by Isabel Sanchez Fri Dec 22, 4:10 PM ET
HAVANA (AFP) - Cuba's National Assembly speaker Ricardo Alarcon
addressed the body's key annual session with no mention whatsoever of
ailing Cuban leader
Fidel Castro, who did not attend.
Amid uncertainty over the health of the 80-year-old Castro, there was an
empty seat where he normally sits. The Cuban leader has missed just one
other gathering of the assembly in three decades.
Castro ceded power officially, but temporarily, on July 31 to his
brother Raul Castro, 75, the defense chief. Fidel Castro underwent
surgery in July after intestinal bleeding.
The absence of Fidel, unseen in public since he underwent surgery in
July, spotlights the looming question about the future of Cuba -- the
only communist-ruled country in the Americas -- and who will lead it,
beyond the Castro brothers.
Friday's meeting, presided over by Raul Castro, heard words for
lawmakers and teachers from Alarcon. But Alarcon said nothing about
Fidel Castro, who led Cuba from January 1, 1959 until his handover to Raul.
It was the first time the interim government's decision-making process
was in full view: the six men Fidel picked to surround Raul Castro all
are assembly members. They are: Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque;
Vice Presidents Carlos Lage and Esteban Lazo; health minister Jose Ramon
Balaguer; central bank chief Francisco Soberon; and Communist Party
organizer Jose Machado Ventura.
The only allusion to Fidel came from Economy Minister Jose Luis
Rodriguez, who indirectly called on the Cuban leader to inspire Cubans'
struggle.
Raul Castro strongly suggested during a 35-minute speech late Wednesday
to the University Students' Federation (FEU) that the time had come for
a changing of the guard.
"Whether we like it or not, we're already coming to the end of our
duties," he said. "We have to yield to the new generations ... or
continue to lead the way for the new generations -- gradually, of course."
Concerning what style of government they should follow, Raul Castro
recommended the leadership should always include exhaustive debate.
He offered a little insight into his own way of doing things: "I confer
with a group of 12 generals of one or more stars. They all give their
opinions, they all discuss, and in the end, if I don't see a true
majority consensus, no conclusion is reached, unless it's an emergency."
With 609 members, the National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP) gives
some hints at the future leadership. It is presided over by one of the
leading figures of the regime, Alarcon, 69, Cuba's former representative
to the
United Nations and its top official for US affairs.
The legislature now comprises three generations of Cuban leaders, all
bound together by "Fidelism" -- from the old guard who rose up behind
Fidel Castro in the 1959 revolution to the newest generation of
30-to-40-year-olds.
In between are rising figures like Perez Roque, 41, Cuba's top diplomat;
Lage, 55; and Soberon, 61.
Since its creation in December 1976, the ANPP has been Fidel Castro's
venue for laying out in detail the country's direction. His long
speeches dominated debates and usually led to unanimous votes backing
his views.
It was only the second time in its 30-year history that Fidel missed a
session of the ANPP.
US lawmakers back from a trip to Cuba said Monday that officials there
had insisted Fidel Castro was not dying, and that his brother Raul
Castro is not Havana's new permanent leader.
US Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte told the Washington
Post earlier this month that Fidel Castro is very ill and close to death.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061222/wl_afp/cubacastroassembly_061222211033
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