Riz Khan: A Cuban Evolution
Cuba's legendary leader Fidel Castro has taken his last bow as leader of the party he founded more than 50 years ago. Joining us on the Riz Khan Show to discuss Cuba's future are Richard Gott, British journalist and historian and Eric Hershberg, Director at the Centre for Latin American and Latino Studies at the American University in Washington DC.

Fidel Castro Says Communism Doesn't Work
THE GUARDIAN: Former Cuban president says Marxist model 'doesn't even work for us' in offhand remark to US journalist Jeffrey Goldberg

It was a casual remark over a lunch of salad, fish and red wine but future historians are likely to parse and ponder every word: "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us any more."

Fidel Castro's nine-word confession, dropped into conversation with a visiting US journalist and policy analyst, undercuts half a century of thundering revolutionary certitude about Cuban socialism.

That the island's economy is a disaster is hardly news but that the micro-managing "maximum leader" would so breezily acknowledge it has astonished observers.

Towards the end of a long, relaxed lunch in Havana, Jeffrey Goldberg, a national correspondent for the Atlantic magazine, asked Castro if Cuba's economic system was still worth exporting. The reply left him dumbfounded. "Did the leader of the revolution just say, in essence, 'Never mind'?" Goldberg wrote on his blog.

The 84-year-old retired president did not elaborate but the implication, according to Julia Sweig, a Cuba expert from the Council on Foreign Relations who also attended the lunch, was that the state had too big a role in the economy.

Raúl Castro has been saying the same thing in public and private since succeeding his older brother two years ago. With infrastructure crumbling, food shortages acute and an average monthly salary of just $25 (£16), it has become apparent that near-total state control of the economy does not work.

But for Fidel to acknowledge the fact could be compared to Napoleon musing that the march on Moscow was not, on reflection, a great success.

"Frankly, I have been somewhat amazed by Fidel's new frankness," said Stephen Wilkinson, a Cuba expert at the London Metropolitan University. "This is the latest of a series of recent utterances that strike me as being indicative of a change in the old man's character." >>> Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent | Thursday, September 09, 2010

THE ATLANTIC: Fidel: 'Cuban Model Doesn't Even Work For Us Anymore' >>>Jeffrey Goldberg | Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Cuban Legendary Revolutionist Fidel Castro Backs In Parliament

Cuba - After years in oblivion, Cuban firebrand revolutionist Fidel Castro has decided to attend a special session of Cuba's parliament Saturday. Cuban state television reported that Mr. Castro who would turn 84 in a week, appeared first appearance in legislature after four years.

In recent times, Mr. Castro has been making appearance quite frequently in public. Attired in patent olive-green military shirt, he has recently addressed an assembly of Cuban intellectuals and Communist youth members.

There is still an empty chair set aside for Mr. Castro, and people are looking forward to his appearance in Parliament because his last attended legislature followed by his long-term health problem.

The session will discuss the topics of global nuclear war.

Mr. Castro is quite vocal in his disagreement with nuclear power development and have written accounts in journals and newspapers. He always maintain the USA and Israel have an intention to attack Iran in near future and North Korea is also a close target of Washington.

Mr. Castro further predicted that the consequences of attacks will lead a devastating effect on the whole world. He says, fighting is already begun.

Fidel Castro was Cuba's unquestioned, unchallenged "Maximum Leader" for 49 years.

Cuba to Relax State Control of the Economy
THE TELEGRAPH: Raul Castro has said that his government will scale back controls on small businesses, lay off unnecessary workers and allow more self-employment - significant steps in a country where the state dominates nearly every facet of the economy.

Fidel Castro (left) and brother Raul. Photo: The Telegraph
Cuba's president, however, quashed notions of a sweeping overhaul to the country's communist economic system in response to the financial crisis it is facing.

"With experience accumulated in more than 55 years of revolutionary struggle, it doesn't seem like we're doing too badly, nor that desperation or frustration have been our companions along the way," the president said.

Speaking in parliament, Castro said that authorities would "update the Cuban economic model," suggesting reforms could be on the horizon. Cuban officials plan to reduce state control of small businesses, authorize more Cubans to become self-employed and build a new tax structure that will compel state employees to contribute more. >>> | Monday, August 02, 2010

Raúl Castro to Allow Cubans More Private Sector Jobs
THE GUARDIAN: Leader says prohibitions on licences and commercialisation will be rolled back in effort to reduce 'bloated' state sector

More Cubans will be allowed to work for themselves and hire their own workers, the country's president has said, while ruling out wholesale reform of the communist economy.

Raúl Castro, who was speaking to parliament at the opening of its biannual session, said the steps were aimed at creating jobs as the government seeks to cut jobs from the public sector over the next five years.

About 95% of all Cubans work for the government and Castro suggested that as many as one in five state employees were redundant in what he called a "bloated" state sector.

Castro said those left out of work would be retrained or reassigned to other jobs but warned that few sectors would be immune to cuts. While sketchy, his comments signalled a liberalisation of the economy at a time of financial crisis. Raúl Castro took power from Fidel, first temporarily, then permanently, in July 2006. He has a reputation for being more pragmatic than his brother. >>> Mark Tran | Monday, August 02, 2010

NZZ ONLINE: Raul Castro will den Sozialismus zukunftsfähig machen: Kuba erlaubt Privatwirtschaft im Kleinen– Die kommunistische Führung in Kuba hat beschlossen, Kleinbetriebe mit Angestellten zuzulassen und den Staatsapparat verkleinern. Präsident Raul Castro will so das soziale System des Landes für die Zukunft erhalten. >>> sda/dpa | Montag, 02. August 2010