The confusing Castro regime (Corrected)

Fidel Castro is no longer the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, he let slip the other day, and when he saw that he made news, he accepted responsibility but seemed to wonder what all the fuss was about.

Well, it might be because when you’re head of the party in Cuba, you are in charge of the “organized vanguard of the Cuban nation” and “the highest ruling force of the society and the State,” the country’s constitution says.

Higher, in other words, than the government itself.

When he fell ill in 2006 Fidel issued a statement, read on television by his then-aide-de-camp Carlos Valenciaga, in which he “delegated” a series of government functions to his brother and others. (Correction: He delegated his party post too; statement here.)

His brother took over as President in 2008, but Fidel seemed to remain in charge of the party, and the party’s website continues to list him as top leader even today. In his commentary today he says it never crossed his mind that he would need to resign formally.

Fidel being Fidel and the system being what it is, there may be no practical impact to this. It remains to be seen if there will be practical impact to any leadership changes made at next month’s party congress – at minimum, we assume, the naming of Fidel’s replacement as first secretary. As for the main agenda at that meeting – economic policy – there’s plenty.

Odds and ends

• Reuters’ Marc Frank reports on Cuban attitudes – including party members and officials – on the government’s economic performance and plans as next month’s party congress nears. Reading the quotes, it’s not susprising that the layoffs are proceeding more slowly than planned.

• The Herald ran a strange article on remittances to Cuba by pollster Sergio Bendixen where he calls on the Cuban government to take measures to make remittances easier to receive and less costly for senders. Can’t argue with that. But I wonder if there’s anything Cuba can do that would match two actions taken without fanfare since December that increased by about 20 percent the value of remittances sent from the United States: Cuba’s devaluation of the convertible peso, and Washington’s decision to allow remittances to be paid out in local currency in Cuba, which eliminated a need for a ten percent surcharge. Bendixen nonetheless refers to “heavy foreign exchange taxes;” – it would be nice to know what he is referring to.

• BBC runs a Q&A on Cuba’s economic policy changes.

• Jorge Pinon writes in the Cuba Standard that Petrobras’ pullout from Cuba oil exploration has little to do with Cuba and everything to do with the work it has to do in Brazil.

• Amnesty International says the release of the 75 political prisoners arrested in 2003 is a “step in the right direction,” and calls for more.

• EFE: Havana city historian and political figure Eusebio Leal says that resistance to economic reform has to be overcome, the process has to move forward, and “a change in mentality” is needed. “Socialism has to be dialectical,” he says to those who resist, and part of the dialectic is to recognize that “what was not convenient or prudent yesterday is necessary today.”

• The BBC’s Nick Caistor found himself in toda una tragedia trying to change a hotel reservation in Havana.

From 75 to zero

The Archdiocese of Havana announced today that the last remaining two political prisoners from the 75 arrested in 2003 will be released (Felix Navarro Rodriguez and Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, both of whom will remain in Cuba), and that 11 others will be released to go to Spain.

DPA story here.

ARZOBISPADO DE LA HABANA

NOTA DE PRENSA

En continuidad con el proceso de liberación de prisioneros, se informa que se ha dispuesto la excarcelación de:

1- FÉLIX NAVARRO RODRÍGUEZ

2- JOSÉ DANIEL FERRER GARCÍA

Orlando Márquez Hidalgo

La Habana, 22 de marzo de 2011

ARZOBISPADO DE LA HABANA

NOTA DE PRENSA

En continuidad con el proceso de liberación de prisioneros, se informa que otros once (11) serán excarcelados próximamente. Ellos son:

1- JUAN CARLOS VÁZQUEZ GARCÍA

2- BODANIS ZULUETA RAMOS

3- JOSÉ ANTONIO SARDIÑAS MARTÍN

4- ANTONIO GARCÍA REYES

5- ARNALDO MÁRQUEZ GIL

6- EDUARDO DÍAZ CASTELLANOS

7- ERICK CABALLERO MARTÍNEZ

8- ALBERTO SANTIAGO DOBOUCHET HERNÁNDEZ

9- JOSÉ MANUEL DE LA ROSA PÉREZ

10- NÉSTOR RODRÍGUEZ LOBAINA

11- ROBERTO LÓPEZ RODRÍGUEZ

De esta forma suman ciento catorce (114) los prisioneros que han aceptado la propuesta de salir de la prisión y trasladarse a España.

Orlando Márquez Hidalgo

La Habana, 22 de marzo de 2011

"The people of Cuba deserve it"

Excerpts from President Obama’s remarks in Santiago, Chile today:

"Across the Americas, generations, including generations of Chileans, have struggled and sacrificed to give meaning to these words -- ordinary men and women who dared to speak their mind; activists who organized new movements; faith leaders who preached social justice; the mothers of the disappeared who demanded the truth; political prisoners who rose to become presidents; and, even now, Las Damas de Blanco, who march in quiet dignity.

[…]

"Let’s never waver in our support for the rights of people to determine their own future -- and, yes, that includes the people of Cuba. Since taking office, I’ve announced the most significant changes to my nation’s policy towards Cuba in decades. I’ve made it possible for Cuban Americans to visit and support their families in Cuba. We’re allowing Americans to send remittances that bring some economic hope for people across Cuba, as well as more independence from Cuban authorities.

"Going forward, we’ll continue to seek ways to increase the independence of the Cuban people, who I believe are entitled to the same freedom and liberty as everyone else in this hemisphere. I will make this effort to try to break out of this history that’s now lasted for longer than I’ve been alive.

"But Cuban authorities must take some meaningful actions to respect the basic rights of their own people -- not because the United States insists upon it, but because the people of Cuba deserve it, no less than the people of the United States or Chile or Brazil or any other country deserve it."

Secretary Clinton on Alan Gross

From Secretary Clinton’s interview with Telemundo, March 18:

QUESTION: On the issue of Alan Gross, 15 years, other than talk and condemn, what can or should the United States be doing? (Speaking in Spanish.)

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, first, I think that the 15-year sentence is deplorable. Alan Gross was in Cuba to help people literally connect with the rest of the world, and as we’re seeing around the world, that’s a tide that is coming. You’re not going to be able to push it back out to sea, even in Cuba. He has served a very long time for doing what was not in any way criminal, in our view. And he should be released, and at the very least, on humanitarian terms. He should be sent home to his family, and I’m hoping that the Cuban Government will do that.

QUESTION: (Speaking in Spanish.) Separate from condemning, is there anything you can or should be doing?

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, we are working closely with Alan Gross’s attorneys, who want to be very supportive of what they’re trying to do on his behalf. We don’t want to take any actions or say anything that will undermine the chances for this man to come home to his family.