Fidel Castro, whose dictatorship outlasted the nine U.S. presidents who tried to oust him, resigned today as Cuba's president. The frail, 81-year-old despot is being succeeded by his younger brother Raul, 76, potentially leading to the end of the decades-old embargo against the Communist country.
Though replacing one Castro with another one is hardly revolutionary, this could be a significant development. U.S. businesses have been frothing at the mouth for years at the idea of entering Cuba, the largest country in the Caribbean, with a population of more than 11 million. The island, which is about the size of Pennsylvania, has natural resources including petroleum, nickel and iron ore, according to the CIA's World Factbook.
Though Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte told reporters that he doesn't expect the embargo to be lifted anytime soon, that position may not hold over the long-term because the Cuban market is too large for U.S. companies to ignore. You can bet that the Europeans and Canadians would love to expand their foothold in Cuba if America drags its feet.
To be clear, Fidel Castro isn't the leftist koala bear he's sometimes made out to be in the American media and in Europe. Cubans continue to be denied many rights that we in the U.S. take for granted. The embargo, though, has helped solidify Castro's hold on power because many of our allies ignored it.
But as The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) notes, times are changing in Cuba.
No matter who takes power formally in the coming days, it seems clear the pace of change on the island is bound to increase, albeit slowly by most standards. In the past few months, Raul Castro has indicated to ordinary Cubans that change is afoot, especially in the economy, and encouraged more open debate about what ails the country. In January, during the election for Cuba's National Assembly, Raul Castro promised "important decisions, a little bit at a time."Other signs of change include a slow, but steady release of political prisoners, and last year's deportation to Colombia of a notorious drug trafficker, who was then extradited to the U.S. Some state controlled newspapers and television news shows have even started running stories critical of inefficiencies at state agencies.
Raul Castro is modeling his country's economy on China. But Cuba like China will realize that once people get economic freedom, they are going to want political freedom as well.
Freelance writer Jonathan Berr edits the blog Ketchup and Eggs.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-19-2008 @ 4:07PM
AGS said...
The present U.S. poicy toward Cuba reflects our inability to get over the cold war. This applies to most of what our present government does. President Bush can now declare a final victory over communism, the U.S. can quietly open diplomatic relations with Cuba, and Mr. Bush can exit his office next year with one win. Of course, it will break the hearts of the cons and neocons, but they were dissappointed when we didn't nuke the Soviet Union during the cold war.