Next-Gen Cuban Leaders to Emerge Sunday

[Judi Lynn]

Next-Gen Cuban Leaders to Emerge Sunday
from The Associated Press

HAVANA February 21, 2008, 03:09 pm ET · A technocrat whose reforms are credited with saving Cuba's economy after the Soviet collapse. A former Fidel Castro aide who persuaded the U.N. to condemn Washington's embargo. The Communist Party's international relations man.

These men are the next generation of Cuba's leadership, and their fortunes in the government shake-up coming Sunday will say a lot about where the island is headed now that the 81-year-old Fidel is giving up the presidency.

Parliament will almost certainly keep the Castros in charge by replacing Fidel with his younger brother, Raul. Raul, 76, has been first in line for the presidency for decades and has been acting president since his brother took ill in July 2006.

Already, Raul has spoken of unspecified "structural changes" and called for an open discussion of problems with the system. But it is unclear what kind of economic openings Cuba's communist leadership is willing to allow, and its choice of vice presidents will be crucial in determining whether the president has a mandate for change.

More:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19242107

[Bacchus39]

1. next generation??? I don't think so.

n/t

[Mika]

2. The average age of Cuba's parliament = 49 yrs old.

Official results of January 20 elections
96.89% of eligible voters cast their ballots
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2008/enero/juev31/05elecc.html

CONFIRMED and ratified by the National Electoral Commission, the outcome of the January 20 elections showed that 8,231,365 Cubans cast their ballots, the equivalent of 96.89% of registered eligible voters, confirming, as Fidel has said, that this nation will never renounce its Revolution or socialism, its weapons or its unity.

The great majority of voters cast qualifying ballots: 7,839,358 ballots cast (95.24%) were valid, and 7,125,752 of these (91%) responded to the appeal for a "united vote" for all candidates nominated for the National Assembly (Parliament) and Provincial Assemblies of People’s Power. The remaining valid ballots (713,606, the equivalent of 9%) reflected the selective vote (voting for some but not all of the candidates), according to María Esther Reus, president of the National Electoral Commission, who announced the outcome during the "Roundtable" TV and radio program on January 24.

Reus, who is also Cuba’s minister of justice, explained that blank ballots cast totaled 3.73% (306,791) and spoiled ballots, 1.04% (85,216).

She likewise said that the election of the National Assembly’s 614 deputies and the 1,201 delegates to the Provincial Assemblies constituted a resounding success, demonstrating the motivation of the people, the participatory nature of Cuba’s elections and the transparence and professionalism of electoral authorities, who had the help of numerous collaborators with the material tasks.

Reus said that the official results were backed by a detailed review of the voting and a reconciliation of figures with the Electoral Registry, as required by law.

Computerization made it possible for the first time for "exceptional registration" to be computed and reconciled not only on a national level, but also province by province, she noted. That means that thanks to computerization, an accurate count could be made of ballots cast via "exceptional registration" —voters who cast their ballots at polling stations outside of their voting district for justifiable reasons— and to include these voters in the estimate of voter turnout at their home polling stations, as a step forward for more precise figures.

The utilization of software created by Cuban specialists also made it easier to update voters’ lists during the elections, including ordinary and exceptional registration and the removal of deceased voters.

According to parliamentary deputy Lázaro Barredo, who is the editor-in-chief of the Granma newspaper and spoke during the "Roundtable" program, the January 20 elections were a demonstration of the Cuban people’s total freedom on expressing their will at voting time: whomever did not want to vote, did not go; others left their ballots blank or spoiled them, and among those who cast valid ballots, some of them chose to vote selectively, for different reasons. Casting a united vote prevailed as a fully conscious action, Barredo noted, recounting some of his personal conversations with the population during the meetings and tours he carried out as a candidate.

Nowhere else in the world are Parliament and Provincial Assemblies comprised, up to 50%, by members who are at the same time municipal delegates (the equivalent of city council members), Barredo noted, and in fact, in some countries that is prohibited by law. In Cuba’s case, that representation is appropriate and in response to the nature of the People’s Power system, he said.

REPRESENTATION

Reus explained that the 614 parliamentary deputies elected represent every population group. More than 28% are farmers and workers in the production, service, education and health sectors. She reported the higher presence of women (265 are women, 43.16%); the ethnic component (35.67% are black or mixed-race); the average age (49) and educational level (99.02% are technical/vocational or university level).

Some notable features: more than 56% of the newly-elected deputies were born after the triumph of the Revolution and the rate of renewal is 63.22% (385 deputies).

With respect to provincial delegates, 40.8% are women; 95.8% have university or technical/vocation level education, and a total of 834 are first-time delegates (69.44%).

At the session constituting the new National Assembly on February 24, candidates will be nominated (after a consultation process among deputies by the National Candidacies Commission) for the president, vice president, and secretary of Parliament; and for the Council of State: president, first vice president, five vice presidents, secretary and other members.

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[Bacchus39]

3. and the average age of leadership is??? 78 maybe???

but the world continues to move on no matter what Cuba does.

[magbana]

4. Actually, it's Cuba moves on regardless of what the world does

The youngest member of the new ANPP: Liaena Hernández Martínez, Age 18

In Cuba, you can vote at age 16. I’d say the entire Cuban electoral system is VERY youth-oriented.

