Tuesday, February 19, 2008

WILL NOT RETURN TO LEAD


Cuban leader Fidel Castro poses in this file photo taken by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva during their meeting in Havana January 15, 2008. Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro said on February 19, 2008 that he will not return to lead the country, retiring as head of state 49 years after he seized power in an armed revolution. REUTERS/Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva/CubaVision TV/Handout (CUBA). EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS.

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Vice President Carlos Lage (57) or National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon (71) who are both capable and running the country as much as Raul. All three are reformers potentially in the direction of Gorbachev or Deng but Washington is locked down by Miami. Fidel has not left a power vacuum. The immediate post-Fidel moment has very nearly come and gone. Other options are available. Cuba is in the midst of an oil boom with US companies cut out of the deal. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the North Cuba Basin has potential reserves of between 4.6 and 9.3 billion barrels of crude. There is no “democratic” revolution in the works. The Cuban people are not interested in the Washington Consensus “all for us, nothing for you” model, but then, who is anymore? Now that Putin has been screwed on Kosovo, who knows of the possibilities.

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