The Drury Mirror

Issue date: 2/27/08 Section: Perspectives

Raul Castro speaks to lawmakers after being elected president of the State Council, Cuba's governing body, by Cuba's National Assembly in Havana, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2008. Raul replaces his 81-year-old brother Fidel Castro.

The scene played out in living rooms around Havana: a fond memory for the good early days of the revolution, followed by a pointed stab at today's bitter realities.

There was praise for the revolution's accomplishments and skepticism about whether Raul Castro, elected by the legislature as the country's new president, can ever make life better.

These are the voices that echo throughout Cuba, the ones that keep getting louder. The ones that hope that with a new president, someone hears them.

"I've grown up with Fidel Castro. He's all I've known," said Maria, 42, a heavyset woman with her hair pulled back in a scarf. "I'm a Fidelista, and I have great affection for him. But you can't survive on what they pay you here, and a lot of the housing is in terrible shape, and the young people are so restless to get out."

She said she was faithful to the Castros because of the free education and health care that their revolution has provided, but added that some things need to change, like the travel restrictions and the economy.

Maria has hope in her country's new leader, the 76-year-old defense minister known as a nuts-and-bolts problem solver. Fidel was a man of ideas, she explained, but his brother is a man of practical talents.

"He's not as political as Fidel Castro, and he will be able to fix some of the things in the economy," she said. "He's the kind of person who sees a problem and makes sure it gets fixed."

But as she watched Raul's inaugural speech, her husband Lazaro, 58, appeared in the living room brandishing a cell phone.

"You see this? I, as a Cuban, can't have one legally. I have to get a foreigner to get the contract for me, and computers and are prohibited too," said Lazaro, a short, stout man who wears wire rimmed glasses.

"Computers and the Internet are the future. How can a country advance without them? Things under Raul Castro are going to be the same or worse!"

Maria responded just as vehemently: "Stop talking badly about him. There's going to be changes, you'll see! In six months I'm going to make a list of the things that have changed."

Continued...

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