By Tim Padgett Sunday, Aug. 08, 2010
Correction Appended: August 8, 2010
There's nothing like the sight of Fidel Castro in uniform to raise the
flagging spirits of any Cuban communist. So when Castro, dressed in
olive military fatigues, entered Cuba's National Assembly on Saturday
morning — his first government appearance since going into near
seclusion four years ago because of ill health — it was a chance for the
island's apparatchiks, beset by political and economic uncertainties, to
gush revolutionary again. As the frail comandante, who turns 84 on Aug.
13, walked in with the help of aides, Assembly members interrupted their
session to give him a standing ovation and shout over and over, "Viva
Fidel!" (See photos from Pakistan's flood: What the survivors carried
with them.)
Castro's speech was typically ardent — he warned that his archenemy, the
U.S. "empire," was on the brink of starting a global nuclear war as it
confronts Iran and North Korea — but uncharacteristically brief. The
former leader spoke for just 12 minutes, a far cry from the hours-long
marathons he was known for in his prime. After he finished,
parliamentarians one after another congratulated him on looking
relatively spry. Following abdominal surgery in 2006, Castro temporarily
handed Cuba's presidency to his younger brother and defense minister,
Raúl. Since then, Fidel had been seen only in photos and televised
videos — until this summer, when he's made a surprising number of
personal appearances around Havana. His Assembly discourse, at an
extraordinary session to address international issues, only heightened
speculation that he's eager to take the reins again. (See historic
photos of Fidel in the jungle.)
No matter what shape he's in, Fidel's influence will loom large over
Cuba until he draws his last breath — and until then, Cuba promises to
remain the fault line of U.S.-hemispheric relations that it's been since
he took power in 1959. But analysts warn against mistaking Fidel's
recent reemergence as anything more than a visual and oratorical shot in
the arm for the nation's communist faithful. "It's like seeing your
aging grandfather wake up on the sofa all of a sudden and start holding
forth on things," says Christopher Sabatini, senior policy director at
the Americas Society/Council of the Americas in New York. "The party
rank and file still like to bask in his stature, such as it is today."
(See photos of Castro's years in power.)
As they do, Raúl's stature may benefit as well. In the early days after
he relinquished power, many opined that Fidel, in essays published from
his sickbed, disapproved of some of the changes decreed by his more
reform-minded brother — such as letting Cubans own cell phones or
allowing certain farmers to till private land. That shadow is one reason
analysts think Raúl has held back on going even further with political
and economic reform. But many also believe Fidel is popping up now not
just to show that he's still in the mix, but to reaffirm his support for
Raúl amid an economic crisis — even, they say, for the younger Castro's
decision last month to release 52 political prisoners whom Fidel jailed
during a harsh crackdown on dissidents in 2003. Fidel's appearances
signal to communist hardliners that "if anyone is thinking of
challenging [Raúl], they will have to deal with him," Andy Gomez, senior
fellow at the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and
Cuban-American Studies, recently told the Miami Herald.
If so, such support would be crucial to the 79-year-old Raúl. Cuba's
economy is still 95% state-run, but it is reeling under the strain of
the global recession, a U.S. trade embargo and its own epic
inefficiencies. While Raúl recently insisted that Cuba's socialist
system was "irrevocable," the island's financial straits are such that
he also warned that the government may have to cut as many as a million
jobs and permit more "self-employment," or small private businesses.
Meanwhile, the communist leadership is being rocked by new accusations
of corruption. Fidel's anti-U.S. speech on Saturday was widely viewed as
a way to deflect attention from those domestic headaches.
The Obama Administration only helped Fidel in that effort with its
controversial decision last week to keep Cuba on the State Department's
list of nations that support terrorism — even though more genuinely
threatening countries like North Korea were left off. Yet at the same
time, the U.S. Congress may pass a bill this year that loosens
Washington's 48-year-old embargo against Cuba by eliminating the ban on
U.S. travel to the island and easing restrictions on agricultural sales
there. The hope is that opening Cuba to Americans will more effectively
promote democratization than have five decades of failed attempts to
isolate the communist island. If that comes to pass, it would alter the
dynamics of Cuba's relations with the "empire" in ways that would leave
even another star appearance by Fidel overshadowed.
Correction: The original version of this story stated that Fidel Castro
underwent stomach surgery in 2006. The surgery was actually intestinal.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2009273,00.html?xid=rss-topstories
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