As Cuban Leader Fidel Castro recovers after surgery on his intestines,(even according to the ) Miami Herald
Time Magazine profiles his younger brother (and designated successor) Raul:
When the Bush Administration began delivering hundreds of suspected Al Qaeda terrorists to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo, Cuba, in 2002, most in Washington expected Cuban President Fidel Castro to go ballistic. He didn’t. And according to veteran Cuba watchers like former CIA analyst Brian Latell, it was Fidel’s younger brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro, who kept the communist dictator’s anti-yanqui rants in check. Going further, Raul even assured reporters that if any Guantanamo prisoners escaped, Cuban security forces would capture and return them – a gesture that left much of the international community scratching its head.
Hang on. Doesn’t that make him a Yanqui imperialist lickspittle?
I find it hard to get worked up about Fidel. Go on, tell me why I should (or shouldn’t.)
wardytron adds:
Fidel is obviously getting on a bit at 80 years of age, and understandably wants to inject a bit of youthful vigour and fresh, exciting younger blood into his regime. At a mere 75, Raúl is clearly just the man to do this. Tony Blair recently described David Miliband as the “Wayne Rooney” figure in his Cabinet. Perhaps the untried yet promising Raúl is Fidel’s Theo Walcott.
PS Evil Excised in the comments links to a “critical but friendly” series of articles on Cuba by Ron Ridenour, originally published in the Morning Star. Ridenour says “I was often angry with (Castro) but I always loved and admired him. I found that that is how most Cubans feel”.
