Fidel Castro still a factor in Cuba

[Jimmy2]

Fidel Castro still a factor in Cuba

Two years after his medical crisis, Fidel Castro is still wielding influence.

By FRANCES ROBLES

MiamiHerald

Two years after a crippling stomach illness forced him to give up power, a hospitalized Fidel Castro is still in his Adidas track suits, still writing newspaper columns on international affairs and, experts say, still getting in his brother's way.

Perhaps most important: the 81-year-old former dictator continues as first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, wielding one of the island's most powerful positions even as his brother Raúl officially runs the nation.

''Fidel is like global warming: You may not be able to see it, but you know it's there,'' said Gustavo Pérez Firmat, a Cuba scholar at Columbia University. 'And like global warming, he will be there for a long time. Cubans say: `A bad bug never dies.' That applies to Fidel. Even if we outlive him, we won't outlive him.''

Castro has not been seen in public since a speech he gave July 26, 2006. Five days later, his personal assistant stunned the world with a late-night announcement that the Cuban leader was so ill that he had ''provisionally'' turned over power to his brother, Defense Minister Raúl Castro.

Raúl Castro held that interim post until Feb. 24, when the National Assembly formally selected him to do what had largely already taken place without incident: take over. But even as Raúl Castro makes early signs toward changes, his brief tenure has been marked mostly by stagnation, which experts say is largely due to the fact that his brother still lives.

''We're in a stand-off now,'' said Frank Mora, who studies the Cuban military at the National War College in Washington, D.C. "Right now Raúl might want to go further, but won't, because Fidel is still around. Fidel would like to be more inflexible, but he recognizes he is no longer in power.''

A huge image of Fidel hung as a backdrop as Raúl Castro gave a speech Saturday to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the start of the revolution. His address to the National Assembly earlier this month ended with the assurance that Fidel approved of the text.

''I took it to him a bit late. I asked him -- his day is very busy: exercising, writing, reflecting, thinking,'' Raúl Castro said. "I asked him to reply to me as soon as possible. He broke the record this time. He agreed completely. I want to remember what he said literally: 'It is perfect.' When I was informed, I was overjoyed.''

Raúl Castro ended by recounting how Raúl told Fidel's messenger to congratulate the ailing former leader -- for having a very intelligent brother who learned everything from him.

"As long as Fidel is alive, Raúl is going to be asking, 'Let me check with my brother,' '' said Javier Corrales, a Cuba expert at Amherst College. ``I think what has happened is that with all these expectations of major change that did not come, what we got was more Fidelismo without Fidel.''