Power Struggle Preview?
Is there a potential power struggle brewing in Cuba? It is very difficult to say at this point because the Cuban government has been staying mostly silent about what is going on at the moment. There are some signs that such an outcome is possible as Fidel and Raul Castro fade away (neither is exactly a young man). Reuters has a handy guide to some of the younger generation that fill the ranks below the old guard.
"The system can go on for some time, but it all depends still on the life of two old individuals," said a European diplomat, asking not to be identified by name.
Future leaders include long-time Castro confidant and parliament head Ricardo Alarcon, 69, Vice President Carlos Lage, 54, and pugnacious Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, 41, a staunch ideologue groomed for years by Fidel Castro.
"The Castro brothers have never anointed, or permitted, the emergence of a 'third man,"' said Brian Latell, a former CIA analyst and author of a recent book on the Castros.
"It has been one of the secrets of their success at holding on to power virtually unopposed on the island all these years. As Raul takes command he is no doubt concerned about precisely this problem," he added.
An influential military will play an even more decisive role in the selection of future leaders now that Defense Minister Raul Castro is at the helm, even though the Castro brothers insist that it is the Communist Party that, constitutionally, will lead the country.
In secretive Cuba, influence is exercised by generals, the 25 members of the "Politburo" who would choose a temporary Communist Party leader if Raul Castro were to become incapacitated, and the 30-member Council of State, which would select a temporary president under the same circumstances.
Cuba in July also established a new Communist Party executive committee. Most of its members are young up and coming stars in their 40s and 50s. Alarcon, Lage and Perez Roque are not on it.
There really isn't much more than a list of names and positions, but there may well be future leaders – or power players – in the group named above. Time will tell. Meanwhile, there are still a large number of political prisoners, including journalists, held in Cuban prisons. Val Prieto is spreading the word about a call for a mass burst of editorial support for those imprisoned journalists.
But tomorrow, as fellow independent journalists, you and I, we, all of us, can be their voices. We can use our own cozy blogs, our personal soapboxes, to help these fellow independent journalists, these now muted but one day when they are free to be future bloggers.
From Editor and Publisher:
IAPA Calls For Mass Editorials Urging Cuba To Free Journos
CHICAGO With Cuban President Fidel Castro apparently on the mend but still ceding power to his brother Raul, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) says now is the time for newspapers around the hemisphere to urge the immediate release of some two dozen imprisoned journalists, and an end to government harassment of the tiny independent press on the island.
IAPA is suggesting newspapers publish the commentary simultaneously on Friday Aug. 18.
We have a chance tomorrow to help some peers we've never met. Fellow independent journalists in dire need. Please, do what you can. Write about them on your blogs and webpages. Write your local media. Send out emails, make phone calls. Get the word out.
Speak for those whose speech has been systematically stifled and whose names – so you can meet them personally – are below the fold.
Help if you can.
UPDATE: Well, well, well. From the comments, Go Pundit Go provides some VERY interesting information indeed.
Lately, Reuters has come under fire from bloggers and media watch-dog groups for running manipulated photos of the Hezbollah/Israeli conflict in Lebanon. Now, adding damage to its already waning credibility is the revelation that Havana-based Reuters correspondent Marc Frank is a former writer for the People’s Daily World, a Communist Party USA publication.
In Frank’s little-known 1993 book, “Cuba Looks to the Year 2000,” he admits having written over 1,000 articles for the communist publication as their Havana-based Latin American correspondent during a five year period in the 1980’s. According to its website, the publication (which has since changed its name to the People’s Weekly World) shares a “special relationship” with the Communist Party USA:
The PWW is known for its partisan coverage. We take sides — for truth and justice. We are partisan to the working class, racially and nationally oppressed peoples, women, youth, seniors, international solidarity, Marxism and socialism. We enjoy a special relationship with the Communist Party USA, founded in 1919, and publish its news and views.
It also appears that Reuters may be pulling Mr. Frank's articles from its website. (Links removed, see Go Pundit Go for more.)
Blogosphere, World news | Gaius August 17, 2006
By Terrence, August 17, 2006 @ 4:35 pm
You may be interested in to know that the Reuters writer from the article you link to has just been outed as a former writer for the Communist Party USA daily.
http://www.gopunditgo.com/?p=507
By Gaius, August 17, 2006 @ 4:39 pm
Whoa – very interesting indeed.
By Blackhawk, August 17, 2006 @ 8:32 pm
Comrades, can’t we all just get along? I’m sure that Mr. Frank’s so-called ‘affiliation’ with slightly left-of-center organizations didn’t taint his reporting in any way.
So now we have ‘reutered’ photos…could this be ‘reutered’ reporting? So much for checks and balances. Generally works for the government, I guess editors don’t need to be bothered by such pesky details.
By Gaius, August 17, 2006 @ 8:47 pm
Or as the Cuban dissident said just before he committed suicide, “Don’t shoot, comrade”.