Castro's brother urges economic changes

CAMAGUEY, Cuba -- As one of history's longest-serving political understudies, Raul Castro often struggled to persuade his all-powerful brother Fidel Castro to open Cuba's moribund economy to more foreign investment.

But yesterday, with Fidel Castro still hidden from public view after intestinal surgery last July and his prospects of returning to power uncertain, the younger brother asserted his desire to push Cuba in a new direction.

Speaking at a ceremony commemorating the 54th anniversary of the Cuban revolution, Raul Castro declared that Cuba is considering opening itself further to foreign investment, allowing business partners to provide this financially strapped nation with "capital, technology, or markets."

The younger Castro's remarks, coupled with his unusual acknowledgement that the Cuban government must pay its vast cadres of state-employed workers more to cover basic needs, amounted to the clearest indication yet of how he might lead this island nation.

Castro, who was named interim president last July 31, vowed to partner only with "serious entrepreneurs, upon well-defined legal bases."

He promised unspecified "structural changes" in the economy, adding that Cuba must increase production and reduce reliance on foreign imports. He criticized his country's "absurd inefficiencies" in food production that force it to import food.

Wearing his trademark tinted eyeglasses and military uniform, Castro, 76, struck distinctly capitalist notes before tens of thousands of flag-waving Communist Party loyalists in this central Cuban city, 350 miles east of Havana.

But he also was careful to appeal to hard-line party leaders, saying that any new business deals must "preserve the role of the state and the predominance of socialist property" and that the government would be "careful not to repeat the mistakes of the past, [which] owed to naivete or our ignorance about these partnerships."

In his speech, the interim president even suggested that Cuba's sworn enemy, the United States, might play a role in his new Cuba. He looked forward to the 2008 US election and the end of what he called President Bush's "erratic and dangerous administration."

"The new administration," he told the crowd, "will have to decide whether it will maintain the absurd, illegal, and failed policy against Cuba or if it will accept the olive branch that we offered" in December.

"These statements seem to be innovative, to be carrying them toward new initiatives," Wayne Smith, an analyst at the Center for International Policy and a former chief of the US Interests Section in Havana, said from his Washington office. "The Cuban people, who have been waiting for some indication that there is going to be a change, will really welcome this."

Fidel Castro's absence from the commemoration, an annual event honoring the attack on the Moncada Barracks that launched Cuba's revolution, added to the intrigue surrounding one of the singular political figures of the 20th century. Yesterday marked one year since Castro's last public appearances during speeches commemorating the Cuban revolution in Bayamo and Holguin last July 26.

At the time, "we could hardly expect what a hard blow was awaiting us," Raul Castro said in his address.

Five days after Fidel Castro's speeches last July, the Cuban government made the startling announcement that he had undergone emergency surgery and was relinquishing power for the first time to his brother.

In recent months, Fidel Castro, who turns 81 next month, has seemed more active, receiving foreign dignitaries and writing more than two dozen sharply worded editorials. He has appeared frail in several recorded television segments, though his supporters, most notably, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, have insisted for months that he is improving.

Raul Castro, who made a low-key entrance yesterday while the audience was distracted by a dance troupe, acknowledged that "these have truly been very difficult months." But, he said, there has been "a diametrically different impact to that expected by our enemies, who were wishing for chaos to entrench and for Cuban socialism to collapse."

The crowd formed a sea of red as participants streamed away from the event in Camaguey's Plaza de la Revolucion Agramonte, many chanting "Viva Fidel."

"It would have been great to see him today," said Angel Morel, 56, a Camaguey dairy manager.

"But the commander in chief is sick, and he needs time to recover."

Although people here seem to have accepted Raul Castro's political legitimacy, his brother's absence has been unsettling to Cubans. It is almost certain that Fidel Castro continues to wield great influence, but it is equally clear that Cubans are preparing themselves emotionally for life without him. In some respects, this past year has been a dry run for the post-Fidel Castro era.

Fidel Castro is widely considered to have been an impediment to efforts by his brother and other political figures to bring more businesses to Cuba, where hundreds of miles of spectacular coastline are a developer's dream.

Cuba's economy finally opened in the 1990s, after the economic crisis provoked by the collapse of the Soviet Union, which had heavily subsidized the brothers' regime. Faced with a starving populace, Fidel Castro relented, allowing tourism businesses, which are administered by generals under Raul Castro's command.

Foreign investment plateaued as Cuba's economy improved early this century. Raul Castro, friends say, was unable to persuade his brother to further open the economy. But yesterday's remarks could signal that Raul Castro has consolidated power enough to continue advancing his agenda.