Spotlight on Cuba: Planning for the Post Castro Era

Speech by Raúl Castro at the main celebration of the 55th Anniversary of the attack on Moncada Garrison, in Santiago de Cuba.
Date: July 26, 2008
Description: Marking a difference with his address to the nation a year ago, President Raúl Castro used a speech on the 55th anniversary of the beginning of the Cuban revolution not to announce structural changes, but to call on everyday Cubans to prepare for tough times in the days ahead. Citing the global economic downturn and the rising cost of oil, Castro said Cuba and other countries in the developing world face severe challenges that would require belt-tightening and patience. “We must bear in mind that we are living in the midst of a true world crisis which is not only economic but also related with climate change, the irrational use of energy and a great number of other problems,” he said. “We are aware of the great number of problems waiting to be solved, most of which weigh heavily and directly on the population,” he said, adding later, “Regardless of our great wishes to solve every problem, we cannot spend in excess of what we have.” At same time, instead of offering the new US administration, after 2008 presidential elections, to initiate a dialogue with the island, as he did a year ago, Castro warned Washington that Cuba would stay focused on defense regardless of who wins November’s election.
URL: http://www.cubaminrex.cu/Archivo/Raul/2008-07-26.html

Raul Castro’s address to the National Assembly
Publication: Granma, July 12, 2008
Location: Havana, Cuba
Description: Cuban President Raul Castro warns that global economic problems may slow increases in worker pay, one of the key economic reforms he has proposed since taking office. The Cuban President says he wanted to move faster to improve the daily lives of Cubans, but that rising prices and a slowing economy forced him to be realistic. He discusses egalitarianism as counterproductive, and presents to the Assembly several decisions adopted the previous day in a meeting of members of the Communist Party’s Polit Bureau and the State Council.
URL: http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews+articleid_2390208~title_Full-Text-of-Cuban.html

La verdad y las diatribas (Spanish)
Author: Fidel Castro
Publication: Cuba Debate, June 21, 2008
Location: Havana, Cuba
Description: Fidel Castro says that there is no internal struggle within the Cuban Communist Party. Castro says that he is not and will not be the head of any faction or group. He says that his remarks on the European Union decision to lift sanctions against Cuba –published before the Cuban Government officially responded to the EU-- did not cause divergence among the leadership. In a previous article published on the Internet, he accused the 27-nation bloc of "enormous hypocrisy" and called its actions "disparaging." "I wrote the article because I am still fighting. I did this in the name of the faith that I have defended in my lifetime," Castro says.
URL: http://www.cubadebate.cu/index.php?tpl=design/especiales.tpl.html&newsid_obj_id=11859

Raul Castro’s address to the CCP Central Committee
Publication: Granma, April 28, 2008
Location: Havana, Cuba
The Second Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party, Raul Castro, in his address to the 6th Plenum of the Central Committee, announces that the CCP will convene its 6th congress, the first since 1997 -- a gathering that should chart the island's political future after he and his older brother Fidel are gone. Raul Castro announces that the country's nearly two-year ''provisional'' period has ended. "The accords we have approved put an end to the provisional period begun on July 31, 2006 with the proclamation of the Commander in Chief," he said. Castro reformed the Politburo by promoting three new members and creating an oversight commission. The new Cuban President announces that all death sentences had been commuted to prison terms of 30 years to life, with the exception of three people charged with terrorism. Castro said that these cases were still on appeal.
URL: http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/secciones/pleno-ccpcc/pleno01.html

Description: On February 24, Raúl Castro delivers the closing address of the National Assembly’s session that named him President of the Councils of State and Ministers. In his speech, the Cuban president requests from the Assembly to allow him to consult Fidel Castro on decisions associated to defence, foreign policy and the socio-economic development of the country. He announces initial measures to be taken “in the coming weeks” that will prioritize satisfying basic needs of the population, both material and spiritual, but warns that “some things need time for they should be thoroughly studied”. Raúl reiterates the right of everyone to express their opinions, “provided they do it with respect for the law”. “But if anyone”, he says, “intends to put pressure motivated by their wishes to be in the limelight or by ambition, demagoguery, opportunism, simulation, arrogance or any other human weakness of a similar nature, we must face them resolutely, avoiding offence but calling a spade a spade.”

