Castro resigns: the Web reacts

A blood-drenched tyrant to some, an anti-imperialist icon to others, Fidel Castro's announcement today that he is to resign as President of Cuba after almost half a century in office was always bound to draw mixed reactions. The news has been greeted in some quarters as a welcome first step towards democratic change, while in others, it has prompted warnings against renewed US interference in its neighbour. Meanwhile on the streets of Miami's Little Havana, responses have been most notable for their caution - in contrast to the scenes of jubilation on the when Castro first handed over power to his brother Raul in 2006. With no hint yet that Castro's retirement (or rather, retreat into a shadowy backstage role) will signal the demise of the socialist regime, it seems Cuban exiles and their supporters have yet to release their collective breath.

Here's a selection of comment from the web:

Steve Clemons, the Huffington Post:

"Of all the low cost opportunities to demonstrate a new and different US style of engagement with the world, Cuba is at the top of the list. Opening family travel -- and frankly all travel -- between Cuba and the US, and ending the economic embargo will provide new encounters, new impressions, and the kind of people-to-people diplomacy that George W. Bush, John Bolton, Richard Cheney, and Jesse Helms run scared of.

"This is a huge potential pivot point in US-Cuba relations. Will Hillary Clinton step up to the plate -- and will Obama move beyond the somewhat timid proposals he offered previously and go to the gold standard in US-Cuba relations articulated by Senator Chris Dodd?

"And will John McCain just ignore history's offered up opportunity or will he continue to paw the dirt and blow steam at the island nation just off the Florida coast?"

Cuban Triangle:

"Cuba’s stability during Castro’s entire 19-month absence, and his exit by an orderly constitutional succession, do answer one question for Americans. Our “Cuba problem” will not go away on Sunday because, like it or not, it derives not from one man, but rather from a political system. Cuba has problems – many identified by its own government – and Cuban socialism will now sink, swim, or adapt on its own, without Fidel."

Uncommon Sense:

"Fidel's "retirement" is not a moment to celebrate. Unfortuntely, his legacy will survive his life's work, and his life. It is a historical moment to note but nothing more.

"And it means little to this son of former Cuban refugees. Maybe it would be different if this morning we were reading his obituary, but consider me underwhelmed. I won't be breaking out the champagne, and I won't be driving to Miami for the party."

Cuba Solidarity Campaign, UK:

"Now, more than ever, friends of Cuba need to be extra vigilant to the Bush administration’s reaction. President Bush has stated on numerous occasions that he will not accept a transition of power from Fidel and they will inevitably use this as another excuse to try and destabilise the country and to promote regime change to a US favoured government.

“President Bush has already held a news conference today, stating that the: “international community should work with the Cuban people to begin to build institutions that are necessary for democracy." Cuba’s sovereign institutions should be respected by the US government, which has no right to dictate who should lead their country.”

The Lede, New York Times:

"...The response so far has been muted among those who fled his rule, some of them in makeshift rafts floating over shark-infested waters. The Associated Press’s first dispatches from the Cuban-exile neighborhoods carried headlines like “Miami Quiet On News Of Fidel Resignation,” and the people quoted in the article and in another published online by The Miami Herald didn’t seem to think that this was a big deal ...

“Is the enthusiasm buried deep inside Little Havana residents, awaiting some much-needed Tuesday morning fuel from cafecitos and pastelitos? Or have they simply given up hope that real change is in the offing? "

The Economist: 

"Only five years younger than Fidel, Raúl Castro is likely to be a transitional figure. Some commentators do not discount the possibility that Carlos Lage, the de facto prime minister who runs the economy, might be named as the new president. Cuba watchers will study the new Council of State for clues as to whether the pace of reform may now accelerate. Another clue might be the calling of a long-overdue Congress of Cuba’s ruling Communist Party, of which Fidel Castro remains first secretary.

"George Bush this week repeated the United States’ call for free and fair elections in Cuba. But as long as Fidel remains alive, a move towards liberal democracy will not happen. Frail though he is, Fidel Castro will continue to exercise a veto power over the pace and direction of change in Cuba. He plans to continue writing regular articles in the official press. “I am not saying goodbye to you. I want only to fight on as a soldier of ideas,” he said in his statement. He has stepped down but he has not quite left the stage."

Comments

[Joan Moira Peters]

As dictators go, Fidel Castro was probably the best, and if any communist head of state could really be regarded as the "Dear Leader", almost certainly it would be him.
No doubt he improved the lives of the very poor, though the regime has been harsh, repressive and intrusive.
Castro focused much of the nation's wealth on creating one of the best, perhaps the very best national health system in the world. Yet diversity rather than centralisation may be a good alternative in practically all social and political spheres.
However, global environmentalism may require coordination as well as international cooperation but on a voluntary basis, with the absence of coercive legisation guaranteeing that a global dictator or mafia-like consortium will not pop up like a jack in the box before we know what's happened.
With increasing economic prosperity through profit incentive and the free market, taxation may be geared to prioritizing the needs of the worst off in society, improving on the "trickle down effect" theory.
The mechanisms for getting it right - without depriving citizens of their freedom, creativity and autonomy, etc., in an open society -have to be worked at innovatively.
Practise of the major religions in Cuba declined.
Could that be related to the continuation of chicken sacrifices and suchlike in that nation?
The U.S. shouldn't have, reportedly, snubbed Castro's offer to send over Doctors to the ravaged areas in the aftermath of Cyclone Katrina. It was a good gesture and even if a refusal was considered neccessary in order to uphold an ideological principle, a simple acknowledgement and thanks would have been appropriate and doubtless appreciated.