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Cuba would shed the emperor's old clothes, only to find another maniacal control-freak had taken up residence in the presidential palace. Fidel lasted nearly 50 years before his health betrayed him.
He let loose the grip on Cuba, grudgingly no doubt, to younger brother Ra�l. Just months after officially taking power as president, we see another revolution in Cuba.
A quiet one.
It defines the differences in personality. Fidel punctuated each sentence in his rambling diatribes with an exclamation point. Ra�l prefers a whisper, one that is growing to a steady rumble in the streets of Havana and beyond.
For the first time in nearly five decades, Cuba is evolving. It goes against first impressions, mine included, that Cuba was in for same ol', same ol', when Ra�l was appointed president by Cuba's National Assembly on Feb. 24.
Forget Fidel. This is Ra�l's Cuba.
Cynics who presume Fidel is dead are right on point. He's toast. The foundation of his revolution is crumbling. Economically, Cuba is fast-forwarding, trying to catch up with its brothers and sisters around the world who embrace capitalism.
The changes are incremental, but increasingly significant.
Ra�l has put uncultivated state-controlled land in the hands of private farmers, which will allow them to plant cash crops like coffee and tobacco. State workers will have opportunities to own their homes and pass them on to their children. Will it be long before mechanics who fix those beat-up Chevys from the '50s on the down-low can work in the open market, another step toward progressive economic reform?
No, se�or.
"None of these things that Ra�l has done would have been possible when Fidel was in power," said Brian Latell, a senior research associate at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies at the University of Miami and former National Intelligence Officer at the CIA for Latin America.
"Fidel Castro is now fully retired and out of the loop because his preferences on a lot issues are being ignored. Raul's in charge now."
Despite the rumblings in Cuba, there's no reason to get the conga line going in Little Havana. Cuba loves political monogamy, meaning one party, till death do us part. But it's a twist on the hard-line Communist theme, allowing people more economic freedoms while continuing to shut down any dissident dialogue that would threaten the political grip of the Castro clan.
Creating economic freedom might simply be a way of staving off the angry mob of Cubans who couldn't stand an encore performance of a Castro-led, oppressive reign. Over on U.S. soil, there's no doubt that hard-liners will dismiss these reforms as a Seinfeld episode. Much ado about nothing.
"It's sad that after 50 years of suffering and 50 years living with shortages and 50 years living with repression, Cubans now have the right to buy a rice cooker," said Carlos Gutierrez, the U.S. commerce secretary.
The flippant response is expected from an administration that dismisses Cuba for the way it treats its people, hoping that no one catches onto the hypocrisy of playing nice with China and other countries with human-rights abuses that are equally deplorable.
But those 1.3 billion Chinese don't vote in U.S. elections. And the powerful Cuban-American voting bloc in South Florida does. Pragmatic politics at its worst.
The next administration gets another crack at it. At least it would be nice to have a dialogue beyond the predictable, contentious sound bites. As the older generation dies off, the blinding hatred of all things Castro will fade. The Castro regime is still in power. What will another 50 years of isolation accomplish?
Freedom's just another word in any language. Maybe it starts with a rice cooker for our friends in Cuba.
George Diaz can be reached at 407-420-5533 and gdiaz@orlandosentinel.com.
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