CUBA
Castro stalls Cuba change
The top U.S. diplomat for Latin America says that the uncertainty
created by Fidel Castro's condition prevents any economic or political
shifts by the Cuban government.
BY ALFREDO CORCHADO
The Dallas Morning News
WASHINGTON - Even with Fidel Castro seriously ill and power transferred
to his brother, the ailing leader's presence is widely felt and is
keeping the country from taking any new economic or political direction,
says the U.S. government's top diplomat for Latin America.
''We see that this regime has made this successful transfer of power and
is trying to consolidate itself, but it can't define itself or separate
itself from Fidel,'' Thomas Shannon, assistant secretary of state for
the Western Hemisphere, said in an interview. ``My guess is that we're
not going to see that until Fidel Castro is dead and buried.''
''Fidel Castro is in this odd moment where he is neither alive nor dead
politically. He is alive physically, but he's not in charge day to day,
and he's obviously not present day to day, but it appears that he still
has the ability to sit up in bed and give orders occasionally,'' Shannon
said.
Castro's medical condition has been a state secret since he underwent
surgery for intestinal bleeding in late July and temporarily ceded power
to younger brother Raúl Castro. He has not been seen publicly since July
26, fueling intense speculation about his future.
Shannon said that Raúl Castro has shown no sign that he will be any
different from Fidel, despite Raúl Castro's call on Dec. 2 for the U.S.
government to meet with the Cuban government to work through their
differences.
Shannon said four goals must be met before the U.S. government considers
a change in policy: All political prisoners must be freed, human rights
guaranteed, trade unions allowed to form and concrete moves made toward
free elections.
''We're not going to engage with Cuba just to engage,'' Shannon said.
``Any engagement we have with Cuba has to be part of some kind of change
process that leads toward this transition to democracy, and therefore we
depend on what the Cuban people think and will want us to do.''
Shannon acknowledged that the U.S. government has no clear idea what
ails Castro. Last month the U.S. director of national intelligence, John
Negroponte, told The Washington Post that Castro had ''months, not
years'' to live.
''We know he's really sick, that he's not really getting any better,''
Shannon said. ``But it's not clear to us what his problem is and what
his timeline is, if I can speak of it crudely. Negroponte said that the
information available to us portrays his demise in a question of months
as opposed to years, but the reality is that we don't know because the
Cubans don't share that information.''
The Spanish surgeon who has been treating Castro, Dr. José Luis García
Sabrido, indicated last week that his patient was ''absolutely'' not
dying from cancer, but was recovering from complications after surgery
to treat a ``benign illness.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/cuba/16378690.htm
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