In My Humble Opinion, Pt. 26

March 23, 2011


From The Miami Herald


Cuba’s Fidel Castro has claimed that he resigned the leadership of the Communist Party after he nearly died five years ago — raising questions about why the change in the nation’s second-most important title was never announced until now [...]

Whatever the reason, “the single most fascinating aspect of Fidel’s announcement is that his dictatorship is so obscure and personalized that only he knew he hasn’t been PCC head for the last five years,” said Mauricio Claver-Carone, director of the U.S.-Cuba Political Action Committee.

“If true, then he’s following the lead of his friend (Moammar) Gaddafi in Libya, who also claimed this month not to hold any official titles or positions of power,” Claver-Carone added in an email to El Nuevo Herald.

- From AP:

Fidel Castro said Tuesday he resigned five years ago from all his official positions, including head of Cuba's Communist Party, a pre-eminent job in the island's political pantheon that he was thought to still hold [...]

"It shows the absolute lack of transparency because for the last five years everyone in Cuba, everyone in the world, thought he was the head of the Communist Party, so it shows how absolutely closed, totalitarian and personal that dictatorship is," said Mauricio Claver-Carone, director of the Washington-based U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC. "At the end of the day, only he knew he wasn't in power."

- An AP expanded version:

Those who back the decades-old embargo of Cuba were most critical of the announcement, saying it served only to highlight the Cuban government's lack of transparency, since until today most of the world still believed Castro had retained his title as party head.

"These are totalitarian dictatorships, and the titles don't matter. The power is still held by the Castro brothers, whether the name is Fidel or Raul," said Mauricio Claver-Carone, director of the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC.