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As Castro fades, a crop
of new leaders
Interviews with two younger
political figures suggest a gradual opening
both economically and socially.
By Tom Fawthrop | Contributor
to The
Christian Science Monitor. December
27, 2006.
HAVANA, CUBA - In a country that is in
the process of bidding a long farewell to
its ageing revolutionaries, Mariela Castro
brings an expectation of change along with
an air of youthful passion. As the director
of Cenesex (the National Sex Education Center)
Ms. Castro is eager to consider where Cuba
should go in a postrevolutionary era.
"We have many contradictions in Cuba,"
says Castro, the daughter of Raúl
Castro, Cuba's de facto leader and brother
of ailing President Fidel Castro. A Spanish
doctor arrived in Cuba last week, reenergizing
speculation about the health of the Cuban
leader, who has not been seen in public
since undergoing surgery in July. "We
need to experiment and to test what really
works, to make public ownership more effective,
rather than simply adopting wholesale free-market
reforms," Ms. Castro says.
Leaders like Ms. Castro may indicate the
extent to which a post-Castro Cuba may be
willing to liberalize, both economically
and socially. As Cuba's old-guard leadership
fades, this new generation - made up primarily
of the sons and daughters of those who fought
in the 1959 Communist revolution - is perhaps
more sympathetic to economic reforms and
more-liberal social policies.
Nevertheless, Cuba-watchers and experts
have ruled out any dramatic lurch toward
a liberal market economy that might undermine
the island nation's heritage as the persistent
holdout of traditional Communist policies.
More relaxed social attitudes may also evolve
gradually.
Still, no one doubts that change is afoot.
"The transition in Cuba has already
taken place" and this new generation
has a key role to play, says Richard Gott,
a Latin American analyst and former foreign
correspondent for the London-based The Guardian
newspaper. "Carlos Lage will be the
brains behind the new government. He, together
with Julio Soberon at the central bank,
will seek to chart a new economic course."
Now Raul Castro has started to echo some
of his daughter's sentiments. Addressing
university students, he urged that they
should ''fearlessly engage in public debate
and analysis," according to Granma,
the Communist Party newspaper.
Cuba is one of several Latin American countries
that once harassed homosexuals as a matter
of policy. But Mariela Castro, who is also
an executive member of the World Association
for Sexual Health, insists that job discrimination
and mass arrests are a thing of the past.
"[Homosexuals] still sometimes face
arrest by bigoted police" says Castro,
adding that she has sometimes clashed with
the authorities in her efforts to release
gay men and women from prison.
"Now, society is more relaxed. There
is no official repression of gays and lesbians,"
she argues confidently.
A writer turned politico
Cuban writer and culture minister Abel
Prieto has also emerged as an influential
power broker in a changing Cuba. Since joining
the state bureaucracy and the politburo,
the long-haired, middle-aged minister still
exudes a passion for culture and a common
touch.
In response to a question about the conflict
of interest between writers and the state,
Mr. Prieto laughs, saying that, "sometimes
I feel like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but
I hope that artists and writers feel that
I am still one of them."
Unlike many members of the government,
Prieto is very candid as he speaks about
allegations that the Cuban government censors
political websites.
"It would be a delusion to think we
could hide that torrent of information,"
he insists, referring to anti-Castro websites.
"The only possibility is to beat them
with a better concept of life."
Prieto also defended the arrest of the
dissident writer Raul Rivero in 2003.
"He was not arrested for his views,
but for receiving US funding for his collaboration
with a country that has besieged our island,"
argues the minister, referring to the 45-year-long
US trade embargo.
An avid fan of the Beatles since the 1970s
when their music was essentially banned
by the Cuban state, Prieto has led an appreciation
campaign of John Lennon. In 2000, he unveiled
a statue and dedicated "John Lennon
Park" to the musician's memory. Many
Cubans joke that he is not as much a Marxist-Leninist
as a "Marxist-Lennonist."
Prieto, because of a moment on Cuban television
five years ago, is known as one of the few
Cabinet ministers who has ever dared to
challenge the president. Cubans recall a
news segment in which Castro and Prieto
appeared together.
After Castro blamed his minister for the
fact that so many artists were leaving the
country to work abroad, Prieto defended
himself.
Millions watched as their supreme leader
accepted his error and apologized to Abel
Prieto.
"Prieto is extremely important. He
has carved out a sizable space for cultural
expression [for] many Cuban artists and
writers since he became minister of culture,"
says Julia Sweig, director of the Latin
American Studies at the Council on Foreign
Relations in Washington.
In a Foreign Affairs article, written after
a lengthy visit to Cuba in November, Ms.
Sweig indicated that expectations were high
among Cuban officials that the government
could move forward after Castro.
"People at all levels of the Cuban
government and the Communist Party were
enormously confident of the regime's ability
to survive Fidel's passing," Ms. Sweig
wrote.
That confidence was apparent in Raúl
Castro's speech to the opening session of
the new parliament last week. "Tell
it like it is - tell the truth without justifications,
because we are tired of justifications in
this revolution," the acting president
urged his ministers, according to the youth
newspaper Juventud Rebelde.
US economic sanctions irrelevant
Attempts by the Bush administration to
set the agenda for change in Cuba, says
Sweig, appear to be increasingly irrelevant
to the reality inside the country, as a
new generation gains increasing clout.
Gott, the Latin American analyst, says
that both Ms. Castro and Prieto are figures
to watch.
"Mariela Castro is a more than competent
member of the Castro clan - she will have
an important role in social affairs,"
he says. "The genial Abel Prieto might
well be promoted from the culture ministry
to something more taxing."
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