CUBA: Cuba says communists in control, but doubts remain

Cuba's Communist Party tried to quell fears of chaos on Thursday (August 03) following the temporary surrender of power by the ailing Fidel Castro but failed to clear up doubts over who is in charge of the island. People continued to go about their normal business but there has been a small increase in police presence in poorer parts of the capital and communist neighbourhood organisations said "rapid response groups" used to put down riots in the past had been activated. While close aide Ricardo Alarcon told a U.S. radio programme on Wednesday (August 02) that Castro, who had a stomach operation, was "very alert" and resting earlier in the week, Cubans are still desperate for information despite surface calm on the streets. An ominous calm to some, a sign that things are just fine to others. "I think that things have calmed down. No extraordinary measures have been taken, so I think we are trouble-free for the moment. Everything is quiet now, people are reassured because they are well aware of what is going on, therefore there are no problems at all," said Havana resident Jose Antonio Robe. Deisi Perez explained how for her it's business as usual. "I work here at the hospital, I come to work from 8 to 5 every day and everything is just fine, like a regular day, we proceed normally, as any other day, just as if the commander were perfectly well," she said. Some Cubans with relatives in the security forces said military and other uniformed personnel had been mobilised in barracks and police stations as a precaution, yet for Cuban Jorge Toledo the primary concern is the condition of their leader. "That's what concerns people, his (Castro) health, but I don't think that's deterring things to move normally forward." The main Communist Party newspaper Granma didn't print any update on Castro's physical state on Thursday's edition, but printed instead an old speech by Raul Castro, who took over island leadership on Monday (July 31), saying that his brother's only heir was the Communist Party itself. While the front page publication of the speech was obviously designed to quell fears that Fidel's possible exit after 47 years of rule would unleash chaos, it could puzzle many Cubans who say they want to see Raul in public. In the speech, delivered on June 14 to army officers and first printed in Granma the following day, Raul said: "Only the Communist Party .... can be the worthy heir of the trust Cubans have placed in their leader." Fidel, a notorious workaholic whose 80th birthday is Aug. 13, temporarily handed over power to Raul after undergoing surgery to stop intestinal bleeding. While his brother, regarded as competent but uncharismatic, has long been known to be his successor, he is no youngster at Fidel, who took power in 1959 when he led his ragged revolutionaries into Havana and has resisted almost permanent pressure for his overthrow from the United States, released a message on Tuesday saying he did not know if he would recover.

ITN Source | August 3, 2006

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