Cubans To Rubber Stamp New Leader

The Cuban legislature, for the past 49 years, has been there to rubber stamp every decision made by Fidel Castro. That was its sole purpose.

Yet, the media treats the latest gathering to determine a successor to Fidel Castro as though they're given the opportunity to actually choose who will take over for Fidel.

Like they have a choice?

His 76-year-old younger brother Raul Castro, as first vice president and constitutionally designated successor, is widely expected to be picked as president of the ruling Council of State.

The younger Castro, also Cuba's defense minister, has headed a caretaker government for 19 months since Fidel announced he had undergone emergency intestinal surgery and was provisionally ceding his powers.

The 614-member National Assembly, whose members were elected Jan. 20, is selecting a 31-member Council of State led by a president, who is the nation's head of state and government.

Fidel Castro has held the position since the current government structure was created in 1976. For 18 years before that, he was prime minister — a post that no longer exists.

He evidently retains his position as a member of the National Assembly, to which he was re-elected to last month, and he remains the head of the Communist Party as first secretary.

In an article published Saturday, Castro scoffed at suggestions in news reports that his retirement would lead to political changes on the island aided by Cuban exiles in the U.S.

"The reality is otherwise," Castro wrote in the front page of the Communist Party newspaper Granma — his final published comments as the nation's leader. He quoted approvingly from other articles that said his retirement showed the failure of U.S. officials to affect Cuba's political transition.

Raul Castro will be the next leader. As it is, he's been the leader since 2006.

The joke really is on the media that reports Cuban press releases as news (and the readers who believe this tripe), and treats totalitarian dictatorships as something else because there is a group of people who rubber stamp the decisions of the dictator.

UPDATE:
Well, knock me off my chair. The next leader of Cuba is *drum roll* Raul Castro. What a surprise. You could have fooled me given that Raul has been in charge since 2006 and this was never an issue in doubt. Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

Yet, the media treats this as though it is a new day for Cuba and that the Cubans actually had a choice in the matter. Figures.

UPDATE:
The AP runs with this as though it is real news and proclaims that Raul Castro Becomes Cuba's Leader

Hey AP. Raul has been in charge since 2006 when big brother couldn't afford Cuba's vaunted health care system and had to go to outside sources for help. This was a rubber stamping of what everyone knew - that Raul was running the show. Don't try passing this off for anything more than that. Yet, that's precisely what AP and other media outlets are doing.