Fidel Castro happy with direction Cuba is moving
By PAUL HAVEN
Associated Press
HAVANA -- Fidel Castro says he is happy with the direction in which Cuba
is moving under the leadership of his brother Raul, his most explicit
remarks to date about the sweeping economic changes the country is
undergoing.
"I'm content, because the country is moving forward despite all the
challenges," the bearded revolutionary icon told Cuban students in
comments carried by the official Communist Party-newspaper Granma on
Thursday.
The elder Castro stepped down in 2006 due to a serious illness that
almost killed him. He re-emerged from four years of seclusion in July,
but has rarely spoken about Cuban current events, preferring to use his
appearances to warn of what he fears is a looming nuclear war pitting
the United States and Israel against Iran.
Castro, 84, remains head of the Communist Party, though in his remarks
to the students he gave the impression he had delegated many of his
official duties to others.
After telling the students he was not meeting with them in his capacity
as party chief, Castro said, "I got sick and I did what I had to do:
delegate my duties. I cannot do something if I am not in a condition to
dedicate all my time to it."
Castro described himself as a "soldier of ideas" and said he "did not
hesitate for a minute to relinquish my duties," an apparent reference to
his decision to step down as president.
Part of the meeting with the students was carried on national television
Wednesday, but not Castro's comments about his brother or his decision
to delegate official duties. In the 90-minute broadcast, Castro read
word-for-word from a long speech he gave to students in 2005 that he
said continued to be relevant today.
In that speech, he spoke of the need to control corruption and the black
market, and warned that the revolution could fail from within if leaders
did not make the correct decisions.
Since taking over - first temporarily, then permanently - in 2006, Raul
Castro has warned his countrymen that the state can no longer afford to
pay idle workers and must cut many subsidies Cubans have come to expect.
In September, the government announced that it was laying off 500,000
workers - or one-tenth of its labor force - while allowing many to work
for themselves in an expanded private sector.
Raul Castro called a Party Congress for April in which the government is
expected to map out details of Cuba's economic future.
A separate Communist Party gathering, called a Party Conference, is also
to be held at some point in 2011, and there is speculation Fidel Castro
might use one of the occasions to step down as head of the Communist Party.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/18/1932428/fidel-says-happy-with-direction.html
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