A Cuba without Castro? The country is venturing into uncharted territory

Last week, when Raúl Castro announced that he was preparing to retire as Cuba’s main leader, he issued a warning to a nation increasingly divided by the legacy of its communist revolution: the option you have is the continuity of ideals, revolutionaries or defeat.

Since 1959, when Raúl and his older brother, Fidel, led a successful insurgency against a US-backed dictator, Cuba has been under the command of a Castro. Now that Raúl – who succeeded his brother and is 89 – loses the head of the Communist Party of Cuba, he is leaving a country torn by the most brutal economic crisis in decades.

There is also a deep generational break.

Many Cuban elders remember the poverty and inequality they faced before the Castros and remain loyal to the revolution despite having lived through decades of adversity. However, the younger generations, who have grown up on the achievements of socialism, including education and health care, are hampered by their limitations. They demand less government control and greater economic freedom.

“There is a very deep generational gap,” said William LeoGrande, an expert on Cuba and professor at the American University. “And this is one of the main challenges for the Cuban government to move forward, as its historical base of support is withdrawing and gradually dying.

On Friday, Castro announced his resignation from the country’s most powerful post – the first secretary of the Communist Party – at the opening of the party’s four-day congress, this year titled “Unity and Continuity.”

The next leader of the Communist Party will be the President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, who will turn 61 at the end of this month. Díaz-Canel, a pillar of the party, he is part of a young generation who wants a gradual opening up of the country, but not to change the Cuban system of a one-party government.

The party congress, which takes place every five years, was designed to highlight the resistance of revolutionary ideals in Cuba. However, the transition comes at a possible turning point for the island.

In recent years, after the government of then-President Donald Trump imposed severe sanctions on Cuba and the pandemic decimated the tourism industry, Cubans have seen their country’s economy grow. collapse again, to the point where many people spend hours queuing for bread. The country’s rented health system is exhausted. And the number of people trying to leave the island is increasing, even if it is even less than during the exoduses of the 80s and 90s.

“The Communist Party is living achievements of a long time ago, since its inception“Said Claudia Genlui, an activist who is part of the San Isidro political movement, an artists’ collective that has protested against the Communist Party in recent months. Although the group is small, it surprised the nation with its continued challenge.

“The party doesn’t represent my generation, it doesn’t represent meCommented Genlui, who added that “there is a lack of generational connection, interests, priorities and anything that pushes us back in one way or another.”

To some extent, Castro agrees.

Although Fidel held back his rallying cry of “socialism or death” until his death in 2016, Raúl realized that reform was needed to quell the growing discontent and began an opening up of the country’s economy. .

After Fidel formally stepped down from the presidency in 2008, Raúl Castro prioritized recruiting young Cubans for the Communist Party and positioning younger members in senior government positions.

Some Cubans liked it.

“I believe in giving way to a new generation, to young people with new ideasSaid Osvaldo Reyes, 55, a Havana taxi driver, while expressing his support for Castro and the Communist Party. “A revolution must continue to transform, do its best for the people“.

When the Castro brothers began their popular uprising, they resorted to a deep well of discontent that many Cubans felt with the corrupt ruling elite in the country, who not only lived in another reality, but was also not concerned about the dire conditions. in the one that most Cubans lived.

The brothers led a combative insurgency against the country’s dictator, Fulgencio Batista, and Cuba became a stronghold in the face of decades of American intervention in Latin America.

However, decades later, ordinary Cubans would criticize the Castro brothers and their Communist Party for living in another reality. In 2011, when Raúl Castro took over the leadership of the Communist Party, he surrounded himself with a government full of octogenarian generals.

Although many Cubans are proud of the sovereignty of their nation, they are tired of how the same generals of the time of the revolution control almost every aspect of their life, how much they earn from the food they eat.

“A lot of people still don’t feel represented because they have failed to bridge the gap between government and people,” said Adilen Sardiñas, 28, referring to Raúl Castro.

Although Sardiñas expressed his frustration at the slow pace of reforms, like many interviewees, he also blamed the United States for the decades-long embargo that damaged the Cuban economy and sparked greater resentment towards the United States from the Cubans. .

“We have to change, but I don’t know if we can because we have our neighbor, the United States, on our heels and shutting our doors everywhere.“Sardiñas said.

Reform has progressed with astonishing slowness, due to a bureaucracy worried about losing its privileges and the old guard of the revolution, wary of any changes that could bring Cuba closer to capitalism.

Carlos Alzugaray, retired ambassador and member of the Communist Party, called today’s struggle generational.

“Raúl used to say that our worst enemy is the old mindset and I think it’s happening: the old leaders don’t want to change,” Alzugaray said. “Raúl wants to change, as do the young leaders, but they fear criticism for not being loyal to Fidel Castro’s revolution.”

The problem, as the country’s Prime Minister Manuel Marrero said this month when he spoke of the urgent need for reforms, is that “people don’t eat plans.”

Castro will likely remain influential after his retirement, but will leave the daily command of Cuba to Díaz-Canel. In 2018, when Castro stepped down as president, the second most powerful post in the country, he handed over the post to Díaz-Canel.

In 2018, Díaz-Canel, former bodyguard of Castro and technocrat, allowed Cubans to access the internet on their phones and at home the following year – changes that, for many, fueled protests and demands for greater political freedom.

In January, Díaz-Canel opened more in Cuba to the private initiative, expanding the types of businesses in which Cubans could participate.

Nevertheless, Cuban leaders are acting with caution.

“The government fears to death a change it cannot control because it would threaten its economic and political position“Said Ted Henken, professor at Baruch College in New York and author of” Cuba’s Digital Revolution “.

“He is afraid of any change that he does not choreograph and control or that does not come from above … an irony for a popular revolution that began with immense support from the people.“.

© The New York Times