The Cuba Code

Are Cuban Communists in charge of the country letting us know something happened to Fidel that has made him incapable of running the country in the future? Who knows. They keep saying how he's on the road to recovery, but this is most curious:

Senior Cuban officials boasted on Monday that the island nation has set in motion a peaceful political succession, dashing U.S. government expectations of chaos following Fidel Castro's hand-over of power to his brother Raúl Castro.

"Fidel is not leading Cuba at this moment and this has not allowed disorder to take possession of Cuba. And this has set in motion a peaceful succession in Cuba," said Roberto Fernandez Retamar, a member of the Council of State, Cuba's top governing body at a news conference in Havana on Monday morning.

While senior officials in the past few days have assured Cubans that Fidel Castro is on the road to recovery after emergency surgery on July 27, state media did little to enlighten them further on Monday.

No public appearances by Raul makes the situation all the more fascinating. Who is in charge? No one quite knows. No one is rushing to the microphones to say they're in charge, and journalists aren't exactly welcome to ask uncomfortable questions either.

Stay tuned.