Fidel Castro announces resignation

[Olentzero]

Just learned the news on Dagens Nyheter, which linked to Castro's blog at cubadebate . cu/reflexiones-fidel/2011/04/18/mi-ausencia-en-el-cc-fotos/

Sorry for the broken link text, I still haven't gotten to 25 posts.

[Dunk]

Just learned the news on Dagens Nyheter, which linked to Castro's blog at cubadebate . cu/reflexiones-fidel/2011/04/18/mi-ausencia-en-el-cc-fotos/

Sorry for the broken link text, I still haven't gotten to 25 posts.

Didn't he resign in 2008? I can't remember. I'm tired and a I wanna go to bed...I had a little drink about an hour ago, and it went straight to my head. :D

EDIT: Ooohh, from party leadership, I see. Time for sleep.

[RedSonRising]

Al Jazeera recently released an article saying he hadn't been in a formal position for about 5 years. This was made public only recently though I believe.

[coda]

Castro Leaves Communist Leadership Urging Changes to System
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/fidel-castro-says-he-won-t-be-part-of-communist-party-s-central-committee.html

By Jens Erik Gould and Andrew J. Barden - Apr 19, 2011 3:20 AM ET Tue Apr 19 07:20:11 GMT 2011
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/data?pid=avimage&iid=igWgmb_fmaLU
Former Cuban President Fidel Castro delivers a a speech during the 50th Anniversary of the Committees of Defense of the Revolution in Havana on September 28, 2010. Photographer: Adalberto Roque/AFP/Getty Images



Former Cuban President Fidel Castro (http://topics.bloomberg.com/fidel-castro/) said he had resigned from the Communist Party’s leadership and called on a new generation of leaders to change the island’s economy as officials gathered to debate ways to revive growth.
“Raul knew that at this time I wouldn’t accept any role in the party,” Castro wrote in a column (http://www.cubadebate.cu/reflexiones-fidel/2011/04/18/mi-ausencia-en-el-cc-fotos/) published on Cuba Debate, a state-run website.
Castro began transferring control to his brother Raul in July 2006, when he underwent intestinal surgery, and officially stepped down as president in 2008.
In an earlier column posted on the same website, Castro said new leaders are well-prepared intellectually for a task that would be more difficult than the challenges faced by his generation when they took power in 1959. Castro said he wrote the comments after listening to debates during a Communist Party summit that started April 16.
“There is no margin for error in this moment in human history,” Castro, 84, said in the first column (http://www.cubadebate.cu/reflexiones-fidel/2011/04/18/los-debates-del-congreso/). “The new generation is being called upon to rectify and change without hesitation everything that should be rectified and changed.”
Debating Changes

Party members are debating changes to Cuba’s economic system, which has been battered by a U.S. embargo and mounting debt to foreign exporters. Proposals being discussed include eliminating the monthly ration books that provide Cubans with subsidized food and providing loans to individuals who start independent businesses.
Castro’s brother, President Raul Castro (http://topics.bloomberg.com/raul-castro/), said on April 16 that the country needed to impose term limits (http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/cuba/2011-04-16/exhorta-raul-a-rejuvenecer-la-direccion-del-pais/) for elected officials to no more than two consecutive periods of five years each, Juventud Rebelde newspaper said.
As part of the summit, leaders are voting to elect new members of the party’s central committee. Raul Castro, who was shown submitting his ballot in a photograph in state-run media yesterday, is currently the second in command. The results haven’t yet been announced.
Raul Castro, 79, has initiated measures to open the economy since being handed power by his brother.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jens Erik Gould in Mexico City at [email protected]; Andrew J. Barden in Dubai at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Goodman (http://topics.bloomberg.com/joshua-goodman/) in Rio de Janeiro (http://topics.bloomberg.com/rio-de-janeiro/) at [email protected]

[Olentzero]

Yeah, he only had the formal job of party leader after falling ill and resigning most of his other posts.

