Mexico City/Havana - Communist Cuba is moving. The ailing Fidel Castro,
81, is having to watch powerlessly from the sidelines a renovation
process set to catapult Cubans into the future.
The process can no longer be stopped, and the old revolutionary hero,
the man who led Cuba for almost half-a-century, is watching with worry
from his sickbed.
Cuban President Raul Castro and the other new authorities on the
island insist on change. For some, it is no longer clear whether next
year Cubans will be celebrating the golden anniversary of their
revolution or the end of their revolution after 50 years.
Cellphones, computers and electronic home appliances remain devilish
objects for Fidel Castro.
Only three years ago, as he called for an "energy revolution" in order
to palliate the notorious power shortage on the island, he publicly
spoke for the energy-saving rice-cooking pot and even distributed some
units to housewives.
"Out of the crisis with the rice pot." Such was his suggestion at the
time, to help Cubans overcome many years of severe scarcity and sacrifices.
Now that he is no longer in power, he thinks no differently.
In a recent letter to a congress of Cuban intellectuals and authors,
Fidel Castro made clear his displeasure about current reforms. He
accused his successors led by brother Raul of having opened the door to
egoism in Cuba.
They lack a deep understanding about what holds the world together, he
claimed.
"Modern man is not less egoistical than Greek men in Plato's time,"
Fidel told intellectuals who once followed him with determination.
Modern man is more vulnerable than ever. CDs and DVDs, mobile phones,
the internet, microwaves and digital cameras are only there to grant
money and power to international companies.
"Does this kind of existence that imperialism promises make any sense
at all?" Fidel Castro asked.
The former Cuban leader warned that evolution has not even prepared
the human body for the effects of so many electronic waves.
However, since the new government under Raul, 76, took office less
than two months ago, several things have changed in Cuba: microwaves,
mobile phones and the internet are to be accessible for as many people
as possible, and Cubans can now stay in luxury hotels which were until
now were only for foreigners.
Historian and professor Eusebio Leal told the gathering of Cuban
intellectuals that the country should get ready for a "new destiny."
"I think we have to help build the nation of today. We are all
hopeful. Why? Because the country, indeed, is assuming that what until
yesterday was not convenient or prudent is now necessary," he was quoted
as saying.
"How good it is that we can have telephones!"
He even noted that he is not ashamed of his own children, who have
left Cuba to try their luck abroad.
Until now, all those who left Cuba were deserters, traitors and spies.
Such comments, with views never published in the media, were expressed
in a congress of artists and writers which Cuban Vice President Carlos
Lage attended. Work towards moderate economic reform is expected in the
coming weeks and months, particularly from him.
On the occasion, Lage for the first time left no room for doubt
regarding his analysis of the country's situation.
"We are coming from a dramatic lack of food and medicine, from
desolate streets, from dark nights," he admitted.
Following almost two decades of crisis - after the collapse of the
Soviet Union in the early 1990s - he can understand the impatience of
Cubans, he said.
"I understand everyone's impatience because we share it. I am
encouraged by the faith of many, of the immense majority, of all," said
Lage.
The vice president's cautious reforms were mostly scrapped by Fidel
Castro in the 1990s.//dpa
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/worldhotnews/read.php?newsid=30070346
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