Word: castro
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Taking his visitors on a slow walking tour of Havana's labyrinthine Palacio de la Revolucion, Castro gestures toward an enormous mosaic of birds, animals and flowers that dominates the reception hall and quietly begins a story. The artist, he explains, cast the ceramic tiles at the same time the architect was completing the building's interior. Through some misunderstanding between the two men, the ceiling was built too low. When it came time to install the intricately etched tiles, the top two rows did not fit. The artist never forgave the architect whose miscalculations robbed his mosaic...
Someone asks what became of the architect. Was he fired for his mistake? Contemplating the missing top rows, Castro shrugs. ``No,'' he deadpans, testing his listeners' sense of humor. ``He was shot.'' Then Castro roars with laughter at his joke, a parody of his image as a bloodthirsty dictator. And with that, the evening and the aging commandant suddenly come alive...
...Castro remains firmly in power; despite an economic crisis that gives him no good options, he does not face the imminent collapse of his regime. His tactical skills, his powers of endurance and the affection of many Cubans are intact. There is no organized opposition to him inside the country. His army and security forces are large and efficient. Despite spasms of discontent, like the riot last August that helped unleash the rafter exodus, there is nothing like a Tiananmen brewing. And unlike many similar leaders, he has surrounded himself not with cronies and coat holders but with the best...
...Castro has been loath to respond by renouncing his socialist credo in the fashion of former communists like Boris Yeltsin. But to salvage what remains of his economy, he has been forced to adapt, imposing some measures that are anathema to his beliefs. In 1990, for example, Castro began soliciting foreign investment. Though he continues to declare that Cuba will never sell off its state-run companies, he has opened up strategic areas such as telecommunications, oil exploration and mining to joint ventures. The latest shocker: condominiums for sale to foreigners, with titillating hints that even land ownership may soon...
...Miami's community of Cuban Americans--are bent on keeping the door to Cuba firmly closed to U.S. companies. Just last week Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Jesse Helms introduced legislation that would tighten the 33-year-old economic embargo even more. ``Let me be clear,'' said Helms. ``Whether Castro leaves Cuba in a vertical or horizontal position is up to him and the Cuban people. But he must and will leave Cuba.'' Nevertheless, Castro has also taken a number of other steps to ensure that this will not happen any time soon. In the doldrums of 1993 he legalized...