Wednesday, August 9, 2006

by Isabel Sanchez

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Cuban dissidents Tuesday played down chances of imminent change, as authorities insisted the communist leadership is alive and well after the ailing President Fidel Castro temporarily ceded power.

"It is the same government. I believe there is no transition. Simply put, Fidel Castro is sick and has delegated his functions to the number two," said Hilda Molina, a dissident who for the past decade has sought authorization to leave the country.

But the US administration acknowledged it was stepping up planning for the eventuality of political change in Cuba, which was ruled by Castro for almost 48 years and is now officially in the hands of his brother Raul.

"There are drafts and people are trying to think about what is going to happen should there be a change in the political situation in Cuba," said White House spokesman Tony Snow.

Cuban authorities have gone all out over the past few days to convince the island's citizens that Castro is well on his way to recovery and that the ruling communist party is in top shape.

They have said Castro would be back on the job within months, or possibly weeks, but have shed no light on the exact condition of the bearded leader, who turns 80 on Sunday.

"They say the former ruler is recovering, but we don't know what he is recovering from, we don't know what illness, because it is a state secret," said Marta Beatriz Roque, a leading Cuban dissident.

This, she says has left Cuba in its "usual abnormal normality," with the situation remaining calm but residents in the dark about what is going on behind the closed doors of Castro's inner sanctum.

Cuba-watchers in Miami are convinced Castro's days at the helm of the Caribbean island nation are over and that at best he could return in a ceremonial role.

Castro announced on July 31 that he had temporarily ceded power to Raul Castro, 75, his brother, designated successor and defense minister.

"The Commander is recovering," said Aleida Guevara, the daughter of Argentine-born Ernesto "Che" Guevara who fought the 1959 Cuban revolution alongside Castro.

She insisted that even the day Castro "is no longer with us, the people will continue to move forward, because that's what they decided a long time ago."

"But he will still be active for a while, and the most important is he will always be at the side of his people," she said.

Neither of the two Castro brothers have appeared in public since the July 31 announcement.

While dissidents are pessimistic about chances the transfer of power to the hardliner Raul would bring about change in the near future, Roque stressed this did not mean the opposition had given up.

"We won't move backwards. We remain where we are, with caution. If we did not hope for change, we would not work for it," she told AFP.

The US State Department has warned that the transfer to authority to Raul must not become permanent, saying that would just mean one dictator swapped for another.

Costa Rican President and Nobel Peace laureate Oscar Arias took a similar stance, urging Cuban authorities to stage elections for Castro's succession.

He planned to ask Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage to pass on the message to Raul Castro, but said he canceled the planned meeting after Lage sought to limit the scope of the talks.

Arias announced earlier he would write to tell Raul Castro "that if he wants to inherit power, he should consult the Cuban people."

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