Ray Sanchez | Direct from Havana
7:34 AM EDT, June 4, 2008
Havana
Cuban President Raul Castro quietly turned 77 on Tuesday.
Since taking over officially in late February from his ailing older
brother Fidel, Raul Castro has taken a more pragmatic, hands-off
approach to running a country ruled by a single man for 49 years.
The younger Castro has instituted a number of reforms aimed at improving
the lives of ordinary Cubans, including allowing the sale of cell phones
and computers and the opening of tourist hotels to citizens for the
first time in decades.
Raul Castro also has encouraged public debate of the shortcomings of the
communist island's economy and moved to decentralize the stagnant
agricultural sector. He is credited with improving public
transportation, and has hinted that more substantive changes could be on
the way.
But the quiet passing of Raul Castro's birthday on Tuesday – 100 days
since officially taking over from his 81-year-old brother – pointed to
another reality: the advancing age of the Cuba's top leadership.
In the state press on Wednesday, first vice president Jose Ramon Machado
Ventura captured the headlines, speaking at the opening of a UN meeting
in Rome on the global food crisis.
In five years, when the next election is held, Raul Castro will be 82,
Machado Ventura will be 83 and the average age of the Council of State
will be 75.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/cuba/sfl-0604havanadaily,0,1735250.column
No comments:
Post a Comment