Castro Hints His Reign Is Over

(CBS/AP)  Fidel Castro hinted that he will not resume his role as Cuba's president, but refrained from making specific plans about his future in an essay released Wednesday.

"Today, I am bombarded with questions as to when I will take up again what some call power," Castro wrote in an essay titled "The Eternal Flame," written on the first anniversary of his "temporary" departure from the presidency.

"What will I do? I will fight tirelessly as I have done my entire life," Castro said, adding that his brother, Raúl, who has taken over as president, consults with him on "every important decision."

While Cuba passed the one-year anniversary of Fidel Castro's withdrawal from power without official mention of the fact on Tuesday, some local radio stations ran commentaries noting that despite predictions of uprisings and chaos following the announcement of Castro's illness, the island remained calm, CBS News producer Portia Siegelbaum reported from Havana.

Castro, who turns 81 on Aug. 13, has not been seen in public since he underwent emergency intestinal surgery and withdrew from day-to-day government on July 31, 2006.

But Cuba's communist leadership has defied predictions it would weaken without the man who had led it since 1959, functioning smoothly under 76-year-old Raúl, the defense minister and first Vice-President.

Under the constitution, Raúl is in line to succeed his older brother. In private conversations, government officials say the succession has already taken place, Siegelbaum reported. Cubans believe Raúl Castro is now firmly in charge and do not expect Fidel to come back, although many say they would like to see him recovered and able to make public appearances.

The struggle against our own deficiencies and against the insolent enemy which seeks to take possession of Cuba must be unrelenting, Castro wrote, referring to the United States as the enemy.

He also warned not to expect any possible negotiations with Washington. However, last week Raúl Castro offered to sit down and talk if the new U.S. administration is willing. A similar offer made by the younger Castro last December was rebuffed by the Bush White House, Siegelbaum reported.

In recent months he has made his opinions known through newspaper columns entitled "Reflections of the Commander in Chief," weighing in on Cuba's economy, the U.S. government and proposals to use food crops to produce ethanol.

"Essays like today's are a way of keeping in the public eye without actually coming out in public," noted Siegelbaum. "Castro is clearly backing his brother Raúl, but at the same time is using his essays to let people know that there has not been a change in ideology."

The last five columns focused on the Pan American games. Earlier in the month he had said he was so engrossed watching Cuba's performance on television that he sometimes forgot to eat and take his medicine.

The bearded leader is a lifelong sports fan and played basketball and baseball in his youth.

[brianbwb-2009]

Under Batista, the deprivation and corruption pressed the people until there was no choice left to them but revolution, something to which the continued corruption of the US government is also pushing its populace.

The fact that many come to America means nothing, as many Europeans from developed countries also do, as Americans also emigrate to other countries. The migration of people who see opportunities elsewhere is universal, and has little at all to do with politics.

To xzavierbrown, as far as being a hero in Cuba, I personally would consider it an honor to be called a hero anywhere in the world, as long as it is the common people who do so, and not a fascist elite.

to patriot75, he drove out the slave owners, the Mafia, and the US colonialists, created a health care system that is the envy of most developed capitalist nations, who send med students to study there, including the US, and kept his country alive and functioning in the face of withering sanctions by a hostile neighbor, not to forget there are no US soldiers patrolling the streets, killing, kidnapping and torturing all who don't agree with any illegal occupation.

Add to this the fact that he survived at least five assassination attempts by the US, so all in all I would say that was a lot of good that he has done for his people.

[mommajomma-2009]

so long , commie....... here's to your health..........

[adian1-2009]

I would not count on Cuba's regime to fall just because Mr. Fidel Castro steps down. True that there has been hunger and lots of other problems under the present regime. Good part of it is owed to the blockade that the US has kept against Cuba for so many decades. And to worsen things, the collpse of the Soviet Union. But look at it from another perspective. Very important developments are taking place in Latin America. Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia. Others are showing their faces, perhaps timidly: Brazil, Argentina. In Mexico the populist Lopez Obrador almost came to the presidency and Calderon's legitimacy is still in question in Mexico and in other places. How all of these political movements will evolve is not clear, but it is clear that all of them lean against US policies in Latin America as a whole and towards Cuba in particular. So, I would like to suggest to all those residents from la Sauesera not to dream loudly. Some balance is never bad.

[randalds]

ahhh may I remind you that IT IS CASTRO who let his people starve..and may I remind you that cindy sheehan and harry belafonte might have thier own statues as heros in cuba.

Posted by xzavierbrown at 04:33 PM : Aug 01, 2007

The Cuban people are not starving.

[xzavierbrown]

More than 25,000 people die of starvation every day, and more than 800 million people are chronically undernourished when we have persons like Bill gates that do not know how to spend the billions of dollars he obtained for the products that we cosume.
Posted by insurrectio1 at 02:33 PM : Aug 01, 2007


****

ahhh may I remind you that IT IS CASTRO who let his people starve..and may I remind you that cindy sheehan and harry belafonte might have thier own statues as heros in cuba.
Bill Gates gives millions upon millions of dollars to charity and humanitarian causes.
what have Fidel Castro given you?? let me guess something you flush down the toilet.

[rushman71]

insurrectio1: I still think your loco en la cabeza!!!

[randalds]

Hey sombody better notify Robert Trent Jones Golf Course, Hilton Hotels, and Wal-Mart. By the way lets get Haliburton to do the construction.

Posted by trayfo34 at 02:45 PM : Aug 01, 2007

You can be sure that Dic*ky Boy Cheney already has the contracts drawn up, with his kickback to be deposited in his Dubai bank account along with his Iraq bribes.

[trayfo34]

Hey sombody better notify Robert Trent Jones Golf Course, Hilton Hotels, and Wal-Mart. By the way lets get Haliburton to do the construction.

[mike71067]

I guess Michael Moore and Oliver Stone will have to find a new buddy to gush over.

[random_radar]

I am looking forward to buying some beach front property in Cuba and retiring there. Its a beautiful country with a great climate and wonderful people.

Viet Nam liberalized pretty quickly once we quit killing them en masse. Cuba ought to develop into quite a pleasant country even faster with a peaceful transition and close proximity to the U.S. Yes, the future looks bright for Cuba.