In a typically cryptic message, the main Communist Party newspaper Granma printed an old speech by Raul Castro, who took over island leadership on Monday, saying that his brother’s only heir was the Communist Party itself.The media is simply repeating the Communist party publications, and they're recycled ones at that. There's no actual original reporting on the situation, and no one is asking where Castro is being treated, and what his current condition is.
While the front page publication of the speech was obviously designed to quell fears that Fidel’s possible exit after 47 years of rule would unleash chaos, it could puzzle many Cubans who say they want to see Raul in public.
CNN reports that Castro's sister, who lives in Miami learned that Fidel was out of intensive care yesterday.
His sister Juanita Castro, who lives in Miami and has been estranged from him since 1963, told CNN she had spoken with people in Havana who told her that her brother was released from intensive care Wednesday morning.And where has Raul been the past four days? Lots of folks would like to know what he's been up to since he's supposedly running Cuba. Or is he? No one really knows and the Cuban Communists appear to be spinning the situation furiously.
"He's not dead," she said, addressing rumors and speculation in South Florida that her brother had died. "He's very sick, but he's not dead."
Cuban Parliament Speaker Ricardo Alarcon told the New York-based independent radio show Democracy Now! that Castro was "very alive and very alert" when the men spoke the previous day, and that Castro was clearly in charge when he delegated specific tasks of government to his brother and six other high-ranking officials during his recovery.
UPDATE:
The biggest question sweeping through Cuba and indeed the Cuban American community these days? It isn't where's Waldo, or even where's Fidel, but where's Raul? Ed Morrissey also wonders where the "placeholder" is. Peggy Noonan says that if Cuba is to have a good prognosis, dump Castroism. She suggests using the situation to rethink and reorganize US foreign policy towards Havana. That definitely needs to be addressed, especially in light of Cuba's growing entanglements with Hugo Chavez and China. I think there'd be some resistance to some of her policy changes, but with Castro on his last legs, the US policy does need to be reevaluated in light of the changed circumstances.
UPDATE:
Fausta thinks we've entered the Yasser Arafat zone. And let me pick up on one point that Fausta made, and others have commented upon. To say that Castro has outlived nine US Presidential Administrations is not a positive thing. It shows what happens when you have an absolute dictator in charge. US Presidents are term limited to two terms (eight years max). Every four years, a President is elected in national elections. Fidel Castro? No elections, so no chance of anyone other than Castro running the show.
As for the proposition that Fidel provided stability to Cuba? Well, a person on terminal life support is stable in a way too. Cuba's economy is a fraction of what it could be under market economic conditions and free enterprise, but Castro wanted nothing of the sort. It existed through the Cold War only because of the Soviet Union's largesse. With the end of the Cold War, Castro had to find another source of income to prop up his lackluster economy. He found it in Chavez and the Chinese.
UPDATE:
Is Cuba's Communists trying to divide the spoils amongst themselves? Who knows, considering that no one is talking and foreign journalists are being turned away. Something is definitely afoot, especially with Raul and Fidel AWOL, it only fuels the speculation. Further, Cox and Forkum have a great take on CastroCare(tm).
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