19 February 2008

Clinging to Power


Fidel announced via midnight letter to Granma, the official Cuban newspaper, that he is stepping down, and does not want to "cling to power" after nearly fifty years. It is not an obituary; we will still have to wait for that.

It sounded a lot like the old Castro we have known for so long, probably the result of some four-hour decision-making process in his hospital room, and his bed. In the old days, he would have worked out his thinking from the podium, in front of a crowd. The duration of his speeches were legendary, the words being the only things in ready supply on the island since the embargo began.

Nine Presidents have come and gone since the beginning, and the tenth is only clinging to power now. By way of contrast, the President of Pakistan, whose legitimacy is likewise based on usurpation, may not even survive Mr. Bush.

Remember when the talk was that he might invade Iran as a last great gesture? It was only months ago.

It seems quaint now. The carnival has moved on. In the President's trip to Africa, the celebration of one of his initiative against HIV, arguably one of his greatest and most selfless accomplishments, is marked by the giddy speculation that Senator Obama might replace him.

There is no word if Fidel will turn things over to his ancient and long-suffering brother Raul. He has always seemed the pragmatist to me, and has managed his caretaker government with low-key efficiency.

I have not heard that the secret police, or the other appurtenances of life have changed under him. Cubans cannot even change apartments without intrusive approval of the Government.

It is interesting to think how it could have been. There was a time when giddy Southern politicians thought of seizing Cuba from Spain, bringing it into the Union as a slave state to balance westward expansion of those states that did not permit the chattel-holding of other human beings.

How interesting that would have been. Could emancipation at the end of the Civil War have prevented the rise of petty dictators like Fulgencio Batista, thus forestalling the rise of Communism in the hemisphere?

Would it then have been Cuban, rather than Puerto Rican revolutionaries raining gunfire on the House of Representatives?

Fidel, in his last gesture, could direct a change to someone from a newer generation, since there are at least three to chose from, each edition filled with more earnest and progressive socialists.

I would like to visit the island sometime, before the great change sweeps over it. It is easy enough to get there, through Toronto or Mexico City, and the Cubans will cheerfully not even stamp the passport with a potentially embarrassing entry mark.

I would like to see the part of it north of the minefield and the wire at Guantanamo, which has become such a lightning rod. The symbol of the Naval Station is the famous Iguana, and a proud member of the species is embroidered on the ball-cap I sometimes wear as a souvenir of the great Haitian exodus, those brave souls who were interdicted at sea on their voyage to Miami being confined there in vast tented holding areas on the base.

That was the prototype for the legal thinking, the “offshore” nature of the facility, the open ended aspects of the lease, and the fact that it was almost perfectly protected by the two “C's:” the Caribbean and the Communists.

On a last helicopter tour of the sprawling base, the Navy Commodore in charge pointed out where new and more modern facilities were being erected. He gestured out the open door of the UH-1 and said that they were calling it “Camp X-Ray,” and it would be a lot more humane than the open holding areas where the Haitians were confined, pending repatriation.

I imagine that clinging to the treaty arrangement on Guantanamo will be one of the first things to go, though I shudder at what sort of tourist attraction it will become if returned to the Cuban government, whatever form it ultimately takes. I imagine that when we leave we will wipe it all slick, and the memorials will have to be left to the imagination.

The imagination will have a rich feast this week. As Fidel steps into retirement, Craig Watkins, the new DA in Dallas, Texas, has decided to stop clinging to secrets. He released the contents of a safe that has been sealed since at least 2001, and probably not opened since the 1980s. It contains exhibits and documents from the investigation into the murder of Castro's great rival, JFK.

There are brass knuckles that belonged to Jack Ruby, and a small tooled-leather holster, some of Lee Oswald's clothes, assorted documents and a movie script to confuse an impenetrable mystery even further.

There is no point in clinging to it further. The people who would replace Mr. Bush will not be running against Fidel Castro, the first generation of politicians who will not have to deal with that issue, one way or another, for a half century.

One of them is too young to remember any of the ancient history, and they are all running to the left (and right) to secure the base before the obligatory move to the middle to convince all of us that we can trust them, which we can't, and which they know.

One of Senator Obama's campaign workers is also too young to remember, which is the selling point in his candidacy. She was famously photographed last week working earnestly at her desk under a Cuban flag emblazoned with the iconic image of forever-young revolutionary Che Guevera.

The latest word is that Senator Obama will not debate Senator Clinton in Wisconsin; and why should me? He says he has debated her eighteen times already, and that should be enough for the moment.

What things from the past could possibly inform the future, anyway?

Copyright 2008 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com

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