[Bacchus39]

5. no, I'd say Cuba is mired in stagnation

even China has, very successfully, adopted economic reforms.

what is the purpose of denying Cubans outside information? that is something I always thought odd. what is the communist government afraid of? that people wouldn't be satisfied living on the dole they are handed?

[Judi Lynn]

6. Wow! That IS young. Tremendous. I heard the voting age is 16, also.

Thank you for posting the photo of this very young member. It's completely refreshing seeing authority delegated to a young, intelligent, responsible person. How excellent it is to see someone truly focused on something beyond him/herself at that age!

This is a good place to mention Raul Castro's daughter, Mariela Castro, is very active in Cuba's movement toward breaking previous sexual barriers for gay people.



The next Castro in line - Mariela Castro?
Published: Sun December 10, 2006
scotsman.com | TOM FAWTHROP IN HAVANA

~snip~
Ms Castro, 43, brings an air of youthful passion, an expectation of change and glasnost, to a country in the process of saying a long farewell to its ageing revolutionaries. And, despite being well known as a passionate defender of a tolerant society who is opposed to all kinds of dogma, she insists socialism will survive the death of the president.

In an interview with The Scotsman, she called for more open debate on economic problems. “I would like to hear more discussion. We need to experiment and to test what really works, to make the public ownership more effective, rather than simply adopting wholesale free-market reforms,” she said.

“As a Cuban citizen, I think we have to explain, discuss and listen to people’s questions and criticisms. I don’t agree with closing the door on people’s experiences.”

She said that dealing with criticism of Cuba’s human-rights record and its lack of political rights was “complicated because of the US threat”.

Referring to the US trade embargo and other efforts to topple President Castro, she said: “We are a besieged country and, under these conditions, some puritans and authoritarians take advantage to impose their point of view. We have constant contradictions in Cuban society.”
(snip)

Evidently impatient with old orthodoxies herself, she hopes for an economic debate about decentralisation and community-run co-operatives which could provide a different answer to Cuba’s problems.

She has clashed with the authorities over human rights in the past, particularly in her role as a leading campaigner against homophobia. The island has had a reputation for rounding up sexual “deviants” and carting them off to work camps.

Ms Castro said although bad things had happened in years gone by, times had changed, and job discrimination and mass arrests were now a thing of the past. “Our work has been fruitful. We have exposure on TV and radio, and people are not hostile these days, although some institutions are still very puritanical. Still, some changes I feel are too slow - it’s like one drop today, one drop tomorrow, little by little,” she said. “Now society is more relaxed. There is no official repression of gays and lesbians.”

More:
http://havanajournal.com/politics/entry/the-next-castro-in-line-mariela-castro/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A Castro Strives to Open Cuban’s Opinions on Sex
By MARC LACEY
Published: June 9, 2007

~snip~
Then the conversation took an interesting turn. The transsexuals, who are receiving training as AIDS counselors at the National Center for Sexual Education, which Ms. Castro directs, brought up sexual liaisons some of them had had with soldiers. Maybe counseling in the barracks was needed, the transsexuals said.

Ms. Castro smiled, raised her eyebrows but did not dismiss the suggestion out of hand. Homosexuality is illegal in Cuba’s military. In fact, some Cubans have avoided military service altogether by claiming to be gay.

Making the proposal even more delicate, everyone in the circle knows, is the fact that Ms. Castro, 44, is the daughter of Raúl Castro, the commander of Cuba’s armed forces and, with the recent health problems of his brother, Fidel, the temporary leader of the government.

Despite Ms. Castro’s pedigree in Cuba’s most famous family, however, no one seems to hold his — or her — tongue around her. While her father is known for his strait-laced bearing, Ms. Castro has a more down-to-earth air. A mother of three who is married to an Italian photographer, she speaks of topics that might make others blush.

“Sexuality does not just have a reproductive function,” she declared in an interview on the front porch of a Havana mansion, where the center is located, noting that sex is also about love and pleasure and discovery and experiment. “Human beings are much more diverse than we think.”

CUBA, like many islands around the Caribbean, is a sexually liberal place where relationships out of wedlock are commonplace and taboos seem to be few, but only within heterosexual relationships. Homosexuality, transvestitism and transsexuality, however, are another matter.

Historically, Cuba’s gays have experienced the wrath of the government, with many sent off to labor camps. The climate has greatly improved in recent years, most seem to agree. Still, transvestites and transsexuals continue to complain of police harassment, and those with AIDS remain stigmatized, making prevention programs a challenge.

“I suggest you take a stroll on La Rampa to see how freely people express their sexual orientation,” Ms. Castro said, mentioning a popular gathering spot for gays in Havana. “This doesn’t mean we don’t have to work in the political arena and in the education of all of society.”

Ms. Castro said she felt no pressure to enter the family business of politics. She studied psychology in college, she said, and is now on the forefront of Cuba’s effort to make sex, in all its variety, as natural a discussion topic as it is a physical act. Her center helped produce a soap opera on state television last year featuring a married man who discovered he was attracted to other men. It was hugely popular.

Ms. Castro, who is writing her Ph.D. dissertation on transvestitism, is also pushing for an overhaul of Cuban laws so that, among other things, the government health care system covers surgery for transsexuals and that new official identification documents are issued after the operation.

Already, a government panel reviews individual cases of those wishing to change their sex and refers some transsexuals to therapy and hormone treatment. Currently, 26 transsexuals have been approved for treatment by the committee, with another 50 under review, Ms. Castro said.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/09/world/americas/09castro.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin