Is There A Power Struggle In Cuba?

A Power Struggle For Cuba's Future? -- Spiegel Online

Cuban President Raul Castro has begun releasing 52 imprisoned dissidents. Is this the hoped-for signal of liberalization? Critics of the regime do not believe that a sea change is in the works. Instead, they fear it is just a tactical move designed to weaken the opposition.

The meeting point is in a rundown apartment building on an arterial road in southeast Havana, a place where tourists don't go. The plaster is peeling from the walls, the windowpanes are cloudy and the wooden window frames are crumbling. There are no signs on the doors and no mailboxes. Even the rusty sign that reads "Ernesto Che Guevara" has seen better days and is missing a corner.

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My Comment: Is There A Power Struggle In Cuba? Short answer .... no. I have heard this same story repeated numerous times since the early 1980s .... starting when Castro emptied his prisons and forcing his inmates to go to Florida during the Mariel boatlift. The people who are at the top of this regime have a vested interest to continue the policies and actions of the Cuban government and have ZERO interest to change .... why should they give up on the perks and privilege that power gives to them but giving it to the people who oppose them.

Talk of a power struggle that will result in a change in Cuban policy mainly comes from those who have been supportive of Castro and his government from abroad .... I call it wishful thinking .... but it is this same wishful thinking that I have been hearing for decades (including this Spiegel article) .... and probably will continue to hear in the years to come.