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Tuesday, December 26, 2006

As Castro fades, a crop of new leaders

from the December 27, 2006 edition

As Castro fades, a crop of new leaders

Interviews with two younger political figures suggest a gradual opening
both economically and socially.
By Tom Fawthrop | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor
HAVANA, CUBA – In a country that is in the process of bidding a long
farewell to its ageing revolutionaries, Mariela Castro brings an
expectation of change along with an air of youthful passion. As the
director of Cenesex (the National Sex Education Center) Ms. Castro is
eager to consider where Cuba should go in a postrevolutionary era.

"We have many contradictions in Cuba," says Castro, the daughter of Raúl
Castro, Cuba's de facto leader and brother of ailing President Fidel
Castro. A Spanish doctor arrived in Cuba last week, reenergizing
speculation about the health of the Cuban leader, who has not been seen
in public since undergoing surgery in July. "We need to experiment and
to test what really works, to make public ownership more effective,
rather than simply adopting wholesale free-market reforms," Ms. Castro says.

Leaders like Ms. Castro may indicate the extent to which a post-Castro
Cuba may be willing to liberalize, both economically and socially. As
Cuba's old-guard leadership fades, this new generation - made up
primarily of the sons and daughters of those who fought in the 1959
Communist revolution - is perhaps more sympathetic to economic reforms
and more-liberal social policies.

Nevertheless, Cuba-watchers and experts have ruled out any dramatic
lurch toward a liberal market economy that might undermine the island
nation's heritage as the persistent holdout of traditional Communist
policies. More relaxed social attitudes may also evolve gradually.

Still, no one doubts that change is afoot.

"The transition in Cuba has already taken place" and this new generation
has a key role to play, says Richard Gott, a Latin American analyst and
former foreign correspondent for the London-based The Guardian
newspaper. "Carlos Lage will be the brains behind the new government.
He, together with Julio Soberon at the central bank, will seek to chart
a new economic course."

Now Raul Castro has started to echo some of his daughter's sentiments.
Addressing university students, he urged that they should ''fearlessly
engage in public debate and analysis," according to Granma, the
Communist Party newspaper.

Cuba is one of several Latin American countries that once harassed
homosexuals as a matter of policy. But Mariela Castro, who is also an
executive member of the World Association for Sexual Health, insists
that job discrimination and mass arrests are a thing of the past.

"[Homosexuals] still sometimes face arrest by bigoted police" says
Castro, adding that she has sometimes clashed with the authorities in
her efforts to release gay men and women from prison.

"Now, society is more relaxed. There is no official repression of gays
and lesbians," she argues confidently.

A writer turned politico

Cuban writer and culture minister Abel Prieto has also emerged as an
influential power broker in a changing Cuba. Since joining the state
bureaucracy and the politburo, the long-haired, middle-aged minister
still exudes a passion for culture and a common touch.

In response to a question about the conflict of interest between writers
and the state, Mr. Prieto laughs, saying that, "sometimes I feel like
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but I hope that artists and writers feel that I
am still one of them."

Unlike many members of the government, Prieto is very candid as he
speaks about allegations that the Cuban government censors political
websites.

"It would be a delusion to think we could hide that torrent of
information," he insists, referring to anti-Castro websites. "The only
possibility is to beat them with a better concept of life."

Prieto also defended the arrest of the dissident writer Raul Rivero in 2003.

"He was not arrested for his views, but for receiving US funding for his
collaboration with a country that has besieged our island," argues the
minister, referring to the 45-year-long US trade embargo.

An avid fan of the Beatles since the 1970s when their music was
essentially banned by the Cuban state, Prieto has led an appreciation
campaign of John Lennon. In 2000, he unveiled a statue and dedicated
"John Lennon Park" to the musician's memory. Many Cubans joke that he is
not as much a Marxist-Leninist as a "Marxist-Lennonist."

Prieto, because of a moment on Cuban television five years ago, is known
as one of the few Cabinet ministers who has ever dared to challenge the
president. Cubans recall a news segment in which Castro and Prieto
appeared together.

After Castro blamed his minister for the fact that so many artists were
leaving the country to work abroad, Prieto defended himself.

Millions watched as their supreme leader accepted his error and
apologized to Abel Prieto.

"Prieto is extremely important. He has carved out a sizable space for
cultural expression [for] many Cuban artists and writers since he became
minister of culture," says Julia Sweig, director of the Latin American
Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.

In a Foreign Affairs article, written after a lengthy visit to Cuba in
November, Ms. Sweig indicated that expectations were high among Cuban
officials that the government could move forward after Castro.

"People at all levels of the Cuban government and the Communist Party
were enormously confident of the regime's ability to survive Fidel's
passing," Ms. Sweig wrote.

That confidence was apparent in Raúl Castro's speech to the opening
session of the new parliament last week. "Tell it like it is - tell the
truth without justifications, because we are tired of justifications in
this revolution," the acting president urged his ministers, according to
the youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde.

US economic sanctions irrelevant

Attempts by the Bush administration to set the agenda for change in
Cuba, says Sweig, appear to be increasingly irrelevant to the reality
inside the country, as a new generation gains increasing clout.

Gott, the Latin American analyst, says that both Ms. Castro and Prieto
are figures to watch.

"Mariela Castro is a more than competent member of the Castro clan - she
will have an important role in social affairs," he says. "The genial
Abel Prieto might well be promoted from the culture ministry to
something more taxing."

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1227/p06s01-woam.html

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