A few articles for discussion. I certainly feel the Cuban revolution was a well-deserved black eye for American imperialism, but I certainly don't hold it up as any kind of model for socialism.

Samuel Faber, Cuba's likely transition and its politics
isreview. org/issues/48/cuba.shtml

Paul D'Amato, Cuba: Image and Reality
isreview. org/issues/51/cuba_image&reality.shtml

Paul D'Amato, Race and Sex in Cuba
isreview. org/issues/51/cuba_race&sex.shtml

Farber's article obviously doesn't take Castro's complete resignation into consideration, but seeing as how his analysis posits a mix of the outcomes he lists, I feel the article still has a lot to say about where Cuba might go from here. D'Amato's articles are an excellent examination of Castro's legacy.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

From the Farber article: "This appeal for support will find an echo in the pent-up frustrations and long-suppressed hunger for consumer goods among the population at large, and in the sense of hopelessness about obtaining a better future, particularly among the young".

This sort of ignorance really fucking annoys me. Why do people harp on about living standards, consumer goods and so on in Cuba? They act as though it should be compared to first world countries. It's a fucking third world country! It could do with a lot of changes, no doubt, but Cubans should really look at neighbouring, similar third world countries like Haiti, Jamaica, Nicaragua and El Salvador, and then re-assess how 'bad' their standard of living is.

[GPDP]

From the Farber article: "This appeal for support will find an echo in the pent-up frustrations and long-suppressed hunger for consumer goods among the population at large, and in the sense of hopelessness about obtaining a better future, particularly among the young".

This sort of ignorance really fucking annoys me. Why do people harp on about living standards, consumer goods and so on in Cuba? They act as though it should be compared to first world countries. It's a fucking third world country! It could do with a lot of changes, no doubt, but Cubans should really look at neighbouring, similar third world countries like Haiti, Jamaica, Nicaragua and El Salvador, and then re-assess how 'bad' their standard of living is.

Only socialist countries are held up to first-world standards. If it's a third-world capitalist country, however, it's their own damn fault for being full of brown-colored people with no semblance of a work ethic. :rolleyes:

[Olentzero]

Cubans should really look at neighbouring, similar third world countries like Haiti, Jamaica, Nicaragua and El Salvador, and then re-assess how 'bad' their standard of living is."It could be worse, quit complaining"? Brilliant political analysis there. Has it ever occurred to you that the standard of living in both regions is a direct result of US imperialism? If anything, Cubans should look at the rest of the Caribbean and Latin America and say "We all should organize some serious resistance to this shit and try to build a society that improves all of our living standards." Y'know, socialism.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

"It could be worse, quit complaining"? Brilliant political analysis there. Has it ever occurred to you that the standard of living in both regions is a direct result of US imperialism? If anything, Cubans should look at the rest of the Caribbean and Latin America and say "We all should organize some serious resistance to this shit and try to build a society that improves all of our living standards." Y'know, socialism.

That wasn't what I was saying. In fact I worded it wrong. I was more having a go at people who decry Cuba for being a poor nation, rather than Cubans themselves. My mistake.

Imperialism in the Americas is a huge problem and has been for a good many centuries. The past 100 years, the USA has been at the forefront of this since the decline of the Spanish and French empires.

[Olentzero]

Farber is certainly not decrying Cuba for being a poor nation - especially since he was born and grew up there. He comes from a solid leftist perspective and his criticism of Cuba stems from acknowledging the limits that a revolution that didn't involve the working class and which has been strangled by fifty years of imperialism has run up against.

[Fulanito de Tal]

"It could be worse, quit complaining"? Brilliant political analysis there. Has it ever occurred to you that the standard of living in both regions is a direct result of US imperialism? If anything, Cubans should look at the rest of the Caribbean and Latin America and say "We all should organize some serious resistance to this shit and try to build a society that improves all of our living standards." Y'know, socialism.

I can't believe they haven't thought about that! You should send them an email to: [email protected] ([email protected])

[☭The Revolution☭]

Enjoy retirement, comrade. You've definitely earned it.