When Raúl Castro retired as Cuba’s top leader Monday, he had
a warning for a nation increasingly divided over the legacy of its communist
revolution: The choice at hand is continuity of the revolution’s ideals, or
defeat.
اضافة اعلان
Since 1959, when Raúl and his older brother, Fidel, led an
insurgency against a U.S.-backed dictator to victory, Cuba has been led by a
Castro. Now, as Raúl — who is 89 and succeeded his older brother — steps down
from the helm of the
Communist Party, he leaves a country that is torn by the
most brutal economic crisis in decades.
There is also a deep generational rift.
Many older Cubans remember the poverty and inequality they
faced before the Castros, and remain loyal to the revolution despite decades of
hardship. But younger generations, who grew up with the achievements of
socialism, including access to education and health care, chafe at its limits.
They are demanding less government control and more economic freedom.
“There is a very sharp generational divide,” said William
LeoGrande, an expert on Cuba affairs and a professor at the American
University. “And that’s one of the Cuban government’s principal challenges
going forward, because their historic base of support is gradually retiring and
dying off.”
Castro relinquished the nation’s most powerful position —
first secretary of the Communist Party — on Monday, the last day of the party’s
four-day congress, held this year under the banner of “Unity and Continuity.”
The man chosen as the next head of the Communist Party is
Cuba’s current president, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, who turns 61 later this
month. A party stalwart, Díaz-Canel is part of a younger generation that wants
a gradual opening of the country, though no change to Cuba’s system of
one-party rule.
The party conference, which happens every five years, was
staged to underscore the endurance of revolutionary ideals in Cuba. But the
transition comes at what may be a tipping point for the island.
Over the past few years, as the Trump administration imposed
stringent sanctions on Cuba and the tourism industry was decimated by the
pandemic, Cubans have seen their country’s economy plummet once again, with
many waiting for hours in bread lines. The country’s lauded health care system
is frayed. And the number of Cubans trying to leave the island is going up,
though it is still far from the exoduses of the 1980s and 1990s.
“The Communist Party lives off the achievements of a long
time ago, from when they began,” said Claudia Genlui, an activist with the San
Isidro political movement, a collective of artists who have protested against
the Communist Party in recent months. Although the group is small, it has
surprised the nation with its continued defiance.
“The party does not represent my generation, it does not
represent me,” Genlui said, adding that “there is a lack of generational
connection, of interests, of priorities, and all of that somehow drives us
away.”
Castro, to some extent, would agree.
Although Fidel held fast to his rallying cry of “socialism
or death” until he died in 2016, the younger Castro grew to realize that reform
was necessary to quell growing discontent and began opening up the country’s
economy.
After Fidel formally resigned from the presidency in 2008,
Raúl Castro prioritized recruiting younger Cubans into the Communist Party and
putting younger members into top government positions. On Monday, the party
held elections for its 17-member Politburo, selecting younger members to the
body to replace the last of what Cubans call the “historics,” veterans of the
armed revolution.
That has sat well with some Cubans.
“I think we’ve got to move on to a new generation, younger
people with new ideas,” said Osvaldo Reyes, 55, a taxi driver in Havana, while
voicing his support for Castro and the Communist Party. “A revolution should
keep transforming, keep doing the best for people.”
When the Castro brothers started their popular uprising,
they tapped into a deep well of discontent many Cubans had over their country’s
corrupt ruling elite, which was not just out of touch but also unconcerned by
the dire living conditions of most Cubans.
The brothers led a scrappy insurgency against the country’s
dictator, Fulgencio Batista, and Cuba became a bulwark against decades of
American intervention in Latin America.
But decades later, it would be the Castro brothers and their
Communist Party that would be criticized by ordinary Cubans as out of touch.
When Raúl Castro took over as head of the Communist Party in 2011, he was
surrounded by a government stacked with octogenarian generals.
While many Cubans are fiercely proud of their nation’s
sovereignty, they have tired of watching the same revolution-era generals
control nearly every aspect of their lives, from how much they earn to the food
they eat.
“Lots of people still don’t feel represented because he
didn’t manage to breach the gap between the government and the people,” Adilen
Sardiñas, 28, said of Raúl Castro.
While Sardiñas expressed frustration with the slow pace of reforms,
like many interviewed, she also blamed America for a decadeslong embargo that
has crippled Cuba’s economy and further embittered Cubans against the United
States.
“We need a change, but I don’t know if we’ll be able to
because we’ve got our neighbor, the U.S., stepping on our heels and closing
doors everywhere,” she said.
Reform has proceeded at a glacial pace, slowed by a
bureaucracy worried about losing its privileges and by the revolution’s old
guard, suspicious of any change that might nudge Cuba closer to capitalism.
Carlos Alzugaray, a former Cuban ambassador and a Communist
Party member, described the current struggle as generational.
“Raúl used to say our worst enemy is the old mentality, and
that’s what I think is happening: that the old leaders don’t want to change,”
said Alzugaray. “Raúl wants change, and the younger leaders want change but are
worried that they will be criticized for not being truthful to the revolution
of Fidel Castro.”
The problem, as the country’s prime minister, Manuel
Marrero, said earlier this month when speaking about the urgency to make
reforms, is that “people do not eat plans.”
Castro is likely to retain some influence even in
retirement, but he is leaving the day-to-day ruling of Cuba to Díaz-Canel. When
Castro stepped down in 2018 as president, the country’s second-most powerful
position, he handed the job to Díaz-Canel.
A technocrat, Díaz-Canel allowed Cubans to access the
internet from their phones in 2018, and in their homes the following year —
changes many feel helped fuel protests and demands for greater political
freedom.
In January, he further opened up Cuba to private enterprise,
expanding the types of businesses Cubans could enter.
But Cuban leaders are proceeding cautiously.
“The government is deathly afraid of change it is not in
control of, because it would threaten their economic and political position,”
said Ted Henken a professor at Baruch College in New York and author of “Cuba’s
Digital Revolution.”
“It is afraid of any change that it is not choreographing
and in control of, and that doesn’t come from the top down — which is ironic
for what began as a popular revolution that was massively supported by the
people.”
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