón said. ``He has a telephone in
his hand, directing everything; he's up to date on everything, following
it step by step.''

But even government officials acknowledge that if Castro recovers enough
to resume the presidency, it's unlikely he'll keep up the hectic
schedule he blamed for his still-undisclosed ailment.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, Castro's good friend, has already
begun asserting himself as the Third World's leading statesman,
employing Castro's anti-imperialist rhetoric and building up Venezuela's
military as he reaches out to other developing countries with social
programs funded by his oil-rich nation.

But times have changed considerably since the days when Castro
established himself as the iconic leader of the world's leftist
revolutionaries, supplying troops and arms to Africa and training
leftist guerrillas in Latin America.

``Another world is necessary, urgent and possible,'' but war is not
necessary to achieve it, Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage told foreign
ministers Wednesday.

Some things haven't changed -- U.S. domination remains a rhetorical
favorite, and then as now, Israel's bombing of Lebanon angered the
gathered leaders.

But Cuba stopped fomenting revolutions more than a decade ago, and more
of the non-aligned nations are young democracies. They came this time
seeking support for trade deals and joint ventures, the training of
doctors and teachers, and energy independence.

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