I don't know. I don't think we should reduce the Cuban Revolution and all that it did - whether good or bad - to just his doing. He was certainly the face of the Revolution, but I'm cautious of the narrative that we should reduce it to him, or "the Castros" - 1 or 2 men can't unanimously control an entire country. All that was done surely could not have been done without support - or at least contentment - from a significant portion of the population.
jamescfm wrote:Castro still, just a different one...
Well Raul Castro had already succeeded Fidel in all official posts in 2008, IIRC. In any case, if this is about formal power within Cuba... This nonsense that Cuba is some hereditary monarchy is lazy analysis, and demonstrates a clear lack of understanding of Cuban politics. Raul was one of the co-leaders of the Cuban Revolution, and he was a Communist before Fidel. He never simply got the position because he's "Castro's brother" - by this logic, Ramon Castro would have had a chance to take power in 2006 or 2008. I would call Cuba a one-party dictatorship, but not a family-based dictatorship.
I doubt a Castro will succeed Ramon when he steps down in 2018. If it's any of the senior officials, it would probably be Esteban Lazo Hernandez. If it's someone else, it would be a younger person who has served in some high-ranking office within the party or the government. It could be Miguel Díaz-Canel, who is currently the First Vice President, and he's from a different generation. It could be anyone among several former Vice Presidents, considering that there are 6 elected each term, or anyone else who has served in the Council of State before.
Aquinas wrote:I hope Cuba will become more normalised.
I'd love to know what you mean by "more normalised" - you mean having normal relations with other countries like the US (even though it has had pretty normal relations with many countries), or do you mean abiding by neoliberal standards?