Getting closer

Victoria Burnett has an article in The New York Times about the latest Castro news (Raul, this time) out of Cuba:

Raúl Castro is known among Cubans as a pragmatist, not an orator. But the Cuban president surprised even those accustomed to his reticence when he chose not to address an expectant crowd gathered to celebrate Revolution Day in this university town.
Instead, he delegated the task to the 79-year old vice president, José Ramón Machado Ventura, who appealed for discipline and patience as Cuba tackles economic reforms, and condemned the United States for its economic isolation of the island, as Mr. Castro applauded from his seat. “We will go forward, step by step, with a sense of responsibility at our own rhythm, without improvising and without haste,” Mr. Machado said.
Mr. Castro’s choice not to speak at one of the most important fixtures on the Cuban calendar disappointed some in this central Cuban city. Cubans and officials interviewed Monday said they could not recall an occasion when either Mr. Castro, 79, or his brother, Fidel, 83, did not speak on 26 July, when Cubans commemorate the 1953 rebel assault on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba, an event often celebrated here as the birth of the revolution against President Fulgencio Batista.
The decision puzzled Cuba analysts, who thought Mr. Castro might use the occasion to reassert his leadership after his brother’s recent re-emergence into the public sphere after years of seclusion due to illness. Fidel Castro made a separate appearance on Monday in Havana, where he laid a wreath at a memorial for the national hero José Martí. Some suggested that Raúl Castro, who took over as president in 2008, might be waiting to announce new economic reforms in the more formal setting of the National Assembly, Cuba’s Parliament, when it meets on Sunday. Cubans weaned on Fidel Castro’s oratorical marathons say they appreciate the terse style of his brother, but many complain that reforms have been slow and say they want to be kept in the loop.
“It’s true he is very practical, but he should give us an idea of where we are going,” Luis Piloto, a theater technician, said after the two-hour, early morning event in a square with a vast monument to Ernesto (Che) Guevara.
The president has made cutting fat from the public sector and increasing agricultural output central to reforms since he succeeded his brother. The government has leased thousands of hectares of state-held land to private farmers, raised prices paid for produce, and agreed to let farmers buy their own supplies instead of having them allocated by the state. But it has yet to make good on a pledge to cut the agricultural sector’s huge bureaucracy, and problems with distribution and supplies of fertilizer have led to a fall in output this year. Cuba is facing rice shortages, and is expecting this year’s sugar crop to be the lowest in more than one hundred years, according to state media.
Analysts said Mr. Castro now has to balance the unpopular task of cutting public-sector jobs with creating more opportunities for private enterprise. The Cuban leader has turned some barber shops over to workers, and allowed more private taxis. “Raúl’s message about reform is, ‘This is about becoming more efficient, but making changes in a way that doesn’t cause unrest,’” said Sarah Stephens, executive director of the Center for Democracy in the Americas.
Philip Peters, vice president of the Lexington Institute, a research group in Virginia, said the government could allow retailers to buy supplies wholesale, rather than from expensive state-owned shops, as “a sign of acceptance that these people are part of our economy and we want them to succeed.”

Rico says he's still saving up for his eventual trip with his father to Cuba, once they give up this Communist foolishness and the US government lifts the travel ban...