The New Indian Express
First Published : 18 Apr 2011 11:35:00 PM IST
Last Updated : 19 Apr 2011 01:05:19 AM IST
The winds of change that are sweeping across West Asia and bringing about a revolution that has not been witnessed in the near past has crossed the Atlantic and has even forced the communist leaders in Cuba to take note.
Cuban President Raul Castro, in his speech opening the Sixth Communist Party Congress on Saturday, which can be described as his political epitaph, said that there should be term limits for Cuban leaders. He said, “We have arrived at the conclusion that it is advisable to limit the fundamental political and state offices to a maximum period of two consecutive periods of five years.” This is a welcome change. This realisation from Raul Castro, who, along with his brother Fidel, has ruled the island nation for more than half a century, could not have come a day sooner.
But if good sense has dawned at this late hour it is not only because there is a growing call for ‘true’ democracy around the world, but also because the Cuban government is grappling with a host of problems, the most pressing being the economy, which is on a precipice. His two-and-a-half hour speech, which pales when compared to the four-and-a-half hour marathon speech his brother gave at the UN in 1960, highlights the need to introduce more private enterprise, do away with the ration books that is an “unsupportable load on the economy” and also asks his compatriots to “update” the Cuban model.
More than who will succeed Raul, the focus should be on giving Cubans their due.
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