Castro's people yearn to taste the good life

End of an era: A woman works at her desk at a Havana school, watched over by Castro. Photo: AFP

Lillian Swift
February 24, 2008

Through a scruffy doorway off a shabby street in Havana's old town, a pair of 12-year-old boys are pulling on tattered boxing gloves in an attempt to emulate their heroes.

But as they climb into the ring, they are resigned to the fact that the boxer they most admire, Guillermo Rigondeaux, twice Olympic champion and winner of 100 consecutive matches, will not be representing Cuba in the Beijing Olympics. Indeed, he may never compete in his home country again.

In between shouting orders at the boys to "stop failing" and "keep your guard up", their trainer, himself a double Olympic gold medallist, tells the story. Rigondeaux returned to Cuba in disgrace last July after attempting to "defect" to the United States during the Pan-American games in Rio de Janeiro.

"He was one of those who wanted more than Cuba could offer. He wanted to push himself further and, quite simply, he wanted a better way of life," says Hector Vinent, 34, who trains up to two dozen boys at the open-air gymnasium. "Now, like many other sportsmen who tried to leave Cuba, he has been declared a traitor. The dream he worked so hard for is over. This is one of the things that will change now that Fidel has gone."

That word — change — creeps into any discussion of what the future holds for Cuba since Fidel Castro announced his retirement.

The letter published last week in the national Communist newspaper, Granma, came as no surprise. It was always possible Dr Castro, 81, might never resume power after ill health forced him to hand over to his younger brother, Raul, in July 2006.

The man famed for his six-hour speeches has not appeared in public since.

Dr Castro said yesterday he had slept "better than ever before" after stepping down.

Raul, 76, is expected to be chosen as the new president when parliament meets today and he has hinted at a series of reforms. But there is little consensus over how dramatically life will change as the nation considers a future without the leader who ruled with an iron grip for nearly five decades.

"Now there exists a real opportunity to initiate changes that could improve everyday life," says Oscar Espinosa Chepe, an economist who was jailed in 2003 for criticising the regime. "There is no doubt that people are ready."

Mr Chepe, who is now under house arrest, says authorities must address the problems they have acknowledged for the first time. "Raul has admitted that the salaries of many Cubans do not provide them with an acceptable standard of living. That is a huge step."

But he warns that if Raul fails to deliver, the consequences may be devastating. "People will be angry and people will rise up and then we will see a return to the repression of Fidel."

There are still party agents in every apartment block and workplace and tight control of the media. Broadcasters showed reel after reel of footage of Fidel in the glory days of revolution.

"It is the end of an era and it feels like we have lost our father," says one elderly woman as she lines up for rations. "Castro has done great things for this country and I wish he could live forever." Chief among his achievements, she says, was free access to one of the best health services in the world.

That might have been true once but, according to one doctor who gave her name only as Leonora, Cuba has "exported so many health professionals that now we don't have enough left to deal with our own problems".

Cuba's society is divided into those with access to the CUC, the convertible currency used by tourists and the majority who rely on salaries paid in Cuban pesos.

"Luxuries" such as soap, clothes and electrical goods must be bought with convertible currency, and are therefore unavailable to ordinary Cubans except on the black market.

Castro introduced the dual currency in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was a means of boosting the economy by throwing open Cuba's doors to tourists. Last year nearly 3 million foreigners visited.

Tourism is credited with keeping the economy afloat but it has also created a gulf between those who have convertibles and those who don't. This is one of the issues that Raul and the new generation of party officials have promised to tackle.

The changes will have to be dramatic to discourage the thousands of Cubans who try to cross the 130 kilometres of sea to the US in tiny boats and rafts.

One man says Dr Castro's departure will do nothing to put him off. "I have friends over there," he says, nodding across the water. "They tell me they have a good life. I want some of that."