A Revolution in Flux!!
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| Photo courtesy: Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters.
The photo above taken yesterday -- April 18, 2018 -- marks a milestone for the historic Cuban Revolution. It shows Raul Castro and other elderly revolutionary icons presiding over their last Cuban National Assembly as a new day dawns.
Yesterday the 86-year-old Raul Castro was replaced as Cuba's President by 57-year-old Miguel Diaz-Canel, a non-Castro born after the Revolutionary victory.
While the Castros' light and fame will never dim on the island of Cuba, at least as long as it remains a sovereign nation, it changed drastically in July of 2006 when Fidel became seriously ill and remained so till he died at age 90 on November 25, 2016. And now with Raul Castro retiring as President and hoping to at least semi-retire from politics, Cuba's new President, Miguel Diaz-Canel, has a monumental task trying to maneuver away from both the island's financial quagmire and another dangerously anti-Cuban Republican President in Washington. Prior to his death, Fidel had ordered that he did not want a personality cult to be built up around his name, and thus there will be no statues of him and no streets or buildings named for him. But as Raul well knows, at least as long as Cuba is independent, it is Fidel's legacy that will stir future pots that will continue to boil and perhaps finally explode.
Perhaps the most important advice, or orders, that Raul Castro passed along to his presidential successor Miguel Diaz-Canel regarded three particular countries that will not hurt and may well help Cuba -- China, Russia, and Vietnam. When Raul hosted Vietnamese Communist leader Nguyen Phu Trong, above, it is reported by insiders that Raul asked Vietnam to "guide" soon-to-be President Miguel Diaz-Canel in the creation of a Vietnamese-style market economy. Phu then told Raul that Cuba first had to ditch its complicated, confusing dual-peso currency and have just one. Raul reluctantly agreed and so, it seems, has Diaz-Canel.
In secret, on the phone, and then in person Cuban President Raul Castro eagerly worked with American President Barack Obama to normalize relations, culminating in the reopening of embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time since 1961. But the Republican Trump succeeded Obama and today the doors to the U. S. Embassy in Havana, once fully-staffed by Obama, are now locked shut with really huge locks. In all other areas, the transition from Obama-to-Trump ended the last great chance for Cuba and the United States to normalize relations. On a secret audio tape released by a dissident, Cuba's new President, Miguel Diaz-Canel, among other anti-American things, said, "Capitalism cannot be trusted, not even a little bit."
For the record, this photo captured the moment in the Cuban National Assembly yesterday when outgoing President Raul Castro anointed new President Miguel Diaz-Canel. The contrasting expressions appropriately exuded tiredness and euphoria.
President Miguel Diaz-Canel.
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