The revolutionary leader of Cuba, Fidel Castro has decided to step down as the president and commander in chief since his guerrilla army marched into Havana 49 years ago. Castro was born in 1926 to a wealthy, landowning family and was instrumental in putting an end to the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista along with his brother Raul and the iconic Che Guevara. The 81 year old, Castro had to live with the embargo clamped on his country by the US till date. Political analysts believe with his resignation the states quo is unlikely to change on that count.
Castro’s resignation letter published on the website of the Cuban Communist Party’s newspaper Granma on Tuesday night, clearly mentions that he would be a ‘soldier of ideas’ through his newspaper column ‘Reflections of Comrade Fidel’. Perhaps an innuendo that he would be around, if not, in day to day affairs of governance. Yet, the National Assembly is expected to plump for Raul who was inspirational in making economic reforms in short term in office, while Fidel was ill. Vice-President Carlos Lage Davila, 56, is also tipped as another contender to the post to make a generational shift in the leadership of leftist Cuba.
Post Castro phase should shed the fear of opening up their democracy for the multi- party system to survive economically and democratically in the modern global village. Country has to wake up to the fact that the current economic support given by Chavez is not an eternal solution for the miseries of the people of Cuba. The only reform came was during the disintegration of Soviet Union, the sharp economic decline prompted Castro to be lenient towards some market reforms.
Communist China played a vital role as a contributor to Castro’s regime all through. But Fidel did not apply the same economic policies to his country as it was employed by the Chinese government after globalization. Instead of waiting for an opportune time, the new leadership will have to make rapid economic reforms to catch up with rest of the globalized economies.