POLITICS-CUBA: Raul Castro – Still in the Shadows

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Aug 4 2006 (IPS) - When a journalist asked Raúl Castro in 1993 why he had not granted an interview to the Latin American press in more than 30 years, Cuba’s second most powerful leader’s simple response boiled down to “we have Fidel for that.”

Fidel “has always been my hero, my closest friend,” Raúl told Mexico’s El Sol daily at the time.

Even now, temporarily at the helm of the Cuban government, Fidel’s 75-year-old brother continues to break with international protocol, eluding public life and the political and media spotlight that, while par for the course in most countries, is still foreign to Cuba’s reality.

“Raúl has always disappeared for months at a time – no one worries. He’ll appear on television if it’s necessary,” Hilario Gómez, member of a Committee for the Defence of the Revolution, neighbourhood organisations that operate throughout the country, told IPS.

Such a necessity arose at the 1992 Pan-American Games held in Cuba. The normally low-key army general was forced to appear in public to refute rumours that he had died and that the government was waiting until the end of the games to make the announcement..

A number of varying and contradictory histories and character profiles of Raúl, who is defence minister and first vice president, have surfaced in the press since President Castro’s Monday announcement of the temporary delegation of his authority.

Having undergone emergency surgery and with a lengthy convalescence ahead of him, the leader had to put his succession plan to the test. He himself has declared that the plan accounts for even the smallest detail, in order to ensure the continuation of the revolutionary process begun in 1959. In addition to ceding to the first vice president his powers as head of the Communist Party (PCC) and the Council of State and as Commander in Chief of the armed forces, Castro delegated a number of additional strategic functions to a group of high officials, thus reinforcing the concept of collective leadership.

“Only the Communist Party – as the institution that brings together the revolutionary vanguard and will always guarantee the unity of Cubans – can be the worthy heir of the trust deposited by the people in their leader,” Raúl Castro said in mid-June.

Well known for championing the younger generations as the key to the survival of the Cuban revolution, the defence minister added the caveat that “the special trust and confidence that the people have placed in the founding leader of a revolution cannot simply be transferred, like an inheritance, to those who will occupy the country’s main leadership positions.”

That statement left open the possibility that, if necessary, Raúl Castro would assume the leadership of the country in the event of an inevitable succession, but only as a way to ensure national stability and likely as a temporary measure, whose duration would be determined by the Communist Party.

This delegation dates back to Jan. 21, 1959. On that day, just three weeks after the success of the revolution and fearing an organised attack from the United States, Fidel Castro announced that his brother Raúl, given his “organisational and military abilities,” would take over in the event of his own death.

Since then, security regulations have prohibited the brothers from appearing together in public, ensuring the survival of one if the other was assassinated. Throughout the years, the rare exceptions have been limited to parliamentary sessions and important party meetings.

Even in the early 1990s there was talk that the Castro brothers had formed a team to forge paths for economic renewal that could avert crisis following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the East European socialist bloc, without abandoning the revolution’s social achievements.

Over time, some of the measures implemented in the mid-1990s, such as permits for private enterprise and self-employment and the opening of farmers’ markets where prices are set by supply and demand, were attributed to the initiative and drive of the defence minister, credit that for years was also given to the vice president of the Council of Ministers, Carlos Lage.

One of the most significant contributions was the creation of an efficient, decentralised business system that served as a base for a proposal to reform Cuba’s state enterprises, which were copied in many aspects from models imported from the former Soviet Union.

During this period, the defence minister demonstrated a dose of realism, proclaiming that beans were more valuable than tanks. “The political, military and ideological challenge facing the country today is food”à”if it means food for the people, we can afford to run the risks,” he said in 1994 when announcing the opening of the agricultural markets.

Within government circles and among those who know him, Raúl is known as fair, and as a staunch champion of the family, but also as implacable when he feels something has been poorly done. His opponents say he has neither the charisma nor the oratory skills of his brother, while those who defend him counter with arguments that he has a “very Cuban” personality and sense of humour.

He was always considered one of the most radical communists of his generation and, even today, government opponents blame him for the firing squads of the early days of the revolution, as well as the Military Units to Support Production (UMAP), hard labour groups that were supposed to help “reform” dissidents, religious activists and homosexuals.

Local observers, however, say given the nature of the island nation’s political system, and with the larger-than-life personality of Fidel Castro at its head, there were some decisions the defence minister could never have made on his own, including both highly criticised repression as well as reforms that met with some approval.

Some believe that Raúl is likely to show even less tolerance for political opposition. He is also seen as unlikely to be able to make progress on negotiations that would lead to improved U.S.-Cuban relations and, consequently, to the lifting of the four-decade economic embargo against the island.

Yet a number of people believe that the support he has given his daughter, Mariela Castro Espín, director of the National Sexual Education Centre, has been key in the strategy towards guaranteeing the rights of sexual minorities, including transsexuals and transvestites, in Cuba.

Representatives of moderate opposition groups, like Manuel Cuesta Morúa, told IPS that Raúl Castro could favour “China-style changes.” Dissident Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo, meanwhile, speculated that Raúl may also spearhead “certain changes” towards a more democratic form of socialism.

Independent journalist Oscar Espinosa Chepe told the foreign press that there is no doubt that “Raúl is an important figure. He doesn’t have charisma, but within the army he does have a lot of prestige. I’m a dissident, but I’m not a fool or unobjective: Raúl is well-loved.”

The “temporary” president of Cuba has said that “there are no revolutions without errors,” it’s just a matter of admitting and addressing them. He also believes that if the revolution crumbles, Cuba will lose its independence, at an “unimaginable” cost for the people.