Raul Castro hailed at revolutionary party
MIAMI – Thursday’s July 26 revolutionary party had all the markings of Cuba’s annual revolutionary celebration: the flags, the music, the chanting crowds.
But this year the roar of the masses recited a different name: “Ra-ul! Ra-ul!” Marking the end of an era and the start of new one, for the first time in 48 years – but for an enormous billboard – the “comandante en jefe” Fidel was nowhere to be found. In his place was his brother, Defense Minister and interim President Raul Castro, who stood before tens of thousands of people in the central city of Camaguey and offered to negotiate with whoever wins the 2008 U.S. elections.
“I tell whoever the next group of leaders is: ‘If you are ready to talk in a civilized manner, we are prepared to do so,’ ” Castro said. “If not, we’re ready to confront your policy of hostility for another 50 years if necessary.”
“Viva!” the crowd shouted.
Castro took a shot at George Bush, saying the U.S. president is fixated on putting an end to the Cuban revolution. Fidel’s illness last year gave the Cuban military the opportunity to prepare for a U.S. attack, leaving it more prepared than ever.
“It would be interesting to ask him how he plans to stop it,” Castro said. “How little they have learned from history.”
Castro also blasted Washington for its decades-old embargo against Cuba and for violating the 1994 migration accords that guarantees Cubans 20,000 visas a year. The United States has not just stalled visas for immigrants, Castro said, but also for athletes, scientists and artists who refuse to renounce Cuba’s form of government.
Raul Castro, 76, took over the reins of power nearly a year ago when his brother Fidel was struck by a serious intestinal illness, which required several surgeries.
In a one-hour speech Thursday, Raul Castro called for increased discipline by Cuban workers and vowed to address woeful food production. Calling for a reduction in food imports, he said Cuba’s food production is “far from satisfying our needs.”
He promised to boost it using anything from tractors to oxen. He denounced Cuba’s long-standing policy of offering milk only to people younger than 7, saying the nation needs to drastically increase its milk production so that anyone can drink milk “whenever they want.”
Castro said there would be no magical solutions but called for an increase in foreign investments while not “repeating the mistakes of the past.”
“Raul converses well with the people and that gives us a special lift,” Gilberto Guerrero, a retired 74-year-old sugar cane worker, told the Associated Press. “There’s so much happening in the world, but Raul speaks directly to the people of Cuba.”
Candida Alvarez, a 76-year-old retiree who put up a string of paper Cuban flags at the door of her home near Camaguey’s historic center, said the nation is ready for its new leader.
“I am certain Fidel is recovering, but there’s no problem because we have Raul,” Alvarez told the AP. “Fidel will always be the boss, but now Raul is the boss, too. He’s been there for a year and has gained popularity, earned the warmth of the people.”