MU students don’t expect change in Cuba after Castro

Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro stepped down last week.

By Robby Lewis

Published Feb. 29, 2008

Although Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro has stepped down, MU students said they do not believe Cuba will see significant change any time soon.

On Sunday, it was announced that Castro’s brother, Raul Castro, would take over the presidency.

MU history professor Robert Smale said Fidel Castro stepped down purely due to health.

“He is very ill and he has been ill now for two years,” Smale said. “He always was a very active leader, always appearing in the public, giving very prolonged speeches. Because of his health, he couldn’t be the active public person that he was.”

Smale said that while Raul Castro said he wants to improve relations with the United States, it does not appear the U.S. is as eager.

“Raul Castro, who has taken over power, has come out and given a public speech and has said he would like to start a dialogue with the U.S.,” Smale said. “This has been rejected numerous times by the United States and some of the presidential candidates have rejected it.”

Nicolas Antonio Jimenez, president of the Cuban American Undergraduate Student Association, said he does not believe the changing of figureheads will change policies any time soon. Jiménez said his beliefs did not necessarily reflect the beliefs of CAUSA.

“This alone does not change anything,” he said. “Raul is also not young. Between Raul and all of the vice presidents the average age is just over 70 years old. It’s not going to be another 50 years. The worst-case scenario is that the next group of people in power will be as power hungry and nondemocratic as the last. The new generation’s ideas are, I hope, not going to be the same as the previous ones.”

Jimenez said he also believes Raul Castro would not be much of a change because Fidel Castro has showed everyone how to keep power.

“Fidel laid down the blueprint of how you stay in power for 50 years,” Jimenez said. “If you’re any kind of power-hungry individual, why wouldn’t you do what he did? It’s like listening to a master carpenter on how to make a chair. They want to follow the same ends. If they want to stay in power, they have to keep people happy to some degree to keep the Cuban people from revolting.”

Jimenez said there is no telling how long this potential term could last.

“The people don’t go out and vote for the president,” Jiménez said. “It’s really irrelevant how long their term is. They’re always going to vote for the same guy.”

CAUSA treasurer Rick Puig said he does not believe there will be immediate or future change.

“The fact is, for all intents and purposes, Raul has been running the country for the last year and a half,” Puig said. “They’re carbon copies of each other and it’s foolish of us to think he’ll be different.”

Puig said it was a strategic decision for Fidel Castro to step down now. If he were to wait until he died, the decision to choose Raul as his successor might not have seemed legitimate.

“I think it’s politically savvy for them to have an official transfer of power so to speak,” Puig said. “You lose some of the links between Castro and the future if you don’t. It further enriches his legacy.”

Puig said that talks with the United States might increase with Fidel stepping down but the entire administration would have to change before anything really gets done.

“I think there’s a possibility that you’ll see broader talks with Cuba, but I think a lot of those are going to be contingent with policy changes in Cuba,” Puig said.

Jimenez said the first speech Raul Castro gave gives indication that we have not seen the last of his brother.

“When Raul gave his acceptance speech, the very first thing he did after his speech was he basically made a motion to pass a new law that would give him the authority to consult with Fidel about anything,” Jimenez said. “So basically Fidel still has ultimate veto.”