Description: In this letter published in Cuba’s official press, and dated February 18, Castro resigns as President of the State Council and as Commander in Chief. “To my dearest compatriots, who have recently honored me so much by electing me a member of the Parliament where so many agreements should be adopted of utmost importance to the destiny of our Revolution, I am saying that I will neither aspire to nor accept, I repeat, I will neither aspire to nor accept the positions of President of the State Council and Commander in Chief.”

Description: In this message to the Sixth Legislature of the National Assembly, for the second time in a month Fidel Castro makes an ambiguous suggestion that he could give up the presidency. “What the international press has emphasized most in its reports on Cuba in recent days is the statement I made (…) where I said that I am not clinging to power. I could add that for some time I did, due to my youth and lack of awareness (…) What made me change? Life did”, he writes, In this same message, and related to the illegal situation of current government, Castro incidentally justifies his Proclamation naming Raul Castro as interim president: "In the proclamation signed on July 31, 2006, none of you saw it at all as an act of nepotism nor as a usurping of the functions of the assembly," he writes to the legislative body. The temporary government has not been an issue within the Cuban parliament’s agenda; it has not been legally sanctioned.
URL: http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/2007/ing/f271207i.html

Publication: Trabajadores, December 17, 2007
Location: Havana, Cuba
Description: In a message to the TV program “The Round Table” Fidel Castro suggests that he might give up his formal leadership. In an ambiguous sentence in a letter about the UN conference on global warming held in Bali, Indonesia, Castro says he won't stand in the way of younger people who can lead Cuba, but he also insists on being "of consequence" until the end of his life. Castro also says that, “the answers to the current problems facing the Cuban society (…) require more variables for each concrete problem than those contained in a chess game”. He adds that, “the intelligence of a human being in a revolutionary society is to prevail over instinct”.

The Super Revolutionaries
Author: Fidel Castro
Publication: Trabajadores, September 3, 2007
Location: Havana, Cuba
Description: Fidel Castro harshly responds to criticism of current situation in Cuba and to proposals of change allegedly made by Marxist writers James Petras and Robin Eastman-Abaya, according to several sources. (See Prominent Opinions)
URL: http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno...

Speech by Raúl Castro at the main celebration of the 54th Anniversary of the attack on Moncada Garrison, in Camagüey.
Date: July 26, 2007
Description: For the first time since assuming power in July 31, 2006, Raul Castro acknowledges difficulties and challenges faced by Cubans in their daily lives opening the possibility of implementing economic changes. Also, for the third time, he offers the new US administration, after 2008 presidential elections, to initiate a dialogue with the island.
URL: http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/secciones...

Mensaje del Comandante en Jefe al Pueblo de Cuba (Spanish)
Date: December 30, 2006
Description: A statement signed by Fidel Castro on the eve of the revolution's 48th anniversary assures Cubans that the ailing leader could still recover from his prolonged illness. The message was read on state television and radio and published in official newspapers. Castro traditionally sends a message to Cuban citizens every New Year's Eve to mark the anniversary of the January 1, 1959, revolution that brought him to power.
URL: http://america.cubaminrex.cu/felicitacionesdeFidel.htm

Speech by Raul Castro at the 2nd of December military parade
Date: December 2, 2006
Description: Raul Castro delivers a speech at a military parade –the first in over ten years--, in Havana’s Revolution Square, closing Fidel Castro’s 80th birthday festivities and celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Granma landing, Day of the Revolutionary Armed Forces. In the speech, the interim president reiterated his government’s willingness to resolve at the negotiating table the longstanding dispute with the United States. He also emphasized the importance of the Cuban Communist Party and the Armed Forces in the defence of Cuba’s regime.
URL: http://www.cubaminrex.cu/English/50T....

