DICTATORSHIP WATCH:Fidel:Raúl is fully in charge in Cuba

HAVANA-In his first column since he was replaced as president,Fidel Castro Friday wrote that his brother Raúl is fully in charge of Cuba-but noted it was his ''decision'' to put two generals on the ruling Council of State.Castro also denied a BBC report, noting rumors that the brothers had fought loudly in the early 1990s,on speculation that he still wields enough power to constitute ''a sword hanging over the heads''of the new leadership. Castro's comments, published in the online edition of the Communist Party newspaper Granma, were his first since parliament named Raúl to the country's top post last weekend.Raúl Castro has ''all legal and constitutional faculties and prerogatives to lead our country,'' Castro wrote."For my part, I affirm I am distanced from all positions.''But Castro added that Raúl, at the younger brother's initiative, had consulted him on naming José Ramón Machado Ventura as the country's No. 2, and that it was ''my decision'' to name Gens. Leopoldo Cintra Frias and Alvaro López Miera to the Council of State.The council is the top body of the legislative National Assembly, and its president is the island's head of state.On Sunday,Raúl requested-and received-permission from the assembly to consult with Fidel on ''the decisions of special transcendence for the future of our nation,'' especially those involving"defense, foreign policy and socio-economic development.''Castro also dismissed concerns about the ages of many of the new council members, noting that the two generals are younger than Republican Sen. John McCain, who is 71.And he bitterly attacked the Feb. 25 BBC report from Havana, which argued that Castro's lingering power will make it difficult for the new government to carry out the economic reforms that Raúl has proposed if Fidel Castro opposes them.The report notes that the brothers have clashed in the past as in the early 1990s, when Castro was opposing Raúl's proposals to open farmers' markets-where prices are set by supply and demand-to overcome a financial crisis.'It is said that they closeted themselves alone and argued for hours, that from outside Fidel's office, the shouts of both could be heard. A few days later, Cubans were again buying fruits and vegetables in the farmers' markets,''it added.''Nothing of this can be confirmed.There are no proofs, just supposed witnesses.But in Cuba, like in no other country...the oral transmission of information is almost always right,''the report added. Fidel has not been seen in public since falling ill in July 2006, but he had regularly published columns under the title Reflections of the Commander in Chief. He wrote Friday's column under the title Reflections of Comrade Fidel, as he had said he would in his resignation letter last week.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/438910.html

As in the days of Noah....