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Raul, not Fidel, to mark Revolution Day
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[March 19, 2010]
CAMAGUEY, Cuba
(AP) --
Raul Castro's provisional government is starting to gain an air of permanence. Cuba's 76-year-old acting president and defense minister
-- not his elder brother Fidel -- will address cheering communists at Revolution Day festivities Thursday in Camaguey, a provincial capital of narrow colonial streets southeast of Havana.
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 Fidel Castro, who turns 81 next month, for decades gave hours-long speeches to mark Cuba's top holiday. In 2006, he addressed crowds in two separate cities on Revolution Day. But five days later, he announced that emergency intestinal surgery was forcing him to step aside in favor of his younger brother. He has not been seen in public since.
Although he has begun penning essays dubbed "Reflections of the Commander in Chief" every few days, the gray bearded leader appears to be in little hurry to return to power.
"I am certain Fidel is recovering but there's no problem because we have Raul," said Candida Alvarez, a 76-year-old retiree who hung a string of paper red, white and blue Cuban flags from the front door of her wooden home near Camaguey's historic center.
"Fidel will always be the boss, but now Raul is the boss too," said Alvarez, who works with neighborhood communist officials to mediate disputes between residents. "He's been there for a year and has gained popularity, earned the warmth of the people."
The holiday marks the July 26, 1953 attack on the Moncada army barracks in the eastern city of Santiago. Although the assault failed, and many militants died, the rebels went on to oust dictator Fulgencio Batista six years later. Raul Castro was at his brother's side during the barracks assault, and accompanied him and other surviving attackers to prison.
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 Freed early under an amnesty, the Castro brothers and their band traveled
to Mexico to form a rebel army that later returned to Cuba's eastern Sierra
Maestra mountains to wage a guerrilla war against the Batista government.
Raul Castro has said he is not fond of long speeches and is seen as a
pragmatist. He has said in official interviews and public appearances that
he would be willing to discuss improving relations with the United States,
whose 45-year-old embargo prohibits American tourists from visiting the
island and chokes off almost all trade between the countries.
"We know that what Raul says will be the guide for our revolutionary
direction," said Jesus Garcia, president of Camaguey's provincial assembly.
"What he says is up to him, but they will be important reflections and we
will be ready and listening closely."
Fireworks marking Revolution Day shook much of Camaguey on Wednesday
evening and local Revolutionary Defense Committees organized late-night
parties they boasted would last until Raul Castro takes the podium shortly
after sunrise on Thursday.
Cuban flags and black-and-red flags symbolizing the July 26 Movement that
launched the revolution were plastered everywhere, from store windows to the
crumbling balconies of pastel-colored houses.
[Associated Press;
by Will Weissert]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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