Fidel Castro's role in Cuba is chiefly offstage as he turns 87

Fidel Castro's role in Cuba is chiefly offstage as he turns 87
By Marc Frank
HAVANA | Mon Aug 12, 2013 4:59pm EDT

(Reuters) - Fidel Castro turns 87 on Tuesday, largely out of sight but
not out of mind, as Cuba struggles to move on from his half-century rule
and as many of his policies are reconsidered under the leadership of his
younger brother Raul.

The birthday of one of Latin America's most iconic revolutionary figures
has been a low key celebration in recent years. A choral concert in his
honor at the Jose Marti national monument in Havana on Monday evening
was the only official event planned.

Castro goes about his daily activities out of the public eye, and how
much influence the retired commandante still wields is unknown. He
emerges every once in a while to reassure his followers that he is very
much around, frustrating those who wish he was not.

"No one believes anymore that Fidel has any real influence over
day-to-day policy," a western diplomat said, "but that doesn't mean he
is never consulted on big questions or that when he comes out it isn't
important."

The government has staged just three media events this year for Castro:
first, to vote in January for National Assembly deputies and chat with
local reporters; then, in February, to attend the new parliament's
opening session where his brother's possible successor, 53-year-old
Miguel Diaz-Canel, was named first vice president, and more recently, to
inaugurate a school near his home on the outskirts of Havana.

Photos of a frail-looking Castro meeting with visiting dignitaries are
occasionally published, as well as some of his writings, though far
fewer than his once frequent "Reflections," on global topics.

The once-towering, broad-shouldered man is now stooped. He has trouble
walking, and his famed booming oratory has softened to a near whisper.
It is a transformation which brought tears to two women interviewed for
this story.

Castro, now referred to as "the historic leader of the revolution,"
lives in a modest home on the western outskirts of Havana with his wife,
Dalia Soto del Valle, near his sons and grandchildren, and where he
studies, writes and receives visitors.

Cubans who have seen Fidel up close on one of his occasional ventures
away from home report he remains lucid and in relatively good shape for
a man who was at death's door in 2006 after undergoing repeated
abdominal surgeries and reportedly having part of his colon removed.

"He was old, but the same old Fidel, asking questions, citing statistics
from last year and before, shuffling around, chuckling and talking with
everyone," said a worker at the Empresa Genética Pecuaria Los Naranjos
in Atemisa province, around 30 miles west of Havana. "His mind was still
amazing," he said.

The worker, who asked that his name not be used, said Castro on April 26
paid a surprise two-hour visit to the company, which raises and improves
livestock such as goats, turkeys and buffalo.

"He showed up in a caravan of at least 10 vehicles, including two vans
and an ambulance, and accompanied by his wife, one of his sons, numerous
military-clad bodyguards and other people," he said.

SMOOTHING THE TRANSITION

Castro writes that he spends much time trying to increase Cuba's
agricultural production and promoting alternative animal forage plants
grown at Los Naranjos.

"Fidel is Fidel and he continues experimenting in the countryside," said
a farmer in central Camaguey who asked that he not be identified.

Raul Castro, 82, has governed the Caribbean island since his brother
became ill.

He is presiding over a sweeping plan to move the bankrupt Soviet-style
economy in a less paternalistic and more market-friendly direction, like
those of Vietnam and China. He has loosened regulations on travel and
the buying and selling of personal property and broadened other personal
freedoms, while preserving Cuba's one-party communist system.

Raul Castro rarely speaks in public, and when he does it is invariably
for less than 45 minutes, a dramatic change from the hours-long oratory
of Fidel Castro. Cubans expressed mixed feelings about this difference
between the brothers.

"What do I miss? The constant guidance of Fidel in the face of any
eventuality," said Pedro Gonzales, a Santiago de Cuba retiree.

Havana housewife Luisa, who declined to give her last name, was less
kind, saying that reforms under Raul had done little to improve her life
and had created "uncertainty among the people." She said his inability
to communicate left her feeling like "I'm on a boat without a captain."

Christopher Sabatini, senior director of policy at the Americas Society
and Council of the Americas, said Fidel Castro had transitioned from
policy making to "a symbolic role as the protector of the revolution's
integrity," in order to allay public unease, which inevitably
accompanies both a leadership and economic transition in a country like
Cuba.

"There is a need for continuity with change and that is his new role,"
Sabatini said.

(Editing by David Adams and Jackie Frank)

Source: "Fidel Castro's role in Cuba is chiefly offstage as he turns 87
| Reuters" -
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/12/us-cuba-fidel-idUSBRE97B0T020130812