With its first new president in 49 years, changes will come slowly for Cuba

CIENFUEGOS, Cuba — Nearly half a century after Fidel Castro led the rebel army from the mountains of the Sierra Maestra to the storied streets of Havana, the reign of the 81-year-old icon has finally come to an end.

In an incredible show of support for the revolutionary dynasty that has led Cuba through triumph and turmoil, the 614-member National Assembly of People’s Power voted unanimously on Sunday to replace Castro with his younger brother, Raúl.

Although there was some speculation that a younger, more progressive member of the Cuban government would be elected instead, the majority of Cuban citizens welcomed the announcement with a sense of relief.

“I wasn’t surprised,” said Ada Roviro, a Spanish professor at the University of Cienfuegos. “The people expected it. They anxiously awaited Raúl’s election for his merit and his character.”

The question on everyone’s mind is whether changes are in store for the island nation under its new leadership. While acting as president after Fidel’s major surgery in June 2006, Raúl called on Cuban citizens to openly criticize the government, acknowledging that the economy needed structural and conceptual changes.

“Raúl apparently did an extensive survey in all the consuls,” said Dolores Alcaide Ramirez, a professor at UW-Tacoma and the faculty leader for a study abroad program currently in Cuba. “People [were] bringing up all their concerns and problems, speaking freely about what they consider to be the flaws of some of the economic policies, or any kind of policy.”

One commonly mentioned flaw that the new president plans to change has to do with certain restrictions against Cuban citizens.

“[Raúl] announced that a group of prohibitions that are really absurd will be eliminated,” said Dictinio Diaz, a history professor at the University of Cienfuegos. “What [those prohibitions] are doing is keeping the country from developing more quickly.”

Cubans are not technically allowed to activate cell phone plans, nor are they allowed to have access to the Internet in their homes. One of the most contentious restrictions is the inability of Cuban citizens to book a room in a tourist hotel, regardless of how well off they are financially.

“That prohibition [on booking hotel rooms] was established in order to avoid jineterismo,” Roviro said.

Jineterismo, the Cuban term for prostitution, rose dramatically after the island began developing a tourist industry in the early 1990s, in a desperate measure to revive an economy that lost 85 percent of its foreign trade when the Soviet Union collapsed.

Raúl also alluded to possible changes to the dual currency used in Cuba, which has caused a huge social divide between those who have access to dollars, and those who do not.

“We are examining, for example, everything to do with the timely implementation of Fidel’s ideas about the ‘progressive, gradual and prudent reevaluation of the Cuban peso,’” Raúl said. “At the appropriate time, we will study in depth the phenomenon of the dual currency in the economy.”

Most goods in Cuba are sold only in convertible pesos, the Cuban equivalent of the dollar, instated to aid the development of the tourist industry. The inability of most citizens to purchase those goods has led them to acquire what they need in other ways.

“Before I came [to Cuba], I thought it was very idealistic, and that socialism actually worked here,” said Courtney Hollenbeck, a UW senior on the study abroad program run by Alcaide-Ramirez. “But I feel like the black market economy functions more than the normal economy, because everybody does things on the black market.”

Raúl hopes to alleviate that problem, giving more people access to goods sold in convertible pesos.

Those hoping for more grandiose changes, though, may have to keep waiting. The Bush administration was quick to label Raúl “Fidel lite,” and while Cubans may not agree with the diminution of their new president, they’re quick to note the fraternal resemblance.

“[Raúl and Fidel] are of the same political ideals,” said Francisco Arencibia, a retired shipyard worker. “Ever since their childhood, they have had very similar views, and they have always shared them with each other.”

It comes as no surprise then that Raúl asked the National Assembly for its formal support of his decision to consult Fidel whenever faced with a difficult dilemma. His request was unanimously approved, reaffirming the belief of so many Cubans that Fidel will always, in some sense, be their comandante en jefe — their commander in chief.

“Fidel’s decisions are always wise,” Arencibia said. “Even after he dies, he’ll be the same for us. He’ll pass into immortality.”

[Reach reporter Trevor Klein at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]