Castro still ailing, Cuba begins to see end of era

Castro still ailing, Cuba begins to see end of era
Los Angles Times
Posted online: Friday, November 17, 2006 at 0000 hrs Print Email

HAVANA: Nonchalantly jingling a money pouch, a supervisor at the Cubana
Airlines check-in counter trolled a line of foreign travelers at Jose
Marti International Airport, inquiring if any had convertible Cuban
pesos they wanted to sell back for US dollars.

She generally keeps her own money in dollars, she explained to two
interested Germans, but changes what she needs for daily expenses into
pesos, preferably with departing tourists to avoid a 10 percent
government commission. The pesos "have no value outside the country,''
she said.

"What does Fidel think of that?'' asked a Swedish traveller in line
behind them, surprised by the employee's open disparagement of her
government's monetary system. "He's finished,'' she replied, drawing a
hand across her neck in a slicing gesture. "He has colon cancer.''

Speculation about the severity of President Fidel Castro's illness has
been whispered since he underwent surgery in late July and the
government branded his condition a state secret. The airline employee's
cavalier comments illustrated deepening public suspicion of Communist
Party assurances that the iconic revolutionary will return to power.

An October 28 video of him looking pale and debilitated may have been an
attempt by the Havana leadership to reassure Cubans and the
international community that the world's longest-reigning government
chief was still alive. Instead, it was seen by many as an indication
that he may not be with them much longer. Some believe party figures
waiting in the wings to take the reins may have been signaling to the
populace that his death and a subsequent economic liberalisation are coming.

Fidel Castro's brothers, Raul and 82-year-old Ramon, have both lately
emphasised that the leader is following doctors' orders to take it easy.
"It's been published that he's going to start working again. We're
trying to hold him back a bit longer, though,'' Ramon Castro told
visitors to the annual international trade fair here in late October.

A series on pandemic workplace theft and corruption published last month
in the youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde was notable for its candid
recognition of systemic problems in an economy where few have the
ability to improve their living conditions legally. A government
announcement soon after of a study of socialism's possible shortcomings
enhanced an impression forming among educated Cubans that officials
preparing for the end of an era are passing a critical eye over the
ideological foundations of the system.

Vice-President Carlos Lage Davila, architect of the self-employment
reform that allowed thousands of Cubans to launch businesses in the
early 1990s, is thought to be supportive of economic liberalisation.
Even Raul Castro apparently embraces some forms of private enterprise.

editor@expressindia.com

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