[R-G] Fidel Castro still a force, two years out of pow

[Anthony Fenton]

Fidel Castro still a force, two years out of power
JEFF FRANKS
Reuter
July 30, 2008 at 11:09 AM EDT
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080730.wcastro0730/BNStory/International/home

HAVANA — The era of Fidel Castro appeared to be ending July 30, 2006,  
when the ailing leader handed over power to his brother Raul Castro.  
But two years later, he remains a force to be reckoned with in Cuba  
and to some degree on the international scene.

Although he no longer rules the Caribbean island as he did for almost  
50 years, the 81-year-old still has his brother's ear and is using a  
newfound career as a newspaper columnist to make his views known.

Diplomatic cocktail gossip in Havana centres on whether he is using  
his clout to hold back economic reforms favoured by his brother and  
keep Cuba true to his vision of socialism, but the Castros say there  
is no disagreement between them.

What is certain is that Fidel Castro has staged a remarkable comeback  
after apparently being near death following emergency intestinal  
surgery for an undisclosed ailment in July 2006.

He handed power provisionally to his brother and has not been seen in  
public since, appearing only in occasional videos on state-run  
television.

In the earliest videos aired months after his surgery, Cubans were  
shocked to see how frail and gaunt Mr. Castro was.

In February, he officially resigned as president, allowing the  
National Assembly to formally elect Raul, 77, as his successor.

But instead of fading away, as many expected, Fidel Castro re-emerged.

In June, after five months out of the public eye, a more robust Mr.  
Castro was shown in videos meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo  
Chavez and Chinese official He Guoqiang.

An avalanche of his columns followed on everything from the Cuban  
Olympic baseball team to North and South Korea.

People who have met with him say his health has improved and his mind  
is clear.

He wrote in one column of a five-hour meeting with old friend, Nobel  
Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who afterward told Cuban  
news agency Prensa Latina that Mr. Castro spoke "of many topics, with  
great profundity and lucidity."

Mr. Castro's comeback has been accompanied by speculation — not all of  
it favourable — about his role in the government.

Raul Castro began his presidency with a flurry of reforms that  
included allowing Cubans to buy cell phones and computers and use  
previously off-limits tourist facilities, the lifting of wage limits  
to encourage greater productivity and the decentralizing of  
agriculture management.

Agriculture reforms continued with the granting of additional land to  
private farmers and co-operatives, but a broader opening of the state- 
run economy that many expected has not occurred.

"I don't think Fidel likes the idea of it," said one Western diplomat  
in Havana.

Others think his role is exaggerated.

"Fidel is not very much in the way, in my view," said Julia Sweig at  
the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.

"Maybe slowing things down a bit, but in his absence would be other  
constraints and conditions acting as a damper on more rapid reforms."

Mr. Castro tends to describe his role in limited terms.

In his meeting with Mr. He from China, he was quoted by state-run  
media as saying: "What do I do? I help in gathering news and data and  
doing analysis about the most important international problems, which  
I furnish to the leadership of the (Communist) Party and the state."

As the last major Cold War figure, Mr. Castro still has a global  
audience, said Dan Erikson at the Inter-American Dialogue think-tank  
in Washington.

"Fidel remains Cuba's most prominent international voice, even though  
his tools of communication are now contained to the written word," he  
said.

How many in Cuba are still listening to the older Castro is uncertain,  
but 19-year-old medical student Maybel, who asked not to be fully  
identified, said she prefers Raul Castro because he talks less and is  
more straightforward.

"There are less speeches and Raul says bread is bread and wine is  
wine," she said. But "we miss Fidel's style."