Fidel Castro’s message to all guests to his 80th birthday celebrations
Date: November 28, 2006
Description: Fidel Castro apologizes to all his “close friends” who gathered at the opening gala of his 80th birthday celebrations. In a note read from the stage of the Karl Marx Theatre in Havana, Castro says his doctors has advised him not to appear before such a large crowd. “I sign off with the great pain of not having been able to personally give thanks and hugs to each and every one of you," the note read. In his message, Castro also refers to the current US administration and to the future of mankind.
URL: http://www.cubaminrex.cu/El%20imperi... (Spanish)

Raul Castro’s interview in Granma
Date: August 18, 2006
Description: In an interview published in the official daily Granma, Raul Castro says his first public statements since he provisionally assumed power on July 31. Raul says Cuba would be willing to “normalize relations” with the United States “on an equal plane”.
URL: http://www.cubaminrex.cu/English/The%20imperiali...

Nota de Fidel Castro
Date: August 13, 2006
Description: In this note, published in the Cuban official daily Juventud Rebelde signed by Fidel Castro the day of his birthday, he warns the Cuban people to be prepared for any “adverse news” regarding his health. Castro also says that his recovery will take some time. URL: http://www.cubasource.org/pdf/n...

Mensaje de Fidel Castro
Date: August 1, 2006
Description: In this note read by a journalist attending the Cuban official TV nightly "Mesa Redonda" (Round Table) Fidel Castro says his health is stable, his spirits good and the defence of the island guaranteed. According to the message, Castro apologizes for not giving more details about his health condition. He says the threat posed to his government by the US means his health must be treated as "a state secret," and he calls on Cubans to remain calm as they carry out their daily routines.
URL: http://www.cubaminrex.cu/Actual...

Proclama de Fidel Castro al pueblo de Cuba
Date: July 31, 2006
Description: Document read by Fidel Castro’s aid, Carlos Valenciaga, on the TV official nightly Mesa Redonda (Round Table), announcing Castro is “provisionally” ceding power to his brother Raul. In the Proclamation signed by Castro, he informs the Cuban people should undergo surgery, and the operation obliges him to take various weeks of rest, at a remove from his responsibilities and duties.
URL: http://www.cubaminrex.cu/PROC... (Spanish)

Speech by Defence Minister Raul Castro
Date: June 14, 2006
Description: Raul Castro, Second Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party, First Vice President of the State Council, Minister of Defence and designated official successor of Fidel Castro, refers to the Cuban Communist Party as the only legitimate heir in a post Castro era.
URL: http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/secc...

Fidel Castro’s interview to Ignacio Ramonet
Date: April 2, 2006
Description: A summary of this interview was published in the Spanish daily El País. In the interview, Fidel Castro voices confidence that younger leaders coming up through the ranks of the Cuban Communist Party, military and government will carry on his legacy. Castro suggests that succession in the island will be lead by people from younger generations and not by his brother, and official successor, Raul Castro.
URL: http://www.cubasource.org/pdf/Enc... (Spanish)

Statement by Foreign Affairs Minister, Felipe Pérez Roque, at the National Assembly of the People’s Power
Date: December 23, 2005
Description: In his remarks to the Cuban parliament, Pérez Roque speaks for the first time to the Cuban public about the post-Castro era and identifies three “necessary premises” to avoid the disappearance of socialism at that time.
URL: http://www.cubaminrex.cu/Archivo/Ca... (Spanish)

Speech delivered by Fidel Castro in the University of Havana
Date: November 11, 2005
Description: Fidel Castro admits to the vulnerability of Cuban socialism in the context of an analysis on widespread corruption on the island. “This country can self-destruct; this Revolution can destroy itself, but they can never destroy us; we can destroy ourselves, and it would be our fault”, he says.
URL: http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/di...