I haven't read Anthony DePalma's The Man Who Invented Fidel (I was and remain too Fideled out to bother) but he has a decent piece on a recent trip to Cuba with his family including his Cuban-American wife. Since luck plays a part in good journalism he happened to pop up at the island nation when Fidel announced his retirement.
DePalma notes that while Americans are clamoring for change Cubans seem to fear it. DePalma does see that some things have changed but not all for the good:
DePalma notes that while Americans are clamoring for change Cubans seem to fear it. DePalma does see that some things have changed but not all for the good:
Truth is, things have changed since my first trip to Cuba in 1978. The heavy presence of the Soviet Union then is a faint shadow now, reflected in blue-eyed Cubans named Yuri. There seem to be more new cars on the roads, more fast food on the street, and more buildings undergoing repair. There even seem to be more buses and fewer people waiting for them since Fidel’s younger brother and temporary replacement, Raúl, publicly demanded that something be done about the pitiful mass transit system when I was here just a year ago.
But much has not changed, or has gotten worse. More families live two or three generations in the same cramped apartments. Detention, interrogation and other troubles still descend on people who dissent in ways as small as wearing a plastic wrist band embossed with the word “cambio,” which means change. The press is still controlled, and disloyalty to the Communist Party still raises the suspicion of neighbors that can lead to the loss of a job or a house. Dissidents remain enemies of the state.
DePalma also notes what few have, that Fidel's retirement does not terminate his influence. Since the China model is so oft quoted one need only examine the last days of Mao or the "retirement" of Deng Xiaoping. Mao's courtier's would gather and wait breathlessly for the Chairman's sporadic moments of lucidity for instructions. No one doubted that Deng still ran Red China but his only official post was as the head of the Bridgeplayers association or some other stupid crap like that. Here is DePalma:
Sitting at an old Havana cafe, a friend put it to me this way: Fidel is like a huge Airbus that leaves so much turbulence in its wake that other aircraft cannot take off or land behind it until the air clears. Even in his absence from power, Fidel will shape the actions of whoever comes